Tattoo • ology

One of the biggest mistakes which people often make, and then regret later, is to choose a tattoo design, simply because it looks nice on other people, because a celebrity was spotted wearing a similar design, or it looks nice in the flash portfolio.

Because tattoos are for life, you need to be extra cautious in choosing the right design which is best suited for you, at the same time, it has got its own uniqueness. The important thing to remember is that uniqueness in the tattoo design may not be in-built; you might have to add your own creativity to make it unique.

Before making your unique tattoo design, how in the first place do you approach on your perfect tattoo? Before scanning through hundreds of websites, magazine pages of tattoo publications and through the tattoo parlor catalogues, do some internal soul searching to find out what you want. To guide your thought process, the following could help:

• Your essential beliefs: zodiac signs, quotes, religious phrases, tribal art, modern art, mythological characters, memories of a person or place, etc. There could be many more areas of your interest and belief, which you can tattoo to provide you inspiration, happiness and peace.
• Purpose of tattooing: Why do you want to sport a tattoo? For fashion, to be ‘in’ with the crowd, to stand out in a crowd, for enhancing sex appeal, for showing affiliation for a person, a clan or a group, etc. Again, reasons for tattooing can help you decide on what type of uniqueness you want.
• Limitations in future: Think of any limitation to your tattoo exposure in future. Would your place of work allow a visible tattoo? Thinking of the limitations can help you decide where exactly on your body you would like the tattoo to be positioned and subsequently, the related uniqueness can be added accordingly.
• Significance of the tattoo design: Every tattoo has a meaning and significance. It could mean magic, truism, courage, love, togetherness, oceanic depth, love for flight, courage to explore the unknown, and many more. Choose a design, whose meanings appeal to you personally.

Whatever results emanate from your soul searching, it can add a lot of value when you decide to sit down with your tattoo artist to make your tattoo unique. Uniqueness can be added in a variety of ways. For instance, you could take a printed picture of an animal or person or a symbol and get your tattoo. Surely this picture would have to be unique. You could also pick up one of your favorite designs from the artists’ catalogue and add you own twist or draw your own design! That might be a daunting thought if you feel you can’t draw, but as long as you have the concept and a basic design. The tattoo artist should be able to expand on it and come up with unique piece of tattoo art.

Needless to mention, there are thousands of design concepts to explore. To give you an example, look at the fields of Chinese or Indian astrology. There are hundreds of designs which mean so much, and could be perfect for you!

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