UKC

When I was young I always said I would never get a tattoo as there the things that mattered most to me constantly changed.

I am no longer young....

I've got a significant birthday this year and was wondering about getting a tattoo, a little mountain vista or something on my shoulder. But I've no idea how you either get a tattoo designed, I know(ish) what I want but dont have the graphics skills, or how do you find a skilled tattoist? 

Any advice from the inked on here?

Find a tattoo place and go in and discuss it. For my first tattoo I only had a rough idea of what I wanted and made a few crappy sketches. The guy said he would draw it up and I could come back the next day. I went back, looked at it and had him tattoo it on my arm.

Find a tattoo place and go in and discuss it. For my first tattoo I only had a rough idea of what I wanted and made a few crappy sketches. The guy said he would draw it up and I could come back the next day. I went back, looked at it and had him tattoo it on my arm.

Edit: unusually get my tattoos done in places I've climbed in. Memorably, I had one done in Juarez where myself and the tatooist had to communicate exclusively via Google translate!

similar thoughts from me, i was thinking a line outline of a uk mountain skyline (or 2)

Instead of across you shoulder what about a far away view of a mountain vista all the across the base of your spine?

Just have a google, you'll find discussion forums and all sorts about who is good or not. Check out their work, see if you like it. Take in a load of photos or whatever of what you were thinking about and any artist worth their salt will design it for you. I had a mountain vista done on my arm (half sleeve). I just took in some photos and said what sort of thing I was thinking/what I wanted including. Artist came up with an amazing wrap design and I went for it. 

They will know what will or wont work, and have the experience. An experienced tattooist will probably have done 100s of similar things. Going in with a concept and some photos is probably better than overdesigning anything yourself. 

The best artists will have a long waiting list (up to a year), so be prepared to wait. If they'll do it next week for you, they're probably not very good. Avoid walk-in days, as I expect they'll rush more and cut corners to keep to a schedule/fit more in. If you're flexible with work, you can sometimes squeeze in a lot quicker with cancellations, so ask to get put on a list if you are. 

Thanks, that's really useful

I was thinking of somthing like Tessa Lyons's BMC hills to oceans design, allthough probably without the BMC logo.

I also dont want to steal someone's IPR so not sure if I've fully thought this through.

No BMC logo? But that's where all the charm comes from! 😜 

In all seriousness, I don't have any tattoos for the reason you quoted but I think that's a nice design and you probably won't find it hard to get a tattooist to make it more personal stylistically for you! Good luck!

I also don't think you will have any regrets, as long as the artist doesn't do a crap job (and even then it isn't unfixable). 

Something like a girlfriends name, something political, something en-trend (e.g. tribal) or something with significant personal meaning etc. has the potential to backfire but I doubt anyone has ever fallen out with a nice picture of something, or the idea of a beautiful landscape. 

I mostly forget I have them now, they're just a part of me. Like a scar or a birthmark or a mole would be. 

And to anyone who says 'what about when you're old? what will it look like?!' the answer is: f*cking shite and wrinkly, much like every other inch of my body. 

Tramp stamp!!!!!!! 

I'm guessing tattoo artists are a brand of people who make it their business to saturate social media with their work.  There will be a ton of it out there!  You'll find some spectacular results quite quickly and easily (Mrs TC likes a bit of ink and sends me pics of stuff she's considering)

Whilst I've seen some awesome looking tattoo's on people (and some rubbish ones to be fair) I've just never really fancied anything 'visible' on me.

I've got a very small one done of my first grand daughters footprint on the side of my lower leg, and I'm trying to get the time to get something done for my second grand daughter (maybe another footprint, maybe a hand print), just as something very personal and special to me (and with my horrific bowling pin legs, I never wear shorts so not many people will ever see them).  

Oh and I got battered in Vegas years ago and had a very small scorpion done on my other leg,  I was very drunk, I had a few dollars left, and I was p*ssed off that I hadn't managed to see a real one whilst I was out there.  That was my first one.

Great vegas story, if your going to get a drunken tattoo vegas seems the most appropriate place! 

I'm still a little too conservative (and scared off my mum) to get one that would be normally visible, hence the shoulder, I rarely get my top off. I basically look like golem (but with better hair). In fact when I mentioned the idea of getting a tattoo to a mate last week he said "I dunno mate I'm not sure you've got the physique" which I thought was a bit harsh.

Why worry

Who are you getting the tatt for anyway? 

Better than my sister's ex. He hated tattoos, but got very drunk in Vegas and woke up with his postcode tattooed on his arm.  He was from Porthcawl near Cardiff, which is a perfectly pleasant place but neither cool nor tough enough to warrant being indelibly written on your arm

My son had a tattoo of a Lake District skyline done down his arm by a guy based in Carlisle. Working from a photograph taken by my son and a pen sketch in a Wainwright guide he did a really good job.

In reply to Shani:

Can I get that on a tattoo? 😄

I remember looking away and gritting my teeth when he started and expecting it to hurt. It actually felt quite nice and I told him so. Then he pointed out that he hadn't actually started and was only at the point of shaving my leg. 

Paul Jepson has put the best advice on here, research your artist very well. Some are great at somethings and bad at others.

The only thing Paul said that I don't agree with is a crap job not being unfixable. Most can be fixed but some are beyond anything but covering with solid black or laser treatment to remove it.

My advice is don't over think it, go with your gut. Yes you will have it for life but so what, if you don't like it 20 years down the line it's still part of the story of your life. 

As others have said, the artist is everything. When you find one with a style you love you can work together to come up with the design. I'd recommend going to a tattoo expo so you get the chance to see loads of artists' work, in pictures and on actual flesh as they're usually working there and then. I found it much better than trawling forums for recommendations from people who are probably biased towards their own artist. Accept you might need to travel and you'll almost certainly have to wait for a good artist.

I waited almost 12 months for my last tattoo, from falling in love with the artist at the expo to her inking me at the next year's show. If I'm honest, I'd rather have had it done it in a studio but it was a choice of get it done at the expo or have to travel to Lincoln and my laziness overcame my aversion to basically being on display for 3 hours!

Dirtbag tag?

Your mate sounds like one of mine, who I've known since early childhood. At least they say what they really think, which is important in life.

I've absolutely nothing against tattoos.  Honest.  

But for the life of me I can't understand why people get tattoos which you cannot read because the font is difficult to read - such as Old English/Gothic, or too small, or set at such an angle you've got bend over to read it..  Pictures so complicated you'd need an interpreter to explain what it was. Colours that fade over a couple of years, so what you once thought was attractive and colourful is now a blurry blodge of faded colours.  

As for twits who go abroad (or indeed stay here), and get a tattoo written in a foreign language and in a script such as Chinese, hindu or Arabic, and  later find out its an insult or means something like "Allaha Akabar".  Yes it happens.  I recall someone on my ship coming back from a night out in Hong Kong with a few Chinese characters tattooed down his arm.  He thought it was something profound from the works of Lao Tzu and would make him look cool back in Oldham.  When he got back to the UK, he went to his local Chinese for a take-away and to impress them.  When the staff stopped laughing they explained that the tattoo meant, "I'm a drunken fool". 

I've nothing against other people's tattoos.  They've provided me with years of amusement.