First time you saw a tattoo

[Jack Wier]

I grew up in a hippy ass section of Minneapolis called the West Bank, and there were a few biker bars on the south end of the neighborhood. I remember I was about 8 years old when I really noticed them and thought they were rad as shit.

On another note, I remember when my son first noticed tattoos as something unnatural on the body. When he was 3, he was sitting on my lap when his eyes locked onto my arm. He grabbed my arm firmly and scanned it over with intense focus...then let out the words "cool, dad"

Awesome story. I love the West Bank of the Cities.

[DrewA]

The first tattoo that I saw was on my dad. He has a "USMC" tattoo he got in the Phillipines in the 80's when he was in the marines. My grandpa also had several tattoos that he got when he was in the navy. He got them mostly when the ship was docking at different ports in the Mediterranean sea. He had a sailor woman on his right forearm, a panther head on his right bicep, and a heart tattoo with "Mom" on his left bicep. I remember staring at them for awhile. He mostly wore long sleeved flannels so I didn't see them a lot. I do remember telling my friends that they both had tattoos.

[tak30204]

My father had tattoos. I used to think that you HAD to get tattooed when you grew up. I figured you grew hair in funny places, started smoking, got tattooed.

First time in a tattoo shop I was probably 8 or so. Wasn't allowed to stay inside, had to wait in the car with mom. Early memories a bit fuzzy but damn good chance it was the shop I now work at.

[Inkbomb]

On my biker cousin, Henry. I was 5 and he was covered with lots of bright colors which is saying a lot because that was 1974! many many years later after I had bee n tattooing for 10 years or so I got a job at a shop on the beach in Florida. Unbeknown to me initially, my new boss Albee was the one who gave my cousin 90% of his ink! Too cool.

[missStark]

I know I had seen many tattoos before this, but this is when I really took notice/interest and started to really become aware of tattoos. I was in fourth grade (so 9 years old I think). I was at my friends house and her heavily tattooed biker uncle was visiting from out of town. I remember sitting on the couch next to him and just looking at his tattoos and asking him all sorts of questions about them. My biggest concern was how bad they hurt. I remember him telling me they hurt really bad (probably just trying to scare a 9 yr old girl away from wanting to get one haha) he said the most painful one was on his foot and he showed it to me. It was a native american anklet with beads and feathers that went down over the top of his foot. I thought it was so cool!

After that I remember I would draw tattoos all over my barbies and dolls. Who knew that one day I would actually be tattooing people :o

[missStark]

I know I had seen many tattoos before this, but this is when I really took notice/interest and started to really become aware of tattoos. I was in fourth grade (so 9 years old I think). I was at my friends house and her heavily tattooed biker uncle was visiting from out of town. I remember sitting on the couch next to him and just looking at his tattoos and asking him all sorts of questions about them. My biggest concern was how bad they hurt. I remember him telling me they hurt really bad (probably just trying to scare a 9 yr old girl away from wanting to get one haha) he said the most painful one was on his foot and he showed it to me. It was a native american anklet with beads and feathers that went down over the top of his foot. I thought it was so cool!

After that I remember I would draw tattoos all over my barbies and dolls. Who knew that one day I would actually be tattooing people :o

[Soccergodd]

I think my first time seeing a tattoo I was young. Maybe 10 or 11. But I understood the meaning, plus it looked cool I had to admit. I knew from then I wanted a tattoo. Then I added another and another. So now I'm hoping to be covered with tattoos before I die. But I gotta remember to go slowly, and that I have the rest of my life ahead of me :)

[semele]

When I was six or seven there was a sixteen year old girl on my block with a tiny spider on her ankle. I was in awe of this, and wrote in my diary that I was going to get a spider tattoo as soon as I turned eighteen. Found this diary when I was cleaning out my mom's basement a few weeks ago--I'm a bit late, but am finally getting that spider done Monday.

[rads]

First tattoo I'd ever seen close up was on an ex-boyfriend. It was a back piece of horses which I thought looked amazing, he had lots of tattoos but his mum didn't know about any of them, I wonder if she ever found out!

[rarehardtofind]

I had seen tattoos in pictures and movies, and had someone explain to me what they were and how they were done (more or less), but the first time I saw a real one, I was 9 or 10.

