Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tim. I’m 17 years old and have wanted a tattoo for about a year or so. I’m not going to get this tattoo for at LEAST another year or two. Till I’m 18 for sure and most likely longer than that to ensure that I don’t regret this later in life.
I’ve gone through a couple stages of what tattoo I wanted and one basis for alot of these is my family heritage and history. I am of european, specifically Irish English and German, descent. I wanted my family crest and motto at one point just to give an idea of what my line of thinking is. Another big part of my history is my cherokee ancestry. My great great grandmother married into our family and was pure cherokee indian. Being so young I unfortunately was never able to meet her. And my great grandfather who is also a majority cherokee just passed about a month or so ago. Thankfully I was able to spend time with him before he passed as he was a great man. Anyways this got me thinking about my native american history and how fascinating all the culture and rituals and beliefs of the native americans were.
Anyways my idea is to get a portrait of a native american chief on my back/ribcage. Here is a (very) rough sketch of my idea.
I will use a more realistic photo to go off of that will be something similar to this.
Anyways, I just wanted to get your thoughts and opinions on my idea and execution. And any constructive criticism would be helpful. Also, would a piece like this be better suited black and white? Or would full color be a better option? Thanks a ton for your time!
first off, i like the idea. but getting it on the rib cage for a first tattoo isn’t something i’d advise. i first wanted a phoenix on my ribs thinking it was a unique place fora tattoo, but the artist wouldn’t do such a big piece on my ribs for my first tattoo. after reconsideration, i’ve changed the location to my leg which im still working on the design. my friend which is completely covered in tats said he will never get tattoos on his ribs because of the pain. but if you still decide to go through with it on the ribs, i think it would turn out great!
i think that this piece would look better in black and white than in color.
also when looking for a tattoo artist, look for an artist that has done portraits before.
i think that this piece would look better in black and white than in color.
also when looking for a tattoo artist, look for an artist that has done portraits before.
Thanks for the reply. And damn I didn’t think it would be an issue. I knew ribs hurt more than other parts of the body but I didn’t think it would be that bad. And painkillers are a big no no in tattoos right? Because of blood thinning and other side effects? Are there any methods that are safe that would lessen the pain of a rib tattoo? Like some kind of cream or lotion or something?
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Someone on another forum mentioned I should try mixing up my heritage and I was thinking of some kind of cowboys and indians piece. Can anyone think of any ideas? I came up with an old west standoff type deal with an indian vs. a cowboy but would love to hear everyone’s opinions.
Good point. I didn’t think about that. No I’m not at war with myself. And I see where you’re coming from with the whole negative aspect on the standoff. Symbolically, if I were to get a standoff tattoo, it would mean nothing more than my white and red ancestry which wouldn’t make much sense to get a tattoo of. It’s hard to think of an idea that would flow and make sense though. Thanks again.
Well, personally I’m fond of duality in general. My next tattoo will probably be a griffin, not only combining my love of fantasy and cartoons, but also it is a beast made from two different beasts. It’s a dual personality, both good and bad, both hard and soft. So from my line of view, to combine a red man and a white man would simply be done by combining them… a line down the middle of the face.. one side white, one side red. Basically two portraits in one. That being said, an Indian chief is very easily identified by his features and gear, but a white man is just… a white man 😀 So I’m not sure that idea would work at all.
I’ve spent years thinking of my tattoos and what I want to get, and they all have meaning to me. Right now I have a huge list of single “words” that speak ME. So, I’ll put “Hard headed”, “Gentle”, “Musician”, “Fantasy”, “Dreams” and so on and so forth for almost half a page. In your case, one of those words is “Indian” and one of those is “Caucasian”. Maybe you don’t really HAVE to combine your heritage in ONE tattoo. You will almost surely be getting more tattoos, and maybe the next one will be something that signifies your white half… or maybe you just look at your skin and SEE your white half and call that a good enough depiction of that. Maybe you just make a tattoo with that one word (Indian) now, and then proceed to make tattoos for other words of yours.. always leaving out the Caucasian heritage because you already have that in your face 🙂
All just a bunch of ideas, and will probably not even apply to most people. This is just how I think of my tattoos.
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