Choosing your first tattoo can be tricky, for different reasons; how big? What placement? Black or colour? What design? What style? Which artist?
These are a few questions that you might have in your head, when you think about getting your first tattoo. It's really important to answer those questions, as by doing so you'll filter a lot of variables.
Normally, the first tattoo is small: it can be some lettering, something cute or just a symbol.
It's really important to check the artist's portfolio before booking your appointment, as it will give you an idea about the artist's style, how clean are their lines, how solid is their colouring, what are their strong points and if they're the right artists for what you want.
If an artist is really good to execute American traditional tattoos or Japanese style and his portfolio mainly shows those style of tattooing, it probably means that asking them a realistic portrait or a watercolour style tattoo is not a good idea, as this could generate 3 different outcomes:
The artist refuses to do it because the tattoo that you want is too different from what he specialises in;
The artist tries to work with you, to find a design that represent your idea in their style;
The tattoo doesn't meet your expectations.
Let's go into detail with the questions above:
1. How big? Size always matters, specially in the tattoo industry: a small tattoo is quick, relatively cheap, not too painful and easy to hide or to cover-up (if you regret it).
2. What placement? Placement is really important as some areas can be more painful then some others and they might also take longer, due to the elasticity of the skin. There are designs that might not work on certain parts of the body, or they might not last "Till you die", as the texture of the skin is quite different from the rest of the body, or the skin cells regenerate faster.
3. Black or colour? This is generally up to your taste and to your skin. Black is the colour that lasts the longest and shows well on any type of skin. Colours, instead, can look different on different types of skin and tend to be not very vibrant or not bright on darker skins.
4. What design? This is entirely up to you, as the limit is your fantasy. Anything can be tattooed, as long as the design is adapted to certain technical aspects (level of details for the size, intricacy...). Some people prefer to pick a tattoo flash from a book or from some painted plates and some people prefers their tattoo to be designed from scratch. Either way, the choice is yours.
5. What Style? Also this is up to you. Some customer might love only one style, others more.
Just keep in mind that there's a reason why your grandpa's tattoos are still legible: black lines and black shading keep everything together.
6. Which artist? For this question, you can refer to the point 5, because you should choose your artist based on the style that you'd want to wear. Do your research, find the one that you like. Make sure to check some healed tattoos done by that artist, so you can expect a similar result. If the artist you found is not local and you can't find anyone in your area that does the same, maybe you should consider travelling.
Last but not least: price.
I bet those sneakers cost around £150, how long are they going to last?
How much are you willing to spend for something that it's made specifically for you, that you're the only one wearing it, that can't be stolen or taken away from you and that will live longer than you?
Leonardo
Super helpful and informative read!