My dad (college teacher) used to work with this lady whose husband was a painter or artist of some kind. They invited us to their place for a party where he would show some of his new paintings or something, and all I remember was this guy looked weird as hell to me (in hindsight, he was the textbook definition of a middle-aged bohemian NY dude in the early 90s), and he had a fucking snake tattoed on his hand. Not real big, just like on the side/top of his hand, over his thumb and almost reaching his index finger, all line and no shading or color.

He obviously noticed I was staring like an idiot and was totally cool about it too.

[ILikePie]

I remember my uncle had one and he was in the navy he was sooo cool when I was a little kid.

[Delicious]

my mom had a yin-yang on her ankle, and my stepfather had wolves on both biceps. My real dad told me people who get tattooed go to hell but then changed his mind. also my mom's best friend is covered in them.

[MadeIndelible]

My dad had a little snake that he hand-poked on his arm when he was like 15. The black ink had turned all green by the time I saw it as a kid.

[SnowyPlover]

My dad had a lot of tattoos, including the most mysterious because he rarely wore shorts, was the outline of a giant dragon on his leg.

[kdhenry2010]

popeye :)

[SStu]

popeye :)

:D

yep. probably so.

[Our Endless Days]

my dad has both of his arms tattooed, so i was exposed to them at an early age.

[Dan S]

I've been trying to remember since this thread first started, and just can't.

Where I grew up, seemed like every other guy had at least one tattoo. Remember, I grew up in the late fifties/early sixties, so most of the grown-up males around me had been off to war at least once. Between old Airborne tattoos on my uncles, Outlaws M.C. tattoos on my neighbors, and various and sundry others, I guess I'd have to say there never was a time when I wasn't aware of tattoos around me.

Probably the first one that sticks out is my Uncle Bunks Airborne tattoo, and another Uncle's "bloodmark" tattoo.

[Tatanium2012]

when i was like 12, maybe 13 yrs old i seen my friends father's tattoo on his back of a naked girl laying on a back of a scorpion, which also was my first time seen seen a nude portrayal. so ya that had changed my outlook on art in a couple different ways LOL.

[Jack Wier]

Haha yeah

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[Heidi]

My dad is from the UK and we would visit his hometown every other year when I was young. It was around 1986 and little ole me was sitting in the lower level of one of those red double decker buses, waiting at a red light in London traffic. Outside on the sidewalk were some punk kids--crazy hair, skinny jeans. What I remember most of all were their tattoos--each kid had multiple small tattoos scattered all over their arms. I thought it the most amazing thing.

[lving4today]

My dad had some of the great designs, eagle, crawling tiger, lion so I was always aware of tattoos. Not sure when I actually NOTICED them, but probably due to my interest in heavier metal.

[Graeme]

I'm not sure what was the first tattoo I ever saw but one of the first things I can think of is that there was a tattoo shop near where my granny and grandpa lived (Mirella's Touch of Class at the corner of Boundary Road and Grandview Highway in Vancouver BC) and I always thought it was super cool when we drove by it. I would assume that I knew what tattoos were if I thought it was cool. My granny and grandpa lived in housing projects that were built for war veterans in East Vancouver so I wouldn't be surprised if I saw some there. My grandpa didn't have any despite being in the Navy during the war.

The first tattoo I remember bring super impressed by and what made me want to get tattoos was on some guy on the street and was this super colourful half sleeve where the top was sky and mountains and then it became an underwater scene further towards the elbow. Up to that point I didn't know that tattoos could look like that. This would have been in the mid-90s.

[TrixieFaux]

It was Cher. When I was a little kid (in the 70s) I idolized her. I found out she had tattoos and thought that was cool. Haha. But I had forgotten that until just now. I wasn't thinking about her by the time I actually got my first tattoo.

I just read this quote by her: "When I got tattooed, only bad girls did it: me and Janis Joplin and biker chicks. Now it doesn't mean anything. No one's surprised. I got a tattoo right after I left Sonny and I was feeling real independent. That was my badge."

[Johannes]

! remember seeing my dad's old sailor tattoos when I was really young. got me pretty hooked on tattoos I guess. one was an anchor on his hand. too bad I never got any pics of them before he passed...