Aaron Carter’s Face Tattoo Artist Advised Against Him Getting It

Fans are not the only ones questioning Aaron Carter‘s fresh face tattoo. According to TMZ, before the “Sooner Or Later” singer even sat down on the chair to get his new ink, his tattoo artist, Herchell Carrasco, tried to talk him out of it and managed to dissuade him from covering his entire face with ink.

According to Carrasco, who goes by RockRollG, he booked a session with Carter at his home on Friday, Sept. 27 for $3,000 under the impression that he would only be adding to his collection of torso tattoos. However, when Carrasco arrived at the star’s home, Carter unveiled his plans for a Medusa-inspired face tattoo, an idea that Carrasco says quickly “snowballed.”

After Carter expressed his desire to have the tattoo centered on the middle of his face, Carrasco managed to talk him into instead placing it on the side of his face after he failed to talk him out of the idea all together. Carter also requested the word “Love” be tattooed under his eye, explaining that “that’s his brand right now,” and Carrasco added a a crescent moon tattoo on the other side of Carter’s face before calling it quits.

“[Carter] wanted to keep going and I had to stop him. I couldn’t cover his whole face in a tattoo. I just couldn’t,” he told TMZ, explaining that they drew inspiration for the face tattoo from Rihanna’s 2013 Medusa-inspired cover photo for GQ magazine.

Although the magazine cover was simply meant as a stencil for the tattoo, Carter insisted that it be the actual tattoo.

While the tattoo has certainly sparked concern given recent reports that Carter’s mental health is spiraling, Carrasco assured the outlet that the singer seemed to be of sound mind and shut down rumors that he had been using drugs, stating that he had only seen him smoking cigarettes and weed throughout the day.

“Before I tattoo anyone, I take into consideration their mental state … in Aaron’s case, I assessed the situation and I genuinely felt he was in a good place mentally to get tattooed,” he said, adding that Carter “was in a good state of mind.”

The gig earned Carrasco plenty of cash, with Carter paying him a total of $5,000, $2,000 more than what they had initially agreed on.

Carter, currently locked in a tense feud with his siblings Nick Carter and Angel Carter, who allege he threatened their lives, debuted the fresh ink on Sept. 28, drawing mixed reactions from fans. Carter, however, seems to have largely ignored the feedback, and has continued to share images to social media of the new ink.