Thinking of getting a tattoo? I know I’d love to have one, they’re just way too cool! Here are some of the places you can get great tattoo designs from:

SITE#1: CHOPPER TATTOO

There are many other tattoo galleries online but Chopper Tattoo is the largest tattoo gallery online. By becoming a member, you can browse through thousands of designs, have the ones you like printed and even find a tattoo parlor or artist near your area. They do not however, exactly specify the exact number of designs that they have but they do say that their collection of designs is constantly growing. The site is easy to navigate for members. You can search by category or you can enter a tattoo search word and specify the size. If you decide that you want to become a member, you have the option of accessing the gallery for 1 month, 2 months or for a lifetime. The fee for lifetime membership is comparatively cheap, amounting to only a little over $30.

Our Rating: *** 4/5

Click here to check out Chopper Tattoo

SITE #2: TATTOO ME NOW

If you have been looking for that 100% perfect tattoo to have etched on your skin, then you probably know how frustrating it is to look for it. The frustration can end just by becoming a Tattoo Me Now member. No longer do you have to hop from one tattoo shop to another and settle for an ugly design that you might regret. For a very limited membership price offer of around $25, you can browse through more than 3,500 tattoo designs with new designs coming in regularly. The designs come in categories for easy browsing. That’s not the only membership benefit though, you can also interact with other members and have them comment about your chosen design. You can also search through a directory of more than 10,000 tattoo studios for one that is near you.
The site is actually owned and managed by someone who has a true passion for tattoos so you can be sure that he knows exactly what you need. He even has an 8 weeks money back guarantee in case you don’t like the site’s services. With all the benefits you can get from Tattoo Me Now, it definitely is worth checking out.

Our Rating: *** 3/5

Click here to check out Tattoo Me Now

Tattoos are more common these days than they have ever been in the past.  As we all know, tattoos are decorative markings in the skin, such as symbols, signs, and letters that are applied by puncturing the outer layer of the skin and injecting color.  Tattoo guns are the best instrument to use, as they move extremely fast and are sharp enough to easily puncture the skin.

There are several types of tattoo guns available, many of which use a very sharp needle.  There are guns out there that use more than needle, although they aren’t ideal for tattoos that require strict lines or designing.  Single needle tattoo guns are the best for tattoo applications, although the needles need to be changed out after each tattoo.  Tattoo needles can be very dangerous if they aren’t disposed of - possibly leading to serious infection if they are used over and over again without being disinfected or disposed of.

There are also tattoos out there known as “jailhouse tattoos”.  These types of tattoos are normally found in jails and prisons, using homemade material for tattoo guns.  Normally, tattoo artists in jails and prisons will make their own guns, using batteries and needles for ordinary ink pens.  These tattoos aren’t very safe, and normally lead to infection.  The skin is punctured to inject the ink, although with jailhouse tattoo guns the needle will literally pull and jerk at the skin, ripping it and normally going very deep with the ink.

If the skin is jerked or ripped, it can result in the tattoo looking horrible.  In most cases, if the ink goes too deep into the skin, it can lead to an infection.  Deep ink also looks terrible as well, especially if it penetrates the third layer of skin.  For that very reason, jailhouse tattoo applications aren’t recommended and should be avoided at all costs.

With any tattoo, color is very important.  Black and white are the most commonly used colors, although there are other colors used as well.  Tattoos need to have an equal balance of color, along with the right shape.  If the shapes used in your design follow the contours of your body, the tattoo will look even more impressive.  Therefore, you should always have your tattoo applied by someone with a lot of experience.

From a technical standpoint, tattoos involve micro pigment implantation, as they are a form of body modification.  Tattoos are a design in ink, normally symbolic or decorative, permanently placed under your skin.  Tattoos have been around for hundreds of years, although tattoos in the past used everyday needles and ink - with a very high risk of infection. Although they are very common and very popular, tattoos always have risks.  No matter what type of application method is involved, there will always be a risk of infection.

