Hello everyone. Looking for some advice

[Mr Purple]

Hello everyone.

My friend got married and wanted me to design a ring tattoo. I feel really out of my element with this though. I made some designs, but I don't know if they are unrealistic for such a small area. Any subjective advice or critique from other artists would be appreciated as well. Here are the 3 design sketches he liked most.

D is the first letter of his name and K is the first letter of hers.

Is the sickness and health variation in the corner better?

for the one with a flower fading into the skull it will say "sickness and health till death" going from thorns into vine into the flower. I'm not sure what to do with the font either. It's sort of time sensitive, which is why I'm opting to ask here rather than the advice thread.

Thanks so much for any help given.

[NihilNovum]

Sorry to say but that design is not even close to being tattooable, it would have to be something much simpler and my advice would be to let a tattooer design it. Just the letters D and K overlapped might work but still should just be taken to a tattooer.

[Mr Purple]

Ok, good to know. What are some things I would have to do to make these designs able to be tattooed? What are the limiting factors?(Like make the branches thicker? Get rid of the sky or gradients? )

I would be fine with letting a tattooer design it, but my friend specifically wanted me to do it. I assume he will get the tattooers opinion\changes when he brings it in as well, but it would help to get it in the ball park first to make it less of a hassle.

[AuntTudie]

In my opinion, finger tattoos are risky. My friends recently got matching tattoos. The were beautiful, but faded quickly. I suggest you take your ideas to your artist. I would also do some googling to see what is out there are far as ring tattoos go. You will find they are very simplistic.

[Graeme]

A question: have your friends found a tattooer who is willing to tattoo their fingers? Are your friends heavily tattooed themselves? I ask because I have seen plenty of good tattooers decline doing finger tattoos on people who aren't already heavily tattooed. I'm sure they could find somebody to do them regardless, but they might not find somebody good to do them. Tattoos are permanent either way.

[Mr Purple]

Yeah, I can see alot of them are simplistic, but then I saw some like this lion and thought they could be more detailed: Maybe there is something im overlooking though.

As far as taking it to a tattooer for advice, That was my reasoning for coming to this forum. I figured there would be some tattooers here. Does it make a huge difference to find someone in person before I can make any changes? I just wanted to get something close enough to viable that I wouldn't have to start from scratch after taking it to a tattoo shop.

I I right to assume something like this would work if the others couldn't? :

Graeme, I don't know what they have looked into or if they already have a tattooer. They have never been tattooed before either. Is it hard to get someone because it's so painful, or is it because its just takes a lot more skill to do?

[Graeme]

@Mr Purple You may hear hand and neck tattoos referred to as "job stoppers". Think carefully about that. There can be social, professional, personal consequences to being tattooed, and especially so when those tattoos are difficult to cover with clothing. Going on personal experience alone, I have seen people with hand and neck tattoos come into my work for job interviews. I have never seen one of them get hired. The tattoos may be an issue when going up for a promotion at work (I know there was one former (?) poster here wrote once about how she was deemed "not management material" despite being otherwise qualified for the position because of her tattoos) , they may be an issue when talking to a bank manager for a home or business loan. They may draw police attention. I don't think there's a single tattooed person who hasn't had any family tensions because of his or her tattoos. For these sorts of reasons, a lot of tattooers will refuse to tattoo these spots unless the person has already committed him or herself to living as a tattooed person.

[tatB]

part of me wants a wedding band tattoo because i don't really want to deal with the responsibility of owning an actual ring. it would just be a single black line. but i imagine there will be situations (like at work maybe) where people see it and they might use it as a jumping off point to share their opinions about tattoos that i don't really care about.

[bongsau]

My $0.02...encourage your friend to get actual wedding rings. They will last longer than a finger tattoo.

If they really want to get wedding tattoos...use simple rings for the ceremony, get some matchy-matchy tattoos on the last day of their honeymoon. That's what my wife and I did. They are different tattoos but they still match, his-hers (barf!).

Some comments about your design sketches...too much detail, way too intricate for a finger tattoo. Also, they are upside down. Equivalent of getting knuckle rockers, so you can read it, because yknow it is for you. It's still upside down. If your un-tattooed buds insist on "tattoo wedding bands", keep it simple. Like a diamond, hearts, each other's initials or both initials. Or really, a simple fat black line around the finger. A skull on the finger for a wedding is pretty cheesy. A finger sleeve on an untattooed person is a gimmick IMO.

