General

[Levon12345]

ACHTUNG!: MAN NIPPLE!

If you want to make a tattoo artist happy, go big. What they do day in, day out is usually small crap that's not terribly interesting. So since you drew it yourself and sat on it for a while and still like it, keep it big enough to be interesting. It takes more time, costs more money but it's better than something that you can't tell what the hell it is from four feet away. Case in point:




Ow by the way.




Boy that blue looks washed out, see above picture for what it really looks like. This one also goes into my elbow ditch. Not that bad compared to the ribs/gooey bits.


Favorite so far, the artist nailed it.

Also, get used to people asking what your tattoos mean. And believe it or not, you don't need some shallow symbolism behind ink in your epidermis. I don't have a meaning for any of my tattoos but when I decided to get work done something usually came up that gave them meaning. I've got a ****ty india ink and sewing needle one from when I was fourteen (Keep it to yourselves, I don't have AIDS/Hep and I still love it 9 years later.) that a friend gave to me. I still laugh at all the stupid crap we used to do and I've got that as a reminder. Unlike what TLC tattoo shows might have told ya, you don't have to get a phoenix to symbolize your rebirth because you got a new car.

[StealingYerMail]

Is anyone here a teacher? I think I want to teach high school English. I am also debating going full-on and getting a PhD and being qualified to be an English Lit/narrative composition professor. Would a tattoo on my forearm (that I could cover up with long sleeves) affect a lot of employment opportunities? I plan on going to the local private school I went to and a local public school and actually asking the administration, as well as asking a couple of my professors. But if anyone has any life experience, that would be excellent to read about as well.

I am not second-guessing the tattoo, but after some more thought, I don't think I want it on my chest and don't think that this particular design would look good on my bicep or close to my shoulder and I want it somewhere where I can see it.

[paintballedbackin88]

I'm not a teacher, but I am a nurse. I'm exposed to many types of people, some don't mind tattoos while others associate full sleeve tattoos with convicts or gangsters. I've worked with patients and co-workers who thought I was a great nurse until they saw that I had full sleeves, then they suddenly changed their opinion of me, regardless of my performance or behavior. We have no control over how others will judge us based on appearance.

I always wear long sleeve rash guards under my scrubs to conceal my sleeves when I work in the hospital settings. It's very intimidating to little old ladies and family members when they see my ink before getting to know me. They think I may be capable of violence or abuse based on their personal sterotypes of heavily tattoo'd people.

You always run that risk when working with the public, so I suggest wearing your ink in locations where you have to option to be discreet when necessary, Your students may think you're cool, but that may not apply to other faculty or the parents of the students.

It really depends on the individual environment. I saw lots of heavily tattoo'd cops in Honolulu, HI, but I don't see that with the LAPD. Your mileage will vary.

[StealingYerMail]

It's a shame how quick people are to judge. I'm wondering if certain tattoos are "more acceptable" than others? Cearly a naked woman isn't too acceptable in most situations, but I wonder if it goes beyond that. I remember my 11th grade English teacher had several tattoos. She had a small one on her arm (I forgot of what), one on her back and two roses on the back of her neck. Obviously at some point during the school year, I saw them all so she wasn't discreet about them. She was a lesbian though, so she could probably say it was discrimination if she ever got in trouble with the administration or whatever. She was also one of the best and most inspirational teachers in the building.

[paintballedbackin88]

Well, my personal experience has shown that some people never even bother to look at the imagery or detail. My tattoos are of the angel Gabriel and a japanese phoenix as depicted by Katsushika Hokusai, a famous 18th century japanese artist.

The judgemental people never see the actual image, they just see a large area of ink and stop looking further. They look away when I try to make eye contact and some have actually gone out of their way to avoid me based on my tattoos. They are surprised to find that I can be articulate or that I am even a nurse. I'm supposed to be some kind of hard mofo based on having full sleeves.

Interestingly, I've been looked at hard by gangsters trying to determine what gang I was from. Once they saw that my images were not gang related they moved on.

In all honesty, that sort of behavior does me a favor anyway so that I can avoid those that judge a book by its cover. I doubt that I would want to know any more about their personal bias.

[jdbuckley]

Well from presonal exprience i can say the bold/black does not hurt, my first tattoo was at the top of my back, dead on my spine right at the hangman vertebre. and I about fell asleep while he was doing it. As far as the stencil/ drawing goes... take what you want done in and the artist will decide if it needs to be redrawn or what. Also research the artist/ place. This will be on you forever so you want to make sure that who ever is doing the work is real good (I ended up paying extra than what I planned just so i could have a certain person do mine, since he has won several international tattoo contest)
your whole exprience is going to be based off of your artist so that is just as important as what you are having done.

[LadyRAZRBAKK]

I thought the pain had to do with how much muscle or fat was behind the skin. Like a tattoo on your shin would hurt more than on your butt.

[StealingYerMail]

That's what I'm guessing. Anything directly on the bone seems like it would suck. I don't even like to be touched near my wrist bone of near my ankles.

I've decided on getting it on my lower arm, I want it somewhere where I can see it and I just don't want the needle near my nipple. I'm both nervous and excited.

[StJimmy666]

Originally Posted by StealingYerMail

That's what I'm guessing. Anything directly on the bone seems like it would suck. I don't even like to be touched near my wrist bone of near my ankles.

I've decided on getting it on my lower arm, I want it somewhere where I can see it and I just don't want the needle near my nipple. I'm both nervous and excited.

Just remember to breathe. Also, if you start involuntarily twitching, take a break. My muscles stopped cooperating after a while, and it screwed up a little bit of my ink. Getting it touched up SUCKS.

[StealingYerMail]

Realized I never put up a picture. I am very happy with the way it came out. The artist did a great job in my opinion, and also recommended that I get my first tattoo at a spot which I can keep covered with a tshirt and I'm very happy he suggested to do that.

The shading was the only part that came close to hurting. It's really weird because one line will literally tickle and the next will suck balls, but it's all very tolerable. It was extremely hard not to giggle when my endorphin high was in full swing. Even though he was working on my right arm, sometimes my left leg would start twitching. I started laughing several times, it was just awesome.


The experience was 100% kick ***. I will be getting another one after I've brainstormed and sat on some ideas for a while. I've decided that my entire body besides my neck, wrists and groin is fair game. It feels really cool and doesn't hurt except for a couple sensitive spots... I could see the neck or wrist hurting, but any fleshy part felt more cool than painful, except when he was really close to that big vein in my arm. I'm really low body fat though, and that might be why it didn't feel too hot. I found the entire experience extremely rewarding and almost meditative and therapeutic. I focused strictly on the pain and breathing and didn't talk much, and the way it cleared my head was absurdly refreshing.

Overall, I would say that this was one of the most rewarding and coolest things I have ever done.