Today, electronic tattoo machines are the most common methods of tattooing.  With electronic tattoo guns, the ink is injected into the skin by a group of needles that are attached to a bar.  The electronic gun moves very fast, going in and out of the skin hundreds of thousand of times per minute.  If an experienced tattoo artist uses the gun, the results can be amazing.  Experienced tattoo artists are always the way to go, as they have the experience to give you the results you want.  With the right tattoo artist and the right application technique - you should have a tattoo that you can be proud of.

Typically the process of getting a tattoo can be rather difficult. It often works like this. The person decides they want to get a tattoo and often even decide a rough idea of what they would like to get. They then either go to a tattoo shop and try to get the tattoo artists to draw the work for them or then spend tons of time searching online. Either the person can very easily end up frustrated. Well, going to the local tattoo shop and asking one of the tattoo artists there to do a custom design will get mixed results. Many tattoo artists don’t want to take the time to work on a custom design when they can simply use flash off the wall. Other times they might not have the art background or ability to really draw freehand without looking at something. Then they are often to busy to deal with custom work. So unless you really know the tattoo artists this can leave you frustrated. This is not to slam the tattoo artists out there but there are very few that will do custom work anymore because it is labor and skill intensive. The only way to honestly get this done easily is to know an artist on a friendly basis or go to a very high end tattoo shop where they specialize in custom designs.

The alternative as stated above is to spend time looking through for tattoos online. Here you will run into two basic types of tattoos. There are picture galleries on tattoo ratings sites where you can gather ideas at the early stages. This pictures are great for the purpose of refining your idea and finding the exact look you want. However this can be very time intensive and unless you like being on the internet for long hours staring at other people’s tattoos then this might not be the way to go. The other problem that you run into with this method is sure you might find a picture you really like. However it is a photograph and you will still have to pay a tattoo artist to make a line drawing of the tattoo to get it done.

The other method of finding tattoo online is to look at the flash sites. These will work for some people no problem. There are a ton of sites out there that specialize in selling high quality flash designs and a lot of it is great work. So if you can find something you like then you are set. However, many people are left looking for hours and not able to find the exact design they want. They might want to change the colors of the design or they might not even be able to find the design that they are looking for. If you want something that is unique or different from the masses then you will not find it at online flash sites. These sites are marketing to the masses and are therefore producing tattoo flash with mass appeal. Some of the individual artists on these sites will do custom work so make sure you ask.

As you can see from above any of the traditional ways for finding a tattoo design typically leave 80 percent of the customers either not finding the design they want or spending a lot of hours looking.

Thus is why there has been a small but quickly growing movement on the internet that works to connect custom tattoo artists with people looking for custom tattoo designs. Sure the traditionalist in the tattoo world will scorn the idea and say people are in it for the money. However, for most of the online tattoo artists it goes much deeper then that. It is about providing a unique high quality custom design to the customer and making them happy. Sure they get charged for the work and the artists make money doing the design. However, a tattoo is something that is worn for a long time to come and the tattoo artists know this and spend a great deal of time on their custom work refining the drawing and working with the customer to get the exact look and feel they are after. So most often many customers are more then happy to pay for the custom design they receive. No matter what a tattoo is going to cost money and they are not cheap. So somewhere along the line of getting a tattoo someone is going to be making money. If this was not the case then there would not be any tattoo shops out there.

So if you have felt stuck in looking for a high quality tattoo design then why not try one of the custom tattoo design services.

Visit Design My Tattoos for custom tattoo designs done to your exact specifications. Or visit our celebrity tattoo galleries.

The cross, with the rich history and the mystery surrounding it, is one of the most common symbols known to man. Legends as to its origin are highly talked about and, to this date, no one knows exactly how, when and where it originated.

Right now, all we have are a few clues and lots of speculations. In addition to the mystery that shrouds the cross, this symbol has come to represent the Christ’s martyrdom and mankind’s deliverance from sins and is a highly regarded symbol for Christianity.

