Tattoos are a great way to tell a story or showcase great art, all using the human body as a canvas.
There's a reason that tattoos have been seen on skin for thousands of years: they're a meaningful way to communicate a message. But even with more and more younger people opting to get tattoos, this doesn't mean that every tattoo is a good one. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but it's really hard to make a case for some of the tats we're about to see.
I'm not sure what's going on here. Is this some kind of angel that has a sword for some reason, or is it this guy's Dungeons & Dragons character? Why does his mouth look like that? I have at least a few questions.
Look, I get what this tattoo is going for: life is infinitely sad and all that. But this is something that would be better executed as a meme. I mean, aside from the questionable artistic value of this one, it's already a relic of the past. Google doesn't even use that font anymore.
Don't worry, this isn't a gory picture of a person with badly skinned knees. It's a picture of a person who decided to get tattoos of badly skinned knees for, uh, reasons. This would be a questionable tattoo even if it was done by the world's greatest artist.
These are the saddest tattoos, because you can see from the inspiration art that it would look really good if executed well. Unfortunately, it was executed, but not in a particularly good way.
It seems that one common pitfall that affects many tattoo artists, at least when they're depicting human faces, is overdoing it on the shading. Why does that face need so many lines in it?
Cranes — the bird kind — are a popular tattoo choice for good reason, as they're a particularly elegant kind of bird. Cranes — the construction kind — are less common. This design is pretty well executed, but I can't understand why anyone would want it.
Some tattoos are poorly executed. Other tattoos make no sense. Some tattoos combine both of these bad attributes into one truly awful piece of skin art. This tattoo never had a chance. Even if it was skillfully done, it would be a truly weird choice.
I don't hate this tattoo. The bunny is identifiable as a bunny, and the flowers are well executed and show off some nice vivid colors. But somehow, the overall effect is meh. It feels like an old set of flannel sheets or something.
Many tattoos are done as a tribute to someone, human or animal, who's very important to the person getting inked. It's a great idea in theory, but a bad artist can turn good memories into weird ones.
Look, it totally makes sense to fall for someone's eyes. They're probably the most expressive part of the body. Inking someone's eyes on you? I mean, sure, if you really like their eyes. I just have a few questions about getting eye tattoos this big and this bad.
Just about everybody can agree that Lego is awesome, so this tat of a Lego minifigure should be a real crowd pleaser. Somehow, though, the combination of size and scale on this makes for a vaguely unsettling tattoo.
I kind of admire this one. They could have gotten a cover-up that completely obliterated the old 'Megan' text, but instead, they're owning it. But since Megan is apparently no longer in favor, it's necessary to add the bit about Hollie, who I assume is cooler.
The other tattoos in this list might be bad, but at least it's easy enough to describe what they're going for. This one, though? I have no idea. I didn't know that a big squiggly mess extending from the shoulder to the cheek was a popular design.
I hope the artist was going for a so-bad-it's-good kind of vibe with this tat. It might be cute, and it might elicit some smiles here and there, but who would actually want a lizard wizard with this kind of facial expression on their skin?
Do you remember when you were in grade school and got to a level where you were kind of, but not really, good at art? This artist's work really reminds me of that period in my life.
I'm glad the caption on the image identifies this as Tupac. Without that little aid, I'd be vaguely certain, but not completely sure, that Tupac is the man who's depicted here. It's a rough look for sure.
I don't want to disparage tattoo artists, but some of them really shouldn't bother. This looks like it was done using a Sharpie after looking at the reference image for no more than thirty seconds.
The last tattoo looked like it was done using a Sharpie. This one looks more like it was done using glitter pens. I think it's supposed to show the planet Jupiter, but it might just be a tomato sauce stain.
Is this depicting a breakup with someone named, uh, StVe? I get the idea that the wearer came up with a high-concept idea to depict something in their life, but maybe the design is just a little too clever to come across well.
Inking on skin is a different thing than drawing on paper, but you'd still think that a tattoo artist would be able to accurately get the shape of a face right. Like, facial features aside, they could at least get the outline looking passable.
