Hi I just wondering what people’s views are on tribal tattoo’s. They have been out well over 10 years and it seems like there is no sign of it dying down any time soon.
I have a half sleeve of tribal on my left arm and although i love it, I dont really know what to say when people ask what it is and what does it mean. I’ve found the best answer is, technically it doesnt mean anything but it means everything to me. (if that makes sense)
Do you think Tribal is going to age well or do you think in years to come people who have them are going to be embarrassed to have them ?
It is one thing i worry about, and it would be a hard, if not impossible to cover it up in future if i dont like it in years to come.
Hi there!
I’m not a fan of tribal tattoos, but if it does it for you; go for it! =)
My bf got a tribal when he was 16 (24 now), and he dislikes it. But his thoughts on it is that he doesn’t regret it, as it reminds him of how he was back then. His tribal is too big to cover up, but he’s going to incorporate it into a fullsleeve biomech tattoo, so that it won’t be as noticeable =)
What i’m trying to say is that if you ever regret getting your tattoo done, a good tattoo artist will find a way to make it “less visible”.
Cheers!
Hi Eighty4.
My thoughts on tribal (just from my other posts I follow the belief it is just my opinion and shouldn’t matter to you).
I remember when the craze for tribal started and all my friends were like damn that will make me look cool/sexy/hard or just different. They rushed out and got themselves plastered with it.
To be honest I don’t like it – purely because I am selfish and want only custom jobs that are personal to me. 😉
On the other hand as body decoration even now in we are in our 30’s it looks fine. Not all tattoos have to be personal – if you want something that makes you feel good about yourself – get it (even if others don’t agree).
My only discouragement was them getting tribal (or any other tatts on hands and face) or something that is just going to get you in constant conflict with others.
Anybody can say in 50 years oh my tatts I wish I never.. – but I always say when I am old an wrinkly that my tatts mean I lived a little!
Matthew
personally im not a fan of tribal. i think mainly its because I see it everyday. I’m in the army and i’d say a massive majority of serving tattoo’d soldiers (well in my regiment anyway) have some form of tribal on them. i guess its just a ‘see it everyday begin to dislike/get bored with it’ attitude.
im sure if i wasn’t in this job that maybe might attitude to it would change however currently im with Sherav and prefer custom work.
just my 2 pence
I’m not a fan of it – just aesthetically it turns me off and I am bored of it and the lack of meaning to it – but that’s just me and I strongly feel that we should please ourselves, not others! I’m sure plenty of people hate my tattoos! On the plus side, I would imagine that most tribal designs will age relatively well – black (assuming it’s black) fades evenly and presumably there won’t be too much intricate detail, the tighter the detail the more it can blur (I have lots of writing on me lol, I’m screwed!), and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get touched up when it does inevitably start to deteriorate slightly over the years.
i personally dont really like tribal as such, i place it in the same catagory as stars….. i hate doing the bloody things just like lots of other tattooists, which probably means it will never die out.. 🙂
its like everyone else’s tattoo’s….. its a personal preference, and if you really like it then the decission is yours, dont worry about what other people say, its not something that is offensive or unsightly (dependant on location)
if it floats your boat then go for it :p
ps…. 84… i have seen your avatar done as a tattoo a few times and it looks awesome. not relevent to this topic but i thought i would share my thoughts lol…
I agree, as i’m getting older i find the lack of meaning a bit annoying. If i hadnt had my tats done when i had i know i wouldnt be going out and getting a tribal piece.
its like everyone else’s tattoo’s….. its a personal preference, and if you really like it then the decission is yours, dont worry about what other people say, its not something that is offensive or unsightly (dependant on location)
if it floats your boat then go for it :p
ps…. 84… i have seen your avatar done as a tattoo a few times and it looks awesome. not relevent to this topic but i thought i would share my thoughts lol…
lol @ stars. yeah they are really over done and i’m sure people just get them because all their mates have them.
about the avatar, H.R Giger is a great inspiration for tattoos but i wouldnt fancy an exact copy of one of his paintings or sculptures, i think that would be a bit tacky lol
My thoughts on tribal (just from my other posts I follow the belief it is just my opinion and shouldn’t matter to you).
