Terrible Tattoos – They Can Be There For Life

Some people have simply awful tattoos. This should not be seen as a call to condemn the entire idea of getting a tattoo, but it should be a quiet reminder to anyone thinking of getting ink done that they need to be careful before letting the needle anywhere near their skin. It may sound like a great idea at 9.30pm one night, and look like a horrible mess twelve hours later. There is a reason why most tattoo parlors will refuse to tattoo anyone who even appears intoxicated.

We have surely all seen them. Tattoos which depict a cartoon character in an obscene pose. Tattoos which take a fairly weak visual joke and stretch it so far that it breaks. Tattoos which have two arrows – one pointing up with “The Man” written underneath it, and the other pointing down towards their crotch with “The Legend” written above. If you are going to get a tattoo, make sure it is conceptualised when you are stone cold sober. A drunken tattoo will not cause people to think you’re a hilarious, crazy guy, but it might make them think you are a loser.

It is also worth checking out the credentials of the parlor where you go before you get the tattoo. If you have a friend who has a great-looking tattoo, ask where he went and go there. Do not just go to any tattoo parlor, because some really are not very good, and they will leave you with a tattoo that looks nothing like you were expecting.

Putting Some Thought Into Your Tattoo

There is no doubt that most tattoo parlors in the Western World have been dealing with broadly similar requests from their customers for years now, and you can imagine that this probably gets a bit boring from time to time. With the old standby designs which everyone recognizes, added to the group, the film or the celebrity who is cool at the time, it is hardly surprising that there is an undercurrent of belief that tattoos are just a way of following the crowd. However, with a little bit of thought on the part of the bearer, a tattoo can be great to look at and a real conversation starter.

This is why you should put some thought into the design before you go anywhere near the tattoo parlor. Do you want to be the third person they’ve seen today to get a famous cartoon character, or do you want to give them a chance to draw something different for once? Don’t go too crazy – a giant tableau demonstrating the history of human civilization might take a while and still look half-done. But something individual and stylish can make the job worthwhile.

Think of something distinctive about yourself, or that you like. Then think of something connected with it that you really like – ideally not something completely typical of the tattoos that everyone else is getting. If you can draw, sketch out some ideas, or print something off the Internet. Go for a different look, and stand out from the crowd.