My MLP Tattoo Design! [Opinions Needed!]

[Cyber-Satan]

So a lot of you might be thinking..
An MLP Tattoo?!
But first, let me explain myself...
I have been a dedicated MLP collector for around 11 years now, that may be quite a short time for some of you more mature collectors out there; but I've been collecting since I was 6 years old. When I was a lil' girl, I wasn't as popular as a lot of the other kids were in school.
[Though I did have a circle of friends who I still love dearly. ]
I preferred the company of myself, until I discovered the wonderful MLPs of course!
Watching the MLP movies when I was a kid really taught me the values of friendship and acceptance. Don't get me wrong the G3 movies weren't exactly a cinematic experience, but they were brilliant to me when I was little! Growing up I continued to collect MLP well into my early teens, but this is when I discovered the beauty of G1s. I fell in love instantly.
To sum it all up..
MLP has been there since my early youth. I grew up with them, watched the ponies change. I've seen the good..and the bad. *cough* G3.5 *cough* but when I look back, I still loved the impact the MLPs have had on my young life..quite a lot for a 17 year old to say about youth huh?
The reason why I've chosen a G1 rather than a G3 is because I prefer the look and design of the G1 line 100x more. The chunkier bodies and bright 80s designs was what made me fall in love with them.

The zombie part? Well..I just really like zombies!

Soo this is where I need some help..
What should the banner say?
I wish for the text to represent my youth, and how I believe youth is something you never lose. It will always be there. I was thinking a long the lines of: "Young Forever" or "Forever Youth"..but please if you have any suggestions just let me know!
Thank you!

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[True]

Nah I dont think a pony tat is that off the wall for this place :p

The tattoo image is great, maybe some smoothing out here and there. Of course I don't have to tell you that you'll have this tattoo forever (duh) xD but I think what most people mean by that, and what iv personally experienced, is over time you'll eventually start picking things out of it that you might have wished to change, or (also in my case) mistakes made by the person doing the tattoo... luckily mine is literally just a dot out of place, but its still enough to bug me, I see it every time I look at the tattoo.

As for the text, maybe put a ponies name that was particularly important to you? or you could put a "since (year)" with maybe the year you were born or the year you really got into ponies etc.

[UrocyonFox]

over time you'll eventually start picking things out of it that you might have wished to change, or (also in my case) mistakes made by the person doing the tattoo... luckily mine is literally just a dot out of place, but its still enough to bug me, I see it every time I look at the tattoo.

As someone who does tattoos I like to ask people about their tattoos and this is something I hear it alot. Notice next time when you compliment someone's tattoo how usually one of the first things they will do is point out the flaws, point out that they wish they could change some things, and point out what the artist did wrong (The artist seems to be the #1 person that gets blamed, however when you go in with an image and say this is what I want, the artist is only transferring YOUR idea onto you. (yes I understand that some artists do actually mess up or make mistakes but as a human canvas its your responsibility to look at the artists previous work and research if they have the qualities you are looking for in a tattoo artist, so if you get a crummy tattoo because you chose a crummy artist then who's fault is that really? Did you pay a professional or have 'some friend' you know with a new gun do it?)

But yes more often then not people are quick to say "yeah looks great" in the parlor, then walk out, heal up, and point out flaws to other people. It was because I noticed just how many people always point out their tattoo flaws that I decided not to tattoo other people besides myself and my husband when we first got our guns.

Another problem I have noticed is people being vague with their artist. Saying I want a butterfly can mean alot to alot of different people. If you give an entire class a homework assignment of going home and drawing a butterfly they will all come back with different butterflies. Even if you've very specific about color, size, and everything, the kids will all have different interpretations of the butterfly. Its always best to have lots of pictures and be honest with your artist, if you get a good artist they will communicate with you to get exactly what you want. they may interpret something completely different than how you interpret something, its human nature!

Next: Make an appointment. Showing up, walking in the door going "heeey I want a tattoo" always seems 'spring break-ish' to me. Treat getting a tattoo like you would a surgery. Go in, ask to see the artists' portfolios, look at their work, see if the artist you are interested in is there, meet an artist, explain what you want, set up a point of contact, set an appointment. Call your artist if your appointment changes or if something comes up.

*steps off soap box* ehh heem! Sorry about that everyone, I didn't mean to waste all this time!

As for zombie pony tattoos? They're actually pretty popular, I've seen quite a few of them (zombie ponies and zombie Disney princesses are very popular!) So I don't think anyone would give you and grief about a pony tattoo.

I like the design, as for the banner I like the idea of your birth year. Another idea you may want to consider is making the stitches more random. With where they are sight now she has a voodoo doll look to her, like more of a patch work doll than a zombie. By making the stitches more random and not just where appendages attach will make it more zombie like.

[aintnobuffalo]

I think "Young Forever" seems to go well with the Zombie theme.  It would be a nice touch.

It seems like a pony tattoo would be great because it really speaks to a part of you. I will say I am glad I didn't get the tattoo I wanted when I was seventeen, however. Not because of the theme; I had bad ideas about placement. A good tattoo artist will be able to give good advice on that, though. UrocyonFox seemed to give some great advice too. Go for it!

