I dunno.
I’ve thought about getting a tattoo, but I really can’t think of anything that I know wouldn’t seem stupid/regretable 10, 20, 30 years from now.
However, I recommend a huge portrait of Johnny Bravo on your back.
He will never go out of style.
Don’t know if you’re serious, but my opinion is that tattoos should NOT be based on recent situations. Your current broken heart, your current lover, your current favorite rock band can all change. Of course everything changes, but the meaning behind a tattoo, unless you just want some decoration, should be something that is a real, defining part of you. I’ve seen one Dali painting tattooed on skin, and it turned out great–to me, that seems less likely to be regretted later than a heart and dagger, if Dali really means that much to you.
If you just want decoration, I say put on a funny tie. If you want a tattoo, I agree with others who say you should design it yourself. But before that, you should know yourself very well. You’ll change anyway, and you can’t be certain how you will change, but if you know yourself well enough, you needn’t end up with something that will embarrass you later.
I have lots of tattoos, and I have never had a moment’s regret about them. I designed (but didn’t necessarily draw) all of them except the first one, which is hardly noticeable now, since it’s surrounded by other more interesting ones. A good artist will work with you, once you tell him or her your ideas. Don’t settle for it if it isn’t just right.
Then again, everyone is different. My wife has a couple of small ones of her own design, but which she says have no meaning at all beyond decoration. Nothing wrong with that; I like her tattoos a lot. I like funny ties, too.
I have to agree with this statement. You may not feel the same way in 6 months or a year from now. Both of my tattoos were gotten spur of the moment, I do not regret getting them as the apply to my life, I will not regret them in 50 years as they will still apply to my life.
Btw ((((((Horseflesh)))))), I hate to see my friends go through rough times.
Do you have a family crest/coat of arms?
Yes. In fact, a distant relative of mine went to Germany some years ago and found our German relatives along with the family coat of arms. I’ve seen it once, and I considered that as a possible candidate for a tattoo. Thanks for reminding me. I’d like to maybe incorporate something from the rest of my heritage too, like including a viking helmet and a bird feather. But I don’t want it to be too busy. Still having trouble thinking up a design that would incorporate all of that.
George Carlin had a few good ideas for tattoos, although he said he would never get one because he didn’t like the idea of helping out the cops.
My personal favorite idea of his was to get this on his forehead:
or something to that effect.
I have a tattoo of a celtic cross with a green vine wrapped around it on my left shoulder. And yes, it came from the book at the tattoo parlor. I had been wanting something very similar to it for a long time, but was never able to find one I liked. I saw this one in the book, except it had roses on the vine and an area near the top for putting in a Bible verse or something. I asked the guy to redraw it without the roses and the scroll, add some shading, and there you go.
Whatever you do, make sure that you are completely comfortable living with it for the rest of your life. And do not get a woman’s name tattooed on your body. EVER.
No, I’m not serious about the heart/dagger or teardrop tattoo; I typed that in a melancholy moment. I also know enough not to get someone’s name etched into me, though I do envy Johnny Depp’s “Winona Forever”. 
I like the constellation idea. Orion has always been my favorite and it’s easily recognizable, but I think a lot of people wouldn’t make the “connection” if they saw a small pattern of dots on my skin.
I’m still considering a Mandelbrot fractal (zoom in on the edges). I think they look very interesting, and it reminds me of a very interesting conversation between a friend and I while tripping on acid. After explaining and showing him what a fractal was, we concluded that we are all fractals, some are just more complex than others. But for some reason I think that it would come off looking like a bruise or something.
Well, we’ll see. There’s no deadline or anything, but I’ll post a picture when I decide on something and actually get it done.
I went for my tattoo and was thrown out of the place. Not my fault, but a long story that I won’t go into. Thus I do not have one.
I once saw an idiot get a Batman logo tattoo when the film first came out. Bet he regrets it now.
If I were to get one now, I would want something NO ONE has!
You have to find your own design. I would also stick with a solid color…the color ones seem to look sad after a few years.
Your name in Chinese?
A simple geometrical form?
Check out the design used on one of the space capsels they sent out to space years ago, that supposedly can be interpreted by any intelligent being in the universe…if nothing else, that will be a conversational piece.
