Choosing your first tattoo

[Lochlan]

How did/do you choose your first tattoo(s)?

What did it mean to you. Are you happy with it or would you do it differently today?

Can we see a picture and hear the story that assisted you in placing it on your body?

Edited September 30, 2010 by tammy

[gougetheeyes]

Figured I'd see what the very first thread was! 2001, bluebirds on my chest, picked out from the tattooer's flash on the wall. Woulda wound up with much gayer looking birds had the shop girl not recommended the guy's own sheet.. which was pretty new school hahaha

[Mel Noir]

I had just turned 18 and knew jack about tattoos- ended up with a really crap pointed heart from the Alkaline Trio logo on my wrist. Upside down on my wrist, no less. The guy who did the tattoo had done my mam's, and she insisted I went to him for my first. Thankfully, a few months later I stopped being an irresponsible jackass, learned more about tattooing and managed to get it fixed, adding a traditional banner on it so it looks a little better (why thank you, Hayley Parkin!).

I don't think I'd do it any differently if I had the chance though, to be honest. In fact, a year or two later I got an upside down Smashing Pumpkins heart on the other wrist, just to remind myself that I don't exactly make the best fucking decisions sometimes. Every time I have to sign something or make a big decision, I look at those first, haha.

Thankfully, my other tattoos are far better (and they're not cheesy band logos!).

[gougetheeyes]

Still toy with the idea of sticking a SP heart somewhere there's space! Musta drawn that thing a thousand times from ages 11-..well, now.

[cfgsteak]

Mine was in '86. I was in the Army and 2 of my friends and I went to the closest shop to our base in Hawaii and picked a piece from the wall...I've mentioned this before, but I wanted a tattoo because my dad had one from being in the service (his was a lot cooler, a black panther head done in 1957 in Japan).

I don't paticularly like it. I don't really hate it either. I wish it wasn't where it is...its in the middle of some prime real estate! I will probably cover it next year with a half sleeve...but maybe not. I thought about leaving it there and putting it between an eagles wings or something similar. I would kind of like to NOT cover my first one...

[dooktruck]

first one was that higgs multi colored diamond off a flash sheet from 98 or 97. my wife and i wanted matching tattoos so thats what we got on the inside of our biceps. she already had one tattoo she got when she was 18 a tribal sun on her back. and i waited until i was 33 for my first one. i would have some tribal armband or something if i got tattooed when i was 18. i remember hearing that a shop had that higgs flash...being way into lungfish i wanted some of his stuff. he had already stopped tattooing. so i wandered in there to check it out. when i first saw that stuff i was like wtf that is some weird shit. wasn't sure if i wanted any of that stuff. i think that might have only been the second or third time i had ever been in a tattoo shop.

lulz i thought it was special that they had that flash and no one else had it but a bunch of shops in town have that same flash.

[Shadow]

I was 18 and living in the dorms. One day a friend of my roommate's came by and said she was going to get a tattoo. She asked if we wanted to come along. I went and ended up getting a tribal sun on my lower back from the flash on wall. I had never even considered getting a tattoo before and knew absolutely nothing about tattoos, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm getting it covered by a back piece now (some black shading tomorrow will totally cover it). I don't particularly hate it or anything and I am almost sad to cover it up, but I really didn't want it to interfere with the rest of the back piece.

[Mel Noir]

Still toy with the idea of sticking a SP heart somewhere there's space! Musta drawn that thing a thousand times from ages 11-..well, now.

Do it! :) Though, if you do, NEVER date someone else who has it. I've made that mistake, and actually considered a cover-up after the horrid break up. Glad I didn't cover it up though, I think it rocks.

[briankelly]

when i was twelve years old, i was riding the school bus to gym class. a guy from the grade above had flunked into our grade and i saw he had a stick and poke cross on his forearm. i thought that was awesome, and i learned how to do it and went home and put one on my forearm too. several stick and pokes later i turned 18 and when i got out of jail i got a job at the meat packing plant. when i got my first paycheck i went to the one and only tattoo shop in the small town i was in at the time. it was my first time in a studio and it was a little biker run thing. i didn't know what to get, and figured since my last name is Kelly, i would get something irish. the tattooer showed me a four leaf clover for 60 dollars. i asked if we could make it ten dollars bigger, because i had 70 to spend. he made it a little bigger, and i got it. i don't regret it, but after living in ireland for years, i despise irish things and don't care to have irish related tattoos on me, but shit happens.

[AlannaCA]

I got my first tattoo almost a year ago! wow time flies! i feel kind of deja vu ish because i think i have talked about this tattoo in another thread somewhere but its my dogs names joia(no longer with me) and avelan(current) with a paw print. i thought about it for sooooo long and asked co-workers and friends what they thought and if i should do it, really whatever they said didnt matter because my mind was made up!

[Stitch626]

Mine was a mistake, I had always wanted one, and the guy I was dating at the time came to pick me up for a date but never told me where we were going. I had even had a tattoo drawn up for my hip, ready to go but left it at home not knowing we were going to a tattoo shop on South Street down in South Philly. Essentially he told me that now was my only chance to get a tattoo and we weren't leaving until I got one. Thus forcing me to pick one off the wall of flash. (mind you south philly is about 30 to 40 mins from where I live)

So I picked it off the wall, got rid of a few things and at the last min when the outline was done added color..

Personally it means nothing, except a reminder of my past mistakes. I'm looking to get it covered up some how. But any way, two days later waiting in line at a 7 eleven, the guy in front of me reaches out to hand the cashier his money and wouldn't ya know it, smack dab on his for arm lay the original line work for my brand new first tattoo.

