Often we don't sit down to think of what our next tattoo will be, but instead we come across an image or idea and just know that's what we're getting next. There's a lot to think about before you finalize you decision though, because this tattoo is meant to be a part of you for the rest of your life.

First, make sure this isn't just an idea that you like now, but will enjoy forever. When most people look back at their high school yearbook quote, they're embarrassed that they ever thought that was cool. You don't want that with a forearm tattoo.

There are two ways of getting an image to put on you for life. One is finding a pre-existing drawing or tattoo from the internet or a magazine or flash, and the other is having you or someone else design something original just for you.

Flash is the most common choice of pre-existing tattoos, which is the reason it might not be the choice for you. Although it is very easy to find a likable design from flash on the wall in a tattoo shop or on the internet, you need to realize what flash is before you can make that decision. Flash is basic tattoo designs that shops buy from artists to hang on the walls and give customers something to pick from. Tattoo shops make much more money when they are tattooing rather than spending time drawing, so they are encouraging their customers to pick something already drawn. The problem is that the page of flash you're choosing from could be in 300 shops across the country or the world. That shows that thousands of tattoo customers are viewing those exact images every day. The likelihood that a few hundred people have the exact image you are picking is very high. Tattoos should not be mass produced like clothes, and you should never have to meet someone with the same tattoo. You might want to make this permanent addition to your body a little more customized to just you. 

With the other pre-existing images, you need to be careful. If you choose to get a tattoo that is already on someone else, you need to realize that they might not appreciate that. They might have put their tattoo on the internet to show off the skill and art that went into making it, and wasn't thinking someone would steal it. If you are serious about wanting that image, but want a few details changed in order to make it more suited to you, bring in the picture to your tattoo artist, and they should be most willing to help you with the changes. Then the tattoo is unique to you.

Some tattoos are of a specific painting or other famous art, and this is considered a tribute to that art piece and not copying it. There have been some beautiful renditions of Picasso paintings as back pieces and other tributes that obviously don't need anyone's permission, though if it's a contemporary artist whose work you're recreating, you could always politely ask. Most artists would be flattered and ask that you send them a picture of the completed tattoo.  The best way to ensure that a tattoo is unique to you and you alone is to have it designed especially for you by an artist. You can ask your tattoo artist to do this for you if you like their style of drawing, and this usually works out really well. A really talented tattoo artist will enjoy doing the tattoo much more if it's their own artwork.

Unfortunately, many tattoo artists don't want to spend the time drawing for you, and might pressure you into getting something that falls beneath your expectations. Or they might not have the creativity to design what you had in mind. In cases like these, it is best to have a design all set to bring to your tattoo artist. This way you can be very sure it is exactly what you want and not be persuaded to pick something you didn't have any time to consider. Other than personal artist friends, there are only a few places that provide this kind of service.

The internet is littered with examples of people famous or otherwise that have tattoos of loved ones,ex-girlfriends and wrongly translated words and names in foreign languages.

Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic and Hebrew are among some of the most popular choices for translations due to their unique appearance and do offer an asthetic alternative to plain english.

A tattoo of a name is a dangerous game, possibly children would always be a safe bet, however a name of your wife/husband or partner could always end up being a painful reminder of a past relationship. Yes you love them now but things change, often more easily than tattoos change. You do not want to go back to your tattooist for a cover-up of a past love so think long and hard before going down this road.

Words,names and short phrase translations are also very common. Again this is dangerous if you do not do your homework. Names are usually transliterated, meaning that the name pronunciation is written in a foreign language, this is suitable if there is no direct translation into the chosen language.

Whether it be words,names or a short phrase it would be wise to avoid free online programs that cannot capture the essence of your desired text.

For names, pronunciation has to be done by a human, more than this they need to have a very good understanding of the original language especially if it is English.

How would a computer know how to pronounce Mary?
It doesnt, it could pronounced it ma-ry as in "marry me" when it should really be mae-ray. A human translator who's mother tongue being the destination language really needs a superb grasp of English language in this case.

For words and phrases that capture a particular feeling often the destination language may have similar suitable phrases that a human translator could suggest, it can often vary dependant on whether the person is male of female and sometimes it is almost impossible to translate certain requests.

Remember that other languages do not usually share our A-Z alphabet so initials may be impossible, Chinese for example does not have an alphabet more so a system of symbols and strokes.

Almost no matter what you have tattooed on your body, as long as it’s not badly scarred or just solid black, you can cover it up. Not every tattoo artist is at the same skill level for cover up work, though, so research your artist well before you choose one. There are many common misunderstandings about cover up work that have people keeping old junky tattoos that they dislike even when they don’t have to. There’s two types of cover ups, the first is redoing an old tattoo to make it look new again, and the other is completely changing what you originally had with a new image or design.

When you have an old, faded tattoo, even if it was solid black, you can make it look as if it was just done and perfect. A nice sharp outline  will give any tattoo new life, and help clean up any blurring of the old outline into the surrounding skin. The old faded black can be redone with black on top of it, and depending on how faded it is, color can be a good way to add more life. Color can cover black, despite the common myths that nothing but more black will. Sometimes giving the redone tattoo a colored background to really make it stand out also adds to the new look.

If you need to get a tattoo covered, as many people unfortunately do, it can be done. The main guidelines to changing a tattoo from one design to another are:

1. You need to make the new tattoo at least 50% larger than the old one.
2. You need to change the focal point of the new tattoo away from the old focal point.
3. You need to be working on a tattoo that is fully healed and not badly scarred.

These guidelines give the new tattoo artist room to trick the viewers eye into looking at a new focal point, and taking their eye away from certain points of the old tattoo that need to be covered. If your first tattoo has large amount of dark shading, a new bright focal point will be made to attract attention there. This is why making the tattoo a bit bigger is usually a must. As stated earlier, color can cover black in certain situations, and this can help so much when trying to give dimension to a new tattoo.

Do remember that this new tattoo might take more than one sit in order to be finished. Some cover ups need to be done in layers, in order to fully blend the ink of the new one into the skin and ink of the old. It is also crucial to make sure you choose a design/image this time that you can live with for life, as a second cover up is almost impossible. That is another reason why the new artist should be chosen carefully.