There are many ways that have been used for years to help people get “The Perfect Tattoo” Because tattoos are permanent (or nearly so), getting one can be intimidating. People often get the following recommendations about how to select what tattoo design to get and where to put it:
Put the design on your refrigerator for a year. If you still want it after that long, go for it!
Imagine what you will look like when you are eighty and have that tattoo design.
Place the tattoo in a place that is not affected by age-related sagging or weight gain.
Do not get the tattoo on your stomach if you are going to have kids.
Stop thinking so much. If you want a tattoo, go get it! Life is short.
Carry the design around with you for a year. If you still want it after all that time and think about it when you see yourself in the mirror, then get it.
The list goes on and on!
In general, the “surefire” ways of choosing the perfect tattoo for you are far less than surefire. After all, you may think, who will really be looking at your ankle when you are eighty? Shouldn't you just enjoy it for the next 60 years and then worry about how your ankle tattoo looks when you are eighty? Similar arguments can be made about the sagging and weight gain issue, although since many women have children relatively young, belly button tattoos should be considered very carefully since you might have to live with their altered versions for years and when these types of tattoos stretch, they often create an odd look that prevents many women from baring their otherwise impeccable stomach area in bikinis. Finally, the idea of carrying a tattoo design around with you or placing it where it can be viewed on a daily and repetitive basis may seem like the answer, but there are several factors that most people do not consider:
Looking at the tattoo design that you do not yet have will only make you focus on how much you want it, thereby possibly preventing you from viewing things objectively and ultimately leading you to get a tattoo design that you do not really like all that much.
Looking at a tattoo design on a piece of paper tells you nothing about how it will look on your body and with your skin tone.
You probably will not make it a year. Most people only take a few weeks (maximum) to decide to get a tattoo, decide what tattoo design to get and then go get the tattoo. Waiting a year is not only tedious, but it is impractical. After all, you want to get the tattoo so that you can enjoy it, not so that you can admire it on the wall.
However, there is still one more hurdle to cross. Imagine that you have picked out the tattoo design of your dreams. You take it to a tattoo artist, who inks it on your skin. However, every artist has a certain style, and your beautiful, delicate and flowery unicorn tattoo ends up looking a little more muscular and tough than you had hoped. You are heartbroken, but it is there to stay, so you try to make the best of it. After all, no one can perfectly replicate a tattoo design unless they drew it, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. If you had taken a tattoo stencil, which can be transferred directly onto your skin to provide a line by line guide for the artist, and the stencils corresponding color guide, which tells the artist what color to place where, you could have had your perfect tattoo in perfect order. A tattoo stencil is the final step in the perfect tattoo process, and it is the key to actually getting your perfect tattoo in ink on your skin. You will spend a lot of time, thought and energy selecting the tattoo that is perfect for you. Be sure that your tattoo is perfect on you as well by taking a tattoo stencil and color guide with you when you go to get tattooed.
