The Symbolism Behind an Anchor Tattoo and Anchor Tattoo Design

Anchor tattoos were all the rage for sailors. It was often the symbol of a very experienced sailor. Anchor tattoo designs are one of the oldest types of tattoos. However with an interest in all things retro and chic these have come back into fashion. In fact in the tattoo field as a whole retro tattoo designs have been experiencing a resurgence. These retro tattoo designs have come back to life with new more vibrant tattoo colors, designs and placements on the body. This trend originated on the west coast mostly and has even become known as west coast tattoo style.

Retro themes in tattoo designs are especially popular with the rockabilly group.

So what is the symbolism behind the anchor tattoo design? While the earliest forms of an anchor being used as a symbol harkens all the way back to the early Christians. They would often use the anchor as a hidden symbol for the cross. This was often used to show that they were Christian while escaping persecution from the Greeks.

The symbol much later became popular with sailors. This is a pretty obvious connection here being that sailor use anchors constantly in their work.

The anchor tattoo design has become a symbol for stability and a strong foundation. It can also mean a boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other in someone's life. You see a man might get an anchor tattoo to show that his girlfriend is the stability in his life.

These have become increasingly popular for women to get and they often place them just below their collar bone on the right of left side.

So the anchor tattoo is a great tattoo with lots of symbolism and history behind it. If you are looking for something to remind you to stay grounded or want to symbolism a particularly stable or grounding relationship that you have then an anchor tattoo design might be something to look into.

Chris has been running Design My Tattoos website for the last three months. He likes helping people find the custom tattoo designs and where to get them done by professional tattoo artists. 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. Check out this article on the symbolism of anchor tattoos on the site.

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What Makes Star Tattoos So Popular Everything from Shooting Star Tattoos, to Nautical Star Tattoos

Star tattoos seem to be a pretty old and yet a very popular design. It is one of the most requested custom designs. Why are they so popular and are they over rated? You know there is this on going controversy between the "tattoo traditionalists" and the new generation of "tattooers". I put those in quotes because they are terms that I made up for this article.

A "tattoo traditionalists" like the old school tattoos. Things that are done in black ink and nothing that would be considered popular. They feel that each tattoo should be unique and say something about the individual. They are strongly against anyone that gets a tattoo because it is a popular design. For example they are against star tattoos because of their popularity. They would most likely be against the good old tribal arm band tattoo or a barbed wire arm band etc. You know the tattoo designs that are so popular and done over and over again. The "tattoo traditionalists just hate these.

The new generation of "tattooers" are pretty much the opposite. They like what is cool and hip and want to get tattoos done that are popular and in style. They will often look at celebrity tattoos or the tattoos of friends to get their ideas from which they might do some customizing and etc. Their designs typically feature a lot of color and are bright! I have written more about these groups in other articles so for now I will stick to the topic at hand of star tattoos. You see there is a phenomenal growth in star tattoo designs. Tons of people want to get everything from simple star tattoos, groupings of moon and star tattoos, nautical stars, and even shooting stars. Star tattoo designs are pretty much everywhere.

So why are they so popular?

1. Star tattoo designs and celestial tattoos are especially popular themes among women and this is a rapidly growing market.

2. Star tattoos can be very gender neutral. Men and women can get star tattoos done.

3. Star tattoos are often inexpensive to get designs of and cost very little to get done.

4. Star tattoos often make a great first tattoo design for someone who is a little worried about getting started in tattoos. They are small and easily covered up and also less painful to get because of their size and therefore popular among first timers.

5. Star tattoos because of their size can fit into or among other existing designs or can make great cover up of a bad tattoo.

6. Stars are pretty universal symbols of good things. Most all religions have some type of star symbolism and star and stars don't make a strong statement about the world but just kind of thought of as fun and light hearted.

So who is right? Are star tattoos a great design to get done like the new generation of tattooers is doing or should you avoid them at all costs because they are not unique and they are overdone like the traditionalists would say?

Well, like all great questions in life and in the world of tattoo design the decision really is your to make. It will be your tattoo and one that you will live with for a long time. I think the best middle ground between the two groups is to just get something you like. If you like star tattoos for their own sake if they are popular or not then go ahead and get one and who cares. However if you are just getting a star tattoo because your friend just did or because the latest pop diva got one then it might be better to wait. Either way the choice is your to be made.

Chris has been running Design My Tattoos website for the last three months. He likes helping people find the custom tattoo designs and where to get them done by professional tattoo artists. 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. Check out this article on star and shooting star tattoos on the site.

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Sources for Free Tattoo Ideas and Tattoo Design Ideas

Have you been wanting to get a tattoo but don't have an exact idea or not sure what you want? Tattoos are so popular and there are so many ideas but many of us feel stuck at times on the exact tattoo we want to get. For me I often feel stuck when I think of how permanent a tattoo is. I see a lot of cool designs that I like at the time but when I start thinking about the having it permanently done I start to change my mind and look for something else.

Others have the idea or rough plan of what they want but they can't find any good source material or flash that matches what they want. Some of our customers state that they have spent months looking for a certain tattoo design. They look through all of the flash sites and etc. but still can not find what they are looking for. This is a huge problem, you end up wasting a lot of time and feeling frustrated. However there are some simple ways around this problem.

1. First you should always pull ideas for tattoos from things that you like or are into. Don't go and get a tattoo just because you saw someone with one and you thought he or she was cool. A tattoo will be with you forever and so it should be something from you not from outside. Along these lines don't do the stupid thing of going out to get a tattoo with a friend and be pressured into getting the same thing he or she gets just because you don't want to look stupid. Tattoos are permanent and therefore should state something about you and what you love. Therefore if you spend time just thinking about the things you like and things that you identify yourself with you are likely to come up with some great ideas. For example for me I love being outdoor and nature and so I like star tattoos a lot and nature themes. I also like a lot of the native American and traditional Japanese designs. My wife is from Japan and she has this plan of getting a Cherry tree branch full of cherry blossoms across her back. These are very significant images for the Japanese. They symbolizes the new year and new life or even renewal of life. So as you can see your tattoo should be something you identify with.