Then again, if you are male, there is the old story of the guy who bets people at the bar that “I will bet you $100 I have your name tattooed on my pecker.”
You foolishly bet, foolishly follow them into the john and see, “Your Name” tattooed on his wang.
My last two were drawn specifically for me, from my ideas, with input from the artist. I wanted flames on my left shoulder, and I eventually wanted them to extend across my back. I wanted hot-rod style flames. Steve (tattoo artist) told me that hot rod flames work best in straight lines, and he suggested something in a Tibetan style. I countered that I’d like them coming out of a hand. He broke out a binder of source material containing, among other things, individual flames and hands in various poses. A half-hour later he produced the finished drawing, ran it through a transer machine, set up the tattoo machine with sterilized needles and disposable ink cups, and went to work. That was in early July. He produced a companion piece for my right shoulder last week. The hand is in a different posture and in different colors, and there is water coming out of it. Eventually, I plan for the two pieces to meet on my back, possibly in a yin-yang.
Find an artist that can draw. See if they have a style they prefer to work in that is compatible with your desires. Ask to see pictures of his/her work – they love to show off stuff they’ve done and should have a book of it for you to look through. Bring your ideas. Listen to the artist’s ideas, especially on color. Ask about sterilization procedures.
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Decide what you want. Wait a full year. If you still want it, get it.
Best advice I’ve received yet.
Waiting a year is excellent advice. I have two tattoos, and both I waited over a year once I decided on a design. No regrets with either.
So have you decided yet?
I got mine today. I will post pictures when I get it taken. Would you like to see the other two tattoos I have as well?
So howsabout ‘the map’, in full color, on your back? With the portal to “The Time of Legends” circled in red, mebbe.
(In all seriousness, I’d agree that jackelope’s idea was pretty wise.)
Yep, taking some time to be sure is a great idea, but don’t wait too long.
I have been contemplating mine for almost 15 years and am still a blank canvas. It’s ridiculous.
How about don’t get a tattoo.
Tattoos are a FAD. A very stupid, passing fad. They seem trendy now, but in fifteen years, people will mock them, and rightly so. And unlike most fads which, owning to their temporary popular fascination, are eventually discarded and mocked (big hair, fake eyelashes, pastel polo shirts with upturned collars, bell bottoms, mohawk haircuts, neon polyester colors, etc) tattoos are permanent.
Most of them also look bad, and I mean, really bad. Bad designs, bad application, bad taste. Even the ones that look neat aren’t going to look neat forever. Tattoos get smudgy. The colors fade into a dull green-grey. The skin wrinkles and gets spotty. The body becomes less svelte. The design becomes distorted. Now, maybe that nice design on your firm, svelte butt looks stylish and sexy now, but how is it going to look when you’re 65 and your firm, svelte butt has turned into a wrinkly, desiccated, sagging ass?
Are you willing to fork out the money for removal–and face possible scarring–when in the not so distant future your tattoo looks like utter crap and you’re embarrassed that you still have it?
Knorf
EJsGirl, leave that beautiful skin the way it is.
Not only do tattoos end up looking like crapola, the designs themselves which (occasionally) look stylish now are going to end up looking pathetically dated in far less time than you can imagine.
Knorf
A fad? Gee, people have been getting tattoos for hundreds of years. You must be very old! 
Yes, more like thousands of years, but CLEARLY the prevalence and popularity of tattoos right now is something quite new. I’m just a little bit older than the generation that’s gone the most ga-ga for them–I’m 33–but these days anyone who thinks they want to be trendy thinks that therefore they should a get a tattoo. These same “trend-seeking” sheep ten or more years ago wouldn’t have dreamed of getting one.
My granddad got his tattoos when he was in the Navy during WW2, and buy, they look like crap now. You can hardly tell what they’re supposed to be. In the words of Bart Simpson, “wrinkly gibberish.”
Knorf
Knorf, I am 26. You are hardly a generation older than I am.
I didn’t get tattooed because it is trendy. I got ink because I wanted to. Do I care what you ( and others ) think?
NOPE.
If you saw me at work, you would never even know I had them.
If you are shallow enough to judge people by outward appearances, then you may be lonely when you grow old.