• Drifting •

[Raffles]

I've seen enough 60 year-old guys with messy dark green blotches to put me off getting a tattoo. On the other hand, tattoo technology is probably much improved since said guys got their tats.

Still, if you end up not liking it or regretting at some point in the future, getting rid of it is not easy. I think there are better ways of expressing whatever it is people try to express with tattoos. And besides, it's not that original any more.

That said, very occasionally I see a pretty girl with an original, not horribly obvious and well-placed tattoo and I think "that looks sexy".

[Datura]

I personally never had one, I did not like them for myself. I do have though some real admiration for the great tattoo artists, not the schlock stuff. My pen work looks a lot like tattoo work, and I know what it requires to be good at it.

I always felt that it can look very interesting on a young body, when you age things start to look differently, and when I look around me here in this area where a lot of older people live, it looks so very sad to see the tattoos on these old bodies.

I find them very unattractive at that point. I also think, just as Raffles does, that you have other and better means to express yourself. You will change also, your ideas will grow, your standards will grow, you will not find the things that you found worthwhile while young worthwhile as much when you age. I would be very careful to have one, or at least put it in a place that is not exposed to the public view when you wear regular cloths.

[php_daemon]

Yes of course, if I ever do, it's gonna be only a very moderate one in a reasonable place.

I blame overworking for this kind of thoughts.

[Datura]

Saulius, have you ever seen these reports about the tattoo conventions? Oh man, those people have not an inch left of regular skin. It is interesting, but at the same time it seems a rather unpleasant thing. The contours of the body shift when you look at those people, natural curves are distorted looking because the designs pull the eye and give a false reading.

[Raffles]

Where would you put it? I think that for men it tends to be the arms as a first choice. And what would you get? Not something with <?php in it I'd hope...

[Datura]

^ hahaha

[php_daemon]

Upper arm. How about the little fella on the left? Some kind of variation though, having 'php' in there is probably not the best idea; but I like the curves.

[Datura]

I would not put it on the upper arm myself, maybe the upper leg, in the small of the back.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

I've wanted one for a long time but I've never been able to make up my mind what I wanted to get.

The mere fact that whatever I choose will be there until I die... amm... yeah that tends to take the wind out of things.

I got an eyebrow piercing instead, the last time I went to the tattoo shop.

[AutisticCuckoo]

I've got a small one (two bird's feathers, about 6" tall and 3" wide) on my left arm – high up on the delta muscle. I've had it for more than 10 years and I've never regretted getting it.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

Sounds like Varelse's symbol.

[AutisticCuckoo]

To some extent. If you rotate it by 180&#176;, make them slimmer and move the intersection point. And they're in colour.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

Some years ago I wanted to get the Spartan Lambda symbol on my hand... on the back of my left hand... facing sideways.

This was when very few people knew who they were or what they were famous for so it would have been cool.

Then now in 2007 the stickin' movie came out so I can't so it anymore or I'd just look like a fanboy of 300.

[Datura]

That is always the danger with stuff like that. It should be sort of neutral, very personal, not connected to any trend or fashion of the moment. And not a name of girl friend or boy friend.

I always thought if I were to go bald, my grandmother was, but I have not seen any sign yet, I would put a tattoo over my head like a cap.

[AutisticCuckoo]

That is always the danger with stuff like that. It should be sort of neutral, very personal, not connected to any trend or fashion of the moment. And not a name of girl friend or boy friend.

No serious tattooist will make tattoos with the name of a girlfriend/boyfriend, or clearly offensive motifs. Neither will they make any tattoos on someone who is drunk.

Of course, there are lots of less-than-serious tattooists out there.

[Datura]

No serious tattooist will make tattoos with the name of a girlfriend/boyfriend, or clearly offensive motifs. Neither will they make any tattoos on someone who is drunk.

Of course, there are lots of less-than-serious tattooists out there.

Oh, I have seen so many tattoos of this kind, the: I love you mom type. And then there are all the ones kids do themselves, or the ones done in the prisons, the coded ones. I saw once a show on the Russian prison tattoos, where you could read the entire history of that person on their body. You just needed to know the code for it.

You are right, the serious tattoo artist will not do what a naive customer asks for. I have talked to many, because my pen work is so much like their work. But those people are artists, they are serious about their work. Most of the ones you find at the usual spots of red light entertainment or tourist places are the kind that do not give a hoot, one way or the other.

[akritic]

Many 'gang' type cultures now have tattoo markings. It is something quite worrying when you kill people so that you can add a pip to your 'honour'

[Datura]

Many 'gang' type cultures now have tattoo markings. It is something quite worrying when you kill people so that you can add a pip to your 'honour'

Yes, it is sad indeed. It seems like a throwback to times way past in history where people put a notch into their belt for every person murdered.

[Datura]

You forgot your own answer, ottong. You quoted me, but then …

[Raffles]

Upper arm. How about the little fella on the left? Some kind of variation though, having 'php' in there is probably not the best idea; but I like the curves.

Not with the Web 2.0 reflection I hope!

[wwb_99]

Your spambot forgot its own answer, ottong. It quoted me, but then …

Fixed.

[Raffles]

Wow, I had no idea spambots could quote. That's pretty advanced.

[akritic]

I saw it in one one of the other threads actually.. could become a major problem.

This is straight up nusiance spam, at least ads have a point in them.

[Datura]

Oh, I have never seen this, is this a common problem?

What on earth is the point of that?

[akritic]

Not a very serious problem at present. As I said it is just the nusiance.