Tattoo U

  

  

  

Looking for a tribal tattoo design? Are you someone who doesn’t want to spend hours in a tattoo parlour searching through their design books? Then you are in luck, now there is a wealth of tribal tattoo galleries online that you can utilize instead.

These sites allow you ample time to go through the various designs they have available all in the comfort of your own home. Then when you have found a tattoo design you like you just print it off and take it to your local tattoo parlour to have it applied to your skin.

But you need to be careful when it comes to which of the many tribal tattoo galleries you should be using. Below we offer some tips that you will find helpful in selecting the right gallery to get a design from.

Tip 1 - Never use free sites as these simply contain hundred if not thousands of generic tattoos which may look great on the screen or paper when printed out, but when applied to the skin don’t. If you want a great and unique looking tribal tattoo then it is important you select galleries where you may have to pay a fee to purchase the design to download it in order to print a copy of it off.

Tip 2 - Look for those tribal tattoo galleries they offer more than these sorts of designs. Instead go for those that offer you every possible design you can think off from tribal to Egyptian to Celtic. Not only may you find a design that you like but it may be one that is suitable to be converted into a great looking tattoo on your body as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch the latest tattoo reality show, you will want to tune in to the Discovery Channel and check out Tattoo Hunter. It’s actually a documentary-style show in which the “host,” tattoo anthropologist Lars Krutak, visits some of the most remote parts of the world, seeking tattoos from members of the few remaining authentic tribes.

Lars has actually been a technical adviser for Vanishing Tattoo, the renowned online tattoo museum that centers around the search for the “last authentic tattoos.” Now Lars attempts to integrate himself as an honorary member of the ancient tribes he visits, thus earning him the right to also receive a tattoo that is typically reserved for its own.

What I like best about the show is that Lars isn’t one of those typical anthropologists who seem to be prepared for and unsurprised by anything that they encounter while exploring unfamiliar people and territory. He willingly participates in all of the rituals and shows the utmost respect toward the people he is visiting, but he isn’t afraid to grimace while eating grubs or look “foolish” by losing valiantly in the games played among the tribal men. In the two episodes that have been aired so far, Lars manages to win the tattoo artist over and win the coveted prize of an authentic tattoo. His genuine and down-to-earth nature is sure to win you over as well. I think this is time much better spent than watching the over-dramatized tattoo “reality” shows.

Sometimes the hand of Fate guides the Tattoosday blogger as he journeys through the streets of New York. At lunch, a change in traffic signals prompted me to veer East, sending me into a bank vestibule that I rarely, if ever, frequent.

I could have ventured into a dozen branches or drug stores to do my business but this is where I ended up on a day that started frigid, but was still in the blustery high 30’s at noon.

I finished my ATM transaction and exited, not even glancing at the two people to my left, jacketed and weighed down with large backpacks.

I hit the sidewalk, peering into a side window bordering the vestibule. I did a quick about-face and headed back into the bank. Despite the coats, hats, and long pants, I could tell the two men I had been next to had significant ink.

And, once back inside, I was delighted to find them both willing to talk tattoos.

Both men were visiting tourists from England. The first one I spoke to was Jethro “Jeff” Wood, a tattoo artist who works out of The SkynYard in Southend-on-Sea (in Essex County, 40 miles East of central London). I spoke to Jeff first, while his friend Sam worked the ATM machine.

Jeff estimates that his body is 30% covered in ink. He offered up this neck piece:

I apologize for the angle, but one can see that it’s a pretty nice grim reaper tattoo. You also get a view of the small skull and crossbones behind Jeff’s left ear.

He had been hanging out with another tattooer and “got drunk and tatted my neck”. The artist was Dan Sims at Life Family Tattoo in Sevenoaks, Kent, in England.

Not to be outdone, Jeff’s friend Sam had an amazing pirate-themed neck piece, with a “Do or Die” banner, courtesy of Jeff:

The two visitors seemed to enjoy showing their tattoos and were soon rolling up pant legs to show me what Jeff’s apprentice, Charlie, had tattooed on the back of Sam’s left leg:

That is the mask of The Ultimate Warrior.

Sam also showed me some work on his right leg, also credited to Charlie, featuring a mythical creature, “The Rare Horned Dolfin,” stuffed and mounted by a taxidermist:

Granted, it’s a funny tattoo, but I believe there was an element I was missing (perhaps a key facet of an inside joke). Sam and Jeff laughed heartily while showing me the piece, along with another gag tattoo on Sam’s right calf, a D.L.T. sandwich:

In a DLT sandwich, the bacon is replaced by, you guessed it, tiny smiling dolphins!

I also get a kick out of the “I love frogs” scribbled above the D.L.T. Note the S is reversed. Sam indicated that Charlie had done some of these, but he had also inked a few himself, on an experimental basis.

Both men also have knuckle tattoos, and pictures of their knuckle ink will appear at a later date over on KnuckleTattoos.com.

Thanks again to Sam and Jeff for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!