I got my first one last summer. the grim reaper sitting on a rocking chair playing acoustic guitar. it's on my right shoulder, over the upper part of my shoulder blade. I've been mulling over the idea of getting an elaborate depiction of the myth of sisyphus on my back (the one where he's forced to push a boulder up a mountain each day, only to watch it roll back down each night). this would be for philosophical reasons - look into camus' "the myth of sistyphus" for a more accurate description, basically it poses the question of whether Sisyphus would have been happy. I tend to agree with Camus on pretty much everything. and if all else fails, it still represents the grind of life/work. also, I really want to get some kind of symbol. this morning I came up with the idea of getting the symbol for hydrogen/sun/atoms in general (like the one doc manhattan has in watchmen), which is a small shaded in circle, surrounded by a larger circle. I would get it right over my sternum, right where there's kind of a recessed area on your chest. opinions?
I like the idea of the hydrogen.sun.atoms symbol... especially on your chest there. If you got that anywhere else, I doubt it would carry the same impact. As far as the Sisyphus one, that's really really unique, would you get him actually rolling the rocks? or just of him? I apologize if that's a stupid question.
something along these lines: I'm picturing it with a much more realistic depiction of rocky mountainous Greek terrain. alternatively, I could go much smaller with it and use a symbolic version, like this but without the road sign part:
as far as the atom symbol, a friend suggested that I get it around my naval instead. gotta think it over, I like the idea but then I lose the nucleus, and the central placement of it. I'm 90% sure I want to get some form of it though. only thing that might make me reconsider is the fact that it'd be directly in the way of any large chest piece. main one I'm considering right now is Yggdrasil (from norse mythology) or some kind of large tree
other tattoo I've been thinking about getting eventually (not for a while, at least not til I can afford it, which'll give me more time to consider) is a set of two koi fish, one swimming upstream, one downstream. one red, one blue - one on each of my sides, like side rib. koi fish seem a bit overplayed, but I like them, and it would symbolize that I'm a Pisces. I don't believe in astrology at all, but it's something that's been around for thousands of years, and to me represents mankind's fascination with the mystery of the night sky.
ah, strange. my sister has a tattoo of two fish on her feet because she is a pisces, but she is really into astrology and charts and what-have-you. she's a bit on the odd side. i also like the idea of large trees, as i have one down my side.
I think I'm def gonna go for the tree/atom combo. and I figures out what tree I want it to be. there's a giant, gnarly, jungley tree on campus at my school that I'm gonna get it modeled after. that way it'll also represent my college to me, as well as the nature/science implications. and i have a huge respect for trees and their style of life - just existing, largely due to the effects of a certain type of mushroom. now I just gotta get the money for it. prob will have to spread it out over the course of the year if it's too expensive. also, thought of an awesome element to add to the Sisyphus one. I can have him be most of the way up the mountain as if he's about to finish his futile task, and then include a sunset and give the whole thing a sunset type of tint.
Just had an interesting idea for the sisyphus tattoo - I could have it show him pushing the boulder up a set of paradoxical stairs, like these:
