Tattoo art, founded thousands of years ago, and other related art forms, have never been more popular than they are today. Their popularity gained momentum in the 1970s among young adults and has increased since then. The abundance of shops has made it such that one doesn’t have to travel very far or pay astronomical amounts for a tattoo.
A portion of tattoo designs have been dedicated to Asian art and calligraphy, due to the exotic nature of the orient. Many would prefer to have the Chinese character for dragon rather than the English letters “dragon” forever printed on their skin. Because Asian languages are made up of characters as opposed to letters, many people prefer to have an English word translated to an Asian (typically Chinese) character then printed on their body.
Because of the accessibility and wide range of images on the internet, the quality of the art and calligraphy chosen for Asian tattoos is often neglected and the art misused. Many are content to use shortcuts, thus creating tattoos of suspect quality. For other purposes, it would just be considered shoddy workmanship and forgotten; when it is imprinted on a person’s skin permanently, it becomes critically important.
Before the boom in the tattoo industry(and the explosion of internet access), old school tattoo artists would purchase stacks of books from Oriental Art supply for authentic inspiration and ideas. Our books contain pages of genuine imagery and calligraphy, with countless pictures and Chinese text. Given the permanency of tattoos, we invite everyone to wisely consider their imagery selection so that their tattoos are not just long-lasting, but meaningful.
Here are some books most popular among tattoo artists:
- Beautiful Women by Hwa San-chieun
- Richly Adorned & Quietly Dressed by Hwa San-chieun
- The Aristocracy of Beauty by Ng-ching