Fish Tattoo?

[katiev]

In mid to late April, I'll be driving up to Portland, Oregon to get a tattoo from a friend's husband. Besides the costs associated with a four-hour drive and couple of day stay, it will be free. I would like to get a fish tattooed on my calf. So my question for you is:
What would you consider to be the most beautiful saltwater fish? Or, I suppose, a better way to put it would be, "What fish would you consider to be the epitomy of a saltwater fish?"
Any input appreciated. I would like this tattoo to firmly convey "ocean/saltwater," even if the average person can't identify the fish by name. My thoughts: blue hippo tang, percula clownfish, radiata lionfish, humu humu...

 

[babyb]

epiomy of swf i would say a clown fish, i think i would get a really nice lion with awsome fanning fins

 

[ruaround]

Moorish Idol... or a V lion...

 

[katiev]

...But I also don't want to convey "Nemo." Which with the clown and hippo, might be a problem. The only problem with the lion is the white -- white ink doesn't turn up well/last long on skin, so would have to be a very milky blue color instead.
Like the moorish idol suggestion.
Thanks much for the quick response.

 

[babyb]

morish idol has more white than a lion, i have seen a few flame angels that looked really good because the bright orange

 

[rbaldino]

Originally Posted by katiev
...But I also don't want to convey "Nemo." Which with the clown and hippo, might be a problem. The only problem with the lion is the white -- white ink doesn't turn up well/last long on skin, so would have to be a very milky blue color instead.
Like the moorish idol suggestion.
Thanks much for the quick response.
Actually, they do a lot better with white these days. I have one that's over five years old and the white still looks fine.
I know you said you weren't crazy about a clown, but you know nothing says saltwater like a clown. Everyone knows what it is, even if they don't really know what it is. My other suggestions would be a shark of some kind, or maybe a manta ray. They're both very iconic, and wouldn't be too difficult to do.

 

[k-rok]

Besides the clownfish, the obvious answer to me would have to be the adult Emporer Angel. When I think of beautiful saltwater fish I think of the Emporer.

 

[earlybird]

How about a marlin tatoo? When I catch a grander blue I'll probably get one. Hands down the most beautiful fish in the ocean in my book.

 

[nu2salt]

Why Do Just One? Why Not Do A Whole Back Piece Of A Reef And You Can Add All Kinds Of Fish. Of Course That Is Just Me Talking.
I Say The Bigger The Better Since I Have Over 50 Tats Of My Own
And I Have Been Contemplating Doing A Big Back Piece Of My Own.
Of Course I Guess I Just Like The Pain...lol

 

[agent-x]

I vote for Moorish Idol, but I also have 7 of them Tattooed on my arm. Also, the white is no problem. I have plenty of white from my elbow to my wrist and it looks fine. I will say this, different people react differently to white ink. some people get a small rash while the white heals and some people are fine. Any persons skin can reject the ink. Blue is actually the hardest color to put in the skin for some reason and 90 percent of my arm is blue, so it just goes to show different people are effected in different ways.

 

[katiev]

Thanks for the suggestions. The person doing the tattoo is an excellent artist, but he's going to Portland to learn to tattoo. So I'm also thinking it can't be too, too complex, i.e. full back piece. I'll be going to my regular artist for that. But maybe if he does an awesome job, in the future I'll turn the calf tattoo into a half sleeve sort of thing.
I've seen some pretty nice-looking white tattoos (look up BMEzine and check out Shannon Larratt's forehead tattoos [website not all ages appropriate]), but I'm still a little wary. I'm extremely pale, so I don't know how that would turn out...?
Agent, I'd like to see your sleeve. Is it saltwater-themed? Sounds cool.

 

[johnbob]

Queen Trigger

 

[saltn00b]

i think there are a lot of choices for saltwater fish, and many of them evoke a certain attitude and ambience with their own characteristics. these should be chosen based on an animal that you feel represents you and your lifestyle in some way. you have tropical reef fish, predatorial aggressive fish, bottom dwellers, ambush predators, deep sea dwellers, sharks, ocean going fish, squids, octopi, cuddlefish, whales, Sea turtles, corals, sea snakes, sea horses, flying fish, sailfish, sunfish and the list goes on and on!

 

[agent-x]

Originally Posted by katiev
Thanks for the suggestions. The person doing the tattoo is an excellent artist, but he's going to Portland to learn to tattoo. So I'm also thinking it can't be too, too complex, i.e. full back piece. I'll be going to my regular artist for that. But maybe if he does an awesome job, in the future I'll turn the calf tattoo into a half sleeve sort of thing.
I've seen some pretty nice-looking white tattoos (look up BMEzine and check out Shannon Larratt's forehead tattoos [website not all ages appropriate]), but I'm still a little wary. I'm extremely pale, so I don't know how that would turn out...?
Agent, I'd like to see your sleeve. Is it saltwater-themed? Sounds cool.
the full sleve isn't done just the lower 5/8 we are doing the shoulder this Friday. this a quick one I took myself terrible quality, I'll get some better ones up soon. the picture doesn't do it justice.

 

[30-xtra high]

if you're extremely pale, just don't tatoo the white parts, it'll look more natural in a way., and just have an outline, and the rest of the colors.

 

[katiev]

Agent, that is way awesome. I like that the moorish idols have a lot of character.
I'm leaning towards a radiata lionfish. I think I'll ask him to draw up a couple different fish: the lion, emperor angel, moorish idol, and a few others to see what he comes up with. The more I think about the white ink thing, the better I feel about it. All the fish I'm interested in have a substantial amount of white to them. I've been told and read that white ink is better suited being done by an experienced artist -- I'm going to consider taking 30's suggestion and leave the white parts my natural skin color. If it doesn't turn out the way I like, I'll have my regular artist fill it in and do touch-ups.
And I've already discussed this with him -- no hard feelings for letting a friend tattoo me and slightly deviating in allegiance.

 

[demartini]

a puffed out puffer would be awesome!

 

[30-xtra high]

i was tihkin about this before i went to bed, don't know why, but i was wondering what i'd do, and i think i'd do a royal gramma.

 

[agent-x]

most any fish with some color will look good in a tattoo, at least in my opinion. I don't recall seeing any fish tattoos (that were done by a good artist) that I didn't like.

 

[gypsana]

Depends on how good of a tattoo artist he is. Some are better with colors than others. I may get a mandarin goby eventually. I think they are elegant and beautiful. I might put it by my devil mermaid