“ I got a tattoo but the artist didn’t post it afterwards. ”
There are many factors that may affect whether your artist posts pictures of your tattoo after your appointment. It’s tempting to take it personally and think that your artist hates the piece they did for you - but don’t fret! Usually there’s a reasonable explanation and we’re here to tell you some of them!
The pictures didn’t come out right
The simplest reason your artist may have not posted your tattoo, is that the photos they took didn’t come out very good. Maybe the pictures came out blurry or unfocused, or there was a glare on the skin that made it hard to see the tattoo. Artists usually take photos at the end of your session and it’s hard to get the perfect one that showcases the piece exactly how they want. This can especially be the case with placements where the tattoo wraps around the body, as it’s harder to find the best angle for the photo.
They have lots of examples of this type of design
A tattoo artist’s Instagram doubles as their portfolio. They use it to showcase the kind of work they do and would like to do more of. If they’ve done a lot of designs that are similar to your piece, they may choose to not post it in order to display different designs. When they post a variety of styles or designs, it means the requests they get contain more variety, which helps keep their creativity going and stops things feeling too repetitive.
As an artist, usually you’ll only get requests for the type of work you post - so if you’re only posting one kind of design you’ll continue to only do that one design as people will assume it’s all you do. It doesn’t mean they hate your tattoo, it's just a method of marketing!
They have too many photos to post
Some artists will do so many tattoos in a week that it would just be impossible to post every single one! They do so many pieces and before they know it, time has passed and they just never got around to posting your piece. Some artists might keep certain photos as a backlog so that they have photos to post if they have extended time off.
