Arm band tattoos are a very popular tattoo type, especially for first-timers.

These tattoos are often the first tattoos people think of when they imagine getting a tattoo, or picturing someone with a cool tattoo in their head.

Arm band tattoos wrap around the biceps and give the eye a resting point on the arm a few inches below the armpit, or as low down as just above the crook of the elbow.  They are a classic look almost as popular as traditional sailor tattoos that rest on the biceps without wrapping around all the way.

Getting a great arm band tattoo is the result of working with your tattoo artist to make sure it is shaped correctly for your arm.  Of course, you are thinking, "It's a band that wraps around my arm, how hard can that be?"

But, you should consider your overall frame size to make sure that the band is wide enough or thin enough to look good on you in particular.  Thin and slight frames will need a thinner or more wispy arm band.  Muscular and wider arms and bodies will need a thicker band, or the design will look weak or ill-matched to the body.

Consider tribal arm band tattoos if you are looking to accentuate your biceps or want to go with a classic biker style tattoo look.  You can vary this theme by choosing different weight lines, or working with various curve shapes.  Would you prefer pointy, jagged, smooth or wavy?  Maybe you would like the shape to be very straight, with all the details inside of the lines.

Tribal arm band tattoos can be altered to include colors or designs within the tribal shapes.  This can alter the mood of the piece and add more individuality to an otherwise very "normal" tattoo, as far as tattoos go.  You could choose to complete the entire tattoo in color without an outline, but keeping the tribal shapes, or you could outline the tattoo in black and then fill in colors or a scene inside of the shapes.  This often is very striking.

A great option with choosing color in your tribal tattoo to begin with is that you could always fill it in black at a later date.  You will have the option of going darker later on if your tastes change.  If you start with a black tattoo, you cannot make it lighter later on without laser tattoo removal.

Celtic arm band tattoos are also a popular tattoo choice, and there are many design books that you can look through to find a knot pattern that you like.  Remember that celtic knots need to be wide enough to show the gaps between the lines, or else you will end up with a blurry band with little definition later on down the road.

Ask to see a celtic knot design book when you are at the tattoo studio and see if there is anything that calls to you.  Or, browse online to find celtic knot patterns for tattoos that you like.  Note the website address, or save the file and bring it to your tattoo artist.  They will be able to adjust the design to fit your arm.

Be prepared to spend some time with your tattoo artist getting the tattoo stencil placed properly.  You will want to make sure that the tattoo is level when your arm is at rest, all the way around your arm.  This can be difficult to get right the first time.  My own celtic knot arm band tattoo took a half hour to place properly before we could even begin the tattoo process.

If you want your tattoo arm band to be placed high up on your arm, make sure that it can be level without going into your armpit.  The bend into your armpit will distort the design, and the skin there welts very quickly while being tattooed.  Unless you are willing to be tattooed there twice to fill in any spaces that became too raised and swollen to tattoo the first time, just move the design down an inch, and you will be a lot more satisfied with the results!

Note that if you get your arm band tattooed all the way around your arm all in one session, you will be more likely to experience swelling and a longer tattoo healing process.  This is because your circulation will be drawn to the healing tattoo and will tend to gather there.  This can cause more pain during the healing process, but otherwise should not effect your tattoo pain in the chair.  You can offset tattoo pain and swelling by taking an advil or other anti-inflamatory pain killer during and after getting your tattoo.

Remember the shape of your arms and choose patterns and shapes that move with your form.  You will love your new arm band tattoo!