Tattoo you. (Body Tattoos in general)

Member Name: paulhanton

Product:	Body Tattoos in general
Date:	03/06/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can look stunning.

Disadvantages: Can look naff, painful.

Let me start by saying I have a lot of tattoo's. When I say a lot I mean a lot, though until 3 months ago, I had not had a tattoo for over 25 years....more of that later.

When I was younger, from 11 (my first home made tattoo) until I was 21, tattooing was something me and my mates did; We were East End lads, most of us joined the army together and most of us got tattoos on a regular basis, herein lies the first problem: We did not really care what we got, we did not plan them, we went to quite unsavoury characters for our tattoos, and we did not listen to the doommongers who told us we would regret it....I certainly did regret it.

In my late 20's I had the tattoos removed form my hands by plastic surgery, skin grafts from my leg, performed, believe it or not, on the NHS in Whitechapel hospital by none other than, Dr Hackett, his real name. It was extremely painful and I do not want to go through it again if I can help it.

Fast forward to the last couple of years.

I have been acutely aware of the crap all over my arms, not exactly body art, more bad graffitti, I had taken to not wearing short sleeves anymore through my embarrassment at the assortment of faded blue, stupid tattoos; mum with a dagger, a swallow, a pair of cross cannons, a love heart with a name....so, about three months ago, at nearly 47, I decided I was either going to have extensive surgery to my arms (too expensive and would leave too many scars) or I was going to find a reputable tattooist and have what is know in the jargon as two 'sleeves', basically my arms completely covered up, with good and colourful artwork.

This is my first tip, plan and research. So I went to see a few tattooists, found a guy who seemed good, who had also done an art degree, so was pretty clued up on art as well as tattooing. He is also quite young and uses technology to it's best advantage....he took photo's of my arms, loaded them onto a computer art package and showed me what could be done. All of which meant a minimum of 40 hours work (at £50 per hour).

So, every week for the last 3 months I have had work done on alternate arms and now, the bottom of my arms are almost finished. Not to everyones taste, I have two 'sleeves', however that is infinitely better than what was there before.

I had forgotton how much it hurts, though I have been impressed by the difference in colours used, and other technological advances such as how fine the lines can be now.

When the bottom of my arms are finished they will be (left arm) a complete dragon, coming through clouds of flame and smoke, winding around the whole arm and (right arm) a Japanese water scene of different blues with crysanthemums and cherry blossoms floating on the water, with on the inner arm a 'wraith' from an ICP album cover.

Then I go to work on the tops of my arms. On the left will be a Polynesian sun god, and on the right a Polynesian night scene.

This is my second tip.....decide in advance the look you want. In truth I do not want any more tattoos at all, however i hated my youthful daftness in terms of tattoos, so this is the lesser of two evils, and actually, they look pretty cool.

There is a wonderful array of colours and designs to choose from now and body art, as oppose to simply 'tattooing' can be striking and beautiful, as well as making a statement, so whilst it is not my responsibility or want to tell people not to have tattoos (I never listened) I would always advise:

1. Visit more than one tattooist, talk to them, look at their work.

2. Decide the 'look' you want, it stays with you an awful long time.

3. Don't 'skimp', if you cannot afford what you want, do not settle for 2nd best, you will regret it.

4. Do not go below wrists or above neck, you will regret it.

5. Remember, regardless of what people tell you, it hurts!

6. They can look fantastic, they can also look naff, think about it, long and hard.

7. Plan.

8. Plan.

9. Plan.

10. Most important of all, plan.

The guy i se has an 'idiots' file on his computer which consists of picture of people that have had stupid tattoos that he knows they will regret. he has even advised people when I have been there not to have a certain one done...don't be in a file like that.....you want people to say 'wow' not 'Oh my god'.

My tatt's are on my Facebook page.....once I have finished my arms, I have one or two on my legs that need covering, another piece for my chest...I have one on the inside of my lip already and opne somewhere else that I will leave to your imagination, all could do with a refresh.

Good luck.

Postscript:

Nar2 suggested I tell you a bit about the pain of tattoos, good point. These days they do hurt less than they used to, but pain is personal and relative.

On muscly, fleshy parts of the body, like top outside of arms the pain is bearable but it is pain, make no mistake...a needle going in your skin hundredes of times a minute, for sometimes hours at a time hurts...you will bleed a little and be left with some bruising sometimes.

Where it hurst most is where the skin is more tender, such as inside of elbows (exruciating), backs of kness (awful), or directly where there is little skin and flesh over bones, such as ankle joint.

Outlining hurts more than filling in (colour)...cover ups hurt most as they go deeper.

Summary: Tattoos.