I’m ready to get my next (second) tattoo. I’ve thought long and hard about it - ten years to be precise, and I’m quite sure of what I want.
It will involve names, in Chinese characters, down my spine.
My big question is: what would the most attractive style of Chinese be? Calligraphy? Another ‘font’?
Your suggestions and advice please. I’m in Taichung - if you know of a reputable tat artist please forward his details.
And if you have a tat u wanna post I’d love to see it…
Good post…I like looking at tatt. pics, but I don’t have any tatts yet.
I still remember the look of pride on my mothers face when I strolled in with my first tattoo. Ah, the joy’s of a hardcore youth!
Anyways, since that day, and every day after, getting tattoos to me at least is something very serious. You got one now and are willing to go onto your second. Which usually(Though not always) leads to a third and forth till your covered. Looking kick ass and social Stigma’s aside, I got one question for you.
Can you read or write Chinese?
If yes, cool! Get something done up that you thought out and are sure you want on you for as long as you live(And if your thinking of getting it removed by lazers in the future you shouldn’t be going in to get one!!!)
If no, don’t do it! Way too many out there have Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Sanskirt and other languages tatted on when they can’t even pronounce, let alone read what they got in the native language they tossed on with a meaning.
I’ve heard to many horror stories from people who selected something in Chinese and Japanese only to have it not mean what they thought it ment.
Yeah there isn’t flash sheets here for you to choose ‘War’ ‘Peace’ ‘Snow’ or other Clich
The font question is a good one. One of the most annoying things from the U.S. is the number of shitty Chinese tats on people. Some of them have no weighting to the individual strokes so that they look like the sorts of prison ones done with ballpoint pen ink – all skinny lines, like the sort of stuff in my old Chinese class notebooks. I’ve also seen some where people tried to get really funky with the characters and got the balance and spacing of the radicals (top-bottom, side-side) all screwy. One stripper I knew kept showing me the crappy ones at the base of her neck and base of her spine, so at least she couldn’t see me rolling my eyes.
I had a colleague stateside who wanted a Chinese name done as her first tattoo, so I ultimately set her up with a calligraphy artist in Chicago who came with good recommendations. Of course, why such a name would have much meaning for somebody, I don’t know. But, if I were going to go through with a Chinese-character motif, I’d want something of at least decent quality in terms of the calligraphy.
Of course, if the characters don’t mean what you want them to mean or if they look really lame, getting the characters right down your spine does mean you don’t have to worry about seeing other people’s reaction.
I got a sort of short-hand “looks like it’s been written extremely fast” chinese Tattoo going from my belly-button down to my pubes. I like it. It says
薛博儀的 Which is the possesive form of my wife’s name, so in English, it would be something like “Po’s”…if you really want to see some pictures of how that font looks, I can try to post a link…but I must warn you, you’ll see some hair.
Hopefully, there’ll never be a situation where I regret getting that one. Now, the Star Wars Rebel Insignia I have on my shoulder… :: shudder :: …I was filled with worlds of regret the second I saw Jar-Jar.
[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/tattoos-tattoo-tattoing-in-taiwan/6397/10 that search function is an amazing thing.[/url]
BTW, this is my “chinese” tat: 無為而治
No I can’t read it or write (all) of it.
I can barely say it properly.
But I know what it means and strive to achieve it everyday.
I know that the UK’s “beloved” David Beckham has or had a misspelled tattoo.
According to news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1042872.stm (way back in 2000, I know…but at least it gives us another chance to laugh at him)
He had what he thought was “Victoria” written on his arm in Hindi… He in fact, had “Vihctoria” Don’t know if he since had it changed though…
I’ve been tryin to decide if i should ink on a tattoo in Taiwan. I currently have two which I am happy with but I’m not sure if i would put more asian art on my body. I have seen some beautiful work but I have yet to come up with something that is striking. This process when thinking of getting a tattoo is extremely important. If you end up putting something on your body that you thought was cool but had absolutely no meaning to you or your life, you will be disapointed UNLESS you’re a trendy attention whore.
If you know for certain what it says, and it’s in good Chinese, and the calligraphy is done both correctly and well, than I say “no problem”.
But check out hanzismatter to see what happens when it’s not done right!
Yes, a tattoo is something you should definitely spend time thinking and researching beforehand. You should also consider the location - will you place it where everyone (including potential employers) can see it, or somewhere that’s easily covered? And how will it look on you when you’re 90 years old?
