Think About Your Art

Most of us put a lot of thought into what our tattoo is going to be. After all, it's going to be there forever. The commitment of a tattoo makes some people more anxious than marriage. A wife and kids are one thing, but a tattoo? That's permanent!

Some tattoos don't require a lot of thought but are equally important, such as memorial tattoos or those that display patriotism. Your Grandpa and the American Flag are certainly two things that will always be important to you. And no matter how many years pass, that Van Halen tat your buddy did in his garage might be a regret but Old Glory is still what we pledge allegiance to.

And I'm certainly not here to argue that all tattoos must have meaning. They don't. Sometimes they can be just plain pretty, cool or kick ass.

But there are those tattoos that, in my opinion, are thoughtless. Useless. Unfathomably pointless. And at the risk of sounding closed minded and snobby: stupid. I am certainly not saying that these tattoos don't require talent to apply and, in some cases, might actually be very important to the collector. But by majority these tattoos are fad, not fashion. Like Taz. I have been in more than one tattoo shop that has a sign on display as soon as you walk in, reading: NO TAZ! Apparently they had done one too many Tazmanian Devils.

Here are my big 3.

TRIBAL. As many people that have tribal there are just as many people who want tribal. In the mid 90's tattoo shops were getting richer by the minute. Tribal had been around long before that of course. But a wave of surfers and skaters hit the beaches of So Cal sporting these black, squiggly, pointy lines on their arms and the next thing you know half of the people you saw on MTV, the NBA and NFL had black squiggly lines too. I still get younger guys coming into the shop asking for a piece of tribal "like so and so has". Tribal is played. It's for kids who want to show off a tattoo, not acquire a piece of art. Stop with the tribal. It's done for.

OLD ENGLISH. STOP! Enough with the Old English, already. I know it's good enough for your favorite rap star and the cover of that one Sublime CD, but come on. There are so many beautiful fonts out there. I must get requests for Old English font a dozen times a month, only half of those am I able to convince that something more original would be more appropriate. Is Old English really the font that best suits your infant daughter or dead grandmother? And speaking of loved ones, you don't have to get their name to show their worth. If you passed grandmother made the best apple pie in the world then I can put together a totally rad apple pie tattoo. It's time to put away the names and played fonts and start thinking art. Tattooing is a form of visual communication. It doesn't have to be a fact sheet. And speaking of words...

YOUR OWN NAME. I am so sick of this request. Unless you plan on being far from home with no identification and the definite possibility of having a stroke, getting amnesia or going into a coma, why is this tattoo necessary? There are so many other ways to display pride in family and self. The flag of your heritage, a family crest or even the names translation or meaning. Perhaps a picture of the house you grew up in would be more sentimental. Do you play guitar? Put your favorite axe in a tat. Do you love animals? There's a lot of wildlife in the world that could make some fine ink. But c'mon. As long as you have a drivers license or library card, do you really need "Smith" on your back or forearm?

I'm sure you can think of many more examples yourself. And the perfect marriage might be harder to find than the perfect tattoo. But when getting a tattoo, asking yourself the "Is this Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now?" question would probably be a good place to start.