Getting your kids tattooed / tattoo design ideas

[Steve]

..or getting a tattoo of your kids, better said.

I am considering getting a tattoo of, or, about my two boys and I'm wondering if any other parents out there can offer any tattoo design ideas or art advice?

I would like to incorporate it as a chest panel tied into my Japanese-style half-sleeve to match the other side that is already done as such. sorry coffee hasn't kicked in yet!

Anybody have tattoos of their kids?

[Julio Avila]

nothing related to my son. he has yet to prove himself. he could turn out to be the next hitler.

ya never know...

[Steve]

LOL - good point. maybe I should wait to see how his political views turns out.. Me and my dad have radically different views - one being that tattoo's are not his cup of tea, for example.

[dari]

Steve,

I have a great portrait of Scott and Henry from the day we brought him home from the hospital, it was done by Tim Hendricks. It's definitely one of my favorites, I'm actually planning on getting one of Adeline and the midwife from Tim eventually. Tim's a little hard to track down, but so worth finding! If you're going to the London convention this weekend better get in line now, 'cause he's so in demand that he doesn't even take appointments, you just show up and wait with your fingers crossed. Seriously.

Check him out:

http://www.saltwatertattoo.com/

[Jake]

WOW Dari. Those hands on his front pages are hands down (no pun intended ;) ) some of the best work I've ever seen

[Bunny Switchblade]

The last thing I want to see on my hubby's body when we are being intimate (and i am sure he feels the same way) is my kids face staring at me!!! ha ha ha! They messed intimacy up enough while they were growing up...and I am not gonna let them mess it up ever again.....LMAO!

I'll get a name of a "symbolic" tattoo to represent them but not a portrait!

:)

[Jessica]

I got a tattoo for my son. It's nothing terribly original or avant garde. It's just a burning heart that I really loved with his birthdate curved above it. I'm preggo with #2 so I'm going to add her birthdate curved below the heart and get my son's date touched up because the artist f'ed up one of the dashes between the numbers.

Bunny, originally I was going to get my son's name with a piece of art work but my husband was like "I really don't want to see his name and start thinking about him when we're doing it" so a portrait piece would def have been out for the same reason as well!

[dari]

Ladies, don't worry, it ain't my tattoos that my husband's looking at....

[Bunny Switchblade]

Bunny, originally I was going to get my son's name with a piece of art work but my husband was like "I really don't want to see his name and start thinking about him when we're doing it" so a portrait piece would def have been out for the same reason as well!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Exactly!

I know there are parents that are totally fine with that and what better tribute than

to have a portrait of your child BUT.....just not something i would do!

I already got tattooed with my Grand daughter's name before she was born!

BUT.......she was a he upon birth!!!!

Surprise!!!!!

Now i have "Grace" on my wrist and his name is Michael!

LMFAO!!!!

Fortunately Grace has some other meanings....most people have no clue unless I tell them!

[Bunny Switchblade]

Ladies, don't worry, it ain't my tattoos that my husband's looking at....

Do tell......he he he!

[Steve]

Thanks for all the replies.. definitely food for thought. I'll have to ask my wife what she looks at while we're doin' it.. hehe. maybe something symbolic like dates and names are a good call. I'm not in a hurry so plenty of time to think about it. anybody else have tattoo designs that incorporate their kids?

[Bunny Switchblade]

Thanks for all the replies.. definitely food for thought. I'll have to ask my wife what she looks at while we're doin' it.. hehe.

ha ha ha.....made ya think about it huh?

hey....it's just my thinking on it is all....lol

[Gia Dobson]

I have matching tattoos down the backs of my arms for my sons. They are a dagger through a rose with a banner... and one says "Indiana" and the other says "Hunter" done by Juan Puente at 222... sometime in the late '90s.

