Daniel Meyer Tattoo Glossary
I've created this post to help and consult you for your new tattoo idea and find the suiting tattoo elements that match your personality, story, and aesthetics.
One of the main reasons I don't believe in showing designs before the tattoo appointment is that I want to see someone's reaction while revealing the design. It is precisely about this moment, where an emotional bond to a design can be created. I understand that not showing the design prior can feel nerve-wracking, but another way to see that can be to create an anticipation and trust the professional (in this case me). Also, showing designs up-front will always lead to doubt, and usually, since the design will be shared with family, friends, the neighbors, and the neighbor's dog, and everyone has an opinion on it. I'd probably do the same.
But my goal is not to satisfy the people surrounding you. Instead, it is about creating a suitable design for only one person: You.
Don't worry about it too much, I've worked this way for the last eight years, and I have a ninety-nine percent success rate, and even for the remaining one percent, we found a great alternative solution suiting them better.
Another vital part of my personal and unique way of creating my designs is to suit my workflow and style the best. Creating a design is a very intuition driven process. Still, as every artist knows, it's also a very vulnerable process to let my creative thoughts translate into the design. It's about an open-mindedness and independence, which makes me do more extraordinary compositions and to think out of the box and create new creative impulses for you. This usually won't happen under supervision, which would instead make it about a process of "proving something" and "playing it safe" to the other person. My goal is to create a stunning piece for you, hence why I want to work on my maximum potential by playing into my strengths vs. compensating weaknesses. Almost every artist has an area of expertise and repeating elements, which the artist has studied and practiced the most. I want to serve you to give you a tattoo that is in the field of my expertise. I'm not a good "do-it-all." I'm a professional in a specific field and aesthetic.
I've created the following glossary to explain some of the elements I use more frequently, to give you some inspiration and some background knowledge. If you have any other optional elements that are particularly important for you to be part of the design but are not on the list, please write them to me in your tattoo request.
Don't get too hung up with certain elements. Sometimes, it's also about which elements create an emotional reaction in you. As reference, Salvador Dali famously quoted, "…just because I don't know the meaning of my art, does not mean it has no meaning".
TIP: I recommend checking out the point "SCALE AND SIZE" regardless of which elements you want to incorporate into your new tattoo.
ANATOMY is an excellent way to illustrated bodies by exposing their mechanics and the beauty of this complex body down to their cells. I feel that anatomical illustrations are pairing very well with natural elements, in my compositions, in particular flowers and other “light” elements like BUTTERFLIES and MOTHS. These elements together create the contrast of beauty and decay. Everything grows and blossoms and goes back to dust; the cycle repeats. The meaning of anatomical figures can have a wide range, some this just to represent “human” or “humanity” itself by showing what is underneath the shell: We are all the same, no matter what status, skin-color, attractiveness, origin, or whatever.
Anatomy combined with flowers and plants to symbolize "beauty and decay".
ANIMALS are always a good solid base for tattoo-design since they can represent raw nature, force survival. They can. Be someone’s spirit animal, or maybe just a reminder of an animal that has a significant impact on their lives. In many cultures, refer to animals as guides through our lives. An animal can also be a good symbol for another particular person in our life, symbolized by the specific breed of animals and their characteristics. Many tattoo designs are also connecting animals with the (for example, Chinese) Zodiacs.
ASTRONOMY can have a wide range of elements, including the universes, stars, planets, the solar system, orbits, constellations, antique star illustrations, and vintage astronomy tools. These elements are usually symbolizing the notion of the infinite space surrounding us and the urge to discover "the unknown". Sometimes we can get caught up in our daily hustle and bustle that we forget to see our life from the macro-scale, as a part of a universe with trillions of stars (more than all sand-grains on the entire planet). We are part of this construct, flying on a giant, mainly water-consistent sphere and a lava-core with roughly 1000 miles per hour through space. How important are the little things we get hung up on? Astronomy elements in tattoos can create precisely that reminder: To go with the flow of life and appreciate our existence instead of wasting our focus on the few negative things.
The universe is a great way to humble us and make us think, "what else is there?"
