A pleco tattoo

[Barbie]

So, in order to get my best friends oldest daughter to apply herself at school last year, I agreed to get a tattoo, if she managed a 3.0 gpa. If she managed a 3.5 I told her I would let her pick what it WAS, so thank goodness she wasn't THAT much of an over achiever . She did manage to get the 3.0, so I have been researching what I can bear to wear for the rest of my life.

So far, I am intending to have an L184 male, in a top down view, on the outside edge of the arch of my foot. Nose toward my toes. I intend to take a few pictures, but also to load up one of my young males and take him with me as a subject. This is not carved in stone, and I am still considering another pleco or design. I do realize that it will be painful on my foot, but I'm not terribly worried about that aspect. Ancistrus were my first love, and the L184 are something I searched a long time for.

I considered an L260, as the first "hard" pleco I spawned, but the odds that I can keep the lines crisp enough to not annoy me are just not good. H. zebra tends to look flat without really crisp white and it will have to be consistently touched up to achieve that, according to all I'm learning.

Any input?

Barbie

[saor alba]

Hi barbie ,see i thought about the L260 ages ago as well but i thought the lines wouldnt stand out very good over time,and as this is my favourite one i was a bit miffed it i wouldnt work out it May sound silly i also thought about getting the white uv ink done for the lines. remember im Scottish so i never see the sun so were always milk white coloured skinned over here

(What about the scarlet Pseu L25 or a leopard cactus L114 some nice colour going threw them, biggest advice i can give you is get it done by a good tatt artist so it works out well for you)

[krazyGeoff]

Nice promise and very honorable to carry it out.

If it was me then to start with, I would find a tattoo artist that specialises in doing portrates.
The reason I say this is otherwise you may end up with a charactature representation which is not necessarily what you are after.
From what I remember the fine lines are done with a deeper penetrating needle, so ask about that as they may not be able to do that sort of detail in the location you have specified.

Another consideration is what I think is called bleeding, and I don't mean real blood here, I mean the lines can bleed or become blurry, and I think this happens with a shallow penetration also.

My concern is that the L184 would just look like a black blob, with white dots that may get 'bled into', and you may end up with a black blob!

Also the inks they have today are a lot better than they had a while back.

I have some 'white ink', and it has never needed touching up after 10 years.

If you choose the other side of your foot, ie the top of the arch on the inside of your foot, there is a bit more meat there and it would be a good spot for a profile picture of a fish, and the shape of the foot would give it some depth. A H.zebra would go well there, and with the blue in the dorsal and tail fins it would look cool.
If you are ticklish though the foot may be bad?

I would like to say though that your avatar would come out really well as a flat tattoo.
L134 I think would make a good tattoo too. At the end of the day the fish that you really really want, may just not look that good as a tattoo.
Tats are however very personal, and the meaning is for you, not necessarily what other people see.

Best of luck.

[matti2uude]

I have a zebra tat on my lower leg. You need a side profile for the tat or it won't look right. I wanted to get a 260 but I was told the same thing about the bleeding.

[Firestorming]

I met a guy here who had a L204 tattoo on the top of his hand with the long filaments, it didnt look too bad.

[Jools]

I quite like the dorsal view idea.

Sturisoma

would also make a great tattoo IMHO. Shane talked about getting a

Panaque nigrolineatus

done to at some point in the past. Just don't get the latin names done too as they will probably change!

Jools

[Scleropages]

I was also thinking about getting a tattoo with a dorsal view of a royal and a blue eyed panaque laying side-by-side, head-to-tail. The blue eyes would really pop if done well.

I second the recommendation of trying to find a tattoo artist who specializes in portraits. Also, if you flip through artists portfolios, you will probably discover some who have already done accurate depictions of fish. There are some artists by me who have done very impressive coral reef scenes.

I have the scene from the cover of "Arowana World" tattoed on my right flank (lateral aspect of ribcage). Due to timing, I had to get it done all in one shot. I do NOT recommend doing it this way. Very painful. Usually they do the lines and then you go back in 10-14 days to do the shading/coloring. I highly recommend bringing a wooden dowel or spoon to bite onto--just in case.



I'll post a pic of my actual tattoo if I can dig one up on my computer.

[Taratron]

Way to go Barbie! Why not get an L200? The bright green would look nice!

I debate about getting a tattoo myself; my mom has four, but I donate blood so often that it would suck to stop.

[Richard B]

, but I donate blood so often that it would suck to stop.

Well said!

[apistomaster]

What about doing the "Electric Blue Zebra Pleco"