Hopefully I can help you dude. I’ve currently got 2 pieces, and I’m booking to start my half sleeve this afternoon. Pictures of the pieces I have can be found in my gallery, I tried uploading to the page but it just doesn’t play ball. My tattoos so far each have a meaning which is quite personal. So here we go

1st tattoo, sword, crest and quote
1) I’ve always been about looking after my family, and the quote I’d found fitted how I felt perfectly, the idea was to portray exactly how I feel/what I believe.
2) It took me about 3 designs to be happy with what I wanted. The image was the big problem, as well as where I put it. The sword and crest are from a video game, but I chose them more because they were the style I wanted then anything else.
3) Left side of my rib cage from mid-chest to hip bone

2nd tattoo, owl
1)This piece was 3 things at once really. Partly the associations with being wise, partly because owls mate for life and partly because they are seen as the ‘Angel of Death’ in some cultures, and the way they are seen is something I find particularly interested and quite believe in.
2)The design was mainly from my artist, I went in with a style and a basic reference image and a few colours and let him take it in his own direction.
3) It is on my right calf from the back of my knee to about 2/3 down my calf.

The process was very much the same for both. Once I’d spent a good few months on a concept and really being totally happy with it I went and spoke to an artist (there are 3 artists on the island where I live, 2 of which I really disklike their attitude and the other was highly reccomended by a friend) and he took my ideas on board, either deisnged them for me or tweaked my design to his taste and then booked me in. He offered any advice he could, about numbing cream on my ribs, eating before and was extremely helpful about aftercare.

After I’d had them done the reception was very mixed. A lot of people are extremely positive, even some (like my grandparents) who hate tattoos were impressed by the quality. However I have had encounters at work where individuals feel it’s stupid and immature because of the video game reference or I’m so young. But my rationale about it is that those who understand everything about what and why are supportive and encouraging, and those who mock or are discriminatory don’t understand or are just closed-minded.

Hopefully all that helps, and if anything to do with the process of getting my half sleeve is relevant I’m happy to offer anything I can

I work in IT for a telecoms provider in the Channel Islands, where most people are what you’d call ‘upper class’ and attitudes to tattoos here are some of the least discriminatory I’ve come across. When I applied for my job one of the other applicants had a large piece on his forearm and interviewers asked about it and really paid close attention, and he eventually got the job too. I’d say about 1/3 of the people I work with have one or more tattoos, one of the managers has a full sleeve and it’s as though it’s invisible.

Even my girlfriend, who works in a very upmarket law firm where there is a ‘no tattoo’ policy has never had any problems. She has a fairly sizeable one on her wrist and just wears a long sleeve shirt/cardigan for client meetings and they’re perfectly happy.