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Huntn

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May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
Apologies: Based on comments, to clarify, these for the most part are not example of the bad or ugly tattoos I was referencing, see post 7 for that. However, most I would not choose to wear. :)
—————————————

I seem to be exposed to ugly tattoos every day, it’s kind of like the necklaces for men thread (not critiquing that thread :p), but in this case for most intents and purposes these are permanent adornments.

First off, in most cases they don’t make you alluring, if you are dumpy, the tattoo just serves to exaggerate your dumpiness. You have to be considered attractive to start with, for a tattoo to be positive, and even then it can backfire on you with poor choices. ;)

Secondly what kind of tastes do people have? Mostly bad. Some of least sppealing are ankle tattoos. The worst examples are cheap tattoos and/or a mishmash of unrelated images and styles all shoved together in an incoherent mess. There are some attractive tattoos, but most turn me off. All images from online search. I like clean coherent designs such as:

9DC0DEAC-C264-44E5-9C7B-503F88E40099.jpeg
But would never choose this for myself, not even when I was young and buff. :) The images below are quality, but don’t appeal to me, and they don’t generally fall in the realm of ugly, which I reserve for cheap, poorly designed icons.

So what are your tattoo preferences and/or examples? What you got? However, if you upload a personal tattoo, brace yourself for critique, so be warned. :)

Hopefully this is not a repeat thread, but I searched and could not find one, even though I seem to remember talking about tattoos here. :oops:




E78D1666-3FB5-4206-8309-33A5B6042942.jpeg
Sleeve, too much for me, to dark, too negative.

FFADC733-0D95-45A2-AF60-023CC1F84478.jpeg
Clean- yes.
Design a bit intense, and location, I have to think about it. :)

4A6D5EE6-73FB-470F-8CBC-79E7DD2BFDB1.jpeg
Impressive image, but no.

AE7DF87F-9BD4-43EA-A482-7AC95F5D9AE6.jpeg
Taste? No (personal opinion)

 
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Mefisto

macrumors 65816
Mar 9, 2015
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Finland
I know a few tattoo artists, as well as many enthusiasts ranging from having just a couple of small ones to a couple of guys who are practically inked all over. I myself have no tattoos as of yet. Maybe I never will.

I see it as an art form. Knowing how much work, and skill it takes to do f. ex. (good) photorealistic tattoos I have nothing but respect to the artists. I really have no opinions one way or the other on people who decide to get tattooed, but there's something to be said for the whole operation being a ritual of sorts, that can, in some cases, have deep meaning for the person getting the tattoo. I'm all for people expressing themselves in a manner they (and lawmakers) deem fitting, so if ink is your thing, rock on.
 
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JagdTiger

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2017
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I'm not a fan of tattoos.

I think they fade away and don’t look as good when people age, it may contain a toxin of sorts and tattoos in history (Rome) used it as a branding, plus it is plausible that a inked design will be to felicitate or be used as a purchasing emblem in the one world religion/new world order/mark of the beast system.

16And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17so that no one could buy orsell unless he had the mark — the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is six hundred sixty-six.…
 
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maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
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I seem to be exposed to ugly tattoos every day
Tbh, except for the first and last images in your OP, I like most of what you posted.

To me its artwork just on the skin, and like any art there can be good art, bad art and art that doesn't appeal to you. Of course its not as simple as that, there are some body locations that will almost always generate negativity in most people, i.e., face tattoos are called job killers because you just destroyed your chances of working in many industries.

I would like to get one, but so far I never pulled the trigger.
 

maflynn

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May 3, 2009
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I think they fade away and don’t look as good when people age
The issue is that the ink being injected is a foreign substance and your body fights that. The white blood cells attack the ink as soon as its injected. Given the location and makeup of the ink, it takes years but the once crisp lines start turning fuzzy. That's why you may see an old sailer his tattoos are fuzzy
 
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Huntn

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May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
Tbh, except for the first and last images in your OP, I like most of what you posted.

To me its artwork just on the skin, and like any art there can be good art, bad art and art that doesn't appeal to you. Of course its not as simple as that, there are some body locations that will almost always generate negativity in most people, i.e., face tattoos are called job killers because you just destroyed your chances of working in many industries.

I would like to get one, but so far I never pulled the trigger.

What prompted me to start this thread are the type examples in post #7. :)
 

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
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Bad tattoos, I hear you say? Feast your eyes on this puppy.
 

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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
I


I think they fade away and don’t look as good when people age, it may contain a toxin of sorts and tattoos in history (Rome) used it as a branding, plus it is plausible that a inked design will be to felicitate the coming one world religion/new world order/mark of the beast system

:p Lol, to the last part.

As far as the first part, what convinced me never to get a tattoo was seeing a grizzled old sailer in the Philippines covered in tattoos when I was 30. Tattoos DO NOT AGE WELL. :D
[doublepost=1529937836][/doublepost]
Bad tattoos, I hear you say? Feast your eyes on this puppy.
Impressive art work, but I would not choose as a tattoo. :)
 

MacDawg

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Mar 20, 2004
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"Between the Hedges"

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
Yeah, those are the extreme examples of really bad tattoos, but by the same token there are some downright works of art that the imagry is mindblowing. While you started this thread asking how we feel about tattoos, it seems you want to just highlight the ugly side
Not my intent. My intent was to clarify that most of what I see is ugly. The Examples in post #1 do not qualify, but mostly do not appeal to me. I’ll clarify post 1, and I welcome examples of beautiful tattoos while acknowledging that a lot of this is personal preference.
[doublepost=1529937997][/doublepost]
So, based on your clarifications, maybe we change the thread title from "How do you feel about tattoos?" to "Hey, lets post pics of bad tattoos and take a **** on anybody who has one"
No need to be hostile. Post one are not examples of bad tattoos. I should have spent more time delineating between what I don't care for as compared to what is clearly bad and ugly. I clarified my intent in the OP. In the realm of tattoos, my spectrum of what I like is narrow.