I remember when the craze for tribal started and all my friends were like damn that will make me look cool/sexy/hard or just different. They rushed out and got themselves plastered with it.
To be honest I don’t like it – purely because I am selfish and want only custom jobs that are personal to me. 😉
On the other hand as body decoration even now in we are in our 30’s it looks fine. Not all tattoos have to be personal – if you want something that makes you feel good about yourself – get it (even if others don’t agree).
My only discouragement was them getting tribal (or any other tatts on hands and face) or something that is just going to get you in constant conflict with others.
Anybody can say in 50 years oh my tatts I wish I never.. – but I always say when I am old an wrinkly that my tatts mean I lived a little!
Matthew
im sure if i wasn’t in this job that maybe might attitude to it would change however currently im with Sherav and prefer custom work.
just my 2 pence
I consider the one i have as being custom cos it was designed for me, it wasnt one off a tattooists wall, but yeah i know what you mean. I love custom work more than anything.
One positive thing i can say about tribal though is that it doesnt belong to anyones culture, i dont really like to see people with maori or samoan tattoos lol i think its pretty sad, as do maori and samoans when they see some random white person with a sleeve done in their traditional style.
Does anyone get what i mean or is everyone a bit more open minded in that respect ?
One positive thing i can say about tribal though is that it doesnt belong to anyones culture, i dont really like to see people with maori or samoan tattoos lol i think its pretty sad, as do maori and samoans when they see some random white person with a sleeve done in their traditional style.
Does anyone get what i mean or is everyone a bit more open minded in that respect ?
I do alot of custom work and have designed tribal and maori tattoos for people, it means something to them and thats all that really matters i wreckon, i design flowers and chuck a bit of a tribal twist in sometimes, i like it
and theres so much you can do with it:D
One positive thing i can say about tribal though is that it doesnt belong to anyones culture, i dont really like to see people with maori or samoan tattoos lol i think its pretty sad, as do maori and samoans when they see some random white person with a sleeve done in their traditional style.
Does anyone get what i mean or is everyone a bit more open minded in that respect ?
Tribal tattoos originate from various tribes (celtic, maori, etc), the designs have moved on a bit but they have their roots in another culture. Does that make you sad? I wouldn’t go as far as saying that. So I think it’s fairly disrespectful for you to label everybody who has a particular different type of tattoo as sad – hating it is fine but when people have shown you the respect of saying even if they dislike your tattoo they encourage individuality etc then I think you’ve just painted yourself as a bit of a hypocrite. People can have whatever they like tattooed, that’s the point we were trying to make to you, so it’s irritated me that you can set yourself above others! Enough people have foreign language tattoos or tattoos influenced by a culture that is not theirs. What’s wrong with that? I’m getting a Latin tattoo soon but I’m not Latin, am I sad? What about all the people with nautical inspired tattoos that aren’t sailors? Or western people with Kanji or Chinese or whatever, non-Americans with pin up girls? Everybody sad? If you look deep enough into it, you’ll be surprised how many different types of tattoos have their roots in various cultures around the world. Nobody has judged you for your tattoo, so perhaps you should treat others with the same respect.
I didnt explain myself well enough. There are lots of people who come to NZ on holiday and get Maori tatts, they know nothing about maori people, nothing about the meaning of the tatts…they probably never spoke to a maori person they just get it cos they think it looks cool.
I think its a huge disrespect to maori people to do this. In the past people have copied maori tatts and the tatt they have copied has been a very personal tattoo to that person, and also the tribe they belong too. There are maori tattooist that will only tattoo maori people.
So i dont think im disrespectful at all, i just dont respect people who clearly dont have it for the maori people or their tats
This is a debateable one really, i designed a maori with a tribal twist backpiece, i asked a maori friend about it before designing it, he said that seeing as im designing it for someone it shouldnt have any disrespect for maori, and the guy i put it on wasnt maori. As far as im concerned this was a design i came up with, i didnt steal it and it means nothing in particular, as i asked the client if he wanted me to design something to tell a story and he didnt, he just wanted something cool looking lol.
lol @ cool looking, so you know what i mean now 🙂
I mean obviosly not all maori are going to agree with what i said, i must just know really proud ones lol
by the way that is an amazing tattoo. I might have to give you a buzz when i get my next tat done, have you much experience of black and grey work ?
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