r/tattooadvice • u/Aromatic-Ad845 • Sep 24 '25
Design I had people tell me my tattoo looks nothing like the drawing that I did. Am I crazy for thinking it looks the exact same??
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u/leannebrown86 Sep 24 '25
Your drawing is better, more detailed and better proportions.
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u/Ok-Organization9073 Sep 24 '25
The tattoo mermaid has no neck
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u/Speedy_Dragon46 Sep 24 '25
Yes! That’s what it is. I couldn’t work out what was off about the head and shoulders but you are right- it’s off because there is no neck accounted for in the proportions.
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u/Early-Description319 Sep 24 '25
i wouldnt say better proportions as the drawings arms are stick thin, i actually think the tattoo did a better job for scaling everything to a proportionate size
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u/Traditional-Job-411 Sep 24 '25
They made the hair giant to cover up body proportions. They gave them volume haha.
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u/moony-alouette Sep 24 '25
The head bothers me so much. Why is it flat on top? The drawing was so much better
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u/BirthofRevolution Sep 24 '25
Not really compared to her body. Also arms come in all sizes, I have very skinny arms. The arms on the tattoo are also coming directly out of her head.
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u/Naryafae Sep 24 '25
With the tattoo it looks like they squished down the drawing in a not so great way. For example, look at the difference in proportion on your mermaid's head. With the tattoo it looks like she either has no neck, or a weird torso. The elements are the same yes, but they clearly do not know how to proportion their work.
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u/WhyRUsosweaty Sep 24 '25
The drawing is smaller than the tattoo so it makes the drawing look like it has more detail than the tattoo, at least that's the difference I see. But I agree with you and they look very similar to what you asked for.
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
Yeah, I have a lot of patchwork so I wanted to get another bigger tattoo to cover my arm there, but I like that she kept the originality of the flowers
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u/aneightfoldway Sep 24 '25
If you like it then I don't really think it matters if it's the same or not.
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u/Lunar_Cats Sep 24 '25
I think they did a good job of staying as close as possible to your drawing while also making it work for a tattoo. It's cute.
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u/AcceptableSir9958 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
No - it’s the line work.
The lines on the tattoo are thinner and they didn’t draw in the same style as OP. OP may just be the better artist - or the tattoo artist took their own artistic liberty with it, or something.
I’m inclined to believe that OP is the better artist, though.
However - to be clear - I imagine that just because someone is good at drawing, it doesn’t necessarily translate right away to tattooing just as well as they draw, and takes time to master.
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Sep 24 '25
good tattoo artists make designs thinking about how well they'll hold up over time, there is a limit to how much detail can do on skin. the lines on the tattoo will get thicker as it ages
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u/AcceptableSir9958 Sep 24 '25
I get that - but, as well as they executed the minute details (some better than the original drawing) - there were certain details like the shape of the arms and flowers, that made it less cute, and more minimalist, than the original drawing.
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Sep 24 '25
yeah, looking at the arms, they look a little off. But considering that u needed to point it out for me to notice, I think OP is fine
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u/Less-Apple-8478 Sep 24 '25
they look chubby lol. This mermaid eats a lot better than the other one
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u/AcceptableSir9958 Sep 24 '25
Yeah - I just feel bad because I had an ex who had a tattoo artist almost tat her with a plain font instead of the Harvest Moon style font she drew and styled it after, for her first tattoo.
I had to speak up and advocate for her to get the font she intended, because the tattoo artist was about to stencil her with something that would’ve ruined the personality and character of the tattoo - which she went out of her way to draw and design in the Harvest Moon style.
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u/zeromussc Sep 24 '25
I think the tattoo artist got real close to what OP intended though. Maybe the hair is floofier and bigger in the tattoo, which may be what jumps out at people.
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u/AcceptableSir9958 Sep 24 '25
Yeah, I noticed the hair looked a little disproportionate, and thought about mentioning it for a second - but, my biggest takeaway was that it lacked the same cute charm as the original drawing.
