Considering the colors, the images and the flourishes that show up in much body art, it is no surprise that you might want to make my own tattoo. Just as the design of new sports car might cause you to reach for a sculptor’s tools and a mass of clay, the shapes and colors of tattoos might well make you want to grab a pencil and sketch pad.
While it takes a certain level of artwork skill, learning how to make my own tattoo is not a difficult process. If you know what you want, you are a step ahead. If not, you can view online images in galleries of tattoo art for inspiration. Rather than copy another person’s work, use it as a starting point then take pencil and paper to create an image, starting with a shape. Make an outline then back fill by shading, or adding small marks to create detail. All artwork, whether a pirate’s head, a dragon’s body or a rose, starts this way then progresses.
Do not be discouraged by false starts. Keep sketching until you are satisfied. Overlay your sketch with tracing paper, trace your design and lay it on the spot of your body where you want the tattoo to be. This will show you how it fits. The hardest part of creation if you want to make my own tattoo is complete but the finishing touches are no less important. You should make the acquaintance of a tattoo artist who can act as mentor. Take your artwork, including the pieces you have rejected, to him or her to be critiqued. This pro can make helpful suggestions about detail, white space, shading and color that will improve your efforts. Ultimately this person is likely to be the same person who will do the needle work.
When you have your artwork finalized, use a fine tipped artist’s pen filled with stencil ink and make a fairly heavy tracing on the backside of the paper. Then shave the area where the tattoo wil be located, rub it down with a stick of underarm deodorant, place the artwork and hold it firmly, rubbing it for a few minutes. This should transfer the artwork to your body. At this point, the skin is ready to be needled. However, you may want to wait for a while. Show it to your spouse or significant other. You could in fact use iodine, fresh squeezed blueberry juice or liquid shoe polish to make a temporary tattoo. The temp will give a strong impression of how the finished product will look. After a few days, the temporary tattoo can be washed off.
If you are satisfied with the end product of your efforts to make my own tattoo and want to make it permanent, it is now time to return to your mentor’s tattoo parlor. If you are confident that he or she has the proper approach to cleanliness and customer safety, have the final work done. Then for the rest of your life you will have proof that you have what it takes to make my own tattoo.
