Raja's tatoo

A genuine tattoo ...tells a story. They're symbolic of the important moments in your life, no matter how well done. If they don't tell a story that grabs you emotionally, then they're just there for decorations. To me, that makes them not a valid tattoo. There has to be some emotional appeal or they're not, to my way of thinking, a real tattoo. It could be the most beautiful tattoo in the world, but if it's for pure decoration...it might as well be wallpaper in your grandma's house. On the flipside, you can take the ugliest tattoo, put a powerful story behind it and it suddenly becomes and extremely beautiful piece of work.

It tells people what you are and what you believe in, so there's no mistakes. If I meet a girl and she has a teddy bear with a gas mask tattooed on her forearm and I ask her what it means, if she replies with "It's a cute design that I liked" her credibility gets sucked out the window like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and I lose almost complete interest in talking to her.

Getting a tattoo that is "cute" is not the kind of tattoo that interest me. However if I see a girl with a flower tattooed on her @$$, first instinct tells me...it's there cuz it's cute, but after inquiring about it..finding out that her sister who passed away ten years ago died under a tree that grew plumeria's....takes that tattoo to an entirely new level and raises her attraction level 2 fold.

That's all obviously just an extremely strong personal opinion to which I've seen start fights. Tattooing is a form of art and decorating the body is basically what tattooing is, regardless of the meaning. But having a butterfly tattoo cuz it looks cute, doesn't count as a tattoo to me.

The same goes with people. Beautiful girls are great to look at, but if they're b*tchy inside, they're actually EXTREMELY unnattractive in my book. Tyra Banks is a prime example, I've spoken with her on several occasions. You can show me the most attractive female in the world, but if she's cold-hearted, she's just another face in a crowd. No matter how much you decorate a body, without the passion or raw emotion behind the tattoo...it'll always be sh*t in my book.

There's an awesome tattoo quote that simply says, "Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past" I couldn't possibly love that quote more. When you first meet people, you get the basics...and the current of their life, maybe even where they're going. But when you ask about a tattoo...you start to open up the window to their past. Over the years of having each tattoo, it only grows in depth of the meaning. You can lose your most valuable posessions. Your cars, your house, even your friends and family. But your tattoos, you will only lose upon death. Your tattoos are your companions until your last day. A tattoo is a statement, not a style...and getting a tattoo is a journey, not a destination. The end of the road is not when the needle hits your skin and the ink settles beneath, thats just the climax of the story. Every tattoo had a beginning before the design was even drawn up. THOSE are the tattoos that I love. They have a beginning, a middle, and the end is yet to come.

When I designed tattoos and logos more heavily than I do now... one of the most frustrating hurdles was when someone would approach me with no idea of what they wanted. Sometimes it felt like I was asking them to give birth for how hard it was to give me an idea of what they wanted. If they came up and said, "I don't know, draw me something cool" I would draw nothing, or throw on the headphones and scribble random nothings. If there's no heart, there's no art. <---that was profound!

All in all, if you have a tattoo with a purpose...I love you that much more. Feel free to share your story any time. I don't care how random it may seem or how little we know each other. A tattoo is a good way to start.