Out With the Old.....

As we wind down 2010, and look ahead to 2011, I wanted to take care of one of my several loose ends from the past year.

Back in July, I met a guy named John on the D train. He had tattooed arms and we chatted a bit. He said he'd send me photos and he did a few weeks later.

I never posted the photos because the resolution was low, and when I tried to increase the size, they blurred. I was going to include these in the Christmas housecleaning post, but the work is just too good.

So hear you have them, small photos, but recognizably amazing:

I mean, what is there to say? This work is quite excellent. The koi, the tiger, the sailing ship, sugar skull, nautical stars - it's all quite a body of work!

The artist is Nacho, who appeared once before on the blog here. You can check out Nacho's work here. in New York, he tattoos out of Studio Enigma on Avenue U.

Thanks to John for sharing these amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

And thanks to all of our fans and contributors for making 2010 a successful year of inkspotting!

Free Tattoo Patterns Design - Is Free Better?

You've come to this article probably looking for places you can find free tattoo patterns. You're going to pay good money to have a tattoo inked, so why are you looking for a free design that will probably reduce the quality of that tattoo

Before you click 'back', think about the investment you are about to make on your body. You know the saying, 'you get what you pay for'. It holds true for this area also. Yes, we're always looking to find a good deal and you should try to save money wherever you can but will a free tattoo pattern be worth it for something that will be with you for life

Time is money. If you spend days looking around the internet for truly free tattoo patterns sites and then looking through the tattoos they have, you have spent a lot of your time which may have been used more efficiently somewhere else.

What will you tell your friends when they ask where you got your design Will your friends be impressed by your 'free' tattoo pattern Will you be happy with your free design

Many free tattoo patterns are not good quality. Most of the free tattoo designs that you find are not really designed to be used as tattoo designs. They might be pictures or designs that are created on a computer. Most free tattoo patterns that you find have poor quality with poor lines and detail. You might find a 'diamond in the ruff' but it could take a lot of time. Your time is better spent trying to find the best looking and most expressive design you can find.

Free Tattoo Flash Designs - Will You Be Happy With Free?

You will find lots of free tattoo flash designs looking around on the internet. But will these be the kind of designs you want to get inked on your body Most of the free tattoo flash designs that I have seen look like cartoons from magazines. Many look like clip art from your computer. Do you want a tattoo that everyone has seen

Your tattoo needs to be unique.
Your tattoo has to express a part of your personality. It should tell a story - your story. When you talk about your tattoo, you should not say, 'I saw it on so and so and it looked good so I thought I would get it.' You should have a personal story to tell, whether it's your first tattoo or your 50th.

How do you get unique tattoo designs
First of all stop looking for free tattoo flash designs. Don't sell yourself and your body cheap. If you're going to pay good money for a tattoo, pay money for a good tattoo design. The money that you would pay for tattoo flash is a small amount compared to how long you will keep the tattoo and how proud you will be to have a unique tattoo design.

To get a truly unique tattoo design, you want to design your own tattoo. For the most part, free tattoo flash isn't even good enough to use to design your own tattoo. You should take parts from different tattoos you like, use your imagination and come up with a design that speaks to you and that you can speak about.

Don't regret your tattoo choice because you were too cheap to spend money on a tattoo design. Get a membership to a tattoo gallery and spend lots of time looking through high quality tattoos. It will really change your perspective on what your tattoo will look like.

A Bright Spot in December: A Phoenix and a Pin-Up

As one would expect, inkspotting is tough during December. Here we are at the end of the month, and I have only interviewed three people since the 1st. There were a few times over the summer when I interviewed three contributors during my lunch hour!

The last person whose work I photographed was Megan, who I found upstairs at the Penn Plaza Borders store.

Megan has seventeen tattoos, but it was this one that caught my eye:

This is a phoenix, of course, but fewer people may recognize it as Fawkes, the phoenix of Professor Albus Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The artwork is based on the illustration by Jason Cockcroft on the cover of the UK edition of the aforementioned book.

The tattooist Jamie Nichols at Gargoyle Tattoo in Aberdeen, Washington, completed this piece in about eight hours over two sittings.

Megan also has this pinup on her upper left arm:

The use of negative space for the bombs is pretty cool.

