Tattoos? Tattoos!

[Ryujin]

Well I wouldn’t have a Monet on my arm…

I'm sure it would look good.

... from a distance.

 

[Mad_Jack]

All of my four tattoos either represent some important thing I want to remind myself of (a life lesson, for instance) or commemorate something important to me.

I have two small ones on my left bicep...

The first is a scorpion, representing the parable of the scorpion and the frog, with the words "To Thine Own Self" over the top.

Below that is the Red Cross logo, with my blood type in the center of it, and in each of the two lower quadrants formed by the cross there's a blood drop, one for each gallon I've donated. (There should be a third, but I never got around to getting it added.)

On my right shoulderblade is the Rocky Horror Picture Show lips and logo...

I was with the Rhode Island cast for eight years and performed at half a dozen national conventions. I've seen nearly 600 shows, seen it in twelve different US states and performed in ten. I've also seen five different productions of the stage play spread across three states.

On my left shoulderblade is a Claddagh Ring tattoo I got on the first anniversary of my mother's death. She loved Claddagh rings, and hated tattoos. It's a reminder that all of the crap between us died with her and to not let it affect me any more...

I designed and drew this one myself: I took a picture of my own hands holding a paper heart, and drew in the outlines and pasted it all together in photoshop.

I have a rough design for another tat I'd like to get on my right arm, but I can't quite fully visualize it the way I want it, so I can't draw it yet. I want a white unicorn and a black Asian-style dragon twined around each other in the form of a yin/yang symbol.
It'll probably never happen, though.

 

[trappedslider]

That makes two of us.

you wouldn't want a monet on his arm either?

I like @Ryujin grew in an environment that shamed about tattoos until the last few decades but I honestly think they look cool depending on what it is and i'll compliment someone on their tats if i think they are cool or nice looking. But it will never be something i'll get for myself for cost reasons and generally not being interested in having one on my own body.

 

[Aeson]

you wouldn't want a monet on his arm either?

I like @Ryujin grew in an environment that shamed about tattoos until the last few decades but I honestly think they look cool depending on what it is and i'll compliment someone on their tats if i think they are cool or nice looking. But it will never be something i'll get for myself for cost reasons and generally not being interested in having one on my own body.

Sure, why not. I wouldn't encourage him.

I was raised by two rather conservative parents. I took on their view on tattoos. I've actually mellowed on them. Like Ryujin it's a prejudice I've had to work through.

 

[trappedslider]

Sure, why not. I wouldn't encourage him.

I was raised by two rather conservative parents. I took on their view on tattoos. I've actually mellowed on them. Like Ryujin it's a prejudice I've had to work through.

in my case it was cultural upbringing rather than passed down from pervious generations

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'm in the over a dozen tattoos range and continuing to climb. I'm sure I'd have more, but it takes me forever to settle on designs.

I will always be fond of this one, featuring the symbol of Moradin and the dwarven battlecry from Tolkien:

I got the symbol of the Zhirafa corp from Cyberpunk Red...I figured everybody gets the Arasaka logo, if they're going with a corp from that world, and wanted to do something different:

And finally, I do love Halloween. And candy corn:

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don’t have a general opinion on them- I like good ones; hate bad ones. But I have no tats, and will never choose to have any…which is actually a relatively recent change of opinion.

I don’t have any piercings, either, and some get asked which I would choose between piercings or tats. I always chose tats, with the obvious caveat that I’d have to be the one picking the design and artist.

But I recently found out that thimerosal- a preservative in many OTC & prescription medical/health products- is also one of the most commonly used preservatives in tattoo inks. I happen to be one of the 1 in 1M who happens to have some level of allergy to it- fortunately, mine is minor.

I’m perfectly fine with risking a reaction to it for something that’s medically necessary. But doing so for something completely optional? Not going through that again.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A young Japanese-American artist I knew in Austin had a great Asian dragon tattoo on her leg. Excellent work, great detail & color.

She had gotten it years before I met her, but her folks didn’t know about it until she visited one summer, and she was wearing shorts. Her mom freaked out.

Seems nobody had told the daughter that GI Dad had married her Mom, getting his bride out of Japan ASAP. Why? Because Mom no longer wanted to be associated with the rest of her Yakuza family.

So Mom was having PTSD about old family secrets, etc. over her daughter’s tats.

 

[payn]

I've wanted to get a nu skool pinup riding a bike on my calf (im a bicyclist) but nobody in the area seems to do that style.

 

[jdrakeh]

I have a lot of tattoos. I'd like to get most of them covered (blackout), but I'm on blood thinners now because I suffered a massive heart attack in 2020, so I'll probably never be able to get more tattoos.