Here is the recent one for my baby girl who is a year and a half now... She totally looked like a kewpie when she was born... Artist is Josh Ford (Honorable Irons) at Lifetime Tattoo in Denver, CO

[Lizzie]

LOL, that's rad. A tattooer I met in San Diego named Jackie Smith had an awesome kewpie done by Tomas Garcia with the fattest juiciest lines EVER.... it was for her son and had his name "MUGSY" above it. It was pretty awesome. I'm a big fan of yours too.

[dari]

Just found this article with pics on "tattooing your kids"

Kids names tattooed

[hogg]

Love that Kewpie Mermaid, Gia.

[andrea]

Ladies, don't worry, it ain't my tattoos that my husband's looking at....

Oh snap! That literally made me laugh out loud. I don't have any qualms with tattoos for kids. Marques had our daughters name under his chin and I was stoked on it. I like Dan Kersey's tattoo for Mara, I just don't know that I feel a need for one. I think at first I didn't do it because I was worried I would end up having a gang of kids and would feel obligated to get one for each of them.

[MsRad]

Oh snap! That literally made me laugh out loud. I don't have any qualms with tattoos for kids. Marques had our daughters name under his chin and I was stoked on it. I like Dan Kersey's tattoo for Mara, I just don't know that I feel a need for one. I think at first I didn't do it because I was worried I would end up having a gang of kids and would feel obligated to get one for each of them.

HA! i just imagined you Andrea with like scripted names all over your arms. that really made me laugh. Ques' tattoo was great and so is Dan's, but then again, there's not much that Eli Quinters has done that I haven't liked.

[David Flores]

Me and my wife both have this same tattoo (same but different), because we always thought he looked a lot like a kewpie doll. Mine was done by Justin Dion and hers was done by Mario Desa.

Of course I also got a hot stuff devil for him too because of his not so cute times.

I really like that rib piece that Scott Sylvia did with hot stuff riding a panther and kewpie riding a white tiger. I thought that was really fun and traditional but still worked well with Japanese work. Obviously wouldn't work for the chest but there is a pretty cool hot stuff in this book wearing a kimono with some background that would be a good idea for one chest panel. If the book wasn't at the shop I just take a pic and post it.

tattooflashbooks.com - Jerome "Tilt" McCulloch - Classic Flash 2: In 5 Bold Colors

[hogg]

Every time I take a new favorite photo of my daughter, it's just a few weeks or months tops before it's replaced by another. Part of that is because she changes so much--she's not quite two and a half, so she has many, many more changes in store. But that's why I never wanted to get a portrait of her. I knew that she'd change over and over. That's fine, of course--it's what kids do, and there's something to be said for capturing a moment in your kid's life in a tattoo that will last to you 'til the end of your days.

As for me, I got her name tattooed on my wrist by @Juan Puente when she was about two weeks old. I look at it every day and love it so much. My wife recently got our daughter's name on a banner under a little kewpie, and I'm so happy that I get to look at it every day: Cripwell Kewpie | Tattoo Gallery | Last Sparrow Tattoo

[Scott R]

i did one even though I am not a huge fan of portraits.

[gougetheeyes]

That is a "perfect little kewpie!" Also, @David Flores, that boxer kewpie looks startlingly like your boy..

[hogg]

Not sure where else to put this, but since most of the board's parents probably check this thread, I figure it's as good a place as any. I was talking to our 2.5 year old daughter the other night. Here's our conversation:

said, "You know, when Daddy was little, he had curly blond hair just like yours." She said, "And you had little hands."

"That's right! I did have little hands."

"And you had toes and feet, too, Daddy."

"Right, and I still have toes and feet. They're just bigger. And when you grow up, you'll have bigger toes and feet."

Then she replied, "And tattoos!"

I laughed and asked what her tattoos will be.

"Skulls! And animals."

"What kind of animals?"

"A donkey! And a turkey. And skeletons!"

It was a proud moment. But donkeys and turkeys?

[David Flores]

maybe she is just ahead of her time. Donkeys and turkeys will be like owl's were a couple years ago.

[CaptCanada]

Its like Shawn was saying before, turkeys will be the new eagles.