Getting the idea for tattooing work is a long and arduous process. Aside from the drunken and hilarious spontaneous tattoo that people do on a whim because they had too many tequila shots, thinking up the ideas for a tattoo are generally a long process, with some that start and finish years later.
So what kind of tattooing work is good for you? What are the reasons? Do you want it to be born of a memorable time in life? Perhaps you want to something to remind you of a lost loved one everyday. Is there a special event you want to always remember like the day a newborn child was born? These are all very deep and innate reasons for a tattoo. For the expressive side, Some people choose a tattoo because they want to express a certain part of their personality, like sexuality. Something that will make yourself stand out from the crowd. Something that will make the world go wow, that is an interesting piece of art, I would like to know more about it. Whatever your inclination is, you should know more about the tattoo art itself.
The two main types of tattoo art, custom and flash. When you walk into a tattoo shop and see those racks of pictures on the wall, those are called flash art. Tattooists draw these images and sell or trade them with other shops. These flash designs are made to allow for mass production and maximizing of profits for tattoo shops. Most of these pieces will have line drawings which will allow the tattoo artist to do the work fairly quickly. Many of these flash designs can be found all over the internet. Some people may take the inspiration of these tattoo flash designs and then incorporate them into their own custom tattoo. Some tattoo artists shun away from such mass produced designs and encourage custom work. It is argued that these cookie cutter designs detract from the personal and artistic aspects of tattooing.
The other type is custom art and it is usually more time consuming and costs more than the simple everyday flash art. For this, you will work with your tattoo artist to dig in your mind what kind of work you are looking for. Your tattoo artist’s job is to design for you what you tell him or her verbally. Most artists will require a deposit to begin consultation for such time consuming work. You will need to discuss where to put the tattoo, take measurements and begin preliminary sketches. Having good reference material is very helpful or if you trust the artist enough, just let him or her design it out of scratch for you. Custom work is a long process and can take as short as a few days to a few weeks to complete.
There are a lot of people that enjoy the experience of custom work. They feel that they share a part of themselves with the tattoo artist and for some they may even have talked about a very personal matter that they’ve kept buried for a long time. In a way, a tattoo artist is a councilor, through imagery and the clients imagination, they help the customer express themselves in art. For some people that want something quick and easy, flash art may be the right thing for them. There is always a possibility that a person walks into a shop and sees the tattoo flash design of their dreams on the racks. Whichever route you take, ensure that you are comfortable and will be happy with your decision for the rest of your life. Tattoo’s generally stay with you for a lifetime so choose well!