Legal issues and tattoo designs?

Most people would be really flattered for you to use their design. I did something similar on complete accident. I found an image of two dragons in a heart via some fanpop.com page. I loved the idea. it was 100% perfect for what I was looking for. A few weeks after I got the tattoo (with obvious slight alternations and different colors, etc.) I did some more research on similar tattoos and found the actual deviant art page with the creators upload there. I was actually kind of pissed I didn't find it earlier... lol. I just left a comment linking back to the picture of my tattoo I posted, and put a link on my DA picture to the original artists artwork. Other than that, I'm not sure there's much they CAN do. I don't hear much of lawsuits in regards to artwork... unless it's music. Just explain your situation and I'm sure the artist will be flattered you even bothered notifying them. If it were me, I'd be peeved someone didn't own up to their mistake. (: