Design Your Own Tattoo – 4 Tips To Help Create Your Own

Getting a tattoo is a serious decision, one that shouldn’t be rushed into. I’m sure it’s been said many times but tattoos are permanent. While treatments do exist to remove them, they are often time consuming and potentially painful or even ineffective. With that said, that makes it all the more important to consider your options when getting a tattoo. One of the best ways to ensure you’ll be keen on your tattoo decades down the road is to design it yourself. Here is a guide on how to design your own tattoo and what the process really entails.

1. Get inspired

The first step on your way to tattoo design is to think up an idea. When you want to make your own tattoo design, you will want to find some inspiration that can get you started. This usually entails a bit of self introspection. What do you like? What’s important to you? What can you relate to? Ask yourself these questions before ever setting a foot inside a tattoo shop.

2. Start drawing (or have someone draw for you)

After you’ve cooked up a bit of inspiration, start doodling on a piece of paper. Pencil works best. Just let your ideas flow. If you are not the most artistically inclined, try and get a friend to sketch what you have in mind. Consulting the Internet is a good way to shake some things loose. Perhaps the design you have in mind already exists online. You could save yourself a lot of trouble if you find just what you’re looking for online and print it off.

3. Begin deciding

Now that you have some things on paper, start considering what you would feel comfortable with on your skin. This is where you begin to consider whether your custom tattoo is going to be just black or have color in it. Also, remember that highly intricate and finely detailed tattoos do not stand the test of time. Having lots of thin lines or detailed scrollwork will work against you several decades down the road. Tattoos fade over time and as the skin ages details become muddled and blurred. Make sure you think long term about what would be best for you and your body. Also consider tattoo placement. Where do you want your ink proudly displayed?

4. Find a tattoo shop

Once you have what you want established, begin shopping around your personalized tattoo design to some local shops. Figure out which ones are the safest and can offer you the best price. Tattoo professionals will take your design and then transcribe it into a temporary tattoo that they use to make a blueprint out of. Often your customized tattoo is cleaned up by this professional artist and it’ll give you a much better picture of how it will look.

Being able to design your own tattoo is a pretty simple process. What’s hard is considering what to have drawn on you. However, a little creativity goes a long way. Be patient and make sure that when you decide to make your own tattoo you design the tattoo that you want.

Image via Flickr