As tattoos have evolved through thousands of years, from the Stone Age through ancient Egypt to modern times, the pictures of tattoos have become as diverse as the people who wear them. But as anyone involved with tattoo art can confirm, the process of choosing the right tattoo design for you is neither quick nor easy. After all, the tattoo will reflect some part of your personality, so you’d want to give a lot of thought to the message it will convey to the intended viewers of your body art.

After the wish for a tattoo forms in your mind, the next step is to settle on a design. Right? Well, easier said than done. There are so many different styles of tattoo art, it helps your research if you decide on the general preference. Do you want to do something traditional, tribal, mythical, funny, playful, sexy, Asian, abstract? It also helps if you visualize yourself wearing the particular tattoo, and choose something that will complement and enhance your physical attributes.

Rather than just going down to the nearest tattoo studio and picking some generic image off the wall, you will probably look at a thousand pictures of tattoos and tattoo designs before narrowing down your choice. Even if you will eventually get a custom designed tattoo, the best source of inspiration comes from looking at as many tattoo pictures and design ideas as you possibly can.

photo credit: eyeliam

The first ideas may have come from looking at other people’s tattoos Or stopping by a tattoo studio and leafing through the tattoo artists portfolio. You could spend a lot of time this way and still be no step closer to finding the perfect tattoo design for YOU. So the obvious place to get literally thousands of tattoo pictures is from the comfort of your home, browsing the web. But even here you can spend countless hours getting lost in the jungle of uninspired galleries of low-quality tattoo pictures and cheap flash images

What to look for in a Tattoo Gallery Site

The single best resources for pictures of tattoos, photos as well as professional design ideas, are usually found in membership sites. The best ones will not just present you with thousands of designs – that’s a given. They will also have to be organized by different categories to actually cut down on wading through the stuff that doesn’t interest you. The better sites also offer tattoo photo or video galleries where members show off their tats. A Forum where members and artists can connect, get answers or feedback should be on your checklist too. And since so much depends on the tattoo artist who will be working on your ink, a great membership site like Tattoo Me Now will have a directory of local and international tattoo studios, where members can rate, review and comment on the service they received.

A tattoo is permanent. Don’t be afraid to invest in the research to get the tattoo of your dreams!

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photo credit: Shannon Archuleta	An interesting version of a cross made up of script, it’s very personal with names of family members or other people near and dear to the wearer.
photo credit: Shannon Archuleta	I guess this nurse tattoo features a medical cross, as in Red Cross. This is a very unique tattoo I must say.
photo credit: Justin Ruckman	This tattoo cross has some color accents and is sported by someone apparently fond of Japanese swords.
photo credit: Breathe Culture	A sweet lower back tribal tattoo with a cross in the middle. Nice photograph, too.

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Tattoos in modern Japan: Irezumi

At the beginning of the Meiji period the Japanese government, wanting to protect its image and make a good impression on the West, outlawed tattoos, and irezumi took on connotations of criminality. Nevertheless, fascinated foreigners went to Japan seeking the skills of tattoo artists, and traditional tattooing continued underground.

Tattooing was legalized by the occupation forces in 1945, but has retained its image of criminality. For many years, traditional Japanese tattoos were associated with the yakuza, Japan’s notorious mafia, and many businesses in Japan (such as public baths, fitness centers and hot springs) still ban customers with tattoos.

Tattooing and other forms of body decoration and body modification, as in much of the western world, are gaining in popularity in Japan. However, Japanese young people who choose to get tattooed are most often choosing “one point” designs — small designs that can be completed in one sitting — usually in the American or tribal styles. More recently, however sanskrit Siddham script tattoos are becoming more and more fashionable.

Traditional irezumi is still done by specialist tattooists, but it is painful, time-consuming and expensive: a typical traditional body suit tattoo (covering the arms, back, upper legs and chest, but leaving an untattooed space down the center of the body) can take one to five years of weekly visits to complete and cost in excess of US$30,000.

From Wikipedia

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Photo credit: amfdesigner

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This video gives an introduction to the origins of Horimono or Irezumi, the Japanese art of tattoos and tattooing. Keep in mind that it takes years of painful weekly sessions to complete a full body suit and costs up to $30,000 or more!

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