You are going to be walking around with your tattoo for the rest of your life so make sure it is something you love and that you invest a bit of time deciding what inspires you/makes you feel special.
You probably know it's a good idea to do a bit of design yourself, but where do you find new ideas? If you have visited a couple of tattoo parlors you will quickly realize that many of their tattoos are the same - cookie cutter stuff.
Most of their flash and designs come from the same supplier as all the others.
It may not be what you like or maybe you like some but just can't find the exact design that you want.
So what to do next? Of course, there are lots of great designs available over the internet but you'll probably see someone else wearing the same design somewhere down the track.
What about doing a "mix and match" and add some new outside influences to a design? You can add more to a design that appeals to you but isn't yet one you love.
Or you can put a totally new one together.
Maybe this is a radical thought, but have you ever tried to find some artwork that is outside the standard tattoo area.
There are lots of ways of doing this, but here's an idea that will help you avoid copyright issues.
It's an example of something different - to help you get started.
You can search the internet for something called "public domain" images.
These usually have no copyright on them so they can be freely used.
Most of them can be copied with a mouse click.
The easiest way to access these public domain images is to go to Google search and type in: (your topic, for example: fairies, Celtic) followed by the words "public domain images".
You will find a whole list of different websites to explore.
There are some lovely "olde worlde", flower and butterfly images as well as maps, bold graphics and patterns - all available for you to use.
You can look through some fascinating images and even use just parts of an image to add to your tattoo design.
If you are not artistic, you can ask a friend to help out with putting it all together.
See my blog for a couple of interesting examples of what is to be found.
You will be only limited by your creativity.
Have fun!