If you are from the United Kingdom for example, Then there’s a 33.33% chance you have at least one tattoo. However, despite this figure being higher than most countries, many brits still struggle to plan a tattoo properly.
Rightfully so, it’s a challenging decision to make. The ink will remain on your skin for the rest of your life. Failing to plan adequately could result in a tattoo you dislike in a few years. Therefore, we strongly advise you to read the below guide before doing anything.
Perform Research
The popularity of tattoos has risen significantly, but so has the removal of them. Removing them doesn’t only waste time, but it can also cost a considerable amount of money. Without question, the best way to avoid this is to perform research in the following areas:
Tattoo Styles
Before even stepping into a studio and consulting a tattoo artist, you need to think about what you want. The most aggravating thing for an artist is a customer that doesn’t know what they want. Therefore, don’t be that person and develop an understanding of the tattoo design you’re considering.
The first thing you’ll want to consider is tattoo colour. Fewer people are getting coloured tattoos, but it’s still worth the thought. In most instances, people get black and grey tattoos because it works better with more detailed work.
Once you’ve decided on the base colour, the actual style is another consideration. There are many different styles, some of which tattoo artists specialise in, and others don’t.
Tattoo flash or custom tattoo?
Now you’ve decided on the tattoo colour and style; it’s time to decipher how you’ll want to approach this. There are two different options in the industry: tattoo’s from a flash book or something completely custom.
A flash book got designed initially for quick tattoos. These are pre-drawn designs that artists have in a book. When walk-in customers want a tattoo, they can select one from these designs. In most circumstances, these are cheaper as the artist already has the design sorted and maybe even the stencil.
When it comes to a custom tattoo, it’s self-explanatory. With these, you’ll need to consolidate a professional, explain what you want, and the tattoo artist will create a bespoke tattoo design.
Pain threshold and location
Additionally, learn about your pain thresholds when you consider getting the tattoo. Planning a tattoo is one thing, but sitting through the appointment and getting it is another. Therefore, knowing the most and least painful areas to receive a tattoo could be beneficial.
Surprisingly, for men and women, a tattoo pain chart is different. For instance, men have less pain in the arms; as shown by this image:
Reference: Healthline
With women, the diagram of tattoo pain looks slightly different. In the arms, there’s more pain than a man. However, there’s less in some areas on the legs:
Book a consultation
Once you’ve performed the above research, you can find an adequate tattoo artist and book a consultation with them. During this session, you can present ideas, ask questions, and gain better insight into the outcome.
Some discussion areas might be the size, colour, location, style, etc. Once the artist has all this information, they can then go ahead and design or recommend an idea within their flash book. Also, this would be an ideal time to suggest to them whether you’ll be using tattoo numbing cream or not.
Conclusion
After reading the above, you should better understand planning a tattoo. Undoubtedly, it’s a lengthy process, but you’ll want to get this right the first time around. Therefore, follow the above guidelines and take it slow.
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