You have seen people sporting tattoos on different parts of their bodies. Some people are sympathetic towards certain areas of their bodies and have more than one tattoo in that area. One such example is an arm. There are people who get multiple tattoos done on their arm, and this set of tattoos is referred as a tattoo sleeve. Just like a shirt sleeve, a tattoo sleeve would be a bunch of tattoos which would cover part of the arm or cover it completely.
The person getting the tattoo done usually starts from the shoulder with a certain theme in mind (because there are a number of tattoos needed to cover the arm), and then works his or her way down to the forearm or even the wrist, usually with all the tattoos in the sleeve following a single theme. While this form of tattooing has become very popular nowadays, there are a few things you should bear in mind before opting for a tattoo sleeve.
While it is called a tattoo sleeve, it doesn't always cover the complete arm. Just like we have half sleeves and quarter sleeves on our clothes, similarly you can also opt to have only a part of your arm covered in tattoos. Apart from deciding how large or small your sleeve would be, you also need to decide the location of the tattoos.
Some people fill their lower arm with tattoos, whereas some go for the shoulder area and upper arm. There are some others who add tattoos randomly on different areas of the arm to start with, and then add on more tattoos later to bridge the gaps. When you start off with the first tattoo on your arm, it is a good idea to have a plan in place before you begin.
Depending on how you want the final product to look like, you need to tell the tattoo artist whether you would be favoring a black and grey look or a colorful one. Depending on the type of design you choose, your tattoo artist will tell you whether greyscale would look better or vibrant.
Also, the choice would depend on the type of person you are, and the personality you have. Also, since tattoos are a long term commitment (you just can't erase them after a month), you should avoid too many colors if you are the sort whose favorites keep changing every few months or years.
If you work at a regular job, you need to think over the decision of having a tattoo sleeve very carefully. Different companies have different levels of tolerance for body art. The problem with this is that you might go in for a full sleeve tattoo because your employer is fine with it, but you might get into trouble (or not get selected) if a potential future employer has a zero tolerance policy for tattoos.
You need to plan your body art well. Like we mentioned earlier, some people prefer to plan it all out in advance and go for a full tattoo sleeve from the first day. Others prefer to add smaller tattoos once in a while depending on their state of mind at that particular time. There are some others who do have the overall plan ready in their mind but go ahead one step at a time because they do not want to pay a whole lot of money upfront.
Whatever your style, think over it carefully before you begin and convey that clearly to the tattoo artist on the first day. While planning your schedule, you need to also take into account the availability of the tattoo artist and his or her schedule.
When it comes to tattoos, there is a huge variety of themes and topics, and the sky is the limit. The only thing is that some themes and topics lend themselves better to tattoos. Apart from pictures of objects, many tattoos also consist of texts in different languages. The design you choose to wear on your tattoo sleeve would depend on your personality and choice, and also the skill of the design artist.
As we already said before, a tattoo can still be around on your skin many decades later, so you must choose your themes and designs carefully. Names are usually best avoided. You should decide on a theme and do all the artwork around that theme instead of chopping and changing constantly. Deciding on a consistent theme and entrusting the work to a good tattoo artist can give you a lifelong tattoo you can be proud of.
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