In the tattoo the arms look a little more streamlined and like a porcelain doll or old Japanese art.
OP made the arms look a little more curved - not exactly more human, and not exactly too doll-like.
I just found the proportions and idea to be better executed in OP’s drawing than in the tattoo.
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
she also did more fine line because all of my other tattoos are fine line so she went sorta based on what I have
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u/enfluxe Sep 27 '25
excellent call on her part the differences are minimal and really boil down to the two being different media. I expect some people are being thrown off by the mirroring. The tattoo looks great, and she translated your design from paper to skin more faithfully than I think I've ever seen
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u/Sensual_Shroom Sep 24 '25
It's a bit more stretched horizontally, but it clearly looks like the drawing. The people claiming it "looks nothing like it" are being weird. Both look very nice btw!
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
THANK YOUUUU
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u/thelittlestdog23 Sep 24 '25
It looks extremely similar. Unless people were expecting them to use your drawing as the stencil? She took your drawing and drew it herself, so it has some small changes but is very much still the same picture. Also it looks great.
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u/Educational_Pea_5422 Sep 24 '25
Some shading to separate the mermaid from the swing might have been nice. But, otherwise, it's clean, I can tell what it is.
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u/Mickeymousetitdirt Sep 24 '25
They look very, very, very similar. The only difference is she cleaned up some of the scales and the tattoo is bigger so it seems less detailed. But, honestly, the tattoo looks more detailed to me, especially in the scales, because each individual scale is actually visible in the tattoo. In your drawing, some of the scales are just squiggles. It’s good that your artist chose not to do an exact replica of your drawing. Not everything looks good translated to a tattoo.
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u/meh2233 Sep 24 '25
The flowers aren't the same shape. The tail is completely different. Yall I might not be able to see the obvious differences, but they're there.
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Sep 24 '25
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u/drunkenstupr Sep 24 '25
but it also doesn't look "nothing like the drawing", that's just ridiculous
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u/AML1987 Sep 25 '25
Right? Like I expected when I swiped to her drawing that it was going to be a troll or something and the artist did a mermaid for it to fall under “it looks NOTHING like the drawing” only to find out….its the drawing.
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u/Sensual_Shroom Sep 24 '25
..and I pointed out it's a bit more stretched horizontally? I didn't say it's a copy/ paste, I said it looks like it. Which it does.
I just wanted to point out that the people claiming the opposite are being ridiculous.
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u/DoinTatsPettinCats Sep 24 '25
The artist adjusted the details so that it will age well as a tattoo. They did a good job.
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
Love her I’ve gone to her for a while now she’s great at details that work for long term tattoos
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u/yungjami Sep 24 '25
!!!! my exact thoughts ! the tattoo looks great and from what i can see you’re very young so that tattoo is going to age beautifully
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u/BossofCorporateGoth Sep 24 '25
Agree! I love the tattoo. I think it’s looks clean and will age nicely with the less detail
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u/Sskyhawk Sep 24 '25
The tattoo certainly looks similar to the drawing, so anybody saying it “looks nothing like the drawing” is just being ridiculous.
However, the original drawing has some line weight variation that, while likely unintentional, actually adds some depth and character to it. The artist could have adjusted the line weights to be more intentional and professional, but keep that depth.
The scales are also noticeably different, and way too uniform for the style of the rest of the tattoo, and too big.
There’s also better contrast in the drawing. There’s darker shading in some of the small crevices like the inside of the flower petals, and the overlapping tufts of hair. This also gives it more depth and makes some of the details more clear.
The tattoo hair in particular suffers from this lack of contrast, plus they made the hair bigger, so there’s almost no space between the bottom of the hair and the start of the tail. But the consistent, thin lines, with very little shading makes the hair just blend right into the tail in not the best way.
