I WANT TO GET A TATTOO, but I have no ideas

most of the consultations that are required to a tattoo artist are to answer to this question:

<br /> “I want to get a tattoo, but I have no ideas, could you give me some advice?”

 

 

• I was thinking about something that reminds me of my mom, what could I do?
• I just graduated and I would like to mark this stage of my life, do you have any idea?
• I would like to tattoo something related to my trip to Africa… but I don’t know what!
• We would like to make a couple tattoo, is there any related symbol?

 

 

it’s legit to reach out to an expert to get advice

but clearly each of us can give different interpretations to the same experience and can learn totally different things from the same life lesson
people have so many different points of view and ideas

therefore, it is hard for a tattoo artist to give an answer to this kind of questions, we rather ask more questions in order to get a deeper overview ^_^

try to get my point…

 

I see my body like a book and every tattoo can be read as a new chapter of it

 

all the chapters are somehow related to each other as they belong to the same book, but they are still divided

each chapter has its own story
with a beginning and an end
with an empty page marking the boundary with the following page
therefore, chapters cannot be mixed up…

what would happen if you mixed some pages of chapter 5 with others of chapter 9? Try to picture this: you wouldn’t understand anything!

this is how a chapter of a book is created
this is how a tattoo is created

 

with a careful selection of the fragment of story they want to share
without distractions, digressions or spoilers

being focused, is essential

but…
the main difference is that the chapter of a book has so many pages, while in a tattoo there is only one facade
only one-shot

only one picture to tell the whole story

thus, even though the length of the story we wish our tattoo to tell is limited, we can still fill many other chapters with many other brand-new stories…. ^_^

so, first of all, you need to choose
!!! And be strict in your choice !!!

 

I know that your kids light up your heart and that you want them to be in every inch of your skin to remind everybody how important they are in your life…

!!! But you can’t !!!

 

choose a chapter to talk about your kids and pay homage to them<br /> so you can leave room for other topics to cover in the following chapters

think about that long-cherished dream of yours and give it a life (your children will be part of it, but it’s your dream, not theirs)

think about that part of your past that you would like to remember as the turning point of your life (maybe, just the moment when you met the father of your children, but at this time your children but by that time your children were not in your plans yet!)

 

 

can you see what I see?
it takes a lot of concentration

 

because if we try to collect too many meaningful thoughts together—perhaps in contrast with each other—in a single image, the result will be just a messy meaningless melting-pot

sometimes, less is more

 

if a story started with a beautiful beginning, then there was a hard part and finally a happy ending… if you have been anxious, struggling but eventually victorious… those feelings I just mentioned are too different and it won’t always be easy to represent them without making a mess

can you understand me?

you have to figure out what aspect of a certain event you want to mark on your skin: the strength of that moment? or maybe the beauty and the joy you experienced after it?

during this process I can’t help you

you have to understand which feeling is the most relevant
which message you are writing on your skin
which message you want to write on your skin

 

 here you have a concrete example:

 

 

a few months after my wedding, I decided to get a tattoo about it

you can have so many different perspectives and points of view in relation to this topic:

• the concept of love in a couple
• the marriage itself
• how you feel loved
• the meaning of family
• the day of celebration
• the celebration of love
• the concept of promise

I could go on and on…

you basically need to focus and choose which shade of your story you want to write on your skin

(to be honest I made many tattoos for my wedding and for my husband, each of them representing one of the points I just listed hahaha!) 

anyway
in this case, I chose to represent that feeling that makes me think “I’m home”
home sweet home
my nest
our nest
the serenity of being in a safe place, cuddled and spoiled

so, once I have determined which perspective of a topic I want to explore deeper, I can start from some keywords and convert them into images ^_^

now everything is easier because I am focused

I thought about home, cuddles and pleasures….
and I tattooed a cupcake ^_^
and I also wrote “home sweet home”

whoever sees the cupcake won’t think it’s related to my husband

but they will have the feeling of something sweet, of a gift, of pleasure, of something that can be prepared at home for someone you love, of an exciting perfume, of a tender and happy moment of relaxation…

a moment that makes you feel better

and that’s exactly what I feel
what I wanted to remember

 

 

I hope now you get what’s my vision of a tattoo

I don’t need to tell a story chapter and verse
I need it to convey an emotion
that will be shared also with those who see it

 

I didn’t like the idea of writing my husband’s name on my skin, because it could be my husband’s name, my lover’s, my father’s or my son’s, my dog’s… it could be anyone and that name would only create memories within me

and confused memories, not focused ones

because that person could bring so many different memories to you and if you don’t focus on one aspect, when you look at the tattoo, you won’t get the right memory

it’s a bit like staring at a wall full of post-it notes with wonderful quotes on them

they’re all beautiful, but they’re so many and it gets messy to read and understand them all!

[ do you want to know how I relate a cupcake to my husband?
I explained it in this article ^ _ ^

I ENTER IN YOUR BOOK]

 

something that often happens to me

when I meet some friends is that they ask me:
“Sara, I’d like to get a tattoo for my daughter, but I have no ideas… could you give me some advice? “

 

what I always answer is “definitely don’t tattoo a name” ^_^
because it could also be your friend’s dog name
not even the date of birth
because it could also be the date of death of your friend’s grandmother
therefore, the emotions would be tremendously different

 

 

my advice is always this one:

think about your daughter, her personality, how it feels to be a mother, how your life has changed…
Think
Focus on these aspects
and understand what you really want to remember of your daughter
what you always want to have with you even when you take her to school or when she won’t be living with you anymore ^_^

think about feelings, quirks or an event
sum it all up

and you will know what you want to get tattooed ^_^

you want to get a tattoo, but you still have to choose it?
you will find more information in this article: WHY DO YOU GET A TATTOO?

 

this can also help you understanding where to focus your attention ^_^

once you’ve made your choice, you just need to choose a tattoo artist to fulfill your dreams ^_^

each chapter of the book of your life can give you different feelings so it may be necessary to use different styles to express them
I covered this topic in the following article:

HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT TATTOO ARTIST IN 5 STEPS 

 

I hope all this information was useful for you and that I helped you with choosing a way that you didn’t even know that was there and I hope that it will be an interesting way to follow  ^_^

If you have any doubt or question, reach out to me and I will try to help you!

 

 

I’d just like to tell you that you are probably not a tattoo artist, you may have another job which may not belong to the creative sector, so it may be difficult for you to understand which subject you want to tattoo…

but now you’ll be able to find out what you want your tattoo to communicate, and be focused
and once you know this, it will be very easy for the tattoo artist to help you
it will be easy for him/her to understand how to draw your tattoo aiming to deliver the message you want to communicate

 

and not because someone else has to understand the message, but because when you’ll look at it, when your gaze will randomly stop there or when you’ll voluntarily seek for it… you will immediately be pervaded by that message again  ^_^

 

with love, but always irriverent

L A D Y S A R A