Choosing a tattoo placement you will still like in ten years

Most people arrive with the design settled and the placement vague. It is usually the wrong way round. The design can be adjusted almost infinitely. The placement decides how the tattoo ages, how it reads on your body when you move, and whether you are still happy with it a decade from now.

Skin that moves a lot ages the work faster. Hands, fingers, feet, the inside of the wrist, the crook of the elbow. These areas regenerate quickly and get used constantly, so fine detail softens sooner and touch-ups come round more often. That is not a reason to avoid them. It is a reason to design for them, with heavier line weight, fewer tight internal details and more space between elements.

Curves are not obstacles, they are the point. A piece drawn flat on paper and then applied to a forearm will fight the arm. A piece drawn for that forearm will follow the muscle and look like it grew there. This is most of what a design chat is for, because Emily draws to your body rather than to a template.

Think about what you will wear. Not to hide it, to frame it. A piece that stops exactly where a t-shirt sleeve falls will read as an accident forever. Moving it three centimetres solves it permanently.

Some placements are simply harder to sit through than others. Ribs, sternum, spine and hands are thin skin over bone and read higher on any pain chart. Outer thigh, forearm and calf have more padding and sit lower. Neither should decide the piece on its own, but it is worth knowing before you book a long session.

If you are between two placements, bring both to the free design chat. It is easier to decide with the stencil on than in your head.