Originally Posted by Tipsy

Sorry but that's total bollocks. It's a very long way from being 'normal'. The problem is one of two things - either he's picked the scabs or the needle didn't go deep enough. A good, experienced artist will get the ink deep enough nearly every time. Of course the trick is to then not go too deep so that the colour starts to spread, but again that comes down to experience. A good artist will have that experience and very, very rarely have the problem of patchy colour or lines.

Remind me not to use your friend who owns two shops. In the 5 years I spent both working in a tattoo shop and tattooing people myself I can count the amount that needed a tattoo touching up afterwards on one hand, from the thousands done.