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Angel Tattoos - How To Find The Perfect Design
photo credit: _-=Dreemreeper=-_
Angel tattoos are one of the most popular designs for both men and women. Part of the reason is the wide
range of styles and designs that can be used to represent these spiritual characters.
Symbolism also plays an important part, as these designs can represent many important values, such as
peace, beauty, spirituality, good verus evil etc.
When women get an angel tattoo it's often an indication that she is calm, patient and places more
emphasis on the health of her soul. She believes that confidence is a more attractive form of beuaty than
any outward physical appearance. The angel tattoo is also a sign that she is a loyal friend who goes
where needed to protects others.
On the other hand, men who get an angel tattoo often want to represent a different set of values and
beliefs. Self styled bad boys often use sexy angel designs to show their masculinity and their sexuality.
In fact many men claim that their angel tattoos have helped them to attract women. Alternatively, angel
tattoos are used by men to pay tribute to a woman who has played a major part in their life or a woman
they have strong feelings for.
However, angel tattoos can be designed to represent many different aspects of life and death. Some of the
most common angel tattoo themes include;
Religious/Spiritual
Angels are seen as the link between Heaven and Earth. The word angel comes from the Greek word for
messenger or "one who is sent" and as such are often shown as God's messengers who are sent to protect
mankind from evil.
The fact that the three biggest branches of religion (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) all make reference
to angels is perhaps part of the reason for the popularity of these designs. Tattoos often depict angels
as delicate, winged sprites hovering over something to provide protection. These guardian angels which
many people believe are send to protect humanity are often shown watching over children.
Love
Angel tattoos often show angelic cherubs who are the messenger of love. The most well known example of
this is Cupid who uses his bow to shoot through the hearts of people, making them fall in love with each
other. These tattoos generally consist of a decorative heart with an arrow through it, often with the
name of a loved one in the center and Cupid the cherub floating above the heart holding his bow.
The Struggle Between Good And Evil
Angels designs are often used to show the constant fight between good and evil. These are depicted in a
number of different ways.
1) The Archangels: These seven angels are the closest to God, the devine messengers that form the link
between Heaven and Earth, humans and God.
The design of Michael (one of the most well known archangels) is shown wearing body armor and holding a
sword with his wings open ready to lead the Archangels against Lucifer (also an archangel who has gone
over to the dark side).
2) Fallen Angels: These represent the battle between God and Lucifer. These designs often show angels
with torn wings or horns or both. Alternatively, they depict a brooding looking angel with a broken or
bloddy sword in their hand. The feeling of darkness is often achieved by the use of darker colors and
heavier inks.
3) Angel/Devil: Designs that incorporate both an angel and the devil are one of the clearest
representations of the fight between light and dark. This contrast between good and evil gives the tattoo
artist a wide scope for creativity. They can have the tone of the design leaning towards the dark side,
the light side or equally balanced between them.
If your tattoo artist is good enough, it may be possible to achieve a design that can resemble both good
and bad depending upon your own personal interpretation or mood at any particular time.
Ultimately, only the owner of an angel tattoo truly knows what it represents to him or her, so make sure
that you take time to choose a design that you're happy with.
Butterfly Tattoos - How To Find The Perfect Design
photo credit: miss_rogue_Butterfly tattoos are growing in popularity all the time and are one of the designs most commonly requested by women. And it's not surprising. Butterflies are beautiful to look at and these designs carry a rich symbolism due to the short yet amazing life of these creatures. And due to the vast range of colors and species available, there's no reason why your tattoo shouldn't be absolutely unique to you.
There are almost 25,000 different types of butterfly and they range in size from an eighth of an inch across to a massive twelve inches in diameter. And then of course there's the color to consider. Many butterflies display the most beautiful range of bright and vibrant colors imaginable.
There are four main stages in the life of this amazing creature. They begin life as an egg, which turns into a caterpillar. At this stage (the pupa stage) they make a chrysalis or cocoon from which they emerge as an adult butterfly.
It's this transformation from an unspectacular caterpillar into a graceful and glorious butterfly that inspired the mythical Greek character called Psych who had the wings of a butterfly. Psych is the Greek word for both butterfly and the soul, hence the deep symbolic meaning of the butterfly tattoo. Many ancient people believed that the amazing transformation of the butterfly was similar to the soul's journey from an earthly body to a spiritual body.
