keepcalm

I have a couple of "mini-looks" that I am going for. I want the view from the left side of my body to be the "sweet" tattoos (flowers, butterflies, stars, etc.) and the view from the right side of my body to be the "sassy" tattoos (pin-ups and other sexy stuff). My front and my back views won't necessarily have a theme, but I don't want tattoos to be totally different from each other in one glance.

I've come full circle with my feelings on aesthetics, placements and overall look...
When I started 30 years ago, I never had the thought of being completely covered and therefore, didn't have any plan other than WHO to get tattooed by. Once I started travelling to the artists I admired, a lot more thought went into what/where and how it would all work together. At one point I made "tattoo map" of my body. I took a roll of 3ft wide printer paper (used in BIG factory print shops), laid down on it and had someone trace me. I roughly sketched in the work I already had and then put the general idea and name of artist on the spots I wanted to get covered. That "map' hung on the back of my closet door for a few years and I got about 60% of the work I had hoped for (I had an entire body suit mapped out-HA!). At the time I really believed that the total coverage look was the right way and everybody who didn't think in those terms and got random work all over them was an idiot with no planning skills.
A bunch of shit changed in my life and I put my map on hold for awhile....which turned out to be A LONG WHILE. Over that last couple years or so leading up to me diving back into this, my attitude towards total coverage has changed somewhat. Now I find looking at people with many tattoos not all tied together and the not-tattooed skin in between them, pretty cool. I still completely appreciate the well planned, total coverage stuff too but I no longer have a "tattoo map" and just plan on getting what I want, when I want and if the mood strikes me, get it all tied together in the end.
Overall though, I've never worried about my "look" and how others perceived me. I may have be more aware back when tattooing was not "normal", but now-a-days, lots of neck/hands/face/feet tattoos make me look average..... or at least normal.

I never really wanted to be one of those people who had just random tattoos over my body, but I also am not the sort who is looking for full sleeves or a body suit or anything, so its tough
I like to place my tattoos in places where I can show them if I want to, and cover them when I want to as well. If/when I get more I'll have to think about placement a lot because I do want them to look planned.

I have opted for big pieces covering entire body parts rather than lots of small ones. It feels more cohesive to me so I guess it's an aesthetic decision. I also work a corporate job so that has governed my "look" decisions also, like no forearms etc. I also waited until my 40s to get visible or otherwise hard to hide work so I only have to struggle with clothing choices for a few years pre-retirement. When I retire in a few years my criteria will change a bit but I think big pieces will stay with me.

I wrote in this thread not too long ago about how balance in which parts of my body were tattooed was important to me. Now I've had one of my feet tattooed and one side of my ribs tattooed, as well as half my knee tattooed, for quite some month without feeling the need to "even out" the balance by getting the respective side tattooed.
I kind of like it, looks spontaneous and organic. But I am still planning to get the whole body (almost) done.

