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Young and Covered in Art

My Story

By Izzy GallowayPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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matching father and daughter tattoos

Ever since I was young, I've loved art and I consider myself an artist. I have always been mesmerized by tattoos and couldn't wait to cover my body in them.

My dad has a few tattoos and likes them. My mum is different. She likes some tattoos but I'm never sure if she likes mine or my dad's. The one thing that has always been a rule is "wait until you're 18!" but, it's me, Izzy Galloway, who likes to do the opposite of whatever I'm told, which brings me to my first ever tattoo, a couple of months before I turned 18. I couldn't wait and I'd recently learnt about stick and poke tattoos and thought, "hey, that can't be too hard right?" So there I was sat in my study with an old sewing needle taped to a pencil and dipped in some black Indian ink, stabbing at my thigh repeatedly. My first ever tattoo was a planet, Saturn like. It has no bold, clear lines, it is just a case of small blobs that look vaguely like a cartoon Saturn. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty shit. However, I will never cover it up because that was my first tattoo ever and I love it in all its shittiness. I went a bit crazy and did quite a few more tattoos around my body, 7 in total. My personal favourite is the word "HEAL" on my forearm. However, it never healed properly and now just looks like some random dots but the irony of it makes me laugh and I have no wish to cover it up.

My first ever professional tattoo was done on the day of my 18th, as was my second ever professional tattoo and I haven't stopped since. I've been to 6 different tattooists, all with different styles and skills, and although I have my favorite tattooists out of them, I am still searching round collecting more and more artwork that I admire.

I was the first one out of my friends to get tattoos and it instantly made me feel cooler and more confident. I was finally starting to express myself in the most permanent way I could think of and I will continue to collect beautiful art upon my body until the day I die.

Anyway, here are some things I have learnt from being young with a number of tattoos:

1. If not one single person in your family makes it obvious that they are absolutelyappalled by the black lines on your skin then damn, ain't you lucky! However, my words to that would be, "why do they care so much?" It is your body, your skin suite, and it has no effect on the lives of those around you (with the one exception of those dickheads who get racist or homophobic etc tattoos thinking it's funny—it's not and you should really question yourself). And to the people that pipe up about "but how will you get respectable jobs?" my personal answer is, the only companies worth my time and effort are those that do not discriminate against people with body art. I have no wish to be hired by a company that isn't happy with my looks. A tattoo does not make me any less hard-working.

2. Be prepared for everyone to just grab your arm and start prodding your fresh, open-wound and asking if it hurts. Surprisingly, yes, having your skin stabbed multiple times with a bunch of sharp needles does hurt and I would be very grateful if you could take your grubby fingers off my skin. Be careful and try to stop people from doing that, and clean your fresh tattoos regularly!

3. People will always be asking you about the meaning of your tattoos, why you got them. I like this as there is no one I like to talk more about than myself. But also be warned for people to be offended in some degree if you don't have a massive story about how you have always felt like a butterfly at heart and that is why you have one tattooed upon your skin. It is perfectly ok to not have a long, heart-felt story as to why you have something tattooed, maybe you just simply like butterflies. A lot of my tattoos do have great meaning to them, such as the matching one I have with my Dad and my best friends, which are a bond between the people I love most in my life. However some don't have any sort of symbolic meaning but they are a story on my skin of that particular time, or as I say, I just quite liked the idea of getting a bloody butterfly tattoo.

4. Being told to think long and hard about the tattoos you are going to get as, news flash, they are very permanent. It's up to you how carefully you think about your future tattoos, maybe it's something you've thought and planned out in many different designs for months, or maybe it was something you decided on 10 minutes before it was permanently etched onto your body—either is fine. So long as you are happy and confident, go ahead.

5. D.I.Y tattoos. As I mentioned, I have a few tattoos I did myself and believe me, it is not easy. I am all for doing them yourself if you want to, but just remember, it is very unlikely that you will instantly be creating amazing pieces of artwork with flowing lines and beautiful shading. So be prepared to use your body as a sort of trial and error notepad if you are going to go down the route of D.I.Y tattooing.

6. This one was unexpected for me, as the idea of sometimes being almost nervous to show my tattoos never occurred to me, but it has happened. Although I do not regret a single tattoo and 99% of the time I am confident as hell with my tattoos, there has been the odd occasion where I haven't. This happened when I got my first noticeable tattoo, I felt nervous to have it on show. Maybe it's because I knew people would stare at me and some days being stared at by everyone isn't the funnest experience. The feeling quickly goes away when I catch myself in a mirror and think "damn! I look cool," but hey, a tattoo can be quite a big thing and change the way you look which is always a bit nerve-wracking. Just remember, people are only starting at you because they are interested in your tattoo, probably not because you have something stuck in your teeth.

So, my personal experience with tattoos has been overall very enjoyable. I have made new friends through being tattooed and discussing tattoos, as well as many amazing memories. Yes there have been the odd negative moments when people have told me I am too young and I will regret this when I'm older, but my response to that is this: Pipe down and concentrate on yourself—I'm going to be a cool as hell grandma.

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About the Creator

Izzy Galloway

20 year old earth tenant trying to find what it is I’m looking for.

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