Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Why Get a C ustom Tattoo Design Done by a Professional Tattoo Artist

You might have noticed that in the past year or two that everywhere you go things can now be customized to suit the consumer. For example I was purchasing a sandwich the other day at a local sub shop. They first asked how long, then it was what kind of bread, what kind of cheese, what kind of mayo and on and on the list went.

Well, this has become a major trend in marketing that truly benefits the consumer. You no longer have to pay top dollar and just get whatever you get. Now you can get things exactly like what you want.

This marketing trend has also become one of the biggest trends in the world of tattoos since sliced bread. The old fashioned way to get a tattoo done we all know too well. You go to the local parlor and look at the beautiful tattoo flash or designs on the wall and you pick one. It was basically like ordering at MacDonald. I will take a number #2 combo the Celtic Butterfly with a side or shooting star tattoos extra large.

Well, like MacDonalds frequently does the tattoo world has really improved and almost reinvented itself in the last few years. This growth is still taking place even now. You see the days of getting a tattoo done in the above mentioned way are starting to disappear. It didn't allow for individuality or self expression. The old fashioned way lead to a lot of people getting the same tattoos and for cheap. Well, just like many people go out and buy a stock car and then start tweaking it all out to fit their needs or a computer that is tweaked to fit there needs you can now do the same things with tattoo designs.

You can come up with a concept for a tattoo that you want done. Then you can go online and post a job for a bunch of freelance tattoo artists to bid on. You then view some samples of their work and pick a custom tattoo designer or artist to do the work for you. They will then work with you and flesh out the rough idea that you had into a complete custom tattoo design.

This way of getting tattoo designs has some definite advantages over the old fashioned way. No longer will you have the same popular tattoo that thousands of others probably have.

You can get the design sized to fit exactly the location on your body that you want it.

Now you can customize the color, shape, design, and even initial concept for your design. It is truly like tricking out a car or a computer you can get things exactly like how you want them.

So this new way of getting tattoos done has started to revolutionize the whole world of tattoo and tattoo design. It is getting harder and harder to sell pre-made designs and the growth of custom tattoo designs is significantly increasing.

Chris has been running Design My Tattoos website for the last three months. He has thoroughly enjoyed helping people to get custom tattoo designs done by professional tattoo artists. Go ahead and check out the site and post a job to get your own custom tattoo design. If you are a tattoo artist and would like to earn some extra income go ahead and sign up as an artists and make some money in your spare time. You can read this article custom tattoo design here and other articles by clicking here. We also have an extensive Celebrity tattoo galleries and design galleries on our site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Ryerson

Do not Pay for a Tattoo that Millions of People Have - Get a Unique Custom Tattoo Design

Recently it was reported that tattoo related terms received more searches per month then most adult related keywords. This has spawned a huge growth of websites selling flash tattoo designs. You can go and visit these sites and for $10 or so find a tattoo design. You can then download this design and take it to your local tattoo parlor and get a new tattoo.

Well, for many this has become the Achilles heel so to speak of the tattoo art industry. Buying tattoos this way is definitely contrary to the main reasons people get tattoos. Tattoos and the tattoo industry has always held that tattoo art was the last bastion of personal expression and freedom in America. You see most tattoo enthusiast feel that the tattoo they get are very uniquely theirs and a tattoo, being something you have to live with for a long time, should say something about yourself. So these huge flash tattoo sites come along and sell thousands of the same tattoo to people. These same people go to their local tattoo parlor and get a new tattoo and soon they are sporting it around town feeling proud to assert their individuality. However in reality they have just copied a bunch of other people and probably ended up with a tattoo that says nothing interesting or unique about them. They just bought the design because it was popular.

The other sad part of this phenomena is that most tattoo artists are on the loosing end of the proposition. The big websites that sell tons of designs often have had some graphic designer just create a bunch of low quality tattoo designs to sell. The designer was not even a tattoo artist in the first place. However, the tattoo artists out there are now losing tons of business to these larger companies. That is not to say all tattoo sites selling tattoo designs online are doing this. Of course there are some that have taken this into consideration have have worked hard to value the artists for their original ideas and work.

