4 tattoo ideas, because we can’t all be original
Instead of giving you yet another quiz that inaccurately tells you what tattoo you should get based on standard answers that assume your personality, we’re giving you some cool and quirky inspo to just go ahead and choose for yourself. Also, don’t forget that when you see something you like you can always put pen to paper and adapt it to something even more ‘you’. If you can’t draw, leave it to the tattooist—we would hope that they can draw and adapt it for you.
Let’s start off by saying that your body is already a work of art, and it is also a canvas. You can either get the permanent ink or, let’s be honest, those rogue stick-on tattoos are still cool. Secondly, laser removal is long, tedious and expensive, so try not to be too impulsive when it comes to choosing a tat.
Decisions like size, content and location are crucial, so ask yourself, do you want it to show when you’re wearing clothes? Do you want a sneaky little one where only a few lucky people get to see it? Here’s some inspiration that will help you decide exactly what it is you’re looking for.
Small tattoos
If it’s your first time getting a tattoo, it’s probably best that you test out the water first, so get something on the smaller side. You could also work with what you’ve got—have you got a birthmark somewhere on your body that a little line drawing wouldn’t hurt?
Doodles are a good one, because you can draw one yourself, then it’s your own design and no one else can have it. You also don’t have to be good at drawing to doodle, it could be a simple cube, your lucky number or a short word. You could get someone you love to draw a heart and get that inked, let’s just hope the love lasts as long as the tattoo.
The great thing about word tattoos is that a) they can be in whoever’s handwriting you want them to be in and b) you can roll with the mistakes and they’ll still look cool. Mistakes happen, right? So take them as easy as they come.
Illustration tattoos
Here is when tattoos get really fun, an illustration is like a story. A picture says one hundred words as the saying goes, so get funky with it and introduce something a little more on a personal side, after all, it is your body.
Why not get something to remind you that you don’t have to be so serious all the time. Because, you really don’t! Channel your inner hippie and gravitate towards the colourful life that we live in, regardless of what other shit’s going on.
Another win with illustrative tattoos is that they suit colour. Whoever said all ink should be black was very wrong, because colour is great even if they do fade a little quicker than black tattoos, but who’s to say that it can’t be a plus side too? You could go over it in thirty years’ time and mix up the colours!
Big tattoos
Once you’re hooked after the first little tester tattoo, you could want to go large. Tattoos are notoriously addictive, so you might have started with one little tattoo and end up with one hundred little tattoos that cover your whole bod, and that’s hot.
Like we said, your body’s a canvas and tattoos also have this crazy way of accentuating the features that you already have. A big back tat doesn’t have to look complicated or be heavily detailed to turn heads.
Then again, it could be a little more on the entrancing and complex side, while still looking elegant and unobtrusive to your body’s natural form.
Hyper realistic tattoos
If you do want to get up close and personal with the finer details though, they can be quite stunning when done properly, so be sure to do your research when choosing your tattoo artist. This is when shading takes the lead, and shading fades kindly over time so when it’s done right, you can’t really go wrong.
When it comes to hyper realism, colours can do wonders too. You could get a painting that moved you forever planted onto your body to look at as much as you want, wherever you are. Or you could get something quirky, fun and layered with meaning. These tattoos are a portal to somewhere else, so take advantage of it if you do choose to go down this route.
Different tattoo artists use different techniques of getting the images onto your body. It is an ancient art, one that is to be respected just as we should our bodies. That being said, have fun, because why not?