There is this really fantastic book I read last year as part of my research for something else I'm writing that discusses the concept of identity as neuroscience understands it in great detail, at a layman's level. It's called The Self Illusion, by Bruce Hood, and it draws many of the same conclusions about the myth of identity as the article.
While the conclusions he draws are still contested in some circles, I don't think there's more evidence against them than there is for them. The 'tl;dr' take-away is that identity is an extremely vulnerable construct assembled from countless exterior pressures and events, organized into a narrative that our brains tell us in order to help us make sense of new information. It does this with an aim toward efficiency and survival, rather than accuracy; it's remarkable how fallible human memory can be (and memory can be entirely overwritten or altered with astonishing ease). It's this way by design, though; these things make us adaptable to new circumstances, more resilient in overcoming traumas, etcetera. There is no little person inside of us with a set register of traits, operating switches and levers in us with pre-defined consistency. We are an accumulation of impulses defined by experience, and what we think we know or feel about those experiences is more malleable than we realize.
One of the central points of the book insofar as the studies it uses is that it's extremely easy to challenge even the most dominant values and beliefs of someone's identity under the right conditions, social pressures being what they are. Given the right parameters, a person will do things they'd never believe themselves capable of otherwise -- for better or worse. It could be that the fast and furious pace of social pressures we're experiencing these days via social media are responsible for causing people to seek out ways to define themselves in a more lasting manner...
...but it could also be that the fast and furious pace of social pressures we're experiencing these days via social media are pressuring people to get tattoos who wouldn't otherwise get them. This, I think, is a point the article probably glosses over too handily. People polish up the details of their lives and shovel them onto facebook, instagram, pinterest, and other people sit around judging their own lives based on these idealized representations from others. Someone still trying to figure out who they are spends six hours a day on pinterest, imagining what their life could be like, and somehow a dandelion-turning-into-birds tattoo becomes part of the landscape of social pressures that they're using to define themselves. It could have less to do with a lack they're filling, in other words, than a lack created by this idealized lifestyle they're constantly consuming.
This is a long and rambling post, I know. I do think it's relevant to tattoos, and other people's reactions to tattoos, though; I think there's something very interesting about imposing permanent images on one's self, and folding them into your self-image, regardless of whether they have deliberate meaning or not. Inevitably they'll commemorate something, even if that isn't why they were gotten; even if that something is just the moment in time at which they were tattooed, and even if that moment in time wasn't special for any reason other than that the tattoo was being done. And that act -- commemoration, deliberate or otherwise -- is definitely a thing. The word itself revolves around memory, after all, and memory is the essential thing from which we construct identity. The tattoo is permanent, the memory consequently more likely to stick around, and I suppose that could matter, even if we never intended it to.
Speaking generally, people tend to view permanent things with some wariness. I think they do that for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons may be that it affixes them to some identity or other. People are prone to being heavily influenced by the social opinions and trends of others, obviously, and I think people don't like the idea of being trapped by any given identity. It makes them nervous. It feels final, and that finality is not conducive to adapting to the social fabric that surrounds us. I can understand why someone might look at a tattoo and be bewildered by the choice to mark one's self in a way that makes being a social chameleon less easy to do. They probably find that viscerally strange, even setting aside the social implications from earlier decades.
...which makes it interesting, to me, that so many people embrace deliberately changing themselves in such a permanent way. I can't think of many other ways that a person can change themselves with such permanent intention. You can make lifestyle changes, sure, but they're usually internal...certainly not so publicly observable.
Don't get me wrong, here...I'm not suggesting that tattoos necessarily change anything about the tattooed individual, or that the choice to be tattooed necessarily indicates anything deeper than the desire to just get a really awesome tattoo. I just think it probably can, given what we know about how human beings create their sense of self, and I find it really fascinating to think about what a unique relationship tattoos could have with the way our own subconscious forms our narrative of identity. I think there's probably something special about the mental attitude of anyone who can fearlessly embrace a permanent change to their self image as it's perceived by others.
That all being wordily said, I think it's pretty dumb to try to psychoanalyze anyone based on the actual tattoos they have. These are interesting concepts in theory, but people are just so different...I don't know that I'd ever be comfortable making assumptions about this kind of thing with anyone, ever.
Anywho. Long-winded insomnia blabbering over!

I agree. I would also posture a guess that the huge swell in people starting to get tattoos in the last decade or two is an increase in people getting tattoos to mark occasions, remember loved ones, "assert their identity" (whatever that means), etc., NOT an increase in people getting tattoos because they like tattoos. I feel like the people in the latter group have been getting tattoos for that reason for a while, and will keep on doing so regardless of what everyone else is doing (or what the media is saying about tattoos!).
I'm not necessarily saying the later group's decision has any less to do with identity, but yeah.

An interesting read from The Atlantic -- just offering it up for perusal:
The Identity Crisis Under the Ink - The Atlantic
Excerpt:
In 1998, Velliquette and colleagues conducted an interview-based study that found people use tattoos as a way to cement aspects of their current selves. “We were hoping to look at the postmodern identity, and really what we found is that we were in this modern era where people did know who they were,” she said. “They had a sense of their core self.” Eight years later, the team revisited the idea. The second study, like the first, found that people used tattoos as a means to express their past and present selves. But the people interviewed in the second group also seemed to need proof that their identities existed at all. They relied on tattoos as a way to establish some understanding of who they actually were.
“We continue to be struck by rapid and unpredictable change,” study co-author Jeff Murray said at the time. “The result is a loss of personal anchors needed for identity. We found that tattoos provide this anchor. Their popularity reflects a need for stability, predictability, permanence.”

