I think I may be set on what I want my first tattoo to be. It has many meanings to me a few of which are: Im a HUGE fan of the pirates of the carribean movies especially the Jack Sparrow character, Ive always been into pirates period since I was around 10 years old, and to be Frank, I’m sort of a Disney nut as it is.
This will be going on my right shoulder blade and maybe the size of a DVD.
Now I originally wanted a Disney oriented tattoo from the get go, maybe something a little on the dark side >=P But I opted out of getting the mouse ears on mah buttocks, hehehe, I’m going for something a little less subtle here I guess.
Anyways. Another reason I like this tattoo design is because of the sparrow. My father in law recently passed away and he had a sparrow tattoo on his right forearm. This would be a great reminder for me of how much he’s influenced my family’s life since he was here.
I sort of have a question though. Not being to familiar with the whole “process” of getting a tattoo and watching a bit too much LA Ink, how do most parlors tattoo these days? Is it mostly freehand or do most use those stencils that they stick to your skin and trace (as seen on LA Ink)?
The reason I’m asking is because I don’t want such a simple looking tattoo to end up a disaster. This seems such a simple design to be able to just trace onto someones skin with needles right? I would think so but I’ve never tattoo’d myself so wouldn’t know. I do know that I can draw and replicate this tattoo pretty damned easily on paper (which I’ve done) so any skilled tattoo artist worth his/her salt should be able to handle this no problem one would think. Would a design like this require a professional that does excellent ‘line’ work? (Savvy?)
I think that’s my biggest fear is “jagged lines”. And I’m looking for good “thick” lines, as the design has. So I guess I need an artist that doesn’t have the shakes so bad and can do really good outline work. And how do you go about find such artist? I mean walking right in the shop and requesting someone that “doesn’t suck at doing fairly simple tattoos” is a little insulting right? But I’m definately not afraid to speak out about exactly what I want, especially something that is stuck in my skin until death, and rotting, do us part!
Doing a bit of google research and finding several images of people with this tattoo it seems 9 out of 10, figurately speaking, look like shit to me. I’ll post below several of my finding of “shitty” versions of this design, to me anyways.
I live in Birmingham Alabama and have found a local shop amongst the many that actually have a website with two artist, each of which have a small portfolio of recent tattoos posted on the site. If anyone has a chance and is really knowledgable about this stuff would you mind scanning over a bit of thier work and see what you think? Maybe post your thoughts? The site is cloud9south.com
I’m only 2 hours from Atlanta and I know there is a much larger selection of tattoo shops there so if anyone has any recommendations please post as well as recommendations for around where I live.
Well, I think I covered everything, so below I’ll post some of the pictures I said I’d post that I found.*
Looking foward to your replies and flaming for unoriginality! =P
Thanx for reading!
I know what you’re saying, it’s nothing as extravegant as what I’ve seen in these forums just browsing but I’m not ready for anything major yet. I just want to ease into it and stay simple. Maybe later down the road I’ll chalk up to getting a sleeve or a large back piece. God knows I’d love to have a Tom Renshaw piece but I’m not ready for it, and it’s not just the time and/or money.
I know this is nothing too exciting but it’s what I’ve thought about getting for a long time now. So ya know, screw it I’ll just do it! It’s not like I won’t have room for more later ya know? =)
I was really just curious as to why do some of these look so much different than the original? I’m assuming they did use the “trace the stencil over ones skin” method or it would be perfect, or near perfect right?
The only fear I have is heading in there to get the job done, getting some ho-hum tattooist that’s just out to make a hundred bucks and see how quick they can get it done and in the process not doing a good job because they are in a hurry or whatever.
But I guess that is an unanswerable question because it really just depends on who you go to, how well you get to know the artist and talk to them, what sort of mood they are in that day, etc, etc, the list goes on…
It’s not a question of extravagance (at least from my perspective), more a question of originality.
I can only speak for myself, but I couldn’t imagine getting the same tattoo as anyone else. My tattoo is actually inspired by the ink I saw on someone whose talents I respect a great deal. But rather than trying to duplicate what I saw, I tried to come up with something unique. It means all the more to me as a result.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for it, but I’d still suggest you think about what it is that appeals to you about the Jack Sparrow tattoo, and try to use that as a starting point, rather than duplicating it wholesale.
But again, that’s just how I see these things.
I completely see what your saying iMark.
I respect your opinion and views on the subject.
Frankly, it doesn’t bother me that it’s ‘unoriginal’ or anything. My chances of actually running into someone else with this exact tattoo is, I’d say, pretty slim. Considering I don’t know many folks with tattoos and I don’t really “get out” or “hang out” anywhere, being a family man and all, hehe.
Besides, as I mentioned earlier, plenty of room for more art later and possibly incorporate this within something else, ya know?
Thanx for the feedback so far.
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