Religion could be the reason behind the popularity of cross tattoos in our society since Christianity is the world’s number 1 religion today in terms of number of adherents. Wearing of cross tattoos may be one person’s way of professing his faith or as a way of regaining his faith. Or it could also be that the wearer was drawn to the mysterious aura of the symbol, hence, the tattoo.

But whatever the reasons are, cross tattoos would remain one of the world’s most requested tattoo designs. And finding the right design is sometimes a problem for newbies wishing to get cross tattoos for themselves. Confusion sets in when there are thousands of them to choose from. And we have to take note that they don’t always mean the same thing. You wouldn’t want to pick out a design that does not reflect your views or describe how you are actually feeling.

Here is an overview of several cross tattoo designs to help you differentiate one from the other:

Christian cross tattoos – These are simple, non-elaborate versions of the cross, often accompanied with religious inscriptions, or the Sacred Heart, and sometimes with the body of the Christ nailed to it. This is also known as the Latin cross.

Gothic cross tattoos – These resemble the Gothic iron design with its beveled edges and is often heavily adorned. They induce dark imagery and often represent feelings of anger and pain. A cross that doubles as a dagger and a cross entwined with barbed wire are common examples of gothic cross designs.

Tribal cross tattoos – These are basically crosses combined with ethnic flavor and flowing strokes distinctive of tribal designs.

Celtic cross tattoos – These are, by far, the most popular cross tattoo design to date. It mainly originated from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. With the history and the intriguing legends behind it, not to mention its profound representation, it is not unusual that this tattoo design is one of the most sought after. They often have elaborate designs with intricate loops and knot work that seems to go on and on around the cross itself. This represents the never ending cycle of life.

Sporting around a cross tattoo could be for religious reasons for some. But for the others out there, cross tattoos are ways of self-expression. It could be anger, it could be depression, or it could be his love for his heritage. For some, it is simply the love of this art that dictates whether he wants to be inked or not.

Are you feeling like you could never get enough of cross tattoos? We have more of them. See if you can find a design that would go well with a star tattoo or even a sun tattoo. It is always fun to mix and match.

You’re thinking your appearance needs some spicing up, and that you wouldn’t mind adding a little color to a secret place. But you also know that, if you’re going to invest your money in a permanent bit of body décor, you need to put some thought into its design.

So you head for your friendly neighborhood tattoo parlor (with the skyrocketing popularity of tattoos you’re bound to have one) to look for inspiration. You know that whatever you select will become a permanent part of your existence. You can cover it up, but you can’t escape it. So you will need to choose carefully.

The first thing you may notice when you enter your tattoo parlor is just how many designs there are. It’s not unusual for every nearly square inch of a parlor’s walls to be covered with posters, nearly every square inch of which is covered with designs. You are experiencing “flash”, and not because all of those designs and colors make your eyes feel like that a flashbulb just nailed them.

Tattooing was a staple of traveling carnivals in the early to mid 20th century, and carnival barkers were notorious for the shelves and shelves of cheesy gaudy prizes which they used to lure players to games completely rigged to relieve them of their money. Those prizes were known, among the barkers, as “flash”, and it may be that the carnival tattoo artists adopted the term for their selection of tattoo designs.

But however they came by the name, those posters covering the walls at your tattoo parlor are called the “flash.”

So, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety of tattoo designs, it might be a good time to step back from the flash and do some self-evaluation. Decide what you want your tattoo design to say about you, or what you want to say to the rest of the world with your tattoo.

Tattoos originated as ancient, symbolic art forms, and many of them retain their symbolic meanings today. So you could choose a tattoo based on its meaning.

Or, you could just want a tattoo that commemorates something or someone important to you.