However it still leaves the tattoo enthusiast who just got the same tattoo as thousands of other people out in the dark. Think about what is going to happen when that person is at a concert of some large public event and a guy comes up to him and says, :hey cool man nice tat." The guy turns and the notices that the speaker is sporting the same exact tattoo. Here he thought he was unique and individual and doing something really cool. What is one to say in that kind of situation? Other then start looking at all the tattoo removal adds online there is not really much.

It is for these exact reasons that a few websites have started popping up on the internet that have solved these basic problems. At the time of this writing there are in fact only two sites on the internet that have effectively dealt with both of these problems. They are custom designed freelance tattoo art websites. That is kind of a mouthful so I will explain what each of those terms means. It means that a person wanting a unique tattoo design can go to the site and post a job. Then tattoo artists from around the globe can come and bid on the job to design a great custom tattoo to the individuals specifications.

This is really the best of all worlds as it encourages tattoo artists and pays them fairly for their abilities and skills. It also create a unique tattoo to the exact specifications and desires of the person getting the tattoo done. It is a really great way to solve the problem and these sites have had a high rate of customer satisfaction and repeat business from both the tattoo artists and the tattoo enthusiast.

Chris has been running Design My Tattoos website for the last three months. He has thoroughly enjoyed helping people to get custom tattoo designs done by professional tattoo artists. Go ahead and check out the site and post a job to get your own custom tattoo design. If you are a tattoo artist and would like to earn some extra income go ahead and sign up as an artists and make some money in your spare time. We also have an extensive Celebrity tattoo galleries and design galleries on our site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Ryerson

Tattoos and Body Art on Hollywood Celebrities

Celebrity tattoos are becoming more and more visible and socially acceptable in mainstream pop culture these days. Angelina Jolie recently voted most sexy woman has plenty of tattoos and is probably the most famous and desirable celebrity with tattoos in Hollywood. Her tattoos to date consist of tribal dragons, a Thai tiger, and various Latin sayings across her shoulders and arms.

This surge in popularity of celebrity tattoos began in the 1960s. Lyle Tuttle the forefather of American tattooing tattooed Janis Joplin. Time was when tattoos were the preserve of those on the fringes of society but now it is not uncommon to see celebrity tattoos. Even super models such as Kate Moss and Sarah O'Hare strut around flashing their body art on the cover of glossy magazines or on the cat walk.

Actor Johnny Depp ranks as heavily tattooed for his caliber of talent and breadth of acting work. His tattooed arms are as often painted to be blank flesh as left with their own tattoos showing and incorporated into the character.

Vin Diesel is covered with a mix of modern tattoos styles, as befitting an underground government secret agent in the movie xXx. The character he plays agent X has one full sleeve, one partial sleeve, chest work and tattoos on his stomach.

As vampire slayer BLADE, Wesley Snipes has tribal blackwork on his arms, chest and back, as well as the sides of his head and the back of his nect. Pamela Anderson had her arm tattooed for real with a barbed wire armband for her role in the movie BARBWIRE. Following her split from husband Tommy Lee, (who is heavily tattooed) she had the "Tommy" tattoo on her finger edited to read "Mommy" in reference to her two sons. She also has tribal tattoos on the small of her back and a tattoo on her ankle.

Musicians have traditionally enjoyed more freedom than actors when it comes to body art. For movie stars having to transform into a different character each time they shoot a movie can be limiting especially if they are playing historical figures. But that has not stopped a lot of actors from getting tattooed in very visible places.

Historically rock stars were renowned for getting tattoos. The band Red Hot Chili Peppers are an example where the band members have a well-developed collection of tattoos. Singer Henry Rollins began his tattoo collection as the lead singer of Black Flag. Eminem continues to add to his tattoo collection but some critics have claimed that it will inhibit him if he wants to play a bigger acting role. Eminem's tattoos are a combination of a style that is typical of Hip Hop and R&B artists such as Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent and Pharrel.

Of all the celebrities with tattoos sports stars tend to sport more tattoos than most especially basketball players. You can be big in sports and be tattooed, but the clean cut type still seems to be favored amongst Madison Avenue advertising gurus.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Declan_O_Reilly

Free Tattoo Flash Designs - Why You Should Avoid Them

Good tattoos are not cheap...cheap tattoos are not good!