[UrocyonFox]

I think "Young Forever" seems to go well with the Zombie theme.  It would be a nice touch.

It seems like a pony tattoo would be great because it really speaks to a part of you. I will say I am glad I didn't get the tattoo I wanted when I was seventeen, however. Not because of the theme; I had bad ideas about placement. A good tattoo artist will be able to give good advice on that, though. UrocyonFox seemed to give some great advice too. Go for it!

Placement. Ah ha ha  don't even get me on that! ha ha That is probably the only "problem" I have with my chest piece. I use to work for department of natural resources so I got my chest piece lowered just a tad so it would not be visible under my work shirts. As it turns out park ranger uniforms are very similar to military uniforms so when I wear a normal shirt the top of my tattoo peeks out just a tiny bit. When I got my new job working as a lab manager at a college I found that ALL the shirts I had to wear to work showed my tattoo. In the beginning I would wear very tall/long undershirts to cover the top of the tattoo but now that I've been here almost a year everyone understands that I have plenty of tattoos and no one cares if I wear a below the collarbone shirt under a nice business shirt.

SO its not really a problem, I adore my chest piece and it looks great, but that as a tiny thing I noticed when I took a civilian job.

Oh! Or my smart self tattooed the top of my foot with stars and spiders (which is why sky-pin has stars on her foot) during the winter. Seems logical right? Don't want to expose a new tattoo to the sun right? WRONG! It was winter so I wanted to wear socks and shoes all the time and my poor tattoo had very little drying or healing time.

ha ha I have plenty of tattoos and plenty of stories.

I will say, when I first turned 18 I knew I was going to go get a tattoo I just didn't know what yet, and I remember my mom asking "will you be happy with it in ten years?" She was trying to make a point. "You know people change alot in ten years, think about if you had gotten a tattoo ten years ago, what would you have gotten? Would you still want it?" I remember my response to this day. (this was along time and many tattoos ago mind you) I told her, "Well I was 8, my favorite color was rainbow, and I was really big into dinosaurs..... so I would have a rainbow stegosaurus.... HECK YEAH I would love it!" She was not thrilled, i had made her point moot. I still need to get that little joker tattooed somewhere, I just don't know where.

[Icecrystalline]

I personally don't like tattoos, but I like helping out with ideas, here's my thoughts on what the banner could read:

"Life's great moments"
or personal preference
"Days of Nostalgia"
but I also like "Forever Young."
Either way, choose something from the heart that you won't regret, and have fun!

Icey

[True]

I need to stand up for my tattoo artists now, because i realize what i said, did not have much thought behind it and I should have worded it differently.
I agree with you 100% UrocyonFox. In my case it was an honest mistake, and its quite literally a dot xD im just so picky about tattoos. The artist I go to for ink is also the ONLY person in my town who should probably still be operational, iv gone to others for quotes or literally just because im curious about them, either they've stolen images offline to make themselves look good, or they will just not have a portfolio available. My artists really is a great guy, ill never go anywhere else for tattoos or piercings lol.

Iv always been fascinated with tattoo art of all styles, (however im kinda bored of tribal at this point) but I started doing a lot of graffiti and flash in middle school, I never wanted to tattoo people, because though I like getting them done TO me, the thought of tattooing someone else makes me a bit squeamish and super nervous. Anyway, Iv never understood how someone can just walk in, get a tattoo and walk out. xD it takes me years to commit to an idea and refine it to where I know ill love it forever haha. I always feel like im being really annoying because i DO make lots of appointments for little things. I say, eventually this will be an entire sleeve, and people just look at me like im crazy because theres hardly anything about it at this point lol.

[UrocyonFox]

I need to stand up for my tattoo artists now, because i realize what i said, did not have much thought behind it and I should have worded it differently.
I agree with you 100% UrocyonFox. In my case it was an honest mistake, and its quite literally a dot xD im just so picky about tattoos. The artist I go to for ink is also the ONLY person in my town who should probably still be operational, iv gone to others for quotes or literally just because im curious about them, either they've stolen images offline to make themselves look good, or they will just not have a portfolio available. My artists really is a great guy, ill never go anywhere else for tattoos or piercings lol.

Iv always been fascinated with tattoo art of all styles, (however im kinda bored of tribal at this point) but I started doing a lot of graffiti and flash in middle school, I never wanted to tattoo people, because though I like getting them done TO me, the thought of tattooing someone else makes me a bit squeamish and super nervous. Anyway, Iv never understood how someone can just walk in, get a tattoo and walk out. xD it takes me years to commit to an idea and refine it to where I know ill love it forever haha. I always feel like im being really annoying because i DO make lots of appointments for little things. I say, eventually this will be an entire sleeve, and people just look at me like im crazy because theres hardly anything about it at this point lol.

*hugs True* Oh no I hope you didn't think that was directed at you! I meant in general. There is always something we can find wrong with ink on our body, especially as women since we're so hard on ourselves anyways!

Thats great that you have an artist that you trust and enjoy their work always a great thing to have a good relationship with your artist.