You can start by returning to the flash and seeing if there are any designs which keep catching your eye. Narrow your choice to those that have the most appeal, and then do a little more digging. Find out if one of those tattoo designs says something about you, and you’ll be much closer to getting one you won’t eventually regret.

If you are female, you may instinctively be drawn to the butterfly tattoo designs. You wouldn’t be alone; butterfly tattoo designs are the most-often requested by women. And they have an enchanting history; butterflies have, from ancient times, been seen as the perfect symbol for the human struggle to move from the lower to higher realms of existence, like the butterfly emerges from its cocoon. A small butterfly tattoo can make a big statement!

Women are also drawn to floral tattoos. Cherry blossom tattoo designs, although they are generally used just as accents for much larger tattoos, are reminders, in Japanese culture, of the beauty and impermanence of human life.

Peonies, floral tattoo designs even more showy than roses, represent luck and prosperity in Oriental cultures. If you are a male with a risk-taking nature, not afraid to sport a peony tattoo, it would certainly be an appropriate choice; it represents to the Japanese a gambling nature.

And, of course, there’s the rose. It’s the most popular floral tattoo design and the best-loved flower in Western culture. The rose has come to represent the epitome of beauty. But roses are not without their thorns, so you can communicate a double message with a rose tattoo.

Even the color of the rose tattoo design you choose will say something. Red roses are a symbol of passionate love; white roses are a symbol of purity; and yellow roses are a symbol of friendship. There are even black rose tattoo designs, for those with an antiauthoritarian streak.

Then there are the animals. They can range from a tiny frog to a U.C. Marine Corps Bull Dog, or a psychedelic Dragon. If you have a love for a particular kind of animal, or identify with the traits which we usually assign to different species of animals, you might find the perfect tattoo design in the tattoo flash zoo.

If you see yourself as sleek, independent, and powerful, a panther tattoo design might communicate your self-image to the world. If you identify with the wild and free American mustang, your tattoo artist can accommodate you. You may be as shy as a deer, smart as a fox, or hor** as a toad. All doable tattoo designs.

If you have the money and the available skin, in fact, you can have an entire menagerie of tattoo designs, providing an animal totem for each of your personality traits.

There are also tattoo designs to appeal to those of a religious or personal nature. One of the most widely known is the Celtic Cross, which has its origins both in the Christian Cross and Celtic fertility symbols. Other popular Christian tattoo designs are Praying Hands, the Rock of Ages, and, of course, images of Jesus.

If you are into astrology, you are sure to find your Zodiac sign in a tattoo design. And if you believe in Tarot cards as predictors of the future, you will be amazed at the breathtaking Tarot tattoo designs available. There are twenty-six of them available, one for each card, so you can pick the ones that you think hold the most favorable outcome for you!

Tattoo designs, in other words, are art forms appealing to the artist in each of us. So give your imagination free rein, and it will carry you to the tattoo design that says exactly the right thing, both to, and about, YOU!

Author: Matt Garrett - © 2007 http://www.TopTattooDesign.Com

Discover how to avoid being the one in four who Hate thier new Tattoo, including simple Tattoo safety tips, in our your free Tattoo Guide : -

Free Tattoo Guide

Our webmaster wants articles on tattoos. Here is his request to help fill a great void: Tattoos - Articles about tattoos, tattoo removal, and body art as it relates to tattoos and tattoo history. See, he does look after you.

When sailors came home from World War II many had tattoos. Usually they were acquired in San Diego. They liked to show them to us teenagers and hide then from adults.

I don’t have a tattoo. I was raised in Tattoo Tabooville, Utah. One mustn’t deface the Temple of God.

Well, let’s face the truth here. Getting a tattoo is not painless and I’m a coward when it comes to pain. I’m not self-conscious about this. My wife says that all men are cowards when it comes to pain. She says this whenever she cuts my hair. (She uses the clip and jerk method.)

I would not be accepted in parts of society because I don’t have a tattoo. This is called peer pressure. I wouldn’t be accepted anyway because they don’t accept bearded old geezers either. Anyway, I understand why teenagers get tattooed.

