Tattoos - Finding the Right Tattoo

Whether you are getting your first tattoo or already have half your body covered with tattoos I am sure you will find some valuable information here. As a tattoo addict and someone who spends most of his waking hours coming up with tattoo ideas I would like to share some of what I have learnt over the years.

I have spent a great deal of time amongst tattoo artists in tattoo studios around the world and have encountered a wide variety of different people coming through the doors of the tattoo studio to permanently mark their bodies. Many times I have questioned why it is so many people go under the gun to get inked.

People get tattoos for lots of different reasons. Some people simply because they love them and think they look good or enhance their appearance, others to be a part of a 'tribe' or group, while others to mark a significant event in their lives such as a bereavement or to express love for another person. You could say that there are as many reasons for getting tattooed as there are human experiences. Because of the uniqueness of each persons life journey no two reasons are ever the same.

In these situations the person wanting a tattoo has probably put a great deal of thought into the tattoo and perhaps the tattoo itself will have some kind of psychological meaning; for example when someone gets a portrait tattoo of a loved one who has recently died that psychologically they want to keep close to them for the rest of their lives. Or maybe a person has been jilted by a spurned lover and wants a tattoo of a broken heart or caged bird to signify their loss.

Human beings have being modifying their bodies with ink and steel for many thousands of years. Many people see tattoos and body modification as a spiritual practice. Before the advent of modern pain management, pain was seen as a natural part of life carrying a variety of spiritual and social meanings. But as time rolled on we began to deny the very existence of anything beyond our physical bodies.

As a result many people without tattoos cannot see past the image etched onto the persons body to the deeper meaning or symbolism behind the tattoo. It can often cause a wide variety of reactions in the 'uninitiated' from mild ctriosity to extreme disturbance resulting in fear and mistrust of the person. Tattoos by their very nature cause a reaction especially on those who do not have them.

This begs the question on why anyone would want to get a tattoo without considering the wider implications and deeper meaning behind the tattoo. So many people wander into a tattoo studio and have no idea why they want to get a tattoo other than seeing their favorite rap artist or basketball player and thinking it looked cool. So they waste the tattoo artists time by saying they want a Nike swoosh on their butt or a tattoo the size of a button on their back. Many tattoo artists will just put up and shut up because they see this as 'bread and butter' work.

The implications of this are two-fold. Firstly the person is left with a really 'dumb' tattoo that most likely will be regretted at some stage in their life. This can lead to many years of regret perhaps leading the person to be forced to cover up their bodies as a result. Ot it can result in many hours of painful tattoo removal costing ten times as much as the original tattoo.

Secondly getting a tattoo without due consideration can often lead to a badly placed tattoo or badly thought out tattoo design. The results of this are obvious but this is the number one reason why people get tattoo removal in worst case scenarios or tattoo cover-ups. Some tattoo artists are becoming renowned for their cover-up work as they are for their actual artistic skill. Yet people do not realise the placement of a small unambiguous tattoo may have later on if they want to get another tattoo or the social restrictions it may bring.

Finally before getting tattooed (either for the first time or the twentieth!) is important to deeply consider the design as well as the placement of the tattoo and how it may interact with other tattoos further down the track. Many people have gotten tribal armbands (when they were cool!) and later decided that tribal tattoos carry no meaning to them and that traditional style tattoos or celtic tattoos may have been more suitable. I myself have been guilty of this and as a result had a poorly thought out tattoo covered up.

Tattoo Designs, Tattoos, Tribal Tattoos. Choosing Your Tattoo Design Has Never Been Easier

 Tattoo Designs 

are something you need to think about seriously. Do not make one of the most important decisions of your life an embarrassing mistake. Your choice on tattoo designs, which will be permanently inked into your skin, has to be some sort of tattoo designs that YOU are comfortable with, one that truly rocks and makes heads turn in awe.

It can be difficult making that important decision on tattoo designs. It is something you do not want to rush then regret later on.

What you need to know about tattoo designs is that in this day and age tattoos are very common, in fact a study done in 2006 by the American Academy of Dermatology, estimated that roughly 1 in 4 people between the ages of 18 and 50 had at least one to two tattoo designs. Even with tattoos being so common, many people do not know much about them. Tattoos are sometimes still considered odd, questionable and even taboo. 

Tattoo Designs 

are patterns, pictures or markings made by dye inserted into the pores of the skin by perforating the skin with immense caution. People in the Tattoos industry refer to them as tats, work, ink or art. In scientific terms, tattooing is actually micro-pigment implantation.

Globally this type of art practice is gaining approval and many mainstream art and design galleries hold expos of tattoo designs and tattoo pictures. The popular name for tattoo designs is Flash.

Tattoo Designs 

more often than not reflect the personality of the person wearing them and so they should, they are on your body. Often people search for the tattoos they want in the actual parlor for something that will suit them. It would be hard to choose your tattoo designs from only what is on display in the chosen tattoos parlor. You should do extensive research on tattoo designs first. I have found numerous sites online that offer a plethora of tattoos, tattoo designs, tribal tattoos, pictures and information. The time it took to find as much information and ideas that I could was massive, but worth it in the end as we can be very specific to what we want when deciding on tattoo designs and location to place the tattoos.

Weather it be an extreme concern for your cultural roots or something of significant importance to you, the tattoo designs that you choose will be one of the most important decisions of your life.

I have heard countless horror stories of bad decisions related to tattoo designs. People excited to rush out and get those 'Perfect' tattoos that they saw on their favorite celebrity like Britney Spears, Alyssa Milano, David Beckham or Robbie Williams. Or even seeing some tribal tattoos in a movie like Blade, only to realize after coming out of the parlor that the tattoo designs just do not suit them, or wasn't what they expected. The fact then hits that they are stuck with those tattoo designs for the rest of their lives.

Their problem was a lack of research in tattoo designs and tattoos in general, because the excitement of actually getting some tattoos finally, blurred their judgment and made them hasty to rush out and get those tattoo designs that they saw or thought up and then trying to describe it to the artist. Definitely not the smartest thing to do.

Also the location of your tattoos is key. You must consider some things when thinking of the location of your tattoos. Will others see it easily? Do I want my tattoos to be easily seen by others? Do I want my tattoos in more of a private place so only those close to me would be able to view them? Which body parts hurt more than others? Generally, places that have thinner skin tend to hurt more. These places include, but are not limited to, due to differences in all of our bodies, the ankles, head and the lower back.

Less painful places include the upper arm, back of the shoulder and the chest. And it also depends on your pain threshold when getting tattoos on how bad it will actually hurt.

I bet you have heard of or been with some people who just rock up to the tattoo parlor, look through the tattoo designs in the books and all the pictures of tattoos on the walls, pick something that looks cool and jump right into the chair to get what should be meaningful tattoo designs inked into their skin. They either want to go the extremely cheap option and choose simple tattoos, (more common tattoo designs are generally less expensive and take less time) or they have just been out on a heavy night on the Britney Spears - (Beers) and just stumbled into the parlor, only to wake up in the morning wondering why they have a Superman tattoo pic on their butt.

 Tribal Tattoos