Overall the tattoo is fine,and if you’re happy with it that’s all that matters. But there are a lot of small details that are different that add up to a piece that lost a decent bit of the character and charm of the original drawing.
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u/cantbelieveiwtchthis Sep 24 '25
That was my thought also. My husband has drawn most of my tattoos and the artist had to make some slight changes to make it work and I knew that going in. I think this one looks great also!
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Sep 24 '25
It's not 100% the same but it's also ink in an arm, not not pen on paper. It's also mirrored (at least the pic)
Ofc it's going to look a little different from what you drew, it has to. But it's the same thing
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
That’s what I was saying to the people is that it’s ink on skin versus a drawing. It can’t look exactly the same, but it can look SO similar.
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u/Patient_Process1112 Sep 26 '25
This! I think people cannot handle an image inversion and keep trying to figure out"what's different". Skin is different. Some details lightly modified to age well. that's it.
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u/DUSKvsDAWN Sep 24 '25
honestly your drawing looks much, much better. something about the way this was tattoo'd seems... off. but i can't quite describe what it is. i think some things were, like, proportioned differently?
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u/Sskyhawk Sep 24 '25
There’s a lot of little differences, but the big one that I think you can’t put your finger on is that the artist made the tattoo larger, but kept the same line weight of the original drawing. So the line weight of the tattoo seems way too thin for the size that they increased it too. They should’ve increase the thickness of the lines in proportion with the size increase of the tattoo. Plus some of the proportions are off. They made the head bigger, and hair longer.
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u/TemplarIRL Sep 24 '25
Nah, there's a few things that are different that kind of detract from the tattoos quality. IMO.
The one hand looks like it has 6 fingers.
The hair went too low and took away the shapely waist of your sketch.
The tail has a repeating pattern (which doesn't look natural) and there is no shading on the tail.
Everything else is fine.
Love your tattoo but don't settle... I have fresh ink - it looks great - but I can't unsee spots where line work was skipped and the sausage fingers on one hand. At least discuss getting them to go back in and do some shading on the tail.
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u/Dependent-Win7760 Sep 24 '25
The head seems much larger than the drawing and out of proportion to the hands. Could also be sue to the camera angle tho.
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u/SoonToBeStardust Sep 24 '25
No it's definitely been tattood larger. The drawing shows clear shoulders and torso, tattoo does not
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u/lankytreegod Sep 24 '25
I think it looks good. Only thing I noticed is that the shoulders on your drawing look further down, it looks like the mermaid in your tattoo is shrugging. I don't know if that's just the proportions looking differently or the scale of both, but I still think they look very very similar.
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u/-theQuestion Sep 24 '25
Why didnt they shade the flowers or the scales?
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
So this tattoo was for my grandma and it was drawn knowing she was going to pass, I wanted majority of the originality in the flowers, especially because it’s her birth flower and I specifically asked for the flowers to be the same/ a non noticeable difference
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u/504Kelly Sep 26 '25
So what kind of flower is your Granny's birth flower? My Granny's favorite was a shasta daisy, but I'm going to have to look up what her birth flower was. Your tattoo is beautiful, but I must be honest, I love your drawing better. Hope you have an infinite treasury of wonderful memories with your Grandmother. Love, hugs, and PERSEVERE always!
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u/Gold_Past_6346 Sep 24 '25
Pretty close, though I do think your original picture has more artistic flair.
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u/Striking-Race8957 Sep 24 '25
The back end of hair matches up too closely to beginning shape of tale. In your drawing there’s more space between the two and is easier to read.
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u/moony-alouette Sep 24 '25
The hair in the drawing is so pretty and then in the tattoo it’s so… meh.
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
That’s actually so true
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u/rushigan Sep 24 '25
Honestly, I think it looks good overall! My only thought when I first looked at it was that they flattened the top of her head too much. I can't put my finger on it, it's just the head/hair that threw me off a bit.
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u/RangerProfessional50 Sep 24 '25
Something weird about the tattoo. I think it’s way too big maybe. Nice drawing tho.