However, despite this long chain of transformations, the final part of their lifespan (as an adult butterfly once it emerges from the pupa state) lasts only two weeks. This brief yet colorful contribution to life has been taken to represent the fragile nature of human life. Perhaps that's part of the appeal of butterfly tattoos.
But due to the vast number of choices available it can be incredibly difficult to find the right butterfly tattoo design. It's often said that finding the right design is as much an art in itself as the actual creation of the tattoo. So here are a few things to bear in mind when searching for your butterfly tattoo.
1) Start by working out why you want this tattoo. What do you want it to represent? This knowledge will help to influence and shape the look of the tattoo when it comes to selecting a final design.
2) Work out what type of butterfly design you want. What type of butterfly? What colors? What size? What style? Where will it be located on your body? Once you have a rough idea of what you want, you'll find it much easier to narrow down your options.
3) Start looking through tattoo designs and pick out a few that you like best. At this stage you don't have to like the whole design. Just take a note of all the designs that contain an element or a style that you like. These ideas will all contribute to settling on the final tattoo design. The internet is a great tool to help find tattoo designs. It allows you to look at a large number of designs and pictures of completed tattoos in a short space of time. This will help you to narrow down that sort of thing that you want. You may even be able to find a reputable tattoo artist if you don't already have one.
4) If you can't find a design that's exactly what you want, try sketching a picture of the type of design that you want. And if your artwork isn't that good, do your best and then get an artist or an artistic friend to draw what you describe. These drawings will be useful later on, because even if you find a design that you like, you can use your own drawings to add your own unique touch to the final design.
And finally, don't proceed with your butterfly tattoo until you're absolutely 100% sure that you've found the right design, because it's going to be with you for a long time.
Chinese Tattoos - How To Get The Perfect Design
Chinese tattoos are a beautiful and mysterious form of self expression, especially if they include the Chinese writing symbols. So if you're planning to get one of these tattoos, here's how to get the perfect design.
Number 1: Get Your Chinese Character Tattoo Right The First Time
Chinese symbol tattoos are one of the designs that are most likely to go wrong. Mistranslations, poor designs and bad alignment can all render your new design meaningless.
Sure, you can get them removed, but at present it's a painful and costly process that isn't guaranteed to be 100% successful.
So take your time, get professional advice and make sure you get a good quality, authentic design that you're happy with before you go under the needle. Don't end up looking like the victim of a cruel practical joke.
Number 2: Don't Use Kanji Designs From Tattoo Studios
Many tattoo studios provide a variety of pre designed Kanji symbols that you can have tattooed onto your body. These are cheap and quick, but suffer from a number of major disadvantages.
First, many of them have been poorly translated, so you may end up with a design that means something different to what you expected. Second, many of these standard designs have been drawn incorrectly, which destroys their meaning.
So instead of going into your local tattoo studio and picking a design off the wall or from a folder, do your own research. Decide the words that you want to appear in your Chinese tattoo, get them professionally translated and then get a custom design created to your order.
Number 3: Get Advice From A Chinese Person
This is absolutely vital. Chinese writing is extremely complex and can often be used to give one word in several different meanings. So make sure you speak to a Chinese person who can verify that you have the right symbols to match your intended meaning. If possible, make sure that they have experience of Chinese symbol tattoos.
Number 4: Select Your Words Carefully
When you get a new tattoo, it's important to assume that it will be with you for the rest of your life. So before you decide to get a Chinese symbol tattoo think long term and try to select wide over-arching ideas that express who you are and what you stand for.
For example, timeless ideas such as freedom, love and hope are always good choices.
And whatever you do, avoid fashionable words as they have a nasty habit of falling out of fashion within a short space of time. The aim is to select a design that you'll be as happy with in twenty years time as you are today.
Number 5: Select Your Artist Carefully
A tattoo that solely consists of Chinese characters can look rather plain unless the writing is completed with a certain amount of style and flair.
Even worse, it's easy for non Chinese artists to unintentionally deface the delicate Chinese symbols. Chinese calligraphy is very precise. The strokes have to be a certain shape and be aligned properly, otherwise the meaning of the design can be lost
So it's vital to select a tattoo artist who is experienced in producing Chinese calligraphy.
Finally, if you want your Chinese tattoo to have even more impact, consider adding a small picture to your Chinese symbols.
The Chinese dragon is popular with men, while the Chinese phoenix is a favorite with many women. Both of these mythical creatures represent power and luck and will make a wonderful addition to your perfect Chinese tattoo.