Tattoo Selection

MayDay10

I really want a tattoo. I already have a small-ish one on the side of me left shoulder. I really want a bigger one to cover my right shoulder and I have wanted it for years. I just havent been able to settle on a design.

How do I figure out what I should get? It seems like whenever I start looking there is just too many choices... and it seems cheesy to get something off of someone else's tat picture.

I would like some kind of Celtic symbol, with the ability to work in certain hidden "Easter Eggs" to encompass some of my interests and certain things that are important to me (I dunno if thats even possible). Now I am not that artistically talented, but I still have a little ability.


Anyone have any good or boring stories on how they came about settling on a final tattoo design?

RP268314

Find a good artist at a reputable shop and talk to him/her. If they give you smack for these types of comments, screw 'em and find a different one. I roughed out my tattoo (mentally and on a blank sheet of paper) and did just that. I found a guy willing to talk to me when he had some slow time. He finished the design for me and then called me in to see if it fit my vision for what I was thinking. It did. He inked it. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Given to...

Sounds like you *almost* answered your own question.

You know where you are headed, just not the best path. My best experiences have been to get a bunch of designs you are thinking of, make your own interpretation, and leave them all over the place... where you just happen to notice them once in awhile (coffee table, night stand, etc). The moment one makes you sick of seeing it, chuck it! Process of elimination. The best ideas seem to stick around the longest.

Poor Mad Sailor

I agree with both of the above...I am in the process of working on the design for my first tattoo. It already looks very different to my initial vision. I am taking my time to really think about what I want the tattoo to represent, that it is something that I will want to have with me forever and also that wherever I have it, it's going to look right regardless off the angle.

I guess what I am really saying is take the time to let the design develop organically as any amount of time now is short compared to FOREVER. Take time to do lots of research too, especially when looking up symbols etc as it pays well to ensure that they do really mean what you think they mean and also that they have not been adopted by any organisations/movements that you do not agree with or want to be associated with.

Hitch-Hiker

Poor Mad Sailor wrote:

I agree with both of the above...I am in the process of working on the design for my first tattoo. It already looks very different to my initial vision. I am taking my time to really think about what I want the tattoo to represent, that it is something that I will want to have with me forever and also that wherever I have it, it's going to look right regardless off the angle.

I guess what I am really saying is take the time to let the design develop organically as any amount of time now is short compared to FOREVER. Take time to do lots of research too, especially when looking up symbols etc as it pays well to ensure that they do really mean what you think they mean and also that they have not been adopted by any organisations/movements that you do not agree with or want to be associated with.

That part is very true. When I was in the US I saw and spoke to a lot of people with 4-leaf clover tattoos believing it to be an Irish symbol. How wrong they were. That's just one example though. The meaning of 1000s of symbols can be misinterpreted very easily.

Everything RP268314 is true too. I'd say your best bet is to talk to the artists in the parlours. lay out your ideas for them and let them play with it a little. You're almost guaranteed good results then.