Random Questions from a First Time Poster

First let me begin by saying I have been a long time follower of this board, but this is my fist time posting. I really value the opinions and candid feedback from the regulars here as well as the level of professionalism I see. I've been fascinated with tattoos as long as I can remember and last year finally took the plunge to get my first one. [long story short, I have a corporate job, a business degree, and always felt I had to live to other peoples perceptions and was always intimidated by the whole permanent thing... ie, if I were a CEO in 20 years, would this reflect poorly against me..] Obviously I could go down that topic quite a ways... Anyways, I got my fist tattoo last year and am now looking to add and get more. Ive got a lot of ideas and have sketched quite a few of them. I want to take my ideas to a couple of different shops to get some mock ups. I was wondering what your opinions on this are? Ive looked around through the local artist's books and have it narrowed down to a few, but I would like to see what each one of them could do for "my" ideas and pick the one that speaks to me most. Is this bad? I dont want to make it to be window shopping, but I also want to get the best piece of art possible. - On another random and quick question. My wife is about to have our fist child. I really like the idea of the footprint tattoo. I wanted to do something different than on the back,etc. Ive read a lot about this and have heard mostly recounts of too much risk of infection, long time to heal, will callous and fade out quickly etc... but I would like your opinions about getting my soon-to-be-born baby's footprint on the BOTTOM of my foot. (let the information begin). Thanks again everyone. T

You are a glutton for punishment.......................LOL!!

And I say that because not only is it going to hurt more than anywhere else on your body....................................but you're going to have to have it redone very frequently. I had my feet tattooed earlier in the year, and I was naive enough to think that a low level of wear and tear on my feet would improve the chances of the tattooing holding on the sides near the soles..........no way!!! like the skin on your hands, that skin absolutely does regenerate at a much faster rate that skin elsewhere on your body, and will continually bring foreign materials to the surface for ejection................................it's what it was designed/evolved to do. Since April, some of the lines on my tattoos have been hit up to three times, and they are still just dissolving. Mortis said that he had the bottoms of both of his feet tattooed, and one of them is completely gone. But, if you don't mind the pain and agony, and the cost of having them redone over and over, not to mention the enormous amount of swelling you're bound to experience for several weeks after........................then go for it!!! Let us know how it goes. TCE

Most shops will NOt tattoo the bottoms of the feet...BAD idea TM....don't do it...won't stay...waste of money...the "window shopping" is cool just don't expects artwork for free! Thanks for your post and good tattooing!!!