I took two years thinking about my first (and only) tattoo before I finally got it a few months ago in Bangkok.
That link isn’t working for me. Anyone else?
That link isn’t working for me. Anyone else?[/quote]
It works for me. But I’ve found that on some systems using IE it doesn’t work. Try Netscape or Firefox and you’ll definitely see it. IE works on my system, but the site shows up a blank on some systems with IE.
Yeah, I’m using IE and getting the blank screen.
What style of calligraphy to do it in is a matter of personal preference. Do some browsing online to learn more about oracle bone, bronze, small seal, clerical, standard, semi-cursive and cursive scripts. The first three are archaic and therefore funky but not very legible at all. Clerical is archaic but legible, and carries a certain solemnity, suitable for deep philosophical statements, for example. Cursive is highly artistic but not very legible. Picking a style which is standard and yet carries an archaistic clerical or lively semi-cursive flavor might be nice. Then again there are super modern styles invented by some of the masters of the last 100 years or so.
Go to calligraphy supply shops like those around Shida, and flip through their books until you find something you like. Talk with folks in specialized online groups, like chinapage.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13, and so on.
Remember, just like with young folks becoming exposed to music versus the tastes of those in their 40’s, one’s first exposure to calligraphy is a different experience than how one feels about it twenty years later, when one’s tastes have greatly matured. If you’d had your teenaged musical tastes tatoo’d on you as a permanent thing, remember that you might be embarassed at your choice two decades later.
Also, don’t use computer fonts. They don’t look right to the mature connosieur’s eye. Even cutting and pasting individual graphs from such a highly esteemed master as WangXizhi won’t look right. If it were going on my body forever, I’d do some serious research, spend 5 years or so acquiring some sophistication, then pay a professional calligrapher to write it! In real live calligraphy, the way the characters go together is not a matter of cutting and pasting static characters from a printed page somewhere and then reassembling them to make what you want. There is a rhythm, a balance, a unity of composition that cannot be reproduced by cutting and pasting, and which is vital in making the whole piece work a coherent art form.
Hi people,
I’m just plugging my search here since you are all talking about tattoos. I’m still looking for a henna artist. Anyone here that has the equipment and can do it or teach me how? I got the henna, you need to have the applicator.
Thanks, back to your regular programming.
Henna tattoos are just painted onto the skin and the skin absorbs it. There’s no special applicator needed; you just mix the henna powder (which I too have) with liquid, and paint it on with a fine brush, right? Piece of cake. Do you have a design already chosen? Just get a friend who can paint or illustrate well. I can do it for you if you want (I’ve been doing art all my life, especially detailed stuff). On Ko Phi Phi, I drew my own design (description deleted) and had it put on my shoulder. Had a local apply it. He transferred the design from my ink drawing using deodorant, BTW. It was cool! This would be my first attempt at applying it myself, but it’s temporary and we could test it somewhere inconspicuous first. If it’s a place you can reach yourself like your belly then you can easily do it yourself, but most of your body is hard to do solo.
Assuming anyone would be stupid enough to get Chinese characters tattooed on themselves, what Characters would you want (post them) and what is the English meaning?
I mean, it’s just so deep, man.
[quote]Cool Tat, Too Bad It’s Gibberish
By CINDY CHANG
Published: April 2, 2006
LOS ANGELES
Jamie Rector for The New York Times
Shad Magness thought his tattoo meant “one love.” Six months after he got it, he found out that it means “love hurts.”
SHAD MAGNESS wanted to celebrate the love he felt for his young son with a grand gesture.
At a Los Angeles tattoo parlor four years ago, he had two Chinese characters etched in a prominent spot on his left forearm. He assumed that the translation in the sample book the tattoo artist showed him — “one love” — was correct.
The first sign of trouble came six months later, when Mr. Magness was shopping at a Staples store and the checkout clerk informed him that the characters on his arm meant not “one love” but “love hurts.”
Mr. Magness consulted some bilingual co-workers, who confirmed the bad news: his tattoo did indeed trumpet the pain of failed love.[/quote]
I still can’t see what’s wrong with just getting “hate” tattooed on the inside of your lower lip. You could even get it in Chinese – that would be cool.
I had “醉翁之意不在酒，在乎山水之間也。山水之樂，得之心而寓之酒也。” tattoed on my knob last year, but there’s still a bit of room and I was wondering if anyone could think of anything to add?