Even Sylvester Stallone, star of the many Rocky series of movies, enjoys the occasional tattoo. In this particular picture, he is showing off a portrait style tattoo with the image of his wife. Getting a portrait tattoo done is risky business. If you have seen some of the other portrait tattoos placed onto people, you would know why. Sly’s tattoo looks pretty good, however.
The problem with portrait tattoos is that portraits are hard to draw realistically on paper alone, let alone trying to draw one on someones skin while holding a heavy vibrating needle in the process. Lifelike portraits take a great deal of skill to draw and even if that artist is able to recreate one perfectly on paper, there’s no telling if they can recreate it again on the skin. That’s why choosing the perfect tattoo artist to do your portrait is very important. Make sure to check many samples of their portrait type tattoos and, if available, match them up against the pictures they used as a reference.
Animal portraits of a favorite pet or breed might be an easier choice, since many animals share similar traits and can be easily duplicated on paper and in ink on a canvas of human skin. Of course the artists work should still be looked at closely before deciding if you want them to do your pet’s portrait. There’s no sense getting a tattoo that looks like a cat when you were trying to get a portait of your bulldog placed on your shoulder.
Another way to accomplish an acceptable tattoo of a person would be to have it cartoonized. This way the picture does not have to look realistic or human, somewhat like a caricature. Cartoonized images are easier to do tattoos of, even to do images on paper first, and can be pleasing to the eye as well, without requiring the intense detail that a realistic portrait or picture requires.
Having an accurate image to work from is also important when getting a portrait done as a tattoo. If the picture is too small or not enough detail is present, it will be difficult for the artist to make a quality tattoo from that picture. Even more difficult would be to bring along the person of interest, especially if that person happened to be a baby. A lot of people like to have an image of their newborn baby placed somewhere on their body. A significant other might sit around for an hour or three while you have their face tattooed on your body but that might ruin the surprise, don’t you think? Just take a picture. They say pictures last longer anyway so you might as well have a long lasting tattoo made from a long lasting picture.