2. Once you have some rough ideas it is typically time to go online and look for some images. Now lets take the Cherry blossom for example. Some place you could look for a tattoo would be clip art. You can search using Google's image search feature or go to Microsoft online clipart gallery. Either place you can find either a clip art drawn piece or actual source photos. Both will lead you to some good source materials that will help in the design stage.

3. Next you want to take you source materials (photos or clip art) and show them to a tattoo artists. You might also try some initial sketches if you are artistically inclined. Even something with simple line art or pigeon scratches can tell you tattoo artists a lot about what you are looking for. So take everything you got and show it to your tattoo artist and then let them design the tattoo for you. Remember the more accurate and detailed you can be with your description the more happy you are going to be with the results and the whole process will be much easier.

4. Most tattoo artists will then provide you with an actual design shaded in and with color and the line art of the design. If you are getting this done online then you can take that to your local tattoo parlor and find some one to do the actual tattoo for you. Often you can also ask for referrals from the original tattoo artists. Typically they can do the work themselves if you live within driving range.

If you take these steps into consideration and actually do a little bit of homework and find your source materials and provide lots of details about what you are looking for then you are sure to get the design of your dreams.

Chris has been running Design My Tattoos website for the last three months. He like helping people find the custom tattoo designs and where to get them done by professional tattoo artists.

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. Check out this article on Free Tattoo Ideas on the site.

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Rap Tattoo: The Tattoos of Rap Artists and Rap Stars This is a Huge Trend

Rap tattoos or rap artist tattoos are very popular. This phenomena has lead to a strange mix of cultures. You everyone is into celebrities, movie stars, signers, and rappers. Even those of us like myself who like to say we are not sometimes get caught up in what is hot with different celebrities. Well rap artists have created a whole new type of celebrity. It is almost the anti hero of sorts. Rap artists often like to play the gangster become big time star role and in fact many of them have achieved this lifestyle.

The rich gangster living the big life being a player is the immortalized dream that we see 247 on television in rap videos from MTV to VH1 to all sorts of other things. You know what I am talking about the rap artists with the gold chains, pimped out Hummer, or Lincoln Navigator with some hot babes wearing tongs on either side of his arm. What guy in their right mind wouldn't want that dream. Even guys that don't listen to rap or claim that it is not their dream would be pretty hard pressed to turn away from that life! Pimped out house, cars and fancy women and food!

Well, this whole dream has lead to many new trends in tattoo art. Now there are more and more people getting tattoos of their favorite rap artists. Either a 50 cent tattoo, Nelly tattoo, or Tupac they all have great tattoos and their tattoo gallery pages are some of the most visited pages on our site. In fact we even get quit a few jobs posted by people wanting a similar tattoo. Right now someone posted for a copy of a Nelly tattoo. You know the one Nelly has with the cards and it says his name on each card N-E-L-L-Y. We also have a job posted on the website for some wanting a Tupac "Thug Life" tattoo. What a great way to memorialize the guy!

These items are very popular and it has created a strange mix of a celebrity gangster who is all tatted up. People normally think of tattoos on a white hells angel biker dude. However those days are over and the a new age of tattoos and tattoo design is upon us and tattoo and now the great universal and no longer a separator.

Chris runs Design My Tattoos website. 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 sign up as an artists. You can read this article about rap star tattoos here. We also have an extensive Celebrity Rap Star tattoo galleries and design galleries on the site. Check out our Nelly Tattoo Gallery, 50 Cent Tattoo Gallery

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Cute Tattoo Designs for Women and where to get the best ones

The whole field of tattoos for women is growing at a tremendous rate. If you think back even 20 years ago tattoos for women were not all that popular and most of the women getting them were keeping them covered up. However times have definitely changed and tattoo designs have really advanced at a tremendous rate. Today's tattoo have more brilliant colors and are a far cry from your grandfathers Hawaiian girl tattoo on his forearm.

It used to be that women would get an occasional rose or name tattoos on their breast or some well hidden spot. However with current fashion trends there are tons of cute tattoo designs for women out there are women are now getting tattoos at an amazing rate.

Women's tattoo designs and placement have also changed with this new growth. No longer are women getting simple tattoos that they keep well hidden. Women are now getting cute tattoo designs done and placing them in more visible places.

Some of the most popular items to get tattoos of are:

1. Shooting Star Tattoos
2. Butterfly Tattoos
3. Unicorn Tattoos
4. Angel Tattoos
5. Fairy Tattoos
6. Dragonfly tattoos
7. Flower design tattoos

The most popular places for women to get tattoos done are:

1. lower back tattoo (especially popular recently with the whole hip hugger jeans)

2. ankle tattoos

3. front side of the hips (again hip hugger jeans have made this more popular)

4. butt cheek left or right

5. Belly button area

Another thing that this trend of women getting tattoos is that women often seek out custom tattoo designs. They don't go to the local parlor and just by a tattoo flash design that is on display there. Women seem to spend a great deal more time contemplating the tattoos that they want done and tend to have more requirements about what they want. Therefore women tend to get custom tattoo designs. This allows them to get the exact look and feel they want and a custom designed tattoo is also fit to the location on the persons body so that it fits well.

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 Cute Tattoo Designs for women here and other articles by clicking here. We also have an extensive Celebrity tattoo galleries and design galleries on our site.

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