There are tattoos that easily grab people’s attention. One of those is neck tattoos, considered by some as one of the more niche tattoo categories because of the unconventional location. Unless it’s covered by clothing, a neck tattoo is pretty much guaranteed to get at least one curious look every day when you’re outside.
Most people don’t think of neck tattoos for their first ink. Usually, they choose popular tattoo areas like the biceps, forearms, and ankles. Even those who already have lots of ink on their body often hesitate to get a neck tattoo because it’s right up there with face tattoos as one of the boldest tattoos around.
But when you look past the unconventional location, the entire neck area is actually an excellent place for body art. It’s big enough to accommodate small and meaningful tattoo designs. It has a good amount of flat space to keep text-based tattoos readable. And best of all, you can incorporate neck tattoos into shoulder tattoos, upper back tattoos, or chest tattoos, if you have one, to create a large tattoo piece.
The list of designs for neck tattoos isn’t exactly the longest. The limited amount of space erases large tattoo designs from the equation. You can’t simply downsize a tattoo design meant for areas like the lower back or leg. Because certain large designs only look great when displayed in their full size, which includes Japanese tattoos and highly detailed lion tattoos for men.
You need to be really careful when choosing the design. You can’t just randomly pick one, thinking you can easily have it covered up or laser-removed when you have a change of heart. Remember, for cover-up tattoos, the replacement design needs double the amount of space than the original tattoo. And we’re not going to go into detail here about how unpleasant laser removals can be.
Make sure that the neck tattoo design you choose is adequately sized to prevent the curves from compromising the design. Take a design featuring a Native American chieftain on the side of the neck, for example. It’s okay for the elaborate headdress to wrap around the neck curve. But the chieftain’s face needs to be centered as much as possible.
The neck is also an excellent place for flower tattoos, which work great in different sizes. You can even go for a neck tattoo design featuring a full range of colorful flowers around the neck. Flower tattoos look awesome on both men and women. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Rose tattoos, in particular, look like they were made for the neck area. There’s something about a blood-red rose tattoo that makes it a popular choice among men.
Of course, finding a design is easier when you have a shoulder, chest, or upper back tattoo and plan to incorporate your neck tattoo into it. But we recommend going to the same tattoo artist to make sure the style is consistent with the designs.