BEETLES / BUGS in my tattoo designs represent "resilience" and "toughness" since these creatures are true survival artists. If all humankind was gone caused by whatever catastrophic event, bugs likeliness surviving us is very high. So far, they lasted for approximately the last 270 million years. If someone had a strong hard-ship in life and had to overcome a struggle, a beetle can be the perfect representation of that. A beetle can also represent "nature" in my tattoo composition, which I also like to combine with GEOMETRY elements to create the effect of contrasting each other. In certain cultures, beetles and bugs can even a symbol of hard work, progress, cooperation, stability, and instinct. I have a beetle, a cicada to be specific, tattooed on the front of my neck, representing my ability to go through everything and my persistence if I put something into my head.
BIRDS are a powerful symbol representing “freedom,” which could be internally or externally and “intelligence” since they are intelligent animals. Compositions with impressive birds liken Crows, Ravens, Eagles, Birds of Prey, and Vultures with open wings can make a great eye-catcher. Since birds with open wings have something similar like a “T-Shape” in compositions, they are more suited for horizontal designs, for chest or back pieces, while arm, rips, or side pieces will work better side-profile of the bird. Another way to incorporate birds are smaller birds, like swallows, sparrows, doves can have a sense of freedom and lightness. Like a playfulness, not to take anything too serious. Birds can look impressive in flying and sitting position. It is more so a question of the dynamic if the design should communicate a sense of bride, massive wings, or restfulness by having the bird in a sitting position. Another way to create a powerful imagery can be made by having either a falling or a dead lying bird to create hard contrast when freedom is taken or gone and, which can also be used as a reminder of something we might have lost.
BLACKWORK is an excellent contrast element and expresses a "no-compromises" and determined attitude. Blackwork can either be used in compositions to fill entire areas, create a base to create exciting patterns like negative-space MANDALAS, or create contrast for lighter elements like FLOWERS to break the heaviness. Even just a few black areas or very dark shades around a tattoo design can help massively enhance the contrast and dynamic of lighter elements. It's an optical illusion when we add a dark gradient around a lighter object, this object will appear even brighter than just the regular skin color. This can make design elements or entire parts of a body-part make "pop" out.
Blackwork elements raising contrast to make other elements "pop" more.
BRAINS can make an impressive main- as well as a supportive-element in a design. For example, a brain symbolizing the aspect of “logic,” “intelligence,” and “mind.” A strong mind, or putting “your mind on something,” can accent other be combined with other design elements to create an exciting story about some of your core values. The brain can also be the center of creativity. It will work excellently in combination with other components, such as a half-split of a brain. The other half represents any other element that has a strong significance for you. For example, a half-split between a brain and a heart or nature-element sand a brain can work perfectly as a solid tattoo piece.
BUTTERFLIES / MOTHS are prevalent themes in my tattoo designs to create "visual lightness" in my tattoo compositions, especially if other elements are darker in their appearance or symbolic. I use butterflies or their nocturnal equivalent in my designs, the moths, to symbolize fragility, freeness, and most important: Metamorphosis. These animals are starting their life in a different, more constrained physical form (the caterpillar). After cocooning, they are "reborn" or "transformed" as free and unrestrained animals, resembling the evolution and the overcoming of an old chapter in someone's life.
In my tattoo designs, butterflies and moths are often used as main elements and make terrific options to use as filler-elements, like having them spared out as negative-space silhouettes within darker shades. Their delicateness creates a nice contrast between "heavier" tattoos like if BLACKWORK is used, or in combination with SKULLS and ANATOMY elements.
Another way to incorporate the idea of metamorphosis (their transformation) could be pictures of their stages between the caterpillar, becoming a butterfly.
COMPASS tattoos are probably some of the most classic design elements in modern body-art. Compasses are timeless elements because of their essential but straightforward meaning: Direction.
To find the direction can be interpreted in multiple ways, like to know where someone comes from and where their roots are, or the destination where you want to find yourself. Another great way to see a compass is to symbolize "guidance" when we feel lost. It can remind us about our values or something we treasure, and therefore, it makes a great tattoo design because we can literally carry this compass everywhere we go and can guide us even in the darkest places.
Compass with variations, combined with elements like an arrow or a watch-face.