Marcus was the artist at Gargoyle that Megan credited for creating this piece..

Thanks to Megan for taking the time to speak to me about her cool tattoos!

Beauty of Flower Tattoo Designs

Flowers are perhaps the among the strongest object used to symbolized women and tattoos are not any different. For centuries, women have been coming up with more creative and illustrious flower tattoo ideas to add to those that are already in existence. One of the main reasons for this is flower tats will never be out of style in any day and age. What this means is, these tattoos and ideas will be around and tattooed by women all over the globe in years to come yet.

When it comes to flowers, there are really no limitations as to what can be tattooed. No matter what, flower tats will almost always look great on a woman especially when tattooed by an experienced tattoo artisttattoo parlor using quality tattooing techniques. What this means is there are really no right or wrong when it comes to flower tat ideas. It is more a question of whether these designs suit the woman in question. We do have some flower tattoo ideas to help out women out there wanting to get one (or even in multiples).

First of all, the most obvious would be to choose between a black inked flower tat or a colored flower tat. While flower tats can still look good in black, flowers do bring out the life in these flowers especially when the flower tattoo ideas and designs are in 3D.

Next, flower tattoo ideas can also revolve around the type of flower itself. Although the most common and popular flower used in tattoos are roses, there are also many other flowers that have been tattooed and actually with great results to boot. They can include (but not limited) to orchids, sunflowers, morning glories, lilies and sunflowers.

Flower tattoo ideas can also come in the form of the number of flowers used in the design. For instance, a single rose may look good but when coupled with another bud, it can have adverse effects. On the same note, bouquets or bunches of flowers can also have positive effects. These flower tat ideas may also include other objects or even an image of a person on it. Guns, skulls, sun, women or body part can go well with these flower tats.

Tattoo Convention Designs And Pictures

In contemporary society, tattoos are symbolic in a lot of ways. Whilst within the past or in other cultures around the globe they may be employed to signify certain tribe relations or family trees, in first-world nations they're signs of rebellion and coming-of-age. In reality, so quite a few folks have turned to tattoos that they may be barely taboo anymore-it would appear the greater part from the population desires rebellion.

But for those that do decide to acquire a tattoo, the choice of what to acquire is important, specifically considering that tattoos do last a lifetime unless one is willing to invest plenty of money to have it removed. And there isn't any far better place to obtain familiar while using several alternatives available than at a tattoo convention.

At a tattoo convention, everyone involved from the tattoo sector is brought with each other. From artists to distributors, buyers to designers, everyone comes with each other at these events to promote the art of tattooing, and to support uncover answers for those who have concerns. For your artists, a tattoo convention is like a gallery-here they are able to present their work, both as photographs, decals and as living specimens. They could market their parlors and attract people particularly to their benches-the tattoo world can be a competitive market and artists require to stand out for that rest.

For other men and women within the company, a tattoo convention is often a position to buy, sell and trade wares, anything from needles and ink to flash and lotions. Essentially, anytime a thing new is developed, the inventor needs a place to showcase his or her accomplishments, and there is no far better location than a tattoo convention. Here they are able to locate parlors which will use their items, and also gather other suggestions for the future. These conventions focus solely within the art of tattooing, and for such a specialized marketplace, there is no superior location to go out and discover a buyer.

Octopus Tattoo Designs And Ideas

Octopus Tattoo Designs

Deciding what tattoo design to choose is a very important decision, considering that you will have to live with that decision for years to come. To help you choose a design, you should first consider its symbolic value. One rare, but amazing tattoo design, is the octopus tattoo.

When people think of octopuses, they attach the idea to values like grace, intelligence, wisdom, and adaptability. But to other people, it might not have any significance at all.

Squids on the other hand are believed to be mysterious. They are like chameleons in that they have the ability to change color and disappear when faced with danger. The squid avoids being preyed upon by blending in with the color of its surroundings. Since they do not have spines, they are called invertebrates. Invertebrates are known to be agile and flexible. This sums up the reason why many ocean lovers are amazed by the squid's mysterious beauty.