I have seen what you're talking about with images being copied or artists not having a portfolio at all. In my opinion if they're an honest to good tattoo artist they should want to show off their work and display what they can do, and advertise themselves. I had a friend get a tattoo that was uncommon and the artist took a picture of it when he was done. We later saw it posted in a different tattoo shop on the window display. (It was pretty crummy advertisement they had printed pictures of tattoos off and taped them in the window of their shop, looked tacky)

and I want sleeves so bad! I wanted to do the 150 pokemon sleeve but with all the jobs I have or have looked into tends to frown on tattoos. It is exciting because tattoos are becoming more common and therefor more acceptable. So possibly in time, not my generation probably, but the younger generations, it will be common for people in businesses to have sleeves, hand, and neck tattoos because the people doing the hiring will have tattoos themselves.

That being said I am working on pants. I have a girl leg (sailor moon, my little pony, ect) and a boy leg (power rangers, snakes, ect) Because I will never have a job that MAKES me wear shorts. Even with I was a park ranger we had the option of wearing pants (Which I always did)

[MikeysGrrrl]

To the OP, As far as your tattoo goes, I really believe that a tattoo means more when you pick it out yourself and have it customized to represent you and your beliefs. I'm a huge fan of tattoo's having a meaning, including words. However I'm not lecturing you, so I will toss out a couple of ideas:
- Nostalgic Love
- Youth is Timeless
- Forever Young at Heart

Urocyon, I had no idea that you were a tattoo artist I'm in the same boat as you though, I've also noticed that people tend to blame their artists for the things they don't like, so I made it a rule when my husband and I moved to Windsor last year that I would no longer tattoo anyone outside of him and I. Actually on our 2 year wedding anniversary (this past easter weekend), I gave him 2 more tattoo's (our wedding quote in Italian down his lower arm and a large koi fish), he went to work and everyone was begging him to convince me to tattoo them.

Even though we can always use the extra money, especially since we're considering buying a home, I just don't want any of the hassle and drama, especially when people ask your opinion, you advise them as to whether it's a good idea or not and they ignore you and say to do it anyways

[UrocyonFox]

To the OP, As far as your tattoo goes, I really believe that a tattoo means more when you pick it out yourself and have it customized to represent you and your beliefs. I'm a huge fan of tattoo's having a meaning, including words. However I'm not lecturing you, so I will toss out a couple of ideas:
- Nostalgic Love
- Youth is Timeless
- Forever Young at Heart

Urocyon, I had no idea that you were a tattoo artist I'm in the same boat as you though, I've also noticed that people tend to blame their artists for the things they don't like, so I made it a rule when my husband and I moved to Windsor last year that I would no longer tattoo anyone outside of him and I. Actually on our 2 year wedding anniversary (this past easter weekend), I gave him 2 more tattoo's (our wedding quote in Italian down his lower arm and a large koi fish), he went to work and everyone was begging him to convince me to tattoo them.

Even though we can always use the extra money, especially since we're considering buying a home, I just don't want any of the hassle and drama, especially when people ask your opinion, you advise them as to whether it's a good idea or not and they ignore you and say to do it anyways

I'm jealous! I can't tattoo words to save my life, so just pictures for me. I wouldn't consider myself an artist more of an enthusiast. :3

[MikeysGrrrl]

To the OP, As far as your tattoo goes, I really believe that a tattoo means more when you pick it out yourself and have it customized to represent you and your beliefs. I'm a huge fan of tattoo's having a meaning, including words. However I'm not lecturing you, so I will toss out a couple of ideas:
- Nostalgic Love
- Youth is Timeless
- Forever Young at Heart

Urocyon, I had no idea that you were a tattoo artist I'm in the same boat as you though, I've also noticed that people tend to blame their artists for the things they don't like, so I made it a rule when my husband and I moved to Windsor last year that I would no longer tattoo anyone outside of him and I. Actually on our 2 year wedding anniversary (this past easter weekend), I gave him 2 more tattoo's (our wedding quote in Italian down his lower arm and a large koi fish), he went to work and everyone was begging him to convince me to tattoo them.

Even though we can always use the extra money, especially since we're considering buying a home, I just don't want any of the hassle and drama, especially when people ask your opinion, you advise them as to whether it's a good idea or not and they ignore you and say to do it anyways

I'm jealous! I can't tattoo words to save my life, so just pictures for me. I wouldn't consider myself an artist more of an enthusiast. :3

Whichever word you choose to describe yourself, it's all the same I'm lucky that I can do the lettering as well as I do since I know others can struggle with it, especially on sensitive spots or jittery people lol. Here are the tattoo's I just did on my hubby 2 weeks ago

Spoiler

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and my hubby is insisting that I show off his koi fish too lol
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[UrocyonFox]

fun! Gotta love koi, traditional but always classy. Very nice hand writing.

I don't want to start posting tattoos and change the direction    Cyber-Satan was going when then posted this thread.

I do always love seeing other people's work and love getting to hear stories on their ink though!

[ponycake]

Whatever text you choose, I think it'd look cool in zombie-like designed letters instead of regular black text or something, but either way I'm sure it'll look great.

Also, this is a tracing of an existing tattoo, right? The angle looks a bit odd like the pony is stretched?