First Tattoo help.

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andweknownothing
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:44 pm

Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:50 pm

Okay I'm obviously new here and I see you've helped alot of people and all have great ideas and helpful comments. So with that said, I need help with my idea for my first tattoo.

I plan on getting it at the end of October, when I turn 18. I know exactly what I want, I just don't know how I want it written on the place I chose. To better explain, I chose the side of my lower leg/calf. The outside, not the inside. I plan on getting the phrase "Is it ever too late to destroy the world?". I figured that would be too long and came up with the idea of putting half on one leg and half on the other... I also wanted this done as an Ambigram (so you can read it upside down as well) but I'm not 100% on the ambigram thing yet. But I really want to save every other part possible for other tattoos for when I get older so the lower leg is my only choice right now, other than the inside of my forearm. Except I don't think that'd be such a good idea and would have problems later on in my life as far as jobs,college,and my carreer are concerned. I don't want it to look weird or ridiculous because its words y'know, I dont think having each letter going down (one ontop of the other) would look all that great. So I'm thinking of other ideas like writing it sideways so i'd have to tilt my leg for someone to read it...But it doesn't seem like the best way to go.

sorry for the long post but, does anyone have any ideas?
thanks ahead of time.
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sadie703
Hardcore
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Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:53 am
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Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:01 am

Do you really think you can handle the pain for the amount of time it will take to do that?? mine only took 20 minutes to do but it hurt like a mofo

as for how to write it.. do what you think is right. i had my friend draw out my tattoo ( had him write my name in chinese-i know, chiche`) and i got that done july 31. i had mine put on my left inner forarm so thats its upside down to me, but correctly facing someone else looking at it, i get compliments all the time on it , but then i also get the ppl who are rude and are like.. what does that say.. are you SURE.. how do u know its not wrong.. its just annoying. in the end, its up to you, nobody else, its permanent and once u get it, its there :D
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InkSlinger
Hardcore
Posts: 130
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:11 pm

Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:42 pm

firstly, allow me to congratulate you on your foresight regarding unknown future job opportunities. It's that exact reason that I'm starting with my legs only, because no matter WHAT job I have, I will ALWAYS be wearing pants. :lol: I'll start on my arms as a reward for getting my own tattoo studio. :D

As far as your predicament, you have a lot of great ideas. Going across both legs would be cool, but might be kind of weird for an ambigram, which is also a cool idea. You could wrap it around one leg, but the challenge there is doing so conservatively to save space for the future tattoos it sounds like you want. As my artist always says, "it's never too early for a body plan."

I'd suggest finding a reputable artist in your area and telling them exactly what you just told us. You have a lot of good ideas - your artist can help you hone them into the perfect vision. Good luck!
andweknownothing
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:44 pm

Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:27 pm

Thank you InkSlinger. I never really looked at how much thought and planning goes into a tattoo...well, into the first tattoo at least...I know alot of what I want when I'm older, saving the inside of my lip,arms, and chest for more family oriented things as I am very much for my family...not the one I'm part of now, but the one I will be creating in the future. Other than that-and i've told this to hundreds of people, I will get tattoos of things that I just think are cool/awesome... I understand that tattoos should be a reflection of you, which is why I'm saving spots for more personal ones...but others will just be for laughter and things i thought were just "sick" or "awesome" lol.

With that said. I have been thinking long and hard and got onto photoshop and fooled around a bit. Everything, literally everything I think I would be satisfied with, turns out to change or look less and less appealing...it's getting so annoying lol. Im keeping my quote, but I need an image or design to put ontop of it.
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InkSlinger
Hardcore
Posts: 130
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:11 pm

Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:15 pm

:lol: that process is totally normal! I redesigned my first one 4 or 5 times before I finally put it on my body. It sounds like you've got a good start on a body plan - I too have special spots I'm saving for the family I will someday create - and spots to save for afterwards, like my belly! But that's totally the way to decide on one ... sometimes you'll have a thought and it'll just click and you'll go "that's the one!" That's what happened for my first tats (identical pair :D waste of space, I know, but dualism an important part of the meaning for me), and it was completely unlike any of the ideas I'd been thinking about ... which are still no less valid and might absolutely find a home on me somewhere ... someday ... :) Have you talked to an artist about your ideas yet? I know it sounds cheesy, but really, they've done this all their lives, and a lot of little side comments that Jill made during the drawing phase ended up inspiring me into huge evolutions ... and her art library was an invaluable resource, I never would have made my design this good without access to the reference materials she's spent 23 years collecting.
andweknownothing
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:44 pm

Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:00 pm

Yeah I totally get what you're saying it is an incredibly annoying process at least for me...for my first one, like I said anything else I'm getting will be just because I think its awesome or something. I want spontaniety to be the reason for alot of my tattoos.
Today I was thinking, a sleeve. I can't have it show on my arms because I do hope to be a Psychologist one day and I know that won't turn out right if it's visible. So I really got sooo stoked on a sleeve but for the leg, like, my knee to my ankle...if I could find one sick enough, I'd definately do it. But my parents, or at least my dad thinks I should get a small one or a medium sized one now because I've never gotten a tattoo and he thinks I should wait and see how it feels. The only thing is, now, I really, really want this on my leg, I don't care how much it would hurt, if it did at all. I want the same thing you'd do for a sleeve on the arm, only on my lower leg. I know this would be a time taking task, outlines one day, a couple weeks later some shading, then keep moving up...But thats good, and I think just doing the outlines one day is fine enough for me, but I'm really going nuts over this.
I haven't spoken to an artist yet because I can barely get rides to the shop and it's not close to my home, it's my dads friends shop so I have to go to that one, I'd imagine i'll be going soon, but who knows. I know it'll be this month though.
But any ideas or information you have on doing a full lower leg like I'm thinking about would be great especially for me as a first tattoo.
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