May 1, 2013

Totoro Tattoo Concepts

I am such a chicken. I don't even have my ears pierced, and yet I have wanted a totoro tattoo for as long as I can remember knowing about them.

Getting a tattoo is kind of a taboo thing for my family. Pretty sure I would get a lot of misery for it, especially since what I want is so "childish". I can just hear the Really?! How old are you? from certain family members...

But, I have a lot of friends with them, and my husband even has one. I have heard a lot of advice too, most of it kind of contradictory. The one piece of advice that I seems to have stuck in my head is that you shouldn't get one unless you have wanted it for at least a year. I guess that is to ensure that your tastes have not changed drastically. (Saw a guy with a Mitt Romney logo tattooed on his head on a TV show the other night.) I guess it might also prevent things like getting a tattoo of someone's name who you are dating, but might not eventually be. I don't have that specific problem... I have wanted it for at least a year now. Easily.

Personally I feel like it would sum up a lot about me. I like art, folklore and myths, make believe, childish things, cartoons, anime, Japan, drawing, coloring, good design, logos, etc. Plus, I can't look at one without smiling... and a reminder to smile constantly being on me might be a good thing, since I don't very often.

There are a lot of decisions to make though. Black and white? That might hurt less since it would be in theory faster. Might also stand out less, draw less attention, plus then it looks like a drawing. Color? If I ever got this done, might as well go whole hog and get the coolest thing. I love the color blue and the totoro I am leaning towards, the Chu Totoro, is blue. Wouldn't he be cute peeking up over the side of my ballet flats? Smiling? Contemplative? Leaf or no? Where to put it? Has to be somewhere I can see it or that defeats the seeing to smile purpose, and if I am going to go through it I want to look at it without a mirror.

Plus I have seen some bad tattoos... I would also need to find an artist with excellent line work, and preferably someone who also loves Ghibli so I know they would try hard to do it right.

Permanence is scary. Maybe I will try sharpie for now.

UPDATE: No I still have not gotten it yet... but I think I've gotten to what I really want for now, by simply changing a small detail. The kind of leaf. Now it is a Gingko leaf. Like my pup. I think it is too big now though so maybe I will have the leaf bend down behind totoro, give it some depth...