I like to look at tattoos as an art form. Not all tattoos; the ones done in Japan and by certain “true” artist in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and of course, San Diego..

Last night, my wife and I were watching Fear Factor. One rudely-treated contestant had a new tattoo that said “Fear Factor.” It was very decorative and covered his forearm.

He pooped out on the first daredevil task which was swinging on a rope from one elevated platform to another and then to another. He was left hanging dry between the first two platforms and didn’t have a clue as to how to get out of his predicament. He was booed away by the Los Vegas crowd.

That brings us to the first consideration on whether you should have or not have a tattoo: Tattoos may bring you bad luck and undesirable publicity.

He was just a clueless kid with an arrogant attitude, piercings, and tattoos. That is why he was booed. His failure was disheartening to him, more than I suspected it would be, but he promised to become arrogant again “tomorrow.”

So today, I guess he is back to normal.

I was giving some counseling to a youth in detention years back. His mother had asked me to look after him. (I’m not talking about school detention here. This was what we use to call “Reform School.”)

The boy was having his tattoos removed.

That brings the second consequence of having tattoos. It hurts like hell to have them removed by a medical professional.

Having the tattoos removed helped this boy get out of the “joint” and back to his single mother.

If you’ve got ‘em, you’d better keep ‘em. Is that a motto for you tattoo guys and gals? It could be if you want to avoid removal pain.

The reason that some people would like to have a tattoo removed is this. They sometimes change with time.

Joe Fleet got a tattoo of a dinghy on his chest when he was 19 years old serving in the United States Navy. He got his tattoo in San Diego, “Tattoo Heaven.”

On the side of the dinghy it read, “Mary,” in tiny letters.

Now Joe Fleet is 76 years old and weighs 240 pounds. What was a dinghy is now an aircraft carrier and the little word, “Mary,” now looks like a billboard spread.

Joe’s wife’s name is Joan.

Now Joe Fleet is not going to have this tattoo removed. The chest is a tender spot. That brings us to another facet of tattoos: Sometimes you just have to live with them.

Joe finally got around part of his problem by getting a puppy. He said to his wife, Joan, “I’m going to call her “Mary” after my childhood puppy dog that fell out of my little boat and died by drowning in the irrigation ditch.”

Joe’s wife, Joan, forgetting that puppies can doggy paddle, felt awful that she had been badgering Joe about “Mary” for 55 years. She begged Joe for his forgiveness.

This technique used by Joe, and at times by other tattoo-bearing people, is called lying.

I was on business in San Francisco back in the 1970s. I went into a theater in Chinatown. The movies were Japanese. One was about a tattoo artist covering a young woman’s body with beautiful, masterful tattoos.

She moaned with every prick of his ink needle.

I don’t know how the movie ended because my mother taught me not to stick around in any movie that is “not of good report.” When the girl got excited, I had to leave.

Now days I see right here in Idaho a lot of what are called “Tattoo Freaks.” That means the whole body is covered with tattoos like the Japanese lass.

Of course these folks are not freaks.

I’m going to look “freak” up in the dictionary.

I’ll be right back.

Okay, I guess I was wrong.

I talk to these heavily-tattooed young folks at times. They all seem very normal to me. They just like tattoos.

I don’t hear people here in Idaho complaining about tattoos unless they are combined with piercing. Folks here complain about triple-ear piercing, nose piercing, lip piercing, navel piercing (umbilicus piercing), and tongue piercing. There may be other piercing in undisclosed locations.

Our church leader say that a single piercing in each ear is just right. That does not apply to boys. The number there is zero.

We members of our church frown on new tattoos but accept old ones; especially if you were in the Navy and stationed in San Diego.

What would tattoo artist do if tattoos went out of style? Some of these artists do piercing too. What if both procedures were no longer wanted? What would happen to these artist? (Okay, they are not all artist. Some are copyist.)

