Anyone have music tattoos? I’ve seen some cool ones doing a search, but does anyone have any tattoos with the musical notes from an actual song? I’m planning on doing this next, but so far I’ve been getting mixed reactions, from “Wow that’s a great idea!” to “That sounds terrible, you’ll end up hating it.” I just wanted to hear some opinions.
The general idea is to take the notes to the opening riff of the song, along with the musical bars, and tattoo them winding up my left arm, and then at my shoulder, the musical bar would transform into a wire that would go to a pair of headphones (my main, money sucking hobby). I’m not going to tattoo the actual name of the band or the name of the song or lyrics or anything like that, so it’s not obvious exactly what the tattoo represents to anyone but me.
Also, I kind of want to add some other things to this tattoo, but I’m not sure what. Would it be a bad idea to give the artist my ideas for the tattoo and allow him to have freedom over the rest of it to have his own input?
I got my first tattoo about 1.5 months ago and I’m definitely hooked. Didn’t hurt anywhere as much as I thought it would, and the shop that I went to was very laid back and cool. I really want another and can’t stop thinking about this one.v
Thanks!
I was going to do that but im not mean haha
I agree with Jen. How about music notes with a wing.
Thanks, I actually looked that up on Google as well, but didn’t find any pictures that really matched what I’m thinking of, which is good, I guess.
JENerationX, I agree that it could look like shit depending on how it’s done. I also agree that the bars themself would look kind of boring, so I’m looking for some input for other things to add to help set it off. Could the artist also help me with that? For my first tattoo, I just walked in with a picture of what I wanted and that’s exactly what I got. For this second one, I’d like to have more artist input so they can really surprise me with what they come up with.
Wardy, nice tattoo. I like it.:)
Yep, your artist should definitely be able to help you.
Until a few months ago, I had a dancing bear on my ankle… something I picked off the wall 20 years ago. I now have a finished piece and one in progress (which will cover the old one). I went in knowing what I wanted but no clear idea on how to bring it all together. I sent the artist a few pics of tattoos in styles I liked and a description of what I was looking for. Something like… “I like the placement on this one, and the way the tail is swooping towards the ankle”… “here’s something semi-realism but with an outline, and I like this one because it’s mostly black and gray with a touch of color”…. There’s no way in hell I was going to find a picture of a mynah bird (and there a several varieties but I wanted a specific one) with a phoenix tail (but done as more realistic peacock feathers). I had a hard enough time finding GOOD pics of the bird let alone tattoos of the bird.
If your tattoo artist can’t take a few words and a style and turn it into a decent piece, they have no business touching you with a needle.
Go in with the idea of the bars of the song, and the possibility of headphones, etc. etc. maybe something that would represent the song you want or what the song means to you…. and then do what ANY creative type LOVES…. ask for their opinion and ideas and work through all the possibilities with them. When I’m working with graphic design, I love when a client gives me a few ideas of theres and then lets me get creative rather than hand me a picture and say “here’s what I want”.
Awesome, thank you! That helps clear up what I should take to the artist. I just have a final question though: How did you know that you wouldn’t end up hating what the artist designed? For me, I like to mull over different designs for quite a while before deciding to get it tattoo’ed, just to make sure I will be happy with it for the rest of my life. I just don’t want the artist to spend their time designing something that I’ll end up not liking after a while. I guess I’m just very conservative and like to take my time with tattoos.
Thanks for the help though. I’m very curious to see what the artist can do. I just need to get the OK from my parents now (being young sucks…).
I actually didn’t see a design before the tattoo itself. There was no drawing, no stencil etc. There was a open discussion about my thoughts and what was important for me and what I was flexible on… a stencil of the bird’s head to keep the face proportions correct, a lot of red sharpie sketching on my skin, and then the needle came out.
Focus on the artist…. find some good artists you can get to.. then find one whose portfolio you consistently like… then go in and discuss your ideas. I know my artist was on the same page from the conversation we had prior, so I was able to sit back and trust that he’d do something I’d be happy with. Worry less about an exact drawing at this point, and more about the right artist. The right artist will have ideas that will make your ideas better, and if they do beautiful work….. you won’t worry so much that you’re not going to like it later.
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