Octopuses can disengage their limbs when under attack. Even more amazing, an octopus will regrow a lost limb - they magically grow back in time. This attribute signifies renewed hope for all of us. It is like getting rid of what is bad in our lives. And like the octopus, wouldn't it be nice if we could regenerate what was lost and as we 'grow back' maybe we could also evolve into better individuals.

When applying an octopus design, the most distinguished stokes are the tentacles. Sometimes it gives out a negative message to people since it symbolizes pride, grabbing, or trapping. This invertebrate is also monstrous for most people. Even though it gives out a negative connotation, we should realize that we are only human and sometimes we are in ourselves, monsters.

Two-for-Tattoosday, Brazilian-Style

Sometimes, due to a) a language barrier and b) the passage of time, we're not always able to give you the most in-depth story about our subjects' tattoos.

Such is the case with Celso and Reginaldo, who I met back in September outside of Madison Square Garden.

Both gentlemen were visiting from São Paolo, Brazil and one of Celso's tattoos caught my eye:

That was on his right arm. He also had this one on his left arm:

Celso's friend Reginaldo pulled his shirt off so I could get the full view of his koi tattoo:

Celso credited Artur at True Love Tattoo in São Paolo for inking his dragon and his mermaid.

Artur also was the artists who did Reginaldo's koi.

Thanks to Celso and Reginaldo for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Zodiac Tattoo Designs

Zodiac tattoo designs are quickly catching up with lot of people. Several people are proud of their zodiac sign and would love to flaunt it. Though there is more to getting a zodiac tattoo than going to the tattoo artist, telling him your zodiac sign and he tattoos it on your skin. Well there is definitely more to it if you want to make it a masterpiece.

Firstly when where is talk about zodiac signs, it is assumed that reference is to sun signs commonly used in the west. But zodiac signs are also local to several cultures in the east. For example India and China have their set of zodiac signs. Both these culture also use 12 signs and the exact sign is determined by the date of birth of the individual. But these are based on complex lunar calendars.

Chinese zodiac signs consist of 12 animals. But the signs are designed in a very creative manner. Chinese zodiac sign is determined by the year of birth of the individual according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Each Chinese calendar is represented by a particular sign. Indian zodiac signs also consist of 12 signs but these signs have different names and designs than those used in the west. To determine the Indian zodiac sign it is important to know the exact time of birth as this system is based on the movements of the moon across the celestial.

Once you have decided upon the zodiac design you will be get tattooed, you can go the easy way and just do a Google search on it and get hundreds of generic designs and use one of them. The disadvantage of this approach is that your tattoo will be really commonplace and no-one will even care to give it a second look. For example if you want to get a tattoo of Libra, you can just take a design showing two unbalanced scales and you are done. If all you want is to get some dime-a-dozen tattoo this should do, but if you want to get a special tattoo which will be gawked at, wherever you go, you will need to do more work on your zodiac design.

Warrior Tattoo Designs And Ideas

Are you trying to get a great Greek warrior tattoo but can't seem to find the right design? Not even sure which warrior you want the tattoo to mimic? One of the hardest things about getting the right tattoo is feeling completely confident in your choice of design. Greek tattoos are very dynamic and expressive so the last thing you want to happen is to be disappointed in the end result.

Greek warrior tattoos are a symbol of strength, courage, endurance, and nobility. Your design should express these very same characteristics that exist in yourself. It should show all of us who see it the fight that you are undertaking or have already made in your life, and the passion that was used to achieve the outcome. These are some fascinating Greek warriors who make stunning tattoo designs.

Bellerophon

Bellerophon was the son of either Poseidon or King Glaucus and was a very handsome man. He was known as the hero and slayer of monsters. He became famous by killing the Chimera, the fire breathing half-man half-beast. He did this with the help of Pegasus, his famous winged horse. Bellerophon mounted a large block of lead to the end of his spear. Mounted atop Pegasus, he flew head-on towards the Chimera, holding out the spear as far as he could. He lodged the block of lead inside the Chimera's throat, suffocating the beast. Tattoos of Bellerophon are spectacular with both his own beauty and that of the beautiful Pegasus. What a way to express your courage and strength in the face of adversity.

