A tattoo is something inked on a person's body, it's permanent but removable. Decades ago, the tattoo was seen as a form of rebellious, violence and gangster's staple. People with a tattoo was critically prejudiced and society was hostile towards people with tattoos. However, the time has changed. A tattoo is considered as a form of art rather a sign of violence. People are willing to accept tattoo as body art and it has become a new normal to see someone who has a tattoo.

First, choose your tattoo

There is various type of tattoo designs for you to consider. Such as realistic drawing tattoo, mini tattoo, feminine and others. You could search for tattoo design from Pinterest, Google or Instagram. Tattoo artists usually would have their own social media platform for the customer to view their previous designs. Other than that, you could design your own tattoo. Some people brought their late grandparent writing to be tattooed on their arm. What's next?

Tattoo placement 

Secondly, choose your tattoo placement. Knowing where to place your tattoo is important as it's a permanent decision. Popular placement among people who has a tattoo, it would be on the arm, wrist, collarbone or the fingers. For the first-timer, if you were uncertain about the placement, you could choose inner arm or like the image above the upper back arm. However, on the actual tattoo day, the tattoo artist will print out different sizes of tattoo sticker to test out your placement. So, you could see how your tattoo is gonna look like before they start doing it.

*A great tip here is you could try tattoo sticker or a two weeks tattoo to test out your design and placement. 

But, how do I book an appointment?

Book an appointment

  
Usually, you could reach the tattoo artists by email or any social media platform. You tell them what design you have got in mind or you let the tattoo artist go wild design a tattoo for you. A discussion could happen on the phone or in the email. The necessary information such as price, placement, size of the tattoo, date, etc. Then, after the confirmation of the appointment, you might need to pay a booking fee to secure your appointment. You could request to see your tattoo a day or two before the actual day and adjustment is allowed too.

Tattoo/Artist courtesy or ethic

  
The above image is an example of tattoo permission form from an artist, Frederic Forest. If you wish to use his artwork to be your tattoo, you should purchase tattoo permission from him to honour his artwork. Likewise, do ask for permission from your desire tattoo artist whether he or she is willing to do a tattoo from another tattoo artist. It is extremely rude to just take another tattoo artist's work to another to get it done. Some tattoo artists are fine just cater to your preference but some take their work commitment seriously. So make sure you respect their work ethic. 

Have fun when getting a tattoo!

Image source (without a social media handle): Image 3 | Image 4