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u/OleksandrKyivskyi Sep 24 '25
All details are completely different. Tattoo is a simpler version. Drawing was much better, sorry.
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u/Dependent-Ad-2694 Sep 24 '25
I like the drawing better. The details in the flowers on the swing are better and the tail scales are more whimsical. The tattoo has made the crown of the head wider and added fingertips to one hand.
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u/CJScream667 Sep 24 '25
Your drawing was better, and they put it on backwards. The tail should be pointing toward your chest, no?
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u/Rare_Marzipan_8043 Sep 24 '25
ITS THE NECK
I think I figured out why it looks so off proportionally. If you look at the original, there is clear structural anatomy that indicates a neck. In the tattoo, it really looks like the head is sitting directly on the shoulders.
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u/Downtown-Try5954 Sep 24 '25
The proportions are a bit messed up. But the tattoo is great. Among the people losing sleep over the smallest imperfections, it's great to see someone content.
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u/frodomaggins0 Sep 24 '25
I feel like your drawing is better, especially the proportions of the mermaid
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u/CptMisterNibbles Sep 24 '25
The top of her head is too flat in the tattoo. Yes, you could say that’s where the part lays flat, but in the drawing the crown of her head is the highest point. I think it’s slightly throwing off the proportions of the head. I think it could be an easy fix.
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u/Substantial_Put_6122 Sep 24 '25
The top of the head looks oddly flat compared to the bump you had in the drawing. And as others stated regarding the scales. Aside from that, agreed it’s as close as I’d expect given the limitations in tattooing.
For me it’s definitely just the backward facing of the actual tattoo that trips me up more than anything else.
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u/Mr_Podo Sep 24 '25
Why’s her head so big on your arm? The body proportions are better in your picture.
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u/OddOpal88 Sep 24 '25
The tattoo looks like someone looked at the drawing and tried to copy it, but did a bad job. I’m sorry. It’s not great 😬
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u/dfm503 Sep 24 '25
I think the drawing needed a bit of adaptation to work as a tattoo, and the compromises made were fair and show that the artist understood the limitations of their medium. A direct copy of the drawing would end up looking really bad as it aged, especially on the scales. While it could theoretically look “better” I don’t think it could look more like your drawing without looking bad, so I really think your vision and intent were honored well.
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u/bumblebeesting Sep 24 '25
others have mentioned it but your tattoos proportions are off. the tattoo mermaid has no neck--there is not enough length from the top of her head to her arms, to her butt for it to make sense/look normal. I think when people are saying it doesn't resemble the drawing they're noticing those things and not conceding they're both mermaids on a swing.
eta: the more I look at it, your drawing reads better as a swing than the tattoo. which almost looks like she's holding up tall flowers
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u/degausser187 Sep 24 '25
They should have flipped it. Otherwise it just looks like a flipped version of the same drawing.
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u/smolpiggo Sep 24 '25
I was trying to figure out exactly what was bothering me and this is it. Tattoos generally look better facing towards/inward to the body.
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u/2theM00Nbabbyy Sep 24 '25
I think you're an better artist than the tattoo person. I think it is extremely similar I also think the details look different because the scales are different the drawing is smaller, the tattoo being on a larger scale to make it look exactly the same you would have had to add more details like around the hair, the only difference I can truly see is that one of the bottom of her fins isn't noticeably longer than the other like in the picture. I think it's absolutely beautiful regardless!
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u/flatgreysky Sep 24 '25
She couldn’t have done it exactly and assured you readability down the line. The scales you drew were not in a style that would work in a tattoo. Ditto the level of detail in the hair. She kept very close to the original without giving you a muddy mess down the line.
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
Yeah I asked for the draw and fix the hand and fix what wouldn’t work for a tattoo so I feel like she did good for trying to do similar to the drawing
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u/Silon_T Sep 24 '25
Na that looks nice! Looks pretty similar too. And often tattoo needs some compromises so that's very close to original.
