Sketch for my first tat, feedback?

yeah but the general shape of those make the picture. its not the intricacy that does it. with the OP's, its just gonna look like a big jumble of squiggles, then after 5 minutes youll be like "ohhhh its roots"

Ok, I guess I understand.

Speaking of which, I kinda want to get a dragon tattoo (traditional asian one) on my upper left arm.

i would never put that on myslef its ugly and stupid and the meaning is stupid to

is it supposed to be like EP?

if your a guy and you have a flower tat the only flower acceptable is this

sorry for partying !

i laughed....seriously though, it could be really cool. Some people wont get it, but they dont need to. Tattoo is for you and seems like you have waited plenty with the same idea to know you really want it.

eric pollards gonna sue you.

You should tattoo 4:20 on your wrist instead and then come back and post a picture of it~

Shading can change this though, sick design though man! Yeah just agree with the other people get the flower bigger and make it look real sick, and maybe less tangles and roots?? Just atm the roots look a bit over powering... Sick position for it too!

you shouldn't get a tatoo you designed. if you redraw it a couple times you ll find ways to make it better but you ll be stucked with the old shitty design.

looks sick dude and love the idea behind it. i have a couple tattoos of my own i will have to say they are awesome they grow with you and in the end they mean something totally different they what they started to (which is a good thing). My best advice is to do a lot of research on a tattoo artist and even get multiple artist to draw your design out get the best look then get it done. and to all the haters out there tattoo (i believe) are completely 100% personal and to make a bad remark about one is to actually terrible its not your opinion at all.

i see you representing for the hippopotamuses out here on NS, well done sir

The best advice in this thread so far.

no no, hes the hiphopopotamus

thats siick man awesome that you have a meaning to it!

although i do agree with everyone on the fact that the flower should mayb be a little bigger and or exotic? haha cool shit

I'm not claiming to be a super knowledgeable about tattoos by any means, but I have been dating a tattooist for six months and therefore I've had a lot of conversations about good and bad tattoos, and here's my two cents... I'm not bashing you, I'm giving you my honest criticism.

I like the concept. The idea that things go much deeper and often have much more to them than they first appear to is very cool. However, I think the actual tattoo is bad, and I think eventually you'd regret it. First of all, from an artistic standpoint, it's EXTREMELY top heavy and simply wouldn't look good on a person. You could possibly modify it, but I think that your idea in general is gonna be very hard to make an aesthetically pleasing tattoo out of. Some designs look great on paper, and suck on skin.

Secondly, I know it's just a sketch, but it takes up a lot of space for something that is very basic. You could do a lot more with the flower, and the roots... I donno, whether or not you really want to cover that much of your body with bland roots is really what I'm getting at.

Third, it is a flower... sans roots, would you get a flower inked on to your shoulder? Think about it... As for people saying it will go to hell real fast are right to some extent, but there are a lot of tattoos that have a much greater risk for that. You shouldn't factor this into your decision at all.

Other things to consider...
Getting a tattoo that has meaning to you is overrated. You shouldn't base your decision as to what tattoo you get on whether or not it means something to you unless it REALLY means something to you. Although you do have a cool concept there, it's far from unique or inspired. In fact, it's an idea that's been drilled into our heads constantly from the first day kindergarten. "Don't judge a book by its cover", yadda yadda. When I say get something that REALLY means something to you, I mean like a memorial for a friend who died. Or a personal motto that no one else really shares. Not a glorified version of "everybody's special", whether or not it is an ideal you hold dear. You should get a tattoo because it's fucking badass. You should get a tattoo so that when you're 85 and some nurse is wiping your ass, she'll see it and think "Oh! This guy used to have some youthful energy back in his day. That's really cool". You should get something that looks fucking rad.

Don't go to the super popular tattoo parlor, even if they do supposedly have "the best tattooist". Those tattoo shops with flash everywhere, premade bullshit tattoos, that kinda thing, are generally manned by burnt out artists who are doing it for the money. Tattooing is a job, but it's also a passion. A tattoo is very intimate, and it shouldn't be reduced to dollars and cents. If your tattooist is pushy, or says he'll come back to you with a drawing but won't sit down with you, or gets upset when you don't like what he came up with, etc., he really doesn't care what your tattoo looks like. He just wants money and a picture for his portfolio. Go to a place where someone is gonna sit down, listen to your ideas, and craft something that BOTH of you are proud of. Something unique and awesome.

Good luck man. I'm sure you'll come up with something rad. If you live near Burlington give me a shout and I'll hook you up with someone who will sit down with you for 3-4 hours designing something really fucking awesome. She'll give you a great price too. Hope it works out for ya either way.