Arya

Yes. Yes it is. Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone. :)

I have a few opinions about this topic. Now, mostly for lack of funds, I'm currently what would be so cleverly referred to as a plainskin, so perhaps my opinion does not matter. However, as a visual artist and someone who not only has a keen interest in body art but also has born witness to a number of both excellent and terrible tattoos, I'm going to voice my opinion anyway. I honestly feel that the increasing popularity of bad art has more to do with the notion that having a tattoo somehow makes you a more interesting person. I find that there is a correlation between underdeveloped personalities and uncreative, overdone tattoos. I know too many girls who've overheard their crush saying that he thinks tattoos are hot and soon after show up with some flowers on their ribcage, or birds on their feet, or a cliche word or phrase across their wrist. Their interest is not in the tattoo itself, but in the response that having the tattoo will elicit. Of course, that mentality is not exclusive to the ladies, but you get what I mean. I don't believe that there is anything outright wrong with script, but I do think that it is very easy for those tattoos to go awry. I have seen far more, in my opinion, bad text tattoos than good ones. That being said, I plan to work a quote from my favorite story into my first tattoo. I also plan for the script to stand beautifully as a whole, without having to know what it says. Is that uncreative? Maybe it is, but I'm also getting it to please myself, not to be creative. It is my personal belief that a bad tattoo can often be traced back to the person getting it doing so to please other people. Still, I don't think that genuinely loving your tattoo makes it good either. Nothing makes me more angry than when people say that you can't judge a painting because anything is art. There are measurable elements and principles that must be in play in order to define something as being a work of art. Generally speaking, whether the artist is conscious of them or not, the more these elements and principles are being used, the more pleasing the work is to the eye, and if they aren't present at all, then it is not a work of art. The same goes for tattoos.

Thanks for the feedback. That does make sense. I'm located in North Alabama, not far from Huntsville, but closer to the Florence/Muscle Shoals area.

I think it looks wonderful. The clover may not add to the rest of the work, but it doesn't take away from it either, so if it's sentimental in the least bit I'd say it's definitely a good idea to keep it.

Hello all! I am Arya from the states. When asked as a young girl what I wanted to be when I grew up, my response was always "a tattoo artist." Though that dream has since changed, my love for body art remains intact. I realize that tattoos are for life, and I want to be completely sure about what I choose to get, so I have not yet had any work done. That is, in part, why I decided to join the forum--for inspiration and advice. I do have one tattoo in mind, but it is not exactly conventional, and I haven't quite figured out how to go about it. I'll go ahead and touch on that in the hopes that someone out there has a few words of wisdom. Forewarning: this is going to make for quite an unusual introduction, but here it goes. For my first tattoo, I'm looking to have some scars covered up. They are about ten years old and are the result of a very dark time in my life. These scars run down my left forearm from the crease of my elbow to my wrist. There are about 40 1/2"-1 1/2" straight line scars in all directions (horizontal, vertical, diagonal). Some have faded considerably, while others remain pronounced. It goes without saying that these scars make me extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. They are an irritating reminder of something I've long since moved past, so I would love nothing more than to turn them into something I can be proud of. I'm not a huge fan of flower tattoos, which is mostly what I've been suggested. I'd like to for the main focus to be a quote, "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." Does anyone have an idea of what sort of background I could put behind this quote that could blend naturally with the scars? I can post a picture of the area if necessary. So, like I said, this is an unusual introduction, I'm sure, but I greatly appreciate evryone's time nonetheless. I am looking forward to becoming a contributing member to this community in the future. Cheers!