If it’s just to look cool i dunno you probably regret it.
It’s a “I may be a mommy” or “I may be Corporate” but I still play by my rules kinda statement.
We were just talking about that yesterday – too many young guys get their dad to buy them full sleeves, etc which they get in one sitting!
Whats going to happen later in life when they want some more ink and have no room?
On the other hand, there’s alot of ink out there on people who don’t get it. For many it’s become a statement of fashionable rebellion, no different than buying a Thundercat purse or a hoodie with a skull on it. Sorority girls go into shops and pick flash off the walls, or get quarter sized roses on their ankles. Idiots go down to the local vine street and pay some kitchen magician, some sorta scratcher scum to draw some incomprehensible gibberish on their arm for $15. It’s a show of how naughty and sex and fun loving and easy and rebellious you are, or how hard and thuggish you is. It’s got no passion, it’s all fashion.
It cheapens it, and it bugs the shit out of me.
So you’re not gonna come to understand tattoos man. You either get it, or ya don’t. You either do it for the love, or you do it for the fashion.
Love. Peace. Metallica.
Ahhh I couldnt agree more!!! Well said. I got my first two tattoos at 18 and they mean a lot to me they are actually very deep and personal and not the typical little tats you see on most young kids.
But I’ve seen my peers get some of the stupidest garbage imaginable on their bodes forever simply for the rebellious act of having a tattoo and not to express anything. Sad…
about 70% of my body is covered in tattoos, and tattooing is my profession, and has been for some time. I never picked a tattoo to pick it. Everything I have either means something or was done for a purpose. I have a story for each one becaause they represent something in my life, in my make up. They symbolize a struggle, an accomplishment, a success, or failure. My tattoos are full of pain and joy, loss and gain, and they have become the roadmap to my life with my entire life’s story carved into my flesh.
Not all of them are great quality, many of them are very old and difficult to read to anyone but me. Some of them spoke of tiimes of my life that I find so distasteful today that I’ve chosen to cover them, but even in that there is a great unfolding of the story of my life.
All tattoos have meaning, and if yours don’t, then the emptiness of their meaning is a meaning in itself, it speaks of the shallowness of your soul, and the emptiness of your life. I try to impress upon each of my clients the very fact that a tattoo is a visual depiction of something in your life. Make it mean something.
Showing off tattoos in night clubs and such I suppose is concidered pretty lame. Sure, whenever I go out I show my tattoos but that’s because I like wearing t-shirts and then I can’t hide them.
Tattoos for me don’t necessarily have a specific meaning. I doesn’t have to “Miami Ink drama” over everything. I didn’t get them because it’s cool either. I suppose you could say the overall meaning is that I find tattoos fascinating and them itself symbolise a choice I’ve made. I’m going strictly japanese (although I love so many other styles but I want a conistency) and my plans are to get a body suit over the years. I’m 26 now, I’m not in a rush. So far “only” one arm is done (which btw is typically west, as in Japan you’d normally start with the back which makes it easier to combine the different motives when you move to other parts of the body) but I’m in no rush. I don’t want to be finished by the age of 28. A wild guess is that it will take me about 7 more years before I feel done.
Your next tattoo should be of a penis on your forehead. It can symbolize your choice to get a penis tattooed on your forehead. I’m sure that almost everyone you meet would find it “fascinating.”
I think females get more tattoos then ebfore partially because of the mainstreaming of the “alternative” scene, ie. punks goths etc. which affects both genders. I do think it tends to be younger women who get tattooed, some of the older guys might do it because they were into it since they were younger when it was more of a “guy thing”. But overall I’d guess that a lot of people get their first tattoo when they were like in their 20s or so. They do say that the brain is mostly done developing by our mid 20s so that’s like the earlier side of who we are going to be the rest of our lives and as I see it is a big determining thing in whether we will be a tattooed person or not. But yeah, I think you’ll probably see more middle aged to older MEN, rather than women, having and getting tattoos, because they started when they were younger and it was more acceptable. But yeah, I would attribute the growing popularity of tattoos especially in younger people to both the spreading of the alternative scene as well as a growing appreciation for what it has to offer, and more types of people are choosing tattoos now than ever before.
As a side note, I don’t know if I would have gotten any tattoos if it weren’t for my creative/artistic streak. The idea of putting artwork from my mind onto my body really appeals to me. It hasn’t always turned out so great, but I don’t regret it.
Sorry if this post is incoherent, it’s early and I didn’t get much sleep. haha
i think due to the fact that tattoos have lost their association with gangs, bikers, and sailors a lot more people are willing to have them. Im 18 and got my first tattoos a week ago. I grew up around tattoos (my dad is in the navy and traveled a lot) and he’d come back with tattoos. Ive always been amazed by them but never actually wanted one because all the tattoos i saw when i was younger were all very similar. My dad has an anchor, with an eagle on it. This was very popular for guys in the navy. I always thought that tattoos could only look like that, it wasnt until my dad started getting more (he now has 6) and my mum started getting some (she has 5) that i realised anything was possible and from the age of about…12/13 i decided i wanted a tattoo.
I believe shows like Miami Ink, and L.A ink (although not showing the actual tattooing process 100%) has shown many people that tattooing is an amazing way of expressing yourself. I expressed myself through my piercings to start with as i like to be different and piercings arent a big thing in the small town i live in. I love art, and tattooing is a way where i can showcase my art work where ever i go, and carry a story, or some form of meaning around with me where ever i go, even if other people dont understand the story or meaing behind my tattoo i will always know it.
With regards to the club scene…i guess it depends what kind of club you go to. I mean when ive been to the typical night clubs..beside the people ive been with the only tattoos ive seen are stuff that look like they have been picked off of the wall, or tribal tramp stamps.
Over all i believe that as tattoos have broke away from the associations they used to have they have become more and more popular 🙂
Over all i believe that as tattoos have broke away from the associations they used to have they have become more and more popular 🙂
You are completely right – once Miami Ink started to air on TV I had so many more people stop and ask me about my tattoos
I think the stats are now something like 1 in 4 young adults in the USA have tattoos
As for the local nightlife where I am, there’s a bit of art on show, and 98% of it is crap. Whether it be unimaginative tribal, crap designs executed poorly, or some try-hard with something stupid tattooed on the side of his neck to try and look hard.
Whoa, bit of a rant there :p
As for women getting tattooed, they’re more liberated than back in the 50’s and with better art available, why shouldn’t they express themselves through body art?
🙂
i have to agree with you on that one. the bars and clubs i go to are mostly filled with college students who have the non-finished barbed wire, tribal design, neck tatoo, etc. no one(that i’ve seen) really has any nice art work displayed.
i cant speak for everyone else, but my tattoos express me and who am i, and mean something to me and i do not cover them up, bar, club, dinner etc
My Tattooist used to have a shop right near NYU
he said the college kids would come in all drunk and start trying to negotiate prices with him telling him the shop down the street would do it for half the price
He would always tell them – go get it done there and when its messed up come back to me an I will fix it
That usually made them come to their senses
Just my 2 cents, I regularly go to local tattoo shops and the general consensus is they have seen a steady increase in business since the same year miami ink aired. There was a slight blip during the recession of 2008 and then went back up shortly after. However, I’m talking about vancouver and it seems the recession pretty much skipped us here.
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