DEERS / STAGS are referred by me to symbolize "wisdom," usually combined with elaborate antlers. They can be gentle, powerful, and protective. In tattoo designs, the use of deers or stags can create an interesting pattern by combining the antlers with the body-part flow or even using the antlers to "frame" another design element above the head of the stag. The most classic used animal with antlers is probably the stag. Still, I encourage thinking out of the box, since many other animals like Antelopes, Markhor, or a Gazelle can have the same meaning, but have very different looking and very impressive antlers that are not as overused as the stag's antlers. These animals make also sense if used in a SPLIT-FACE composition, where half of the animal is revealed. The other half is either the skull (symbolizing the connection between life and death) or where the split can be abstract or with GEOMETRY.
ELEMENTS are usually referring to the common elements: Water, fire, earth, and air. These elements can be symbolic for the specific characteristics they represent:
Water is fluid and adaptive, has a tremendous force but can also be a calm water stream.
Fire is a strong force and referred to as passion and intense love.
Earth is the element referring to groundedness and the ground for growth.
Air is the abstract, manifesting in creative thinking and the element that creates the environment for life to exist.
These could be character traits someone can see within, or they can refer to an overall attitude this person has in life.
From the design perspective, a great way to incorporate Elements, there are a few options that I found the most suiting in my compositions. These are the alchemy symbols for these elements, which are all based on a TRIANGLE shape with 4 variations of orientation and a separator line. These symbols can be mixed in GEOMETRY in the tattoo or alternatively using basic design elements like water drips, fire, mountains, and clouds (air).
Negative-space version of the water symbol and description of the 4 main element symbols.
EYES Eyes can have multiple meanings in tattoos. I usually refer to my tattoos to “awakening” or “protection.” An eye works great in designs since the human brain searches and scans for eyes as a focal point. That means that an eye can create a point of focus, which helps to grab the audience attention and guide their eye throughout the composition.
Side fact: The eye in the triangle has no association with the Illuminati, and the connection between them is based on conspiracy theories. The famous eye in the triangle is the Eye of Providence, which symbolizes the eye of God watching over humanity. The symbol of the Illuminati is an owl sitting on a book.
Human eyes catch the viewers attention, even from further distance.
FIBONACCI SPIRAL / GOLDEN RATIO is a vital design tool for every artist. It creates dynamic by using a mathematical equation to create an infinite number. This itself can represent the connection between creativity and mathematical (logic). Fibonacci spirals can make an interesting GEOMETRY element in tattoos to create the background or even create an entire composition. The Fibonacci sequence is widely used by artists in photography, videography, and fields like predicting the values of stocks and nature-like in ferns or sunflower seeds, nautilus shells, and hurricanes and waves. It's a natural recurring number-pattern which plays an enormous significance in our daily life.
The Fibonacci sequence's symbolism can be the power of logic and mathematics to be found in the most chaotic patterns. Chaos has structure, and everything follows a set of natural rules, which creates a balance in life as an infinitely repeating cycle.
Examples of the Fibonacci Spiral
FLOW, also referred to as "body-flow," is a natural curvature (the flow) of our body and certain body parts. In many of my designs, I use "flow-lines" to interrupt repetitive patterns and accent the body-part's natural curvature. For example, an arm usually has a long-gated flow from the back of the shoulder, flowing down behind our arm creases left side, which creates an elegant accent to your own personal physique. These flow-lines can also help produce dynamic designs by creating a stacked barrier to reveal inverted parts of your tattoo by using negative-space (skin color).
Tattoo examples demonstrating the use of "body-flow"
FLOWERS are the perfect elements to illustrate beauty and attraction. Like in nature, flowers have patterns and vibrancy to attract bees and to procreate. In my designs, the value of flowers lies in the symbolism of "life" since a flower's cycle is a perfect example of the cycle of life itself. The seed grows, the flower attracts, the flower procreates, the flower dies. Rinse, dry, and repeat. Another great advantage of flowers in designs is the ability to create contrast. For example, if the tattoo has an overall "dark" theme, either by the amount of dark-areas in the tattoo (like BLACKWORK) or if the imagery has more of a dark vibe (like SKULLS and specific ANIMAL faces), then flowers can bounce "the heaviness" in the design. This creates the counter-part, which is beauty. I love combining flowers with anatomical vintage illustrations in my designs, with which I lift the heaviness and create a duality between beauty and decay, for example.
Flowers that work well in my designs is the Peony, Protea, Iris, Chrysanthemum, Sunflower, Dahlia, Lily, Poppy, Thistle, Narcissus, and Lotus.
