Hawaiian Tattoo Design

Hawaiian Tattoo Design: Folklore in Hawaii in modern times is a mixture of various aspects of Hawaiian mythology and various urban legends that have been passed on regarding various places in the Hawaiian islands. The following is a partial list of some of these legends. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples.

Browse Through hundreds Of Gorgeous Hawaiian Tattoo Design Online And Find Your Dream Tattoo That You Can Print Out And Bring To Your Favorite Tattoo Artist! Article: Looking for Hawaiian arm tattoos?

One of the biggest and hottest growing trends in the art of tattoo design is Hawaiian arm or leg band tattoos. As this trend goes a lot of people think to themselves, well of course." At least that is what I said to myself at first. You can hardly drive more then 10 minutes on the freeway in southern California where I am from and not see a big SUV like a Lincoln Navigator or a Cadillac Escalade and not see a Hawaiian sticker. Things with flowers designs, or turtles, dolphins. Ya see it started off with the sticker and then the car seat covers with hibiscus flowers everywhere and it just grew from there.

This trend of Hawaiian design has then met it's match with the whole tribal tattoo movement. Tribal tattoos have been the hottest thing in the tattoo world since sliced bread or the old school WWII era Hula dancer. You see these influences have been all around us for a long time my grandpa even has one of those Hula Girls tattoos still. Granted it is a little saggy and faded now but he still has one on his forearm nonetheless.

So the whole tribal tattoo and the growth in interest for Hawaiian designs have combined to make a hot and growing market for Hawaiian tattoos. This is really an up and coming thing and it not huge yet. However many tattoo artists are spotting the trend and jumping on it already.

Of course there is a lot of controversy on this subject also like anything. If you look on the internet there is a controversy about getting Kanji and Japanese Tattoos also. Anytime you try and take the designs of a culture and do not depict them accurately it creates a sense of bastardization or what I call the "Disney Effect" towards the culture. I mean how would you feel if you were in China and someone said, oh you should try this hot new restaurant out it serves this great food that is really American. They have fried chicken and apple pie that is the best." Well, at first you would be excited right? Sure it would be nice for a good home cooked meal if you have been out of the US for a long time. However once you get there you see the place has really tacky and awful reproductions of 50's art and the all the food tastes kind of strange. It would probably bee kind of close or resemble what you were thinking of but it would be missing something or a few key ingredients. I bet this would leave you feeling a little sad and like your culture was not totally understood.

Well, I can not speak for you and maybe you will feel different but I was pretty sad when after staying in Japan for 3 months I was invited to a 1950's classic hamburger joint. When we got there it was Elvis with a funny accent playing on the jukebox and when my hamburger came it had a fried egg on top of it with teriyaki sauce. WOW what a surprise that was for me. I kind of felt weird about being in the place that had tried to recreate something from my own culture.

So, the same controversy rolls on in the world of tattoos. Anytime you get a tattoo design from another culture just make sure you go with a professional. Do not have your friend trace out some Kanji in a book for a tattoo and don't go and rip some design of the internet because it states that it is Hawaiian. Go to a real custom tattoo designer and have them do the research and come up with some designs. After all this is going to be on your body for the rest of your life and since Hawaiian arm band tattoos and leg tattoos are typically big it will be a significant investment in pain, time and money to get the thing done. So you should consult with a professional and get top notch work done.

About the Author
I am the owner of www.designmytattoos.com. Stop on by and have tattoos artist bid on your own custom designed Hawaiian arm tattoo or other custom tattoos!  Written by: Chris

The Hawaiian Tattoo : Customer Review: A very thorough research for a fairly small volume. - I read my copy of this book I special ordered from my local library prior to ordering it here to buy. Having lived in Hawaii 23 years I found it surprisingly thorough for so short a book. I especially liked the depth the author went to to express the deep religious or other significance certain designs held. I did a search under the author's name and discovered he has many of the designs of which he speaks on his own body, he can speak with first hand authority as to their history or design. He also makes clear the undifinitive nature of Hawaiian tattoos, not all were "sacred" or "royal" and makes clear the transition, or perhaps contamination which occured post white-man contact with missionaries and others. Good, simple illustrations offer the reader easily copied designs to work with in customizing their own design or duplicating one shown. I highly reccommend this to anyone researching Hawaiian tattoo's, the book is very difficult to find outside the state.

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