Hercules

The famous Hercules was most known for his incredible strength. He was a great champion and warrior who was also known for destroying many dangerous monsters. His most notable battle was against Lernaean Hydra, the ancient serpent-like water beast that had 9 heads and poisonous breath so potent that even her tracks were deadly. Greek warrior tattoos centered around Hercules express strength, courage, and incredible endurance (Hercules killed numerous monsters). Using Hercules in your design will express your own individual endurance against adversities that have occurred in your life.

Christmas House Cleaning

Regular readers of Tattoosday will notice that, although I generally follow a chronological order when I share tattoos I have encountered.

However, certain pieces, for various and sundry reasons, have been bypassed, and haven't made it to the blog, until now.

I was originally going to post a dozen to represent the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I settled for eight. For the nights of Chanukah, perhaps?

Without intending to offend anyone for not receiving a post all to themselves, I have lumped these tattoos, spanning from late August to late October, in one post.

These are the neglected tattoo pictures that are just a little off, some not through the fault of the contributor, but for reasons beyond their control.

The quality of the photo may not be ideal, or the host and I faced a language barrier that prevented a good back story from emerging, or I didn't find the story behind the tattoo especially compelling. And then
there's what is likely one of the poorest tattoos I have seen, but the story behind it is somewhat compelling.

So, without further ado, here is a Christmas cleaning, eight posts rolled together into one gigantic one.

~~~

First up, we have Esteban, who shared his sleeve when I met him in September, at Fairway in Red Hook:

Alas, I was still using a borrowed camera, and several shots were over-exposed and/or blurry, but I was able to salvage this one:

The artwork is pre-Colombian in its inspiration, and is part of a larger tropical motif.

Next up we have Dave, who I met in Penn Station. He has over 25 tattoos and selected this one to share:

The phrase "Uniting the Strong" is the title of a song from Victim in Pain, the second album from the band Agnostic Front. This is a friendship tattoo that stresses unity and the host's nod to the hardcore punk scene.

Dave credits Jelena at Lone Wolf Tattoo in Bellmore, New York with this piece.

~~~

Next we have Orlando, a Fine Arts student at FIT, where I met him outside while walking toward 23rd Street on my lunch break, also in September.

This ship tattoo is an homage to his father, who served in the navy for thirty years. He wanted a "classic look" in the Sailor Jerry style.

Orlando confirmed for me that his dad loves the tattoo.

It was inked at Crazy Fantasy Tattoo in Manhattan by an artist named Antonio.

Orlando has seven tattoos in all, and shared this one, as well, inked at Dare Devil Tattoo on the Lower East Side.

The quote, "This my excavation and today is Kumran" is from a song called "re: Stacks" by Bon Iver.

Orlando explained that he interprets this quote as a reminder that "every day has the ability to make you or break you. It just depends on what you do with it." Other interpretations are here.

For the record, I did email Orlando to ask for an opportunity to get clearer pictures, but I did not hear back from him.

~~~

I met Farkas in Union Square back in October. He had this wolf on his right arm:

He explained that his name means "wolf" in Hungarian, and that one of his friends in Hungary did this tattoo for him.

~~~

A couple days after meeting Farkas, I met an Israeli named Ran on 34th Street across from Macy*s. He shared this iguana on his right leg:

It's a pretty nice tattoo, but he hasn't sent me any further details about it.

~~~

A couple weeks later, I was in the West Village before a concert, and met Carlos, a manager at the Qdoba Mexican Grill where we were having a quick bite before the show. He shared this intricate tattoo on his right arm:

He and friend collaborated on this tattoo together. He told me that, when he was little, he did jigsaw puzzles with his mother a lot. The tattoo reminds him of those fun times growing up.

~~~

The following week, I ran into Iancu in Penn Station, and he shared this piece on his upper left arm:

