Of Zen and Tattoos

So, you’ve already decided on what you want to get, and where on your body you want it.

You’ve taken into account how big the design is, how much detail it has, where on your body it would look the best, and you have even picked out all of the colors you want. So, the next thing to do is to find a reputable tattoo studio to get inked at!

Here are some things to consider:

1. Different states have different health laws. In Kentucky where I live, your tattoo studio does not have to be state certified. Now, just because a studio isn’t state certified, that doesn’t make it a bad place right off the bat, but state certification is rather strict. If a studio is state certified, then you know that you are in a clean environment with an owner that cares about the health and well being of their customers.
2. Smoking in a studio is not good for your tattoo. It is not practicing good hygiene where there is so much contact between the cigarettes, your fingers, and your mouth. Just think of a tattoo artist that is getting ready to puncture your skin with a lot of tiny holes, setting ink permanently in your dermis, smoking and touching their mouths. Would you let them lick you after they finished the tattooing process? That’s basically what you are getting if they aren’t practicing proper hygiene.
3. Make sure that when you go to get the tattoo, that the shop you go to knows exactly what you want and that they don’t try to change anything about your tattoo if you are dead set on what you want.
4. When they go to give you the tattoo, make sure that all the needles and disposable equipment that they are going to use it pre-packaged and individually wrapped. All of my needles and tubes are disposable, and I wait until the customer can see me open them before I do so. It gives the customer the assurance that everything is sterile and has never been used before.
5. You may even want to go into various studios prior to choosing one just to see what kind of environment it is, and how the artists act. If they seem to get distracted rather easily, then its probably not a good idea to go there. When I tattoo, I am a very focused person, and not much can distract me at all. Some artists prefer to talk to the customer while tattooing them to make them feel more relaxed and not have to concentrate on the pain so much.
6. Ask to view the artists portfolios! This will give you an idea of the skill level of the artist that is going to tattoo you.
7. If you go somewhere and you want a specific artist to tattoo you, don’t let the studio try to make someone else tattoo you. If the person you want is busy, ask to make an appointment. If you don’t really care who does it and you know you are in a shop where all of the artists are almost equally skilled, then go ahead, but stick to your guns when you want someone specific.

I think that about wraps it up for what to consider about the shop you go to. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!

Choosing the right tattoo for you.

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing your first tattoo. Hopefully drugs/alcohol isn’t going to be one of the factors for you, but it definitely isn’t unheard of. Just don’t go bitching to any one when you are sober and see what you have done to yourself.

So here is a list of things to think about when choosing your first tattoo:

1. Custom vs. Flash Design
2. Location on the body.
3. Size
4. Style
5. Amount of Detail.
6. Tattoo Stigmas

Custom Artwork vs. Flash Designs

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and get some artwork that is truly permanent, but you can’t decide what to get. This happens a lot for first timers, because a lot of the time they are in the mentality that tattoos are NOT addictive, and that this “Will be my first and last tattoo.” In most cases, that is WRONG!

I was 20 years old when I decided to get my first tattoo, and I had no clue what I wanted to get. All I knew is that day was going to be the first of many. So, I went down to a local tattoo shop, and browsed all of the flash art on the walls until I found something that just caught my eye. So, I got a price ready, and got inked up. The only thing is, I got 2 tattoos instead of one.

Now there are good aspects to my method of getting my first tattoos, but there are also some other things you may want to think about.

I will go ahead and list the pros and cons of each.

Flash Designs Pros:

1. If you don’t have a very good imagination, sometimes it can be hard to get your ideas across to the artist, and end up with something a little different that what you had planned out in your head. If you choose something that is already drawn up and ready to go, you don’t have to worry about getting any ideas across. You just have to say, “I want this, right here, this size…” and the artist should be able to do exactly what you want.
2. If you are just plain indecisive of what you want, you can just look around and wait until that special design catches your eye, and you know you have to get it!
3. You can make changes to them. If you want some colors to be different, or you want to manipulate them, you can!

Flash Design Cons:

1. The designs you are looking at on the walls are probably also on the walls of many other tattoo shops. So there is always a chance that someone else has the exact same design as you.
2. A lot of the time when people have tattoos that they regret getting, they are flash designs. Mainly because most of the time they lack that personal touch.

Original Artwork Pros:

1. They’re ORIGINAL! Hahaha. That should be the biggest pro about them! Its obviously still possible that someone else might have the same design on them, but its EXTREMELY unlikely!
2. They normally carry a lot of meaning with them. When you see a tattoo on someone that is something you’ve never seen before, more often than not there is a story behind the tattoo.
3. You can bring in your own original artwork and have it tattooed on you. That way, not only do you have something that nobody else will have, but YOU created it!
4. Some artists will give you a discount if you bring in your own artwork. Be careful though, because some of those same artists could keep that artwork and claim it as their own. No respectable artist would do this, but it does happen! So be careful!