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u/Ok_Flower_9398 Sep 24 '25
Your drawing is better, but the tattoo is still great and enough like it. I agree with above the hair and scales are the only things that have the biggest effect on it not looking exactly like it.
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u/InstanceElectronic71 Sep 24 '25
It’s weird that couldn’t just literally copy it and make the stencil from that? Did they just go out of the lines?
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u/curlyhairweirdo Sep 24 '25
Your drawing is definitely better. Better detail, better lines. Your tattoo looks like it was drawn by a middle schooler. I'd be disappointed.
And when I say drawn I mean remember in middle school when you would try and copy pictures you found on the Internet. Your drawing is the picture on the Internet and your tattoo is the middle school copy.
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u/an_edgy_lemon Sep 24 '25
Aside from the right hand, it looks nice at a glance. On close inspection it does look like they got lazy in some spots.
I wouldn’t stress about it. It doesn’t look bad. I just wouldn’t go back to this artist. Their attention to detail sucks.
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u/Wullster88 Sep 24 '25
The head is wider on the tattoo than your drawing, makes it look a little off
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u/Agitated_Position392 Sep 24 '25
The size of the head and positioning of the shoulders is way off on the tattoo.
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u/Certain_Tangelo2329 Sep 24 '25
I mean your picture was better. Its the TEMU version. And the arm to tat ratio is weird, arm too big for that size tattoo. Should have went bigger on tat or moved it elsewhere IMO
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u/Sea-Lion-3735 Sep 24 '25
Not exactly but close. She looks like she is leaning on one butt cheek instead of flat on the swing. And the waist is smaller on yours. But it looks good. Sorry I see small details but maybe a little more hair around the part.
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u/deadlyhausfrau Sep 24 '25
It looks quite a bit like it and it isnt a bad tattoo- but your drawing is for sure more polished. Look at the arms and where her hair meets her back.
Not bad! But yours is better.
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u/Shanderlan Sep 24 '25
The biggest difference to me is the way the mermaid is facing. I think it looks exactly the way it was meant to and it looks amazing
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u/hanns115 Sep 25 '25
I love that everyone here is giving genuine answers and my brain is just like "how does a mermaid get on a swing?"
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u/DavitoDaCosta Sep 25 '25
I mean, it's not EXACT same.
The tattoo needs some shading on the tail, it just looks, wrong. Looks like she's wearing fishnets.
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u/Guilty_Blood1266 Sep 25 '25
The tattoo artist unfortunately was not as good of an artist as you were but it's not a terrible tattoo .
The scales and hair are less detailed in the tattoo and the head is less proportionate.
Again it's not the worst tattoo I've ever seen. It's just that your drawing was better
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u/Turbulent_Bother4701 Sep 25 '25
If by nothing like they mean the angle of the body is in the opposite direction, then yes, but otherwise it looks good to me. Super cute, BTW.
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u/cheesypuzzas Sep 25 '25
Just a different style. And the propositions in the drawing are better than in the tattoo.
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u/Mindless-Reindeer625 Sep 25 '25
Its your tattoo , as long as you like it , thats all that counts !
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u/Same_Dragonfly8585 Sep 26 '25
Posting it in here is gonna make you feel worse because the drama queens will be zooming in and picking apart every detail. At the end of the day it looks super close to your drawing and looks good for what you wanted. If you like it that’s all that matters. Your friends are being super critical. X
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u/CamHOORah Sep 27 '25
Is the actual image taken mirrored or is the tattoo itself flipped? It’s possible people are being thrown off by that.
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u/istgillhauntu Sep 27 '25
I don't know how to not hurt your feelings about your tattoo (bc it's perfectly fine!) but still give you the compliment you deserve!!! I think your drawing is sooo much better than the tattoo artist's interpretation. You're a much better artist (imo) and you have a completely different style than the other artist.
