Not everyone has a list of dream tattoos that they’ve been thinking about for years. Sometimes, you just know that you want a tattoo. If you are like most people, you want the next tattoo you get to be completely unique. You want your tattoo idea to be totally and uniquely you. How to go about deciding on a design can be a little daunting with all the options there are out there.
When people don’t know what they want, the first thing I always ask is “what are you into?” It’s usually that simple. If you’re into cars, that makes me think about spark plugs, motors, hot wheels, portrait of a 69 chevy? maybe a Lambo is more your style. Maybe you just want your favorite brand’s logo, like a chrome Audi logo, right smack dab in your forehead. You’re the only one who knows what would fit you best. Thinking about your hobbies or your career, and all the things, words and sayings that are common place in those topics will yield tons of ideas.
If you’re still having trouble coming up with some ideas, here are some suggestions and lists that may help:
1.Hobbies
Do you play any sports? What about art? Avid reader? Do you love nature, or traveling? What about collecting stamps? All hobbies are excellent sources for tattoo ideas.
2. Films / Shows / Cartoons
This is huge… media is huge… and the variety you can get for every favorite character is insane. Just look at star wars tattoos for example. You have Depictions of the characters in tattoo form in nearly every tattoo style there is. Maybe you want a realistic Darth Vader, but a cute comic book style Baby Yoda is more your style. Making a list of your favorite movies, characters scenes and lines can yield some good tattoo ideas.
3. Birthday
Your birthday can yield a lot of ideas. Your Month and Day will tell you your Astrological Sign, which can be a character, characters or a symbol you could use in your tattoo. Your birth year will tell you what your Chinese Zodiac is, which may give you an idea of what animal to use in your tattoo. Birth months also have things assigned to them, like Birth Stone, and Birth Flower. These things can give you ideas of what you could add to your tattoo design, be it colors or subject matter. You have the date… which is numbers that can be tattooed. I don’t really suggest using the whole date… but sometimes it’s fun to use part of it, like, if you were born on the 3rd day of the month, use three of the Birth Flowers as the focal point of the tattoo… then pick one or two others to be supporting subjects.
4. Names / Words
Quite honestly, I don’t recommend getting names… I just don’t like the idea of writing on my body. But a lot of people love getting names tattooed, and they can be done in so many different styles. Add a banner and a little swoop, and it makes adding a name or word to your tattoo lots of fun.
1001freefonts.com has this neat little feature that you can use to preview a font before printing it out for your tattoo design.
4. Sayings / Quotes
These give great ideas, but putting a whole bible verse on your body may not be for everyone. Sometimes, it’s better to ask your artist to help you come up with something that signifies your feeling or intention rather than write out a paragraph. Shortened versions of longer quotes are also an option. Fewer words are easier to integrate into artistic imagery, however, custom script and lettering artists are able to pull together different styles to make your word based tattoo into a true work of art. Whenever possible, try to get custom drawn letters, and not something directly printed off the computer.
There are so many different topics and themes out there, the cool thing about tattoos is that they can be anything, and they can be placed anywhere on your body.
If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, I’m happy to chat with you about it. Fill this out as best you can. Otherwise, you’re welcome to message me on instagram or facebook and I’ll do my best to help.
What processes have you used to come up with your new tattoo idea? I would love to hear about it.