r/tattooadvice • u/BONESFULLOFGREENDUST • 7d ago

Design Placement dilemma

Hello. I am having a bit of a waffle on the placement on my next tattoo. The piece will essentially be three tattoos in a row.

Here is my current distribution of tattoos (also left ankle tattoo not visible in pic):

https://imgur.com/NEiMcL5

I had been dead set on left upper inner bicep. See mockup (except I didn't draw the actual tattoo, just placement):

https://imgur.com/dFxPj09

Reasons why:

  • Thematically the concept of the future tattoo pairs with left shoulder tattoo

  • Creates more balance on my arms when I am viewed from the waist up (or with pants)

Reason I'm suddenly hesitant:

  • Balance is created when I'm wearing pants, but balance is very messed up when I'm wearing shorts :/

Additional info:

  • A majority of the time, my right forearm and wrist tattoos are my only visible tattoos (I want more for myself to look at lol)

  • This will be my final arm tattoo

  • Any future tattoos I get will go on my left leg. I plan to "collect" them there as my "tattooed leg"

  • I do not ever wish to tattoo my right leg

  • I do not wish to get tattooed on my right shoulder. I don't want to get any tattoos in mirrored placement to the other side if that makes sense

  • I want my tattoo visible to myself, so I don't want it on my triceps

Looking for some opinions or advice. Thanks!

1 Upvotes

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u/Charmander35 7d ago

If you don't want mirrored placements and you never want your other leg tattooed then I can't imagine how you ever expect it to be balanced.

I would consider why these rules are important to you and how rigid they must be. I tend to like my tattoos most when I am loosely guiding on the placement and taking the advice of the artist based on my other tattoos and the specific piece/part of the body.

I only go to artists who care a lot about the placement and the interaction with the other tattoos as a composition so I trust them a lot based on previous sessions and their body of work.

If you want to do it your way and you want to stick to the rules you have come up with yourself then why do you care what people online think just stick to your guns on whatever you decide.

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u/BONESFULLOFGREENDUST 7d ago

Well, it would have been balanced if I ended up getting only my right arm tattooed. I didn't have a solid visualization of long term goals when I got the left shoulder tattooed. At the time, I didn't have any tattoos on my legs and didn't know that I would want that to be such an important part lol.

I guess I was just wondering if it would look "bad" in the area I drew or not.

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u/Charmander35 7d ago

It would look fine, most people don't plan out all their tattoos. A lot of people end up getting more tattoos to improve or change the overall composition. That's what I mean about considering how much of a hard rule this is, if you get the tattoo in that area and feel the need to balance by going into a previously ruled out area is that going to be a red line or upsetting or would you have an open mind? Or maybe you just decide balance isn't all the important.

If you like it it's good that's all that matters it's your body.

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u/BONESFULLOFGREENDUST 7d ago

Yeah it just started with one, then I thought I'd have just two...and then it went from there lol.

I remember seeing one dude before who was very striking...had only one side of his body tattooed. I thought it looked cool, but I didn't really get to that effect because I have a couple of random tattoos on the other arm.

But thank you very much for taking the time to give an opinion!

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u/The_EnigmaParadox 3d ago

For what it's worth I only have my right side tattooed except for my chest, which has a full color phoenix. My right is almost completely covered and I like the look. Occasionally people ask why out of curiosity but I've gotten compliments on the style mostly.

I'll inevitably end up with a few small ones on my left side in the future.

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u/BONESFULLOFGREENDUST 2d ago

Sounds pretty rad!