The classic mistake is, of course, tattooing yourself with the name of your main squeeze. Go ahead and do it if you feel you must, but imagine finding yourself in a quandary about whether to stay in a relationship and finding that one of the considerations is that you must keep your skin art contemporary. Besides, there are so many other interesting, meaningful designs you can choose that can't take off with all of your NoMeansNo albums.
The most important thing to consider is the permanence of tattoos. You have to choose something which will always be meaningful to you, and that's hard to know. How many things did you think were really cool five years ago but which make you cringe now? You have to think carefully about what sort of image or design has the kind of lasting significance to you that you cannot imagine being erased by time. The tattoo ain't going anywhere unless you put in more money and a few more hours in the chair, and even then it's not going to look perfect (see Step 5: "Get Rid of That Foul Thing").
Styles of tattoos
The basic distinction in tattoos is between "flash" (or stock) tattoos and custom tattoos. Flash tattoos are the ones pictured on the walls, which range from standard old favorites like anchors, hearts, skulls, and dragons to the artist's custom designs that he or she is willing to do for a flat rate. Custom tattoos are designed or requested by you, then worked out with the tattoo artist. You can draw your tattoo yourself, get a friend to draw it, or tell the artist what you want and get him or her to draw it. The artist will have to do some work with it anyway to create an outline, and when he or she is finished adapting your drawing or idea, you should check and make sure it is what you wanted.
There are as many styles of tattoos as there are people ... and body parts. If you want to see a couple, then Tao of Tattoos is for you. (See Resources.)
