1st tattoo advice - V8 engine

cantdecide

I was thinking about getting my first tattoo.

I'm a massive car head and I was thinking about kind of a technical view of a V8 engine. Something similar to the drawing shown. I like the idea of the arrows and text, all in black and white.

I really don't know what is and isn't possible though. Would it have to be a big size?

Any thoughts/ opinions appreciated.

itsonlywords

cantdecide wrote: »

I was thinking about getting my first tattoo.

I'm a massive car head and I was thinking about kind of a technical view of a V8 engine. Something similar to the drawing shown. I like the idea of the arrows and text, all in black and white.

I really don't know what is and isn't possible though. Would it have to be a big size?

Any thoughts/ opinions appreciated.

If you are only thinking of it, DON'T. I had one done 30 years ago and regretted it ever since. I am having it removed surgically at a lot more cost than to put it on. Every summer I get swelling on the tattoo. Do yourself a favour and dont get it

tuxy

itsonlywords wrote: »

If you are only thinking of it, DON'T. I had one done 30 years ago and regretted it ever since. I am having it removed surgically at a lot more cost than to put it on. Every summer I get swelling on the tattoo. Do yourself a favour and dont get it

I take it this advice only applies to a V8 tatoo and a straight 6 would be ok?

jenizzle

hokaaay!

I think it'd make a pretty nice piece of work, if the right artist could be found for it.

My only concern is the writing - the text would need to be considerably bigger for it not to blur into mush after time. But the text shouldn't overrule the machine itself either (ie. big text taking away from the engine itself). Would you really want the text there? If you did prefer it there, then the whole piece would have to increase in size quite a bit methinks.

cantdecide

tuxy wrote: »

I take it this advice only applies to a V8 tatoo and a straight 6 would be ok?

As long as it's not that BMW inline 6- they had that nikosil issue. That could definitely be a health hazard...

LD 50

Have you thought about the specific car from which the design will come from? Rather than a random engine, pick one from a car that you really like.

cantdecide

jenizzle wrote: »

My only concern is the writing - the text would need to be considerably bigger for it not to blur into mush after time

Would it be awful if the text was actually blurry? NO real shading, just outlines?? Squint a little...

LD 50 wrote: »

Have you thought about the specific car from which the design will come from? Rather than a random engine, pick one from a car that you really like.

I thought about that and it would be a V8 from Audi but the particular engine I would choose would normally be covered in plastic:( My feeling is that there is and always will be something special about the V8 format rather than an affinity with a particular brand or car. American muscle cars have the prettiest V8s IMO even though I have no great love of muscle cars...

tony 2 tone

tuxy wrote: »

I take it this advice only applies to a V8 tatoo and a straight 6 would be ok?

Go for a flat four to be safe.

cantdecide

tony 2 tone wrote: »

Go for a flat four to be safe.

Air-cooled I hope you mean

Dirk Gently

toying with the idea myself with a v twin motorcycle engine. I've decided against tech specs though and am leaning more towards various parts in a bio mechanical type design.

some food for thought below........

One of the reasons why I moved away from tech drawings is because I don't think it lends itself very well to a good looking tattoo, at least not the designs I'd be using. Haven't seen many to be honest, I'm just assuming it wont look great. Some v twin tatts I have seen range from poor to average, but they haven't been technical drawings. I've started to look at this kind of mechanical tattooing and trying to come up with something which incorporates engine parts and other components such as ignition barrel / petrol cap and even speedo / dash display on a particular model of bike.

It's definitely more mechanical than bio-mechanical but certain components can blend into biology fairly handy, e.g wiring / veins , springs / tendons etc. If I ever come up with something I'm happy with it certainly wont be an intact scaled reproduction of a working drawing, more a collection of random parts that work well together but not necessarily in any particular coherent order. (you wont be able build a bike from looking at my tatt :pac: )