How Are Tattoos Art? Part I

Before I answer that question, I must first attempt to answer this one: What makes something art? In an article written by Lisa Mason, art can be comparable to beauty “in that it is distinguished by the eye of the beholder.” I find this to be completely true. It really all depends on each person’s perspective and how they interpret something. Tattoos are the same way; to one person, it mat be a permanent work of art. To someone else, it could just look like a waste of time, money, and nice skin. I interpret all tattoos (including text) to be art because it is a creation put into image form.
            Tattoo artists play a large role in tattoo designs obviously because they draw them onto your skin. The tattoo image could be the tattoo artist’s original work but it is more likely a flash design or composed of elements of a flash design.
            Flash is one of the best ways to demonstrate how artful tattoo images are. If you walk into any tattoo studio or browse through image searched online, literally thousands upon thousands of images can be found. Each individual image was created by an artist and then made available to the public. These images can range from very simple, small designs to large, intricate, and heavily detailed designs. Either way, they are creations and each individual can find different appreciations towards them.

An example of old school flash.

            The people that create these designs can be specifically flash artists or they can be anything from graphic designers to illustrators to completely untrained artists. Illustrations can generally be the best way to describe the type of art that tattoo imagery falls under, simply because they are generally hand drawn either on paper or on a computer.
            Access to tattoo designs is beoming easier that ever. Search the word “tattoo” onlince and you will get thousands of images. There are special websites such as http://www.tattoojohnny.com/ that are solely flash images that can be browsed and bought. Also, walk into any tattoo shop and there will be tons of flash on the wall like posters. Another fun way to search for ideas is to look through tattoos magazines such as Inked Magazine (http://www.inkedmag.com/)  and books that have images in them. There are so many unique designs that help you realize that the possibilities are endless (image-wise of course.)