An interesting read from The Atlantic -- just offering it up for perusal:
The Identity Crisis Under the Ink - The Atlantic
Excerpt:
In 1998, Velliquette and colleagues conducted an interview-based study that found people use tattoos as a way to cement aspects of their current selves. “We were hoping to look at the postmodern identity, and really what we found is that we were in this modern era where people did know who they were,” she said. “They had a sense of their core self.” Eight years later, the team revisited the idea. The second study, like the first, found that people used tattoos as a means to express their past and present selves. But the people interviewed in the second group also seemed to need proof that their identities existed at all. They relied on tattoos as a way to establish some understanding of who they actually were.
“We continue to be struck by rapid and unpredictable change,” study co-author Jeff Murray said at the time. “The result is a loss of personal anchors needed for identity. We found that tattoos provide this anchor. Their popularity reflects a need for stability, predictability, permanence.”

I sat for Dennis at Providence Tattoo for about 4.5 hours on Saturday afternoon. It was a bit shorter of a sitting than I thought it might be, and thank god. I was still miserable the last hour, and I'm pretty sure Dennis wanted to kill me, haha. But I LOVE the result, and of course it was worth it! I have been waiting for this tattoo since January, and really for even longer than that.
There are two shops, and we were at the one on Atwells Ave, which is just a beautiful shop -- I love it. Dennis was fantastic to work with and so kind. We had a really fun chat, and he even drove me back to my AirBnB when we were done! (I was visiting Providence to get the tattoo.)
I posted a photo from my phone as well as the shot Dennis posted on Instagram. It's swelling a lot more than any of my other tattoos ever have, but I'm thinking that's because it's on my thigh. Otherwise, it seems to be healing fine. I'm so stoked on it!

Hi,
posting at you from northern europe, Finland, to say i really like the site! I've found out about a lot of great artists and got good advice from here in my time lurking. I've been meaning to register for over a year since i found the site but i've put it off for not having any good recent photos of my tattoos, and i thought if i just register maybe i'll finally put the effort into taking some. I got my first tattoo 6 years ago at 18 and ever since i've been steadily adding to it a few pieces a year more or less. I decided very early on im going for full coverage but im saving the hand and neck tattoos for when im 30 if i still feel like it.
Anyway, i managed to dig up some pictures, most are from artists instagrams i think.
In no particular order:

by Hexa, used to own Precious Tattoo, not sure where he works from now.

Hexa

Hexa

Hexa

Oni by Javier Betancourt at Ocho Placas
I think i heard of him from here, theres so many crappy shops in Miami it was a chore to find something worthwhile but man am i glad i found him.

Crow by Gustav Fröberg, also did my lower left arm which i dont have any pics of
upper left arm is JPWikman no better pictures yet sorry
Demon granny is by Hexa again
In the last picture you can see a peek of the rooster on my ribs started by Jonas Nyberg and im gonna get that one finished up at the Helsinki Ink Convention next weekend!
I'll try to get better pictures of all of it or at least the ones i dont have any of and post after i get back from the convention. Hopefully with a rad cock! :D

...a TED speaker asks:
Juan Enriquez: Your online life, permanent as a tattoo | Talk Video | TED.com
I thought it was an intriguing talk only because often, the negative reactions to tattoos have to do with them being "forever," and "what if you change your mind?", etc. It made me think about the young people I've known who've passed away -- their Twitter feeds, their Facebook profiles -- their online selves are frozen in time. The girl who passed away 12 years ago, would she still like those same TV shows she talks about on Twitter, or be comfortable showing those Facebook profile pictures? In the grand scheme, it doesn't f^cking matter -- those things show who she was at that time, and I don't think there's anything shameful or regrettable or embarrassing about that.
We're all humans, and we all grow and change our minds and adopt new attitudes. Everything we leave behind -- tattoos, Facebook pages, message board posts, blogs, pictures -- is just a big, fat smearing of evidence of how we've personally tripped through life. Like the slime trail a slug leaves behind.
Yes, you can quote me on that last one. I know it's elegant as f^ck. ::sips tea, pinky out::

It's tough for me to articulate as well. I will say, though, some of my favorite tattoos I've seen on women are ones that accentuate their female form with placement/flow/lines/etc. I think tattoos can be one of the coolest ways to be more feminine. Roxx at 2Spirit in SF does this really well with linework.

Third vote for Jondix at Seven Doors!!!