[smiling.politely]

i waited to get my first until i was 20. my parents are both tattooed (my dad is about 75% covered, mom has a few smaller ones, a few big ones, and is finally getting her sleeves done starting in a few months). i knew i wanted some text my dad has on his forearm for about four years, and i added the skull underneath because i like skulls. also, the straight edge XXX underneath... at this point, i wasn't sure how tattooed i was going to be, so i had long sleeve shirts in mind, and also wanted to get the two most important things in my life represented (the parents and the straight edge bits).

the arm that looks like you could pole vault an IV into it is my dad, with the original...

[Stitch626]

i waited to get my first until i was 20. my parents are both tattooed (my dad is about 75% covered, mom has a few smaller ones, a few big ones, and is finally getting her sleeves done starting in a few months). i knew i wanted some text my dad has on his forearm for about four years, and i added the skull underneath because i like skulls. also, the straight edge XXX underneath... at this point, i wasn't sure how tattooed i was going to be, so i had long sleeve shirts in mind, and also wanted to get the two most important things in my life represented (the parents and the straight edge bits).

the arm that looks like you could pole vault an IV into it is my dad, with the original...

Good lord, Your fathers arms are a gift from God to paramedics! Very nice

[Androosh]

Still toy with the idea of sticking a SP heart somewhere there's space! Musta drawn that thing a thousand times from ages 11-..well, now.

Ran into a real nice gal the other day who had 36 SP tattoos all over her body. It was crazy talking to her.

[CultExciter]

I was 19, and I got the Rocket From The Crypt logo on the inside of my arm. I thought I was so punk.

Luckily, it was done really well and has since been filled in with color.

Now it's my little red rocket.

Crudeness intended.

11 years later I still dig it.

[TrixieFaux]

I think it was 1992, I was 22. My boyfriend at the time said he was getting a tattoo that weekend in New Hampshire (you still couldn't get them in Boston where we lived) and asked me to go with him. I said sure, I'll get one too. I only had a couple of days to come up with something. I am not a Pisces, but I picked the Pisces symbol with the 2 yin-yang fish because I always liked fish in art and liked that symbol. It is small and on my stomach, black & red. I am still happy with it. It's a little blurry now but who cares, it seldom sees the light of day! Getting that first tattoo was an exciting experience.

[missStark]

I was 21 when I got my first tattoo. I'm glad I waited until then or I would have some really stupid shit on my body. My boyfriend had gotten a few tattoos from Tony Sellers aka Fat Tony at Hobos Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH. I really wanted to get one so my boyfriend took me to go see Tony. I told him I wanted a rose on my shoulder and just kind of left it at that. He showed me one that he had in his sketchbook and without even really looking at it, I said sure. I remember being so nervous as soon as he started to tattoo me that I was shaking. It was so bad that he had to stop and wait until I calmed down. That rose is still one of my favorite tattoos that I have. Tony has since become friend of mine and I highly recommend him if you are ever in NH.

[Yeoman]

First ink was a butterfly on the left shoulder blade. Drew it myself and the tat master in Monterrey transferred the lines to vellum or some other type of trace paper and then onto my back. Me and two friends went in together for different designs. Of my friends choices, my favorite was Fat Freddy's Cat in full "bat out of hell" repose.

[semele]

I got mine three days after my eighteenth birthday--I'm sure I thought I was showing maturity and restraint by waiting those three days too--and I looked so young I'm pretty sure the tattooer thought my ID was fake. I wanted a bird, so I got a swallow off the wall. And now I have a whole bunch of bird tattoos, but it's still one of my favorites. Done by Joao Paulo Rodrigues.

[thebadnewshughes]

My first tattoo was put on by Stano in Daytona. I was 17 and drove down with a couple of scary older skinhead dudes who barely tolerated me. Got the comic character Judge Dredd on my shoulder, because this sort of thing happens when a dyed-in-the-wool nerd tries to be a tough guy - "I know, I'll get a tattoo of the biggest badass in my *pushes up glasses* comic book collection!" Anyway, like 10 years later that goddamn Stallone movie came out and I walked around groaning every time anybody saw the damn tattoo until a couple years back, when I buried it under this:

[CultExciter]

this is a redundant edited comment

[CultExciter]

@Dan S will be stoked on that!

[jacobhh]

I got this Keith Haring piece as my first on my leg from Edwin Marquez at Regeneration Tattoo in Boston... Always loved Keith growing up blah blah blah. A little while after I got it I started getting into "good tattoos" and I started to regret this one because I wanted something classic and badass but I love it now.

Side note: Recently while getting tattooed by Michael Aul he noticed my Haring piece and told me that Haring actually did a couple tattoos in Berlin in the early 90s, anyone have photos of these or even heard of this?

[Dan S]

My first tattoo was put on by Stano in Daytona. I was 17 and drove down with a couple of scary older skinhead dudes who barely tolerated me. Got the comic character Judge Dredd on my shoulder, because this sort of thing happens when a dyed-in-the-wool nerd tries to be a tough guy - "I know, I'll get a tattoo of the biggest badass in my *pushes up glasses* comic book collection!" Anyway, like 10 years later that goddamn Stallone movie came out and I walked around groaning every time anybody saw the damn tattoo until a couple years back, when I buried it under this:

Very Kool!!!

A slight variant of the "new-style" Black Cat logo, color spots on the whiskers are a bit different, edges roughed-up...most excellent!

I like mine better, but hey, that's just me! Congrats on a righteous piece!!!

[Hunter Morrow]

HOW COULD YOU BURY THE LAW?!?!?!?!

Just kidding, excellent tattoo. And I've got to drive to Minnesota or Iowa for fireworks.