Flash tattoos are cheap, but still hugely popular among many people getting tattoos for the first time. They are most likely to be low-quality and poorly drawn. Nearly 90% of the people requiring cover-ups or touch-ups to their tattoos have flash tattoos usually done from some free flash design that has done the rounds of the internet or from some backstreet tattoo parlours.

What’s wrong with flash tattoos?

Flash tattoos are anything but original. They are based on ready-made, knocked up designs drawn by unknown 'artists' and sold in hundreds if not thousands of copies, worldwide or downloaded free on many websites. It’s very likely if you get a flash tattoo that somebody somewhere has the exact same tattoo, most likely done in the exact same manner and possibly on same area of the body say for example lower back tribal tattoos.

Flash tattoos have nothing to do with what tattoo art should be which is creativity and uniqueness and reduces tattooing to little more than tracing. Flash tattoos lack one other important thing: meaning. They generally have no meaning to the person getting them done.

Tattoos should reflect a persons life and should at least have some meaning — not necessarliy the meaning of the actual design but what it means to the person receiving it. This is the reason tattoo removal is big business. Keep in mind that it costs more 10 times the amount to get a tattoo removed as it does to get it done in the first place.

So if you are looking for tattoo designs forget flash tattoo designs. If you see free flash tattoo art on some website, or if the tattooist tells you to pick one from a sheet or 'off the wall' and doesn’t draw your design free hand right in front of you but copies it on a piece of transparent tracing paper from a notepad go elsewhere. Always ask to see the tattooists portfolio of custom tattoos before committing to getting one done.

Remember - a tattoo is for life. Avoid tattoo flash!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Declan_O_Reilly

Chinese Tattoos - Meaning of Chinese Dragon Tattoos

Chinese Tattoos have always been hugely popular. At one stage they were the realm of criminals and the mafia. Now it seems even Hollywood celebrities seem to have caught on to the mystery and allure of the Far East. While it is undeniable that classic Chinese tattoos have an attraction which can easily be appreciated regardless of whether one can understand the often subtle meanings or not.

Aesthetics should be the primary consideration when getting tattooed, and Chinese characters are very well suited to this purpose. While tattoos have always been conversation pieces, Chinese tattoos add another element, since the typical viewer will probably ask you the meaning, which allows the wearer to not only translate the characters, but to explain the story behind the decision to make such a lasting statement.

Meaning is an important question however and for this reason can make Chinese tattoos date very quickly. Often it is not quite what the wearer was told by the tattooist at the tattoo shop or the meaning can become irrelevant after a few years.

Hopefully the person being tattooed has done his or her research and consulted with a native Chinese speaker about the meaning before being inked. Some non Chinese speakers have unwittingly tattooed their bodies with Chinese symbols which when translated become meaningless.

The most common Chinese tattoos are ones that are supposed to represent ideas and qualities like love or strength. Keep in mind that the concepts are aimed at English speakers, and on that level "peace, love and happiness" are easily understandable.

But before you run off to the studio to get one done you should do your research. Selecting a Chinese tattoos deserves careful study and attention. It should have less to do with style and more to do with your character, work, and values. It's permanent, so it's a pretty important decision in your life. In the end, it is important to choose something of lasting appeal not something faddish.

Chinese Dragons

For centuries, the Chinese dragon has been a symbol of power and mystery. Depicted in countless legends, both Eastern and Western, the dragon has provoked man to fear and worship it. In medieval Europe, it was a bloodthirsty, fire-breathing figure. Its malevolence and ferociousness struck terror in all. However, in Asia, it is the contrary. The mighty dragon is a mythical beast long celebrated for its benevolence, intelligence and good will. The Chinese dragon has been a common symbol of identity for Far Eastern cultures.

In fact, Chinese people all over the world are affectionately known as “lung de chuan ren”, or the "descendants of the dragon”. There are several distinct species of Chinese dragons. The Horned Dragon is considered to be the mightiest. The Celestial Dragon supports the heavens and protects the Gods. The Earth Dragon rules all of the earth. The Spiritual Dragon controls the wind and rain. The Treasure Dragon is the keeper of precious metals and gems. The Winged Dragon is the only dragon with wings. The Coiling Dragon dwells in the ocean. The Yellow Dragon is a hornless dragon known for its scholarly knowledge.