Original Artwork Cons:

1. A lot of the time, custom work isn’t something that can just be drawn up on the spot. So if you want a tattoo, and you want it now, then custom art probably isn’t going to be your thing. But then again… its usually not a good idea to make hasty decisions when getting your first tattoo.
2. Sometimes, not all of the detail in original artwork will transfer over. If you draw up something too detailed, it can only be tattooed so small before everything blends together and looks like a horrible blob of ink. Think of a monkey throwing shit on your arm… that’s what it will look like over time.
3. If you are having an artist draw up your design, sometimes it can be hard to get your ideas across to them, so most of the time, the design they come up with won’t be exactly what you had in mind, but they can always make the alterations you want to get a design you will be proud of for the rest of your life.

Location on the body

So you’ve chosen the design you want, but you don’t know where to put it. Here is what you want to consider when choosing where on your body to get your first tattoo:

1. Coverability
2. Pain
3. Personal or not?

Coverability:

For a lot of people and professions, tattoos are still not a generally acceptable form of art. Many places won’t even hire you if you have visible tattoos. Now this is changing, not rapidly, but still society is becoming a little more accepting of tattoos. If you work at a place where they aren’t very accepting of tattoos, you may want to get yours somewhere on your body that can be easily covered.

If you aren’t sure how your profession deals with tattooed individuals, you may want to look around and see if any other employees have any visible ink. If this doesn’t tell you much, just ask your boss. They should be able to tell you whether or not they can be visible, and if they don’t know, then they should be able to direct you to someone who can tell you.

Not only do you want to think about your current job, you also want to think about any future jobs. What would you do if you lost your job, which was very accepting of your tattoos, and had to find another one? First impressions mean a lot when trying to get a new job, and even though your previous employer knew that you are an outstanding worker, and are worth being hired despite your image, any possible future employers are going to have to be able to either accept your ink, or look past it because of your abilities, which is VERY hard to convince them to do unless you have an outstanding resume, or they just don’t give a shit. I will go more into tattoos and careers in a later article, but I think you get the point.

Pain:

“Do they hurt?” has got to be the single most asked question in regards to getting tattooed. Now, a lot of people will probably disagree with me on this, but my answer is YES! They HURT! Now… that doesn’t mean that every tattoo is going to be the most painful experience of your entire life. They do all hurt, its just a matter of how much. Most tattoos don’t really hurt all that bad. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being a pinch and 10 being getting shot… I would say between a 2 and a 3. This is dependant of a lot of things, but for now we are just going to go over the differences in amount of pain for different parts of the body.

Now, every person is different, so some places may hurt more on some people than others. Basically, the places that are going to hurt most are the boney places, and the places where the skin is the thinnest. Also, any place where you are ticklish is usually either going to hurt really bad, or cause you to jump and twitch when you are being tattooed.

A lot of people can sit and get tattooed in the most painful locations, and not move at all. It does depend a lot on the person and their individual pain tolerance, but here are some of the most painful spots on your body to get tattooed:

• Ribs
• Spine
• Knuckles
• Feet
• Inside of your joints, ie. elbow, knee.

Personal Tattoos

A lot of people believe that a tattoo should be personal, and if it really is personal then it shouldn’t be something that is visible to the world. Other people believe a good tattoo shouldn’t be hidden, but rather viewable for all to appreciate.

This really just depends on your own personal opinion, but its definitely something to think about.

Personally, I am proud to show off every tattoo on my body, and most of them are plainly visible, but then again, I am a tattoo artist… so its not really a problem.

Size

Once you have your design picked out, you need to determine how big you want it. Most of the time, the bigger the design, the more money its going to cost, but sometimes going too small can also raise the price a bit. When you have a lot of detail in a tattoo, you need to keep in mind that the smaller you make that image, the more smooshed together all of the detail will be. Over time, those tiny details will blur a little bit, but even the smallest amount of blurring will make a huge difference if all of the line work is really intricate and close together.

Style

There are so many styles of tattoos, each with their own meanings, that I don’t want to try to go over all of them here. Some of the main styles of tattoos include the following:

• Tribal
• Asian
• Old School
• New School
• Realistic

Amount of Detail

This goes hand in hand with the size of the tattoo. The more intricate tattoos will not only take a lot longer to do (depending on the artist who does it), they will also make a difference in the price of the tattoo. Some shops will price tattoos by the hour, while others will price by the piece. We price by the piece, mainly because our artists are at different skill levels, so one of us could do a tattoo in one hour that would take twice as long for someone else. Remember the whole monkey shit on the arm thing when you are thinking about the amount of detail you want.

Tattoo Stigmas

I am sure people have heard of the term “tramp stamp”. I will go more into detail about Tattoo Stigmas in a later post.

I think that about covers the process of deciding what tattoo to get. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!

In the next few posts I am going to do a series on getting your first tattoo. I will be covering the following:

• Choosing where on your body to get your first tattoo.
• What you need to consider when choosing the tattoo itself.
• Choosing your tattooist.
• Pain tolerance.
• Aftercare

When diving in headfirst to the experience, it is definitely best to know what you are getting yourself into. You wouldn’t dive off of a diving board without first knowing there was water in the pool would you? I am going to guide you through the process so that you don’t end up with something you are ashamed of, but rather a work of art you will be proud to show off for the rest of your life.

**Edit - If there is anything in particular you would like to know about getting your first tattoo, please let me know in the comments!**