I think it depends on the style of tribal. The solid black thick meaningless stuff isn’t my thing. Polynesian and Maori or even North West Native American, Aztek, and Mayan designs can be detailed, intricate, and beautiful. To each their own though. If you’re going to get a tribal tattoo at least go to an artist that understands it and knows how to lay it out. There is nothing worse than bad tribal.
Personally, not a big fan of tribal, but it is a personal decision and you should do what you want no matter what anyone else says. Sometimes they look like they are just “cookie cutter” designs, so to speak. Not too much individuality, really. Seems people get them just to get a tattoo with no real thought put into it. I think a tattoo should mean something to you, after all, it is for life. Just my opinion. 🙂
I gotta be honest, I can get a hard on for some righteously done tribal, I mean, art is art, and good art is good regardless of the style, but if you are looking at some typical flash tribal or some high school art class shit, then it is just that, shit. A lot of narrow minded idiots will say that “you should only get tribal if you are a member of a tribe” but really, it’s art! You should only get a Dali if you are a surrealistic painter? Fuck that! If you like the art, get it. If you are some kid who found some flash that’s been done a thousand times, find a good artist who can give you a fresh take on it. But, as it has been through the centuries, art is subjective. If you get excited when you look at it, get it. That’s why I have such a hard time with my own tats. I really like a lot of stuff, but I don’t get excited enough about it to do it on my own skin. Unless it’s a piece that I really can’t afford! 😀 But seriously, if you have never gotten excited about a piece of art, but just want to impress people, don’t get a tatto, go for a cool piercing. That involves more style than art and doesn’t demean the tattoo profession. Btw, a little shout out to my friend msmercury, she has a sweet Freddy Mercury piece she got because she is passionate about the man, and took the time and effort to find a good artist. Kudos, babe. Also, check out her drawing of Freddy, it’s fantastic!
You are sweet!!!! Oh, and thank you!!!;)
To me, it’s out done and over done. I’ll admit I thought about getting a tribal piece but after the years passed, it slipped my mind of why I wanted one. I’m over it now, but now I’m looking into real tribal that’s part of my ethnicity not just some scribble lines someone made up. There’s beautiful tribal art and then there’s the typical, over done tribal that’s in every tattoo shops portfolio.
Even tattoo artists don’t like doing tribal… I remember when I was being tattooed a couple months ago, someone cancel their appointment with my artist. She didn’t care cause he just wanted tribal. :p
I don’t think it’s that most people on the forum hate tribal, it’s just that we hate bad tattoos. Most of the tribal pieces I have seen were very poorly done, and you will get the same scrutiny from everyone for poor tattoos, tribal or not.
There are some sweet ass tribal pieces out there, not necessarily from any certain tribe or culture, but just those done by good tattoo artists.
There are many arguments on what people think about getting tattoos because they love the art for what it is, regardless of the meaning. Tribal definitely falls under this category, of simply art. However, the tribal in the cultures that embrace tribal for it’s messages of warriors or priests are a different story.
As said earlier, the reason that I hate most tribal is because it is usually a poorly planned decision and performed by an even poorer artist, just for the sake of getting a tattoo. I said most though, because you can Bing some tribal that looks amazing.
QFT!
I can well understand that your impression from this forum is that we hate tribal. And there are some here that actually do hate tribal and aren’t afraid to say so. But most of us just love tattoos, and when someone butchers something that we love, we get somewhat nasty. I think that’s a rather normal biophysical reaction.
Personally, I am no fan of the ‘true’ tribals, the very intricate blocky stuff like what buttwheat posted here above, and I think that most ‘modern’ tribal is dead boring, but I have seen ‘modern’ tribal pieces that look amazing. No standard walk-in artist is going to be able to do a tribal like that though. You need an artist that’s really good at tribal, who understands the concept of flowing body lines and such. Symmetrical (mechanical?) tribal is dreadful. Organic and flowing is the key, IMO.
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