Design my Tattoo!
It's tattoo time, and I need your help! I'd love if the Civitai community could help me mash together some of my ideas in a cohesive way before I get it indelibly inked on my pasty white skin!
Some Bounty notes;
Photoshopping will most likely be required; there's no way some of these concepts and designs will be known by any model.
It doesn't have to be perfect - my tattoo guy can give it a final touch-up before the bzzzzzzzz starts.
I'd prefer no color, or limited color - perhaps purple on heather or thistle.
No Celtic crosses or knotwork - we're avoiding the stereotypical "I'm Irish/Scottish!" celtic tattoo.
No boobs.
No waifus.
Requirements
I'm looking for a forearm (portrait, long, thin) tattoo design which will be worked around the central theme of a Scottish thistle.
We're also going to work in the Pictish Crescent V-rod, a common symbol which appears on many Pictish stones around my part of Scotland. There's debate over what any of the Pictish symbols actually mean, but this could be the arrival of the soul at birth, and its departure upon death - or it could be something completely ridiculous, like the best way to flip pancakes. Who knows, but it has to go in!
I'd also like to incorporate that tattoo-staple, the Othala ᛟ. (Open to suggestions here! We need a Norse connection of some sort, this one seems a likely choice because of the ancestral land, meaning).
Other influences/iconography you may use; Scottish heather, and the Rowan tree
Why?
If you've attended Civitai's Office Hours, you might recognize my distinct East Coast Scottish accent. Although I haven't lived in Scotland for many years, my experiences growing up there have made it hard for me to feel like I truly belong anywhere else. The unique aspects of my formative years and the environment I grew up in are difficult to convey to those who didn't share that same background.
I'm getting this tattoo as a reminder of all those who came before me and what's really important (to me) in life.
To help you get an idea of where I'm coming from (literally), here's my childhood/young adult years - without doxxing myself too hard;
Me, enjoying one of our lovely, practically tropical, beaches, somewhere on the NE Coast.
The view from Dunsinane, an Iron Age hill-fortress, and home of Macbeth. Right behind my parent's house, and a place my friends and I spent a lot of time as kids.
Looking towards King's Seat, site of a medieval watch/signal tower - note the purple heather covering most of these hills. We didn't play up there as often, because it was a bugger of a climb.
Pictish standing stone circle - they're all over the place in Scotland, some carved with intricate patterns, others plain, or too weathered to see any carvings. This ring is very close to my childhood home, out in the forest, perfect for dancing round without your drawers on, etc.
So why the connection to the Picts and the Norse rune? The Pictish influence is very strong around my part of Scotland, and some sort of lineage/ancestry is a pretty fair bet.
In the nearer past, I know my family line back to my 5th Great Grandparents, and some 6th, and all of them were born in, and died in, Scotland. C'mon guys!
I also took an ancestry DNA test and found an outrageous level of whiteness;
The French connection is most likely a Norman influence (my mother's family name is a Norman name).
As for the Norse connection, another prominent surname in the family is Dingwall - a habitational surname, derived from the Scandinavian Þingvöllr (field or meeting-place of the thing, or local assembly.
So there we go! In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize my deep connection to the past, to ancient peoples who came before me, to nature, and the old ways.
Good luck!