Another interpretation of the flower lays for me in the shedding of the pedals, which could be a symbol for the shedding layers of someone's personality, revealing the inner center, where we absolutely know who we are and how to live up to our highest potential.
GEOMETRY or also sacred geometry are great design elements because they create contrast in the composition. For example, if combined with an organic/nature element, it makes the opposing forces of chaos and order, where "nature" is representing chaos, which has no perfectly straight lines, no perfect spheres or cubes, and is instead "organic." In contrast, the geometry creates the counterpart as "order" through mathematical perfection and accuracy. But interesting enough, even natures patterns originate from mathematics, which makes an intertwined bond between them, like an abstract version of a yin-yang representing the duality of dark and light. The same effect can also be made by using only geometric elements. The body on which you wear the tattoo represents the "organic" or "human side" because humans always have unique imperfections.
Sacred geometry, which has usually patterns or abstractions of the METATRONS-CUBE, can be found in all kinds of cultures over the centuries. Through my research and experiences, sacred geometry seems to hold a secret key to life or the universe, which hasn't yet been discovered.
Metatron's cube and geometric tattoo inspiration.
GOATS / RAMS can be used as a powerful imagery to communicate "power," "force," and having overall a "bold" nature. The horns, which make a generous portion of these animals heads, are powerful reminders to have a "hard head" to endure whatever is coming. This could be representing someone's character traits or a life-philosophy.
One thing to keep in mind, if these animals will be used in a symmetrical portrait-perspective, rams will have a horizontal rectangular shape, which makes them more suitable for a horizontal "canvas" like a back- or chest piece. An exciting alternative for the regular goat can be a Hebridean sheep or other animals within the family. This creates an interesting alternative to the classic ram and makes a great centerpiece for a SPLIT-FACE composition.
HEARTS usually refer to the ANATOMICAL heart-illustrations like we can find them in vintage medical books. They can be used to symbolize courage, strength, and purity. Like somebody is expressing something "from their heart." or "true intention." It can be used as a marker for a passion or love we have for something or someone. Another interesting aspect could be the use of a heart as a sign of appreciation for life itself. This organ is beating about 35 million times a year for us, regardless if we are asleep or awake. It's a special gift we received, and it's hard to wrap our minds around the magnitude of that. Hence why we can be thankful every single day and moment because our heart keeps beating for us and keeping us alive every second. Those and many other reasons and interpretations make this element such a striking and classic for tattoos. Hearts can also be combined with BRAINS to illustrate the relationship between "mind" and "soul."
JELLYFISH can make an excellent centerpiece for a tattoo since the FLOW of its tentacles can accent a variety of body-parts very nicely. These elegant fragile creatures can represent the upbringing of the adolescents, which can be harmful. Some specimens sting is considered one of the deadliest on this planet. Still, they are fragile and vulnerable beings.
Jellyfish compositions with "body-flow"
LANDSCAPE / MOUNTAINS are outstanding design elements to symbolize nature, connectedness, earth, groundedness, or sometimes just plain and simple: Places where we have an emotional attachment to, either we were there before or we want to be there one day. In my tattoo composition, I tend to combine landscapes with GEOMETRY like triangles, circles, and diamond shapes to create a "frame" for the design, since landscapes usually don't have a good beginning- and end-point. In tattoo compositions, I can also highly encourage to have landscape elements, which break out from the body-parts and even stretch over surrounding body-parts.
Landscape tattoo ideas, stretching over multiple body-parts.
MANDALAS originate from various Buddhist origins. Besides their apparent ability to help the human BRAIN balance between the left and right hemispheres, Mandalas have a significant visual impact in many tattoo designs. Their amount of detail and finesse usually attracts many to take a closer look at your tattoo. Mandalas make a great centerpiece of a design as well as great fillers for gaps between different tattoos. They can also look stunning if they're inverted. They can have an eye-grabbing and almost hypnotizing effect in tattoo compositions if used on large scales over large body-parts.
My way to interpret these mostly round-shaped patterns with a strong gravitating force in the center, as a symbol for "infinite space" or like a big bang explosion of never-ending creation. Buddhists often used them to meditate, by staring in their center or by drawing them. It has something mesmerizing to gaze a long time into a mandala and try to imagine that this is not a two-dimensional object. Instead of seeing it as a three-dimensional tunnel, like the tunnel into ourselves, we need to find who we really are and who we need to be to fulfill our purpose in life.
