When you decide you want a tattoo, you have a lot of choices. Since your tattoo will be with you for life, you probably want to take time to choose the design. In a previous post, I talked about the various types of tattoo designs. That’s a good place to start. Be careful about using “tattoo selectors” and quizzes online as they usually ask for your cell phone number and other personal information for marketing purposes. Some require that you subscribe to a dating site or other service before you get your results. You are better off looking at one of the thousands of websites with tattoo designs to help you decide.
Tattoo salons will display galleries or have books of their art.
Some questions you should ask yourself include:
1. Why do you want a tattoo? Do you want to make a statement, memorialize someone, show off a hobby, sport or other passion, show your patriotism or religious beliefs?
2. Do you like animals, tribal symbols, fantasy images, flowers, hearts, skulls, crosses, zodiac signs, etc.?
3. Do you want a colorful image, black and white, or a saying?
4. Where do you want to place your tattoo?
5. How big do you want it to be?
6 Do you want it to show all the time, or be able to cover it up with clothing?
Once you have narrowed down your choices, you can find samples online at any number of tattoo finder image galleries such as Tattoofinder.com. Because these images are copyrighted, you have to pay a fee to print them out you to resize designs and print them out to take to a salon. The average price is $15-20 per design. You can also go to Google Images and enter “tattoo designs” to get free ideas. Print out a few tattoos you like. Cut them out and place them where you are thinking about being tattooed. You will probably want to have your tattoo artist modify the design a bit. When you learn how to become a tattoo artist, you learn how to modify art and customize it to fit your client’s personality.
Take your design to an artist you trust and see what advice they have for you. They will also be able to give you an idea of cost and how long the process will take for that particular tattoo. You can also “try it on” by getting a henna tattoo that will last anywhere from one to four weeks.
Here are some words of advice from professional tattoo artists:
- Be careful about getting a tattoo with any names or wording. You may love “Bob” today, but in 20 years… you never know! Names of children and parents are about the only “safe” choices.
- Think about the design and it’s placement in 10, 20, 40 years. You might want to avoid a design that will stretch or sag as you age.
- Listen to your tattoo artist. He or she is an expert and knows what works and what doesn’t.
Tags: choosing a tattoo, tattoo advice, tattoo designs