Iancu told me he came to the artist, Rico, formerly of Rising Dragon in Manhattan, who was initially unwilling to do the tattoo. However, he convinced him to do it. It's basically a Guns N' Roses tribute although, he
noted, the guns were added about a year and a half after the original design was inked.

~~~

And finally, I must first say that  it is very rare that I ever criticize the quality of a tattoo.

Even if it is inferior to the work of much better artists, I always like to believe there are some redeeming qualities in a tattoo.

Which is why I struggled with this next tattoo, which I photographer back in August, and which I have included in this odds and ends post in December.

I approached a guy named Danny who had a lot of interestingly-tattooed words and such on his arms.

However, he offered to remove his shirt in Penn Station so I could photograph this:

Um, yeah.

If this was done by an experienced artist, I would likely not have posted it. Despite its obvious flaws, it is compelling, in my opinion, because Danny told me, like all his tattoos (15 or 16, he told me), this one was
self-inked. Now, I can see tattooing one's arm or leg, but I cannot even fathom how challenging it would be to self-tattoo your chest. He estimated this took one and a half hours to do.

The message is "Diamonds Aren't Forever," or, in  Danny's words, "don't take what you have for granted".

~~~

So there you have it, a Spring Cleaning for Christmas.

I do sincerely thank the individuals who shared their tattoos in this entry. Happy Holidays, y'all!

Chopper Tattoo Designs

Are you thinking about having a tattoo? If you are, you should think about it more carefully because that tattoo is going to stick with you for the rest of your life and most of people don't realize that.

Since this is very important thing that you should consider before get your first tattoo, Chopper Tattoo offers you with thousands of award-winning tattoo designs database that can easily browse from and continues to add more designs on a daily basis. There is no limit in design with Chopper Tattoo when compare to the local tattoo shop.

Chopper Tattoo also provides search function which you can search your favorite tattoo by style, size or color from a thousand designs. They offer almost every style you can think of such as dragon, butterfly, fish, tribal and lots more where you can just print them out without any extra charges and take it to your local tattoo shop.

Chopper Tattoo website is very easy to navigate as well as user friendly to search for your new tattoo ideas. Another feature that you can find in Chopper Tattoo is the custom tattoo lettering feature which allow you to customize your own font from thousands of lettering ideas.

In addition to, if you are a tattoo artist and would like to become an artist for chopper-tattoo.com, you will receive your own page on their website that showcases your work and receive 75% of sale that are made from your page. This is a good way to promote your work and earn extra money.

Home Sweet Home for the Holidays

The saying is, "you can't take it with you," but there is a way to carry your home with you when you move somewhere else.

Take, Adam, for example, who I stopped on Seventh Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets.

He currently resides in Pittsburgh, but he has lived in Miami and New York City.

His tattoos are a work in progress and he has had about eight hours done so far.

Adam says he has lived all over the United States and he wants, ideally, to tattoo a "piece of everywhere I've lived".

Check this out:

The Statue of Liberty clearly represents New York, and the palm trees recall Miami. All the bridges and a few of the buildings are Pittsburgh landmarks, like PPG Place

and the Highmark Building.

The "Home Sweet Home" sentiment is anchored by the multiple locations, echoing the idea that home is where the heart is.

Adam's work is done by Michael Patrick at Jester's Court Tattoos in Pittsburgh.

Thanks to Adam for sharing his wonderful sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Tattoo Fonts Style Back

Tattoo fonts style on back and side body for men is very good design. i like this tattoos design, are you like it ? you can try draw tattoo by your own but for example your tattoo you can follow this tattoo fonts style.

Tattoos quotes about love ideas

In this world you never fell  " love " , now if you can show your love to someone and want to create tatto for do it, you can find ideas from this tattoos design. Tattoos design for girls and men which simple but enaought for show your love to someone. now you can save this tattoo quotes about love to your PC , i hope this very usefull for you.

Tattoo Fonts Old English

Tattoo fonts old english on back body for men. many tattoos design on back bodywhich very interesting and amazing. may be this tattoos fonts old english is one ideas for you. if you want to create tattoos fonts , this design ideas very macth to you.

Tattoo fonts / lettering old english on back body pictures abpve can you save to your PC , This tattoos design ideas free for you all. i hope this is can help you. Thanks before . . . .

Sexy Model with Tattoos Design

This model has a tattoo of a very beautiful and interesting they are very proud because it has a nice tattoo on their body. All the examples in my blog I just set apart for tattoo lovers.

tattoo flash collection

Tattoo flash collection for you all. i have best tattoo flash , tattoo ideas for make tattoos design on our body. Very simple design ideas , but i think very beautifull. are you like tattoo flash ?? this flash tattoo collection for you. i hope this very help you to get ideas.