Now you can be kind enough to critique specific comments I made associated with specific pictures, as far as being unfair.
 
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JagdTiger

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2017
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:p Lol, to the last part.

As far as the first part, what convinced me never to get a tattoo was seeing a grizzled old sailer in the Philippines covered in tattoos when I was 30. Tattoos DO NOT AGE WELL. :D
[doublepost=1529937836][/doublepost]
Impressive art work, but I would not choose as a tattoo. :)
Especially on woman it seems.
 

Mefisto

macrumors 65816
Mar 9, 2015
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Finland
Tattoos DO NOT AGE WELL. :D

There's a case to be made for the human body, tattoos or not, not aging very well. We all get wrinkly and hairy anyway, some ink will not really matter one way or the other.

But on a more serious note, aging of the tattoo depends very much on the artist, and the person getting the tattoo. Many artists also offer touch ups (free or reduced price) if there's excessive fading along the way.
 

Krayzkat

Suspended
Apr 22, 2011
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Tattoos can look nice depending on the circumstances. Some tattoos are so detailed they can look like a photograph, but a lot of tattoos just look cr*p.

In the last 15/20 years, young people have been rushing to get as many tattoos as possible, and i think it's become a sad pathetic 'hipster' trend. I know young people what soon as they turned 18 went out to get their 'sleeves' done. Before the hipsters came along, if you had tattooed sleeves, they were normally built up over the years from many different tattoos that formed together.

I could never understood why some people get those boring tribal tattoos done over their upper arms and shoulders. They people that get them have absolutely no connection to any Maori's or other Australasian aborigine people. Most of the people i knew who got these hadn't been further south than Benidorm. I think it's mainly because it's thoughtless and easy to cover a large area of the upper body in the design without any care.

I blame the glossy magazines (and todays equivalent). They make young guys think that woman want men covered in sh*tty tattoos, and make young girls think that men want women fake fake tits, ass, lips etc.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,545
26,660
The Misty Mountains
Tattoos can look nice depending on the circumstances. Some tattoos are so detailed they can look like a photograph, but a lot of tattoos just look cr*p.

In the last 15/20 years, young people have been rushing to get as many tattoos as possible, and i think it's become a sad pathetic 'hipster' trend. I know young people what soon as they turned 18 went out to get their 'sleeves' done. Before the hipsters came along, if you had tattooed sleeves, they were normally built up over the years from many different tattoos that formed together.

I could never understood why some people get those boring tribal tattoos done over their upper arms and shoulders. They people that get them have absolutely no connection to any Maori's or other Australasian aborigine people. Most of the people i knew who got these hadn't been further south than Benidorm. I think it's mainly because it's thoughtless and easy to cover a large area of the upper body in the design without any care.

I blame the glossy magazines (and todays equivalent). They make young guys think that woman want men covered in sh*tty tattoos, and make young girls think that men want women fake fake tits, ass, lips etc.
For myself, when I was in Tattoo consideration mode, I was worried what would happened if and when I changed my mind. That was before the days of laser removal, which I understand is still painful, but better that a grinding wheel. :eek: Today it seems like in many cases, just slapping an image on yourself without much thought is the trend. And the killer is poor design, poor talent, or,going cheap.
[doublepost=1529939590][/doublepost]
I'm a huge fan of arm tattoos like this
arm-tattoo-43.jpg
Thanks for the input. Besides bitching about the tattoos I don't like, I was hoping to see some examples of what other people do like. :) As a rule sleeves are too much for me.
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
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Vilano Beach, FL
Like any art form, design, especially one that modifies something from the norm, it's easy to go wrong.

A tattoo is a pretty serious commitment, so understand how it might impact your life. Regardless of what we may think about, it could have some impact on things like your profession. Fortunately, if you're a fan of tattoos, there are plenty of options where it's not a problem.

You need a good concept, an artist with a good rep, a decent sized portfolio, and to really think about the what (abstract, tribal, something with meaning to you, something playful), and the where (does it only show with a shirt off? Is it visible even with a suit?)

I do like tattoos, so does my wife, most of my friends have them, some small, little monochrome to full color sleeves. I'll leave it up to your imagination if we have any (and/or if we're getting more ... you know the saying: "One is too many, two is not enough" :D)
 
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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,832
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My wife has three tatoos. But she was specific about what she wanted and where she wanted them.

Her first two are on the inside of her wrists. The rationale being that this is one area that won't see a lot of stretching over time.

I've always wanted one very specific tatto on the back of my neck, but I've never gone after that for two reasons.

I was there when my wife got the first tatoo and it brought tears to her eyes. My wife is pretty strong (two kids, born naturally, no drugs) so anything that can bring her to tears is WAY too painful for me.

Secondly, I have Psoriasis. The LAST thing I want to do is pay a lot of money and have this done only to find out I have a brand new Psoriasis patch right over the tatoo because of the Koebner Phenomenon

Instead…I have subsituted earrings as my thing. Eight in both so far and still going.
 
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