How To Pick Spot For Next Tattoo | Tattoo Placement Guide and Tips

Hey guys, and welcome to postoral and today we are going to be covering How to pick a spot for next tattoo.

I often get asked a lot of questions about tattoos, and as some of you might know, I have made a bunch of articles on my website before about various tattoo topics. 

Most other topics that I have written about when it comes to tattoos you are, of course, free to do whatever you want. Get a tattoo wherever you want on your body.

And you don’t have to take any of these things into consideration. So know that you are free to do whatever.

But if you are struggling to come up with the exact spot that you want your next tattoo to be in, then these things to consider might help you decide.

How to pick a spot for the next tattoo? So the five different categories I’ve split this article into are.

1. Your body as a canvas.
2. The shape of the design.
3. Visibility of the tattoo.
4. Your pain tolerance.
5. The aging of a tattoo.

Your body is a canvas.

The first one of How to pick a spot for the next tattoo is your entire body is a canvas. But you also have smaller canvases on your body where you can split your body parts into different canvases.

For example; your thigh, your calf, your upper arm, chest back and so on. It’s a good idea to get bigger and more detailed designs on more significant chemist’s.

For example, back thigh stomach other chemists that are quite big on your body and it’s better to stick with the small and simple designs on smaller parts.

For example; a wrist, behind-the-ear, neck, foot and so on and depending on if you plan on being heavily tattooed in future. Or not You should consider that as well when you choose what canvas on your body, you put your design if you plan on being heavily tattooed with tattoos.

All over you might not want to waste a big canvas.

Such as your thigh or back on minimal design. Because if you eventually want to get a more significant piece done. That is more detailed and takes up a bigger space on

your body.

And you already have something small tattooed on your thigh or chest or whatever you want to get this tattoo. Then you’re going to have to either incorporate to this smaller design into the grand plan or cover it up altogether.

So that is something you’re going to want to take into consideration when picking your spot.

The shape of your tattoo.

Next categories on How to pick a spot for the next tattoo is a lot of different designs can kind of be adjusted with ornaments, flowers, whatever you are getting background etc. to sort of fit shape on your body.

So the initial design doesn’t have to be a specific shape for a specific body part. But if you have a long and skinny system. Perhaps the thigh isn’t the best place to get it or your bicep.

And if you have an extensive design. Your upper arm might not be the perfect place because there’s not a lot of room to get a complete system on the arm.

That is long in the other direction, and an example of how to think about it is the tattoo that my mom got recently.

She wanted a dragonfly, and they look kind of like this design-wise.

The body that is centred then you could add symmetrical ornaments around it.

For example, the tattoo artist could have added asymmetrical ornaments because that would have suited the body part more instead of adding asymmetrical embellishments to the back.

Because when you look at the tattoo from the back. The body is very symmetrical. Since it’s right in the middle and having asymmetrical ornaments might not look as good as having symmetrical ones.

Talk to your artist on that if you want to adjust the design to a specific body part.

Visibility of the tattoo

The next thing to consider in How to pick a spot for the next tattoo is the visibility of the tattoo, and for this category, I have three questions for you to ask yourself.

Do you want to be able to see the tattoo yourself?

In which case, get it somewhere where you can see it without having to look in a mirror.

Do you want to be able to cover-up or display the tattoo?

Depending on what kind of clothes you wear and you work in a profession.

Where might you have to cover up the tattoo?

Completely to go to work etc.

Those are three things to take into consideration when it comes to the visibility of your tattoo.

Your pain tolerance

The next category on How to pick a spot for the next tattoo is pain and pain tolerance. And this is a bracket that I feel may about.

Because I feel I have a relatively high pain tolerance. So I’m probably biased when it comes to this. But I feel like you should get the tattoo, where you want it even though it’s hurting a lot.

I mean, I think that we can suffer through a lot of pain to get something permanent on our bodies.

Exactly where we want it.

But if you are weighing between two different spots and one might be more painful.

Then the other and you feel like you might have a low pain tolerance. Then it could be a good scheme to opt for the less painful placement.

But the pain has just never been a factor in where I put my tattoos, and I also seem to have a different opinion on what is more painful than something else.

A lot of people for a particular part of the body often areas are less painful.

For example; the thigh or the calf or whatever.

But in my own experience. I find bony areas to be less painful than the soft spots. I have gotten tattooed on elbows, on shins, on collarbones.

And they are always for me less painful than getting tattooed on the stomach or this really thin skin on the inside bicep.

And that’s just how I experience it, and therefore I can’t recommend getting tattooed on softer spots. 

Because it’s less painful when that is not my experience at all, so that’s something you’re going to have to statistic out on your own.

And maybe ask your artist for advice. But ultimately, I think pain is the last thing you should take into consideration when getting a tattoo.

