I’ve been looking for tattoos that improve our look as a body builder.
But everything I see hides the muscle definition, covers any striations
Here’s my example. Sorry for the small picture.
Just look at the right tat covering the delts vs the left delts.
OMG if this was me I would pay big bucks to remove that tat.
If you have a tat you feel makes some part of your body better looking and I mean bigger more defined please share it.
I think you can get away with it if it’s small, isn’t densily colored and doesn’t cover the entire muscle otherwise you get what you see in your example. Makes it look both smaller and less defined.
@The_Mighty_Stu has probably seen his fair share of favourable/disaster tattoos on display.
Any reason you put this in the Off-Topic forum instead of in the Bodybuilding forum?
I have a bunch of Japanese style tats on my upper arms and shoulder. I wouldn’t be super concerned about it covering muscle. Nobody is going to look at a person who is clearly in shape and say “wow that guy is built except for his delts”.
I think Rich Piana was going for adding pop to his muscles with his tattoo selection. See what he did with the delt here.
Abs seem helped by his ink too.
I think the darkness on the sides hides his front to back thickness.
I should start with a disclaimer. When I graduated high school (1966) there was absolutely zero peer pressure to get any tattoo(s). So my comments are based from my values that were cemented then concerning tattoos.
God gave me a blank canvas. I undertook the task of creating as majestic piece of art that I could attain. I put on as much muscle as I could. And in stages (contests) I took the chisel in hand and carved as much detail onto the canvas that I could. Again and again I went through that process, contest after contest. It never occurred to me to put ink on my canvas
I agree. Even his cape over his delts makes them pop.
Using the outline of the actual muscle seems to help define them.
Good find thanks
I’ve seen guys with tattoos Win shows and I’ve seen guys with tattoos lose shows… it’s just one of many variables.
My personal opinion is that if you’re gonna get onstage and want your conditioning and muscle separation as visible as possible to the judges as well as the audience, you might want to reconsider getting inked.
I see plenty of fitness women with tats that are so distractingly in your face that contest placing aside, I can’t look at anything else but the grayish/greenish smudge that is clearly screaming for attention in whatever pic they’ve posted that day.
S
When I go to a big public event, I look at people’s ink. 90% is terrible. 5% is passable, and 5% is good. What makes me think that I would have the top 5% of ink. The 90% probably thought their Tasmanian Devil tattoo was rad. I guess what I am saying is that I think there is a high probability of getting bad tattoos.
Most shows I’ve seen the contestants cover their tattoos with tanning spray.
I have no interest in contests I would not mind a few tats on my delts, maybe half sleeves.
But they would need to accentuate my work in the gym not hide it. Pizza already does enough hiding.
I have a few in black and grey (you can see some of them in my log) and don’t think they take away from my look.
Also, it’s a matter of do you really want that design or not? That’s more important to me as the ink will for sure outlast my muscle as I get much older.
@mnben87 Good looking tattoos are of course subjective but it’s easy to see the people who had their friends tattoo them in the garage versus a professional. There are now a lot of amazing tattoo artists out there who look like they can paint with that needle. Biggest thing with tattoos is to never cheap out.
I don’t know if any of you out there are video gamers and remember Borderlands?
They had an art style called heavy black lining.
Here are a couple concept ideas I had for bodybuilders tats. Nothing specific and of course nothing on the face.
The heavy black lines of your body’s muscle contours, not necessarily the over-blown abs could be interesting. The 3 delts, U shape of the tri’s, outline the biceps, Outline the delts some of the traps. All could look pretty cool. Cos-Play artists are already doing this with makeup. That last picture is a real girl in her cos=play makeup and props.
Borderlands series is my favorite game series.
I like the style but don’t think that would translate well to actual ink in skin.
If you have some ideas I would go talk to an artist in the area and tell them you are looking for designs that would accentuate the natural shadows.
Go to lots of shops and look at all the artists books before deciding on one.
Here are some real Borderlands heavy black line tattoos. No muscle outlines like Kreig has. But the heavy black line does make the tat pop.
I am only in brain storming mode right now. No where near ready to walk into a shop.
I guess don’t trust an engineer on art choices…lol
HaHa I’m a retired aerospace engineer. I trust you and you said it yourself. “Good looking tattoos are of course subjective”
Yeah you’re best bet is really just to go talk to an artist. If you call up a shop you can usually schedule a free consultation.
Be prepared to put down a deposit in cash though to reserve your appointment if you decide to move forward.
I have both arms done (well tattooed, not finished). I’d give anything to go back in time and not get them done. They hide definition and vascularity very well.
Very unique that would take a very talented artist to do right. My calves are the best part of my legs due to 20+ years of mtn biking in the Rockies. There are only two tats I want on my legs. You probably have to be a mtn biker to understand this. 1) Grease marks big sprocket inside the right calf. 2) Left calf, disc brake rotor burn.
A couple more muscle heavy line art outlining.
I grew up with one of these and my shins beat to a pulp from pedal slipping! 
Good times!
Not tattoos, but I have plenty of slag embedded in my wrists, palms and shins from riding in the local slag dumps way back when. That was more BMX/dirt jumping though. I didn’t start mountain biking until about 20 years ago.