[Scott R]

do your friends a favor do not design the ring. Tell us where they live or will travel and we can get some names of tattooers they should talk to.

[Mr Purple]

Wow, This seems much more unanimous than I was expecting. Especially from a tattoo forum. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I'll pass along the information to my friend.

Does everything you guys have been saying sort of apply for a shoulder tattoo as well, or is most of this aversion because it's a ring? Would you also be against me designing it in that case as well? Do you not think that it would instill more meaning having a good friend work on the tattoo design?

Also, are the simpler designs I posted under the lions just as bad?

Thanks for all the responses.

[Michaelshane]

Yes,just as bad.Dont you know anyone with tattoos?Look at some real tattoos that are a few years old.

[bongsau]

Does everything you guys have been saying sort of apply for a shoulder tattoo as well, or is most of this aversion because it's a ring? Would you also be against me designing it in that case as well? Do you not think that it would instill more meaning having a good friend work on the tattoo design?

hey bud, I think it's really nice your friends really want to include you and have your input into their desired marriage tattoo. If your to-be-married friends really want you to design a tattoo for you to give it obvious meaning, by all means go for it, nobody is going to stop you...but would you have a bicycle hobbyist tell the mechanic how to tune up your sports car? The last thing you want is to design a tattoo with good intentions for D&K, have it turn out poorly and then they laser or cover their marriage tattoo in a few years. That would suck for them and you will feel shitty. We don't want that to happen bud.

I think there is this notion that tattoos have to carry some profound deep meaning to justify a permanent mark on the body. I was that way when I first started. So people tend to overdesign, complicate, and cram too many ideas into a tattoo design to carry some profound meaning of what they are all about. A good tattooer is going to burst your bubble, simplify to one subject (and they won't tattoo your finger unless your a cheesy instagram celebrity or have full arms of worn tattoos).

The meaning in tattoo is the conception of the idea, experience getting it, healing it, and then wearing it until your dead. You could give this marriage tattoo some meaning by helping D&K come up with the general concept idea and pointing them in the direction of a good shop/tattooer.

My wife and I...we got eagle tattoos. Yeah eagles, big deal, every biker, hardcore and hipster kid has an eagle tattoo. Probably 80% of the people on LST do! Sure. Why eagles? It just came up as a joke in one of the best, purest, magical moments we had as newlyweds. And then driving to the City to scope out the tattoo shop we took a random detour and ended up at a bird of prey sanctuary. Where we saw an eagle the size of a German Shepherd, majestically perched. We were mesmerized. And then we learned that eagles find their partner and mate for life. Done. Sold. We had an awesome day in the tattoo shop and a beautiful evening to follow. And her tattoo gets more compliments than mine ;) That is how tattoos hold meaning. It just happens. Life.

Search the "Claddagh". This is the first image that comes to mind when I think marriage symbols. If you google Claddagh tattoo you will find an assortment of terrible tattoos and a few clean ones. Or the Hercules Knot. The nice clean tattoos all have the same thing in common...simplicity. Timeless designs.

If your buds want something super detailed and intricate for their finger, find a jeweller and get rings. A shoulder tattoo can go much bigger and the skin is different (and takes less abuse) than the skin on the finger. The shoulder is a good starting spot for tattoo-virgins. Or maybe the wrist (not upsidedown!). But still, keep it simple and obvious.

And sure, if your DK buds are into skulls, swap the Claddagh heart out for a simple skull. If D & K are into punk... go for the obvious and hand-poke them a Dead Kennedy's logo on your living room coffee table(jokes), give the tattoo meaning and infection!

good luck

[Tornado6]

I think your designs are pretty cool, and a solution that could work is to use a medium that holds better than ink in skin. Have you looked into having them made into rings? I think that would be really neat. Even neater if you could include the couple in casting the rings. You could also have the original art framed for them. There are lots of things you can do with your art that aren't specifically finger tattoos. We just use our fingers a lot, and they don't hold intricate designs as well as other parts of the body would.

Check out some "new vs. old" finger tattoos to see what we mean - they spread and fade quicker than almost any other body part.

[Margarita Yaschenko]

All design on this thread doesn't good for tattoo on fingers. This is good picture but not for tattoo if you want to see a good tattoo on your skin :) I discourage people about tattoos on his fingers. In a few years all of these tattoos look bad ...If you want to make a drawing for two select another place on the skin and, accordingly, a different idea and make a cool tattoo.