Simply because it lasts forever, but the pain doesn’t I think most people can fight their way through a terrible problem to get what they want.

But if you don’t think you could then definitely choose a less painful spot on your body and speaking of boney versus Meteor parts on your body.

The aging of a tattoo

let’s get into the aging of a tattoo and what’s important to think about when it comes to the aging. This is the last category on How to pick a spot for the next tattoo.

So it’s more likely as you age or just as life progresses that you will gain weight around the stomach area. Maybe your thighs maybe your boobs or upper arms and it’s less probable that you’ll gain weight around your wrists, on your shoulders, on your back or your shins and so on.

And areas that might shift in weight or become saggy as you grow old.

These are spots where tattoos will have the same as the process of aging.

If you get tattooed on your stomach, and you have a baby, or you gain a lot of weight, or you get old and

saggy those areas are probably going to get saggier than the more challenging parts on your body.

For example, shoulder blades or shins those parts don’t tend to Sag as much as the flesh ear parts.

So if that’s something you want to take into consideration as well, then you could. I haven’t I have tattoos all over, and I don’t really care about the aging when it comes to body sagging or weight gain or anything like that.

I sense like my body is going to Sag regardless. So it might as well be colourful when it does, and as most of us know, some age our skin a lot, and the same goes for tattoos.

So, of course, you should always use sunscreen on your tattoos. To spare them as much as possible,

But if you are going to get something colourful done. You might want to get it in a spot that is often covered by clothing or that you can easily protect from the Sun.

I get a lot of questions on How I keep my tattoos? So vibrant my chest piece has barely aged at all since. Its healed completely.

After I got it and that is because it’s usually just protected from the Sun and everything.

I wear clothing over this tattoo. Almost all the time and of course that’s going to age better than my tattoos.

So if you are getting a super colourful tattoo, that is just for you, and you don’t care. If it’s not super visible all the time or not, then it could be a good idea to get it somewhere.

Where it is covered by clothing to spare. It as much as possible,

But you can always get a touch-up in the future. If necessary, another aging and a healing factor that you could take into consideration is the durability of the tattoo in the place you get it.

For example, elbows knees hands and feet are very often used you use your hands you shove them in your pockets, and you push them in a bag, you do dishes, you do all kinds of stuff your elbows are on the table.

And your feet are wearing socks and shoes all the time and all these things—they kind of rub on your tattoos. And make them age much quicker.

Suppose you’ve ever seen someone with a hand tattoo. It probably doesn’t look so great.

A few years after it’s done and people who get like text and stuff on their hands or fingers probably need to touch them up every.

Now and then simply because you use your hands a lot, and that affects the aging of a tattoo.

But again you can get it touched up so if you want a tattoo on your elbow or your foot or hand. Then get it and just be prepared that.

It’s probably not going to age as well as a tattoo on your ribs or some other part of your body. that you’re not continually busing and last.

But not least something that you could always take into consideration if you feel like it is trendiness.

A lot of tattoos or sometimes placements such as the tramp stamp or one of these barbed-wire armbands they are very trendy.

I mean it isn’t easy to know that in there if it’s a trend or if it’s not, there are a many people who were young in the early 2000s or 90s.

That got the tramp stamp, and they still have it today unless they’ve covered it or lasered it. And maybe that’s not as popular now as it was back then.

But then again it also depends are you going to be heavily

tattooed or not if you are then you’re probably going to cover most of your body anyway.

In which case, the placement isn’t as important when it comes to trends.

Because you’re just going to cover everything, anyway, the way I am doing basically.

But if you’re only obtain two or three tattoos in your lifetime. Then you might want to consider the placements a bit more and try to make sure that what you’re getting is something not only the design.

But also the placement is something that you are going to want to live with for the rest of your life.

It’s not easy to know, and you can never guarantee anything. But at least I think one lap around is this only a trendy placement or is this something I want.fragileurt. Right? So I hope this article has at least given you a few questions to consider for figuring out the placement of your next tattoo.

And if all else fails if these suggestions don’t help you because they don’t help me much. Because I don’t use most of these suggestions,

because I think like “hmm… where do I want this tattoo?”

I probably want it here, and then I get it there don’t think about things as much and if I have something like a space on my body. Like here, for example,

oh I want to get some flowers. They would look great here.

Because I have a spot here that is empty, that’s kind of how I do it and if you still struggle to come up with a placement.

Then go to some tattoo gallery whatever ink pedia I think. They’re called they used to be called 1337 tattoos, and I still haven’t learned their new name.

I think it’s ink pedia. They’re they have so many great tattoos, they have categories, they have body parts only is stuff and you can kind of get inspiration from there and see where other people have their tattoos.

And you can think it’s that a placement I would like on my body maybe, maybe not.

And of course, always consult your tattoo artist. Because they are the professionals and they know what they are doing hopefully. If not, then go to a different tattoo artist.