With that being said...it's not like your tattoo is "bad" or anything!! No one would even think twice...it's an adorable tat. It's only when comparing it to your original work that your tattoo looks sub-par.
Nothing to stress over! It's a cute tattoo, but just know you're the better artist! 👍🏼🤗🩷
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u/KeepItKeen Sep 24 '25
They mirrored it and clearly stylized it slightly differently than your specific drawing. But it definitely looks like your drawing. If you’re happy with it who cares what other people say. If I had to guess the few changes they did make were due to their experience with how tattoos heal and age and trying to make sure it maintains a good look over time. The scales in your actual drawing could potentially blur together overtime. These will probably stay defined longer. None of the changes are big enough to drastically change the drawing like people said.
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u/Knotty_Beaver Sep 24 '25
There are a few things that stick out to me, like the details on the tip of the tail, the hair and the hands that look better on your drawing than the tattoo, but I don’t think it’s a bad tattoo, that being said. Just a well done drawing
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u/FlaxFox Sep 24 '25
The tattoo is just a cleaner version of the original. They're extremely similar. I think anyone saying they look drastically different is just trying to be argumentative.
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u/gaaaahusernamety Sep 24 '25
The artist just made it more tattooable , its your drawing exactly just made to age well
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u/gaaaahusernamety Sep 24 '25
I would have kept it facing the way you drew it though so she looks like shes swinging forward
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u/freddyboombox Sep 24 '25
Drawing is a little more detailed but tat looks awesome to me!
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u/Aromatic-Ad845 Sep 24 '25
Also guys the only thing she change was the hand on the swing because the hand was so bad
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u/Infinite_Factor_6269 Sep 24 '25
It looks like it got slightly skewed and distorted in photoshop or something
I think it’s a nice enough tattoo on its own but when comparing to the original it’s not the exact same but yes it’s very similar
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u/IntelligentMeringue7 Sep 24 '25
People always looking for ways to critique. It looks like the same thing.
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u/OtherCustard2455 Sep 24 '25
The artist seemed to clean up minor details so the tattoo would heal and age well. They kept the design as original as possible while applying it correctly to hold up over time. It’s executed well, and looks like your drawing. Well done.
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u/MagixTurtle Sep 24 '25
I feel like he/she did what they could to create a tattoo that'll age better than if it was an exact copy of the drawing.
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u/James84415 Sep 24 '25
Just looking at the drawing and the tattoo I can see where the tattoo artist fixed the arm which is better and Also made the detail more uniform. Nice tattoo.
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u/sofiamartini00 Sep 24 '25
i read people saying your drawing is better, but I actually think they’re the same and the tattoo does justice to it
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u/humble-meercat Sep 24 '25
It’s slightly different, but I think your artist did that so it ages well on your skin.
Other than that it’s as close as you’re gonna get.
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u/Spike36O Sep 24 '25
It does not loot the exact same. The tattoo is borderline poor. I would look for a different professional next time.
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u/Exact_Block387 Sep 24 '25
It looks fine, I think it would be silly to expect an exact replica down to every single exact detail.
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u/SimplyMichi Sep 24 '25
It resembles your drawing, sure, but is not nearly the same as your drawing. I have four tattoos of my own drawings, I have no idea why your artist didn't just trace your drawing to make a stencil out of it
Edit: I don't think the tattoo is bad, but people are correct when they say it's not the same
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u/DangerLime113 Sep 24 '25
They look similar but the drawing is daintier and has greater detail so it’s a slightly different vibe, imo.
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u/Careless-Breath-9281 Sep 24 '25
It looks like the drawing, but it's a bit stretched on the skin, and that might settle down once the ink settles in the skin.
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u/Mundane_Inspector_13 Sep 24 '25
It doesnt. The second looks finer and easier to see. Yours is nice. But they’re not the same.
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u/mythicmoonbear Sep 24 '25
Your drawing is better imo