Mandalas shaded or as simple outlines make stunning "eye-catchers"
METATRON or Metatrons-cube is a geometric design element with a combination of 13 circles and the five platonic solids and makes a great design element because it includes all common geometric shapes at once, in the most elegant way. For me, the Metatron represents a “growth” or “change” sine the included geometric shapes, starting from the simplistic pyramid to the complex “Icosahedron.” The Metatron has references to various ancient traditions and religions as a sacred symbol.
PLATONIC SOLIDS are geometric solids: The tetrahedron, with four triangular faces; the cube, with 6 square faces; the octahedron, with 8 the dodecahedron, with 12 pentagonal faces and the icosahedron, with 20 triangular faces. The Platonic solids visual specialty is the fact that each one is a solid, of which all faces have identical shapes. For example, the pyramid has only triangles; the cube has only squares, and so on.
The platonic solids in a row-composition can represent "evolution" and "growth." It's like someone starts as the most simple shape, and through life, we grow up to more complex and intricate shapes.
SCALE / SIZE is a detrimental factor in tattoo designs. I've also created a blog entry on The right size for my tattoo to discuss a few critical thoughts to determine the right size for your tattoo idea. The "right" size can depend on multiple factors, like the body-part. To explain this, imagine a giant picture frame and placing a tiny little picture randomly in one of the corners or having a small picture frame and cropping the image so massively that it makes no visual-sense. Another factor to take into consideration is the detail of a tattoo design.
A tattoo machine is not a precise tool, like compared to a pencil or fine ball-pen. The design doesn't sit-on-top of a surface; rather, it is underneath the skin, which will always compromise details. I often see great tattoo compositions, which lost all their features by shrinking down the elements to the tiniest scale. On top of that, tiny tattoo designs have a hard time preserving any detail during the aging process. The overall trend is going to "micro tattoos," which are a great demonstration of an artist's skill-level to work on such a miniature scale. But generally speaking, many tattoo designs will not make a great result if it's on a micro-scale. In best-case scenarios, the design's size is determined by the visual impact and its longevity. Many clients send me photographs of micro tattoos from other artists for scale reference. Still, in many cases, these designs are simply way too small to heal properly. I want to create designs that will last vs. being a temporary application.
Another factor to watch out for is that I see tattoo pictures in some cases in which the artist altered and "overpainted" the tattoo design in digital post-processing of the photograph. The rule of thumb is: If it looks too good to be true, it usually isn't true. Every tattoo artist has imperfections, such as some "spotty" shades and some wonky lines here and there. That's just because of the medium "tattoo" itself. It's about creating an artwork on the skin, which is organic, which moves and varies from each client and can be strongly impacted by other factors like sun-exposure or health and nutrition. An artist is a human being rather than a laser-printer. But that's actually the beauty of it, since its something made from a human to another human, it's the imperfections that make it come alive. The same applies to other arts like music as well.
In my compositions, I found the best compromise to use larger "main-elements" and some micro-scale elements within the surrounding. This way, we archive the best result if you see and be able to read the design from a distance of 6 feet apart but being able to discover more detail and finesse the closer the observer moves towards the tattoo.
Some elements can work fantastic on a micro-scale; some details need more space to make sure they are identifiable even after a couple of years of aging. That being said, the scale is really depending on the design elements, and as an experienced tattoo artist, I can help you to find "the right fit."
Examples of different tattoo scales and their difference in "visual-impact"
SKULLS, as well as bones, often have a negative connotation, which refers to them as "evil" or "dark," but in reality, they can represent something say more meaningful and positive. A skull or sometimes bones is the simplest symbol, representing "mortality." Throughout history, skulls were always the representation of mortality, and instead of seeing death as something negative, it can also be seen as the cycle of life. It is a humble reminder that life is just a glimpse we are granted on this earth, and it is fragile. Live every day like to would be your last day. That doesn't mean that you need to do something out of the ordinary or crazy every single day, but life every day with purpose, while you pursue something which you would do anyway, even if you would be the last person left on earth.
