Decided you want a tattoo? Fantastic! The first step is to decide what you’d like inked into your body forever—a seemingly personal choice, right?
Except for some reason, the same tattoos seem to pop up everywhere. If you search “tattoo ideas” on Pinterest, Instagram, or even just Google, you’ll see the same types of tattoos. And truthfully, tattoo artists are a little sick of creating the same ones, over and over.
A new video on the Inked channel recently shed a light on just how repetitive their work can be. In the video, a group of experienced tattoo artists complain about the most popular tattoo ideas that they’re asked to do—which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it didn’t make each tattoo so unoriginal.
Why is this such a bad thing? As a unique type of artist, tattoo artists long for a chance for them to be able to put their skills to the test. And when they repeatedly get requests to do the same unoriginal artwork, it can feel like they aren’t able to broaden their horizons.
“A lot of times, the best reference photos are the ones that have already been used so many times, and so this is what gets annoying,” one of the tattoo artists explains in the video.
“Even for us, we always try and choose the best reference photo obviously, when we can’t take it ourselves, and that being said, when you’ve done that same theme so many times, you’re like ‘I took the best picture that first time, now what the hell’s going to happen?” she continues. “You’re kind of scrounging and settling for photos that might work, but you know inside it’s not as cool.”
“When more people have it than not, is when people stop enjoying or appreciating that particular kind of artwork,” another artists explains.
In reality, tattoo artists would love to help you come up with an idea that’s creative and original. So what are the most common types of tattoos that these artists can’t stand doing anymore? Watch the video below to find out—and be sure to keep these all-too-popular ideas in the back of your mind when deciding on your own idea to get inked!
Do you have any tattoos? How did you come up with the idea for yours? What’s the most common tattoo you’ve ever seen someone get—and what’s the most original?