Well, they might take up Slindogging when it’s invented.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.dumbincome.com

Anyone who is seriously into tattoos will tell you how long it takes to choose the right one. After all they should last a lifetime so are not something to be rushed. It can take up to 20-30 hours to find the right tattoo design. But that is only the first step.

If you are serious you will want to have something that is unique and not taken from a book or or copied from a picture in a tattoo gallery. A tattoo should speak about who you are and not be ripped off someone else. Not only that but a lot of artists will refuse to copy another artists work. And quite rightly. While you can be done for copyright infringement for copying another person’s work in other mediums the same rules don’t seem to apply to tattoo art.

It is still a form of plagiarism to take another persons artwork and reproduce it as your own. In any other form this would result in legal action. So just because there is no precendent set for copyright infringement does not mean its is cool to claim another tattooists work.

So how do you come up with original tattoo designs?

If you are like me you have looked at literally thousands of tattoo pictures and tattoo designs from a variety of different tattooists from around the world. Or maybe you keep visiting your local tattoo studio and have started getting dirty looks from the tattoo artist who thinks you are stalking him because you go there every weekend and still haven’t chosen a tattoo!

There are so many different styles of so you need to be really clear about what you want before you get inked. It is a good idea ot visualize the type of tattoo you want before you even get it. You need to be able to see yourself with a particular tattoo before you get it. If is a tribal tattoo on your arm imagine yourself walking down the street with the tattoo for all the world to see.

Next view some examples of different styles that you like. So if it is tribal tattoos source pictures of that particular tattoo style. If it is work from another artist do not take it to your nearest tattoo studio and ask for it to be copied onto you. Tell the tattoo artist that you like that particular style and would like a tattoo designed for YOU. This is where the visualisation exercise comes into play. Tattoo artists are very visual people and are highly talented at rendering an nebulous idea into a full on customized tattoo.

Think of the bigger picture. Don’t be tempted to choose some generic tattoo flash off the wall because you can’t make up your mind. Don’t settle for something less if you cannot afford the tattoo you really want. Tattoos are organic and are constantly changing and growing with you. Avoid painful mistakes!

Tattoo Pictures : Tattoo Art : Tattoo Designs
Tao of Tattoos

Combustible tattoo ink was invented to allow people to get permanent tattoos but with the option of easy removal if they change their mind down the road. The tattoo ink of a typical tattoo needs several laser treatments to get the ink particles small enough to be carried away by the blood stream. The ink particles of combustible ink are already small enough and after just one laser treatment the ink-containing polymers combust and allow the ink to expel from the body naturally.

There are plenty of reasons that someone may want to remove a tattoo later on in life. Tattoo regret is a serious phenomenon. Changes in your love life, new jobs, Kanji tattoos that do not translate to what you were originally told that they did. Whatever the reason, there are more people in search of “tattoo removal” and “tattoo removal services” than you may think. With a quick search, I discovered that these or similar phrases have been searched for approximately 34,000 times on Yahoo in just one month!

Combustible ink is certainly great news for those who have thought about getting a tattoo, then wondered if they might someday have regrets. This is their exit strategy.

In the works…

Using similar technology as combustible tattoo ink, the developers are looking at creating an ink to allow for long term tattoos that just fade away eventually and do not need any laser treatments at all. Visit combustibleink.com for up to date news on this exciting new technology.

Kevin Merlot, designer of combustibleink.com, invites you to visit the combustible tattoo ink web site to learn more about combustible ink.

Today is the age of tattoos. It seems that everyone has a tattoo, or is planning on getting one soon. You may be trying to decide if you should get a tattoo yourself. This article is going to provide you with a few thoughts to keep in mind if you think you should get a tattoo, and some things you should think about before you accept the needle!