I use skulls quite frequently in my tattoo compositions, as a symbol to remind myself and the person who gets the tattoo daily, not to take anything for granted and be aware that everything we're doing is temporary. Therefore we should be aware, present, and thankful for this day we have.
SNAKES can create a fantastic filler as well as a main-focal element. The scales create an interesting and intricate texture, which is very appealing in tattoos. A snake can represent “rebirth” and “transformation” and creates a solid alternative for a phoenix, since phoenix tattoos need a significantly larger space to unfold their full visual potential, without looking like a chicken.
Snakes can also be found in association with health and healing (see rod of Asclepius) as well as a symbol of wisdom or as guardians.
SPLIT-FACES In many of my designs, I like to use what I call a "split-faces." With this term, I refer to tattoos, which usually are based on an animal or SKULL animal as the symmetric centerpiece. Both halves of the face are separated. One side can, for example, reveal an animal face, and the other side can reveal the SKULL. It's a composition I found very appealing to create a sense of "duality" and to illustrate the cycle of life. New life gets born, old life decays in a never-ending repetition. The split-face compositions can also make dynamic compositions like one half is revealing a face or other objects possible. In contrast, the other half can reflect the entire opposite, to find balance right in the middle where the line splits.
Generally speaking, I found animals with less fur usually work better for a split-face composition, since the fur or hair can make up for a lot of "volume" of the design. For example, a lion's head is mainly fur, but in a split-face composition, the lion's head will appear gigantic, while the skull is actually tiny. That usually makes lions and other overly furry animals sometimes bad candidates for such split compositions. In some instances, I create a split but use the face's actual silhouette to mask-out something abstract or to reveal a complete new design element within this silhouette.
Design examples for "split-face" compositions, in combination with revealed bones/skulls.
TIGERS are fierce and powerful design elements and create the notion of an animalistic instinct and the raw, primal sense of protection. Tigers are independent and can be a display of "courage." A fierce tiger is a powerful enemy to have, so don't step between the tiger and its family. They are top predators and live from their ability to be natural-born hunters.
In terms of designing tattoos with tigers, I can encourage the choice of these beautiful creatures and also make great prospects for SPLIT-FACE compositions. They make a striking tattoo element and are way better suited in tattoo designs than lions, since lion's fur, particularly their Maine, often doesn't translate well in tattoo designs. A fierce tiger face can become a symbol of a protector, which will stand between you and whoever wants to cross your way.
TREES represent for me “groundedness” and having strong roots, which can also represent “family” or personal “confidence.” Trees work great in designs because of their ability to mirror them, showing the exposed part, the branches as well as the hidden parts, the footwork. Whatever has a strong presence into the outside needs to have a strong centeredness on the inside. In tattoo compositions, I like using trees in combination with a variety of geometric elements, to create a frame for the design. A good element to combine trees with are LANDSCAPES to create "depth: in the design.
Different design ideas to incorporate trees
TRIANGLES are in the family of “geometry” but deserve some extra attention. Triangles can have multiple meanings. For me, triangles represent "simplicity". A triangle is the most minimalistic way how to create a shape since a shape needs to have at least three connecting points (which can also represent three meaningful aspects for your tattoo). Triangles make great elements for design compositions, and I like to combine them often with circular shapes, which are, again,” symbolizing contrast of duality". Triangles are also dating back to the beginning of the earliest civilizations and even had a strong use in the alchemist symbols for the ELEMENTS (water, air, earth, and fire), which all can represent a meaningful connection to each of their attributes.
If you're still indecisive and really want to go to the bottom of your tattoo concept, even if I'm not even the person to execute it, I offer you personal tattoo consulting. With over eleven years of experience as a tattooer plus an additional eight years of communication-design experience, I've learned how to take an idea or a rough concept to the next level. Especially if you have your very first tattoo session, it can be helpful to be coached by a professional so that your tattoo experience can be a life-changing milestone instead of a nightmare with daily regrets.
If you're from abroad and don't want to get tattooed from me, I can still help you figure out your design concept. I will not draw the design (unless it is tattooed by me), but I will help you specify your design idea for your choice's tattoo artist. Even if you're unsure which artist you should choose, I can help you find "the right one for the job."
If you're interested in a personal consulting session, please contact my assistant via contact@danielmeyertattoo.com to schedule your session. I look forward to hearing from you.