It's tough for me to articulate as well. I will say, though, some of my favorite tattoos I've seen on women are ones that accentuate their female form with placement/flow/lines/etc. I think tattoos can be one of the coolest ways to be more feminine. Roxx at 2Spirit in SF does this really well with linework.

...but that's what I doooooooo!
It's easier to kick it around here with tattooed people. It isn't like, a serious stress in my real life, but it is fun to talk about on the internet. Look how many pretty lady arms we got out of it :D

Yes! All of these names are so great! Very excited to have a solid list to show him.
You guys are a gorgeous, crystal-lined fountain of perfect information. Thank you!

Sway at sacred electric in leeds

@keepcalm
Deno and Seven Doors
SEVEN DOORS TATTOO

Great suggestions here. Add Matt Black to the list, too, please.

I think if I was to start over knowing what I know know and was tougher than I actually am (or at least wanted to give that impression) I would get a Curly body suit. Hands down the toughest look in tattoos. I love that heavy British tribal thing.

My wife does not want a tattoo. If she did, I think this would look good on her. Combination design, placement, flowing with the body.

My arm isn't done, and I've only really started on one, but I can actually contribute! So I shall. :) Taking pictures of my own arm is hard, and I suck at it. There are individual pictures of these in my gallery, though, anyway!

I was really late in coming to an appreciation of traditional designs (aside from traditional Japanese, which I have always loved). What sold me on traditional sleeves was the interesting way in which individual pieces become more than the sum of each individual tattoo...it becomes this collective aesthetic that I find so fascinating, in addition to being a very cool collection of individual images.
I mention this because I have similar feelings about 'masculine' and 'feminine' aesthetics. (I'm also one of those people who thinks a man or woman can wear whatever the hell they want and still be masculine and feminine if they want to be, but that's a discussion of a slightly different variety. For the purposes of this post, I'm just using the generally accepted definitions of those words.) I think whether something reads as 'masculine' or 'feminine' in the traditional sense depends mostly on general presentation. There are tons of pictures out there of women wearing tough, aggressive traditional work, but they dress or present themselves in a way that's still super-girly and feminine. I think this look is amazing.
Of course, there'll always be people out there who just find tattoos in general 'unfeminine' or whatever, buuut. That's really more about them, imo.

It's tough for me to articulate as well. I will say, though, some of my favorite tattoos I've seen on women are ones that accentuate their female form with placement/flow/lines/etc. I think tattoos can be one of the coolest ways to be more feminine. Roxx at 2Spirit in SF does this really well with linework.

My mum came over to stay for christmas and I'm not good a keeping secrets from her (and there barely is a reason anyway). I didn't want her to 'accidently' find out about my first tattoo, so I thought it better to tell her about it. After having read about so many rather negative reactions on here, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was sure she wouldn't be super angry with me, but major disappointment would have been a possibility.
So, the two of us had an evening out and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Mum, I actually bought something with the money you gave me for my birthday.
Her: Oh good, what is it, something nice?
Me: Well, I do think so, but I'm not sure you'll like it...
Her: It's your money and you can do with it whatever you like. What is it then? ...[her being really curious now and trying to guess]...a gun?!? [We're German, so this would have been very unusual and rather unpopular. And yet, I found it rather odd that this was the first thing that came to her mind.]
Me : Hell no!
Her: [Comes up with another totally weird guess which I can't even remember]
Me: No, nothing like that....I got tattooed....
Her: Ah...I see...what is it? And where? Can I see it?
Me: I got a lynx head and some flowers on my thigh. [And no, I couldn't show it as we were in a public space.]
Her: Does it have a special meaning?
Me: Not really, I just fancied it.
Her: So it's more like decoration?
Me: Yes!
Her: Fair enough....Are you gonna wear hot pants in summer?
Me: Err....what? No, I wasn't planning to. I'm not a teenager anymore...
Her: What about a swimsuit, will it be visible then?
Me: Well, it would be, but you know I don't really go swimming very often.
Her: So it's pretty much always hidden?!? Can I see it later?
...
At the end the of the day, the hardest thing to understand for her seemed to be, that I wasn't planning to show off the tattoo as such. Phew. Could have been worse.
When I later mentioned that I was indeed thinking about getting another tattoo, this seemed to stretch it somewhat though. I guess little bits of information from time to time will be a better approach in this case... ;-)