Do not under any circumstances, get a tattoo, because it is the “in” thing to do. Tattoos are for life. The only way that I know of to have a tattoo safely removed is to go to a doctor and have them remove it with a laser. The way I understand it, you are still going to have a scar that covers the area of the tattoo. So ask yourself, if you really want to be scarred for life.

One thing a lot of people do when getting a tattoo is to have someone’s name tattooed on themselves. I do not suggest tattooing your girlfriends name on yourself. Let’s face it people, whether you think it will happen or not, people break up all the time! I actually know a tattoo artist that would not tattoo names on his customers unless those names where the name of their children, or a loved one that has passed away. Do you really think your new girlfriend Sally wants your ex girlfriend Jane’s name on your arm? Think before you ink!

Lots of men seem to think it is cool to have a half naked woman tattooed on their body. Although when you are young, your male friends may think it is awesome, chances are the women in your life will not. You also have to ask yourself if you are ever going to have children. Do you really want to become a father and have your children see a naked woman on your body on a daily basis? I am sure that some people would not mind, but I sure do not want my children seeing it.

The last point to think about, is how this tattoo will look in 30 years. As a person gets older, their tattoos begin to blur. Your tattoo artist should tell you all the ways to keep your tattoo looking good, and part of that will probably be a touch up. Tattoos are for life, so if you are going to get a tattoo, choose wisely.

Article written by: Laura Fleenor - owner and webmaster of Articles 4 Me And U.com, and Particle Articles.com. Laura is also webmaster of K.A.G.E.D. Band.com. Laura holds an AAS in Computer Programming, an AS in Information Technology, and a Certificate of Program Completion in Web Page Design/Publishing.

In ancient times, tribal tattoos were used to help identify members of different tribes. They were also used to indicate social hierarchy within tribes and document significant events within the history of the tribe, such as major battles and feats of bravery.

Skip forward a couple of thousand years and tribal tattoos are a popular fashion statement worn by people all over the world. These days, instead of using tribal tattoos to group people into the same tribe, people use them to express their personality and their individuality. Part of the appeal of these designs is that they represent the only link between the present and the mysterious and elaborate tribal rituals of the past which have been lost in the mists of time.

The most developed forms of tribal art originate from locations all over the world, including; the Celts (Scotland, Ireland and Wales), the Maoris (New Zealand), the Marquesans, the tribes of Africa, North America and Borneo.

So once you’ve set your heart on getting a tribal tattoo, how do you find the perfect design?

At first glance, it might seem easy to find the perfect tribal tattoo design due to the large amount of examples that are available. However, it pays to do your research if you want to find a design that genuinely means something to you.

If possible, try to avoid choosing a design at random. Many people have done this over recent years due to the rapid growth in the popularity of tribal tattoo art. It goes something like this; they decide to get a tribal tattoo (often because one of their friends has just got one), they flip through a few designs and pick the first one that they like the look of. They often don’t know what their chosen design means and what other choices they could have made. Shortly after they start to have regrets (especially if they got it as part of a fashion trend that has since died down). Too Late!

If you want to find the right tribal art for your tattoo, it’s important to do you homework and find some personal meaning from the design that you finally choose. Don’t jump on a fashion bandwagon. Look for a symbol that says something about who you are or what you believe.

Use the internet to browse through as many tribal tattoo designs as you can just to get a feel for the various styles developed by the different ancient tribes. And once you find a tribal style that you like, do some more research into the artwork of that tribe. See what else their history of art has to offer. And only once you’ve found a design that says something to you, should you end your search. If the design doesn’t excite you now, how do you think you’ll feel about it in twenty years?

Alternatively, if you find a tribal design with elements that you like, it may be possible for your tattoo artist to incorporate it with various modern design features so that the finished design reflects both modern and ancient art. This approach will take much more time and research to create, but ultimately you’ll much happier with your uniquely personal tribal tattoo.

Gustavo Gomez runs SuperTattooDesigns.com. For information about tribal tattoos and a wide range of other tattoo designs, check out Super Tattoo Designs.