When do you become "heavily tattooed"?

[Judy]

Alex's blog post got me to thinking, so I thought I'd get some input.
When do you cross the threshold into "heavily tattooed"? Is it a matter of surface area? Hours put in on a piece? The design chosen? If it's visible or not? All of the above?

I think my perception of the term involves how much actual space is tattooed. My design is very open so even though I have 10 hours into it so far I don't think I'll ever consider myself "heavily tattooed". Many people on this site have full backpieces where basically every square inch of skin is tattooed. To me that qualifies as "heavy".

What do you think?

[melissa]

I've often pondered this very same question....my artist referred to me as being "heavily tattooed" once
I was surprised and asked him about it....he said "well yeah!! you have a backpiece" hmmmmmm.....

My back is usually covered.....so truly I think its amount of "easily visible" tattoos....like sleeves

interesting topic.....

[Ryan]

Here's my opinion...

I'd say that if you eclipse more than 75% of any one of the major body areas (arm, leg, chest, back, etc)... or more than 30% of any two, then you are heavily tattooed. I don't consider density of coverage to matter, as you can have a huge outline or symbolic piece over a huge area (read: lots of negative space) and still be heavily tattooed.

If you have anything that's blatently public, like head, neck, or hands... then you are automatically heavily tattooed...

That's just MY .02...

[Mark]

It's an interesting topic. I'd say quite a few on here qualify for that description - with full backpieces, sleeves, etc. And sometimes you can have a LOT of ink without necessarily feeling that you have all that much.

[Jess]

Most people would think I'm heavily tattooed: I have both thighs done (except the back sides), a large piece on one calf, shoulders capped and a large piece on my upper back. When I wear shorts you see more tattoo than skin if you see me from the front. However, most days I feel completely inadequate as a tattooed person..................does that have anything to do with the fact that I'm addicted? Probably!

I have to agree with Ryan, that if you have a large portion of any one section of your body tattooed, whether it's a back, leg or arm, then you're heavily tattooed.

[Erin]

Interesting topic! I am not sure at what point you become heavily tattooed. I would not consider myslef heavily tattooed even though others refer to me as such. I have a full chestpiece, started backpiece, 2 half sleeves, 2 large thigh pieces, and an almost complete left leg. Like Jessica said, when I wear shorts I have more tattoos than blank skin.

[Jess]

Oh, Erin, your DEFINITELY heavily tattooed if you have that much!! :)

[inkgoddess]

Great topic!!!
Im going to approach this from a more metaphysical viewpoint..
Im gonna go off on a tangent right quick....I hope I dont bore , I can get wordy.
***My disclaimer is that not everyone will fall into the particulars I mention below, Im going on generalizations, and am not meaning to cause insult or offend anyone. Your tattoos are significant whether they are one or many.***

I think when a person goes from considering their tattoos as "just tattoos", to considering "body art as an extention of ones self", and really getting/having an emotional/spiritual connection to a physical/visual medium. The heavily tattooed person is someone who gets their work for: the love of the art, personal experiences to be remembered , and will continue to be tattooed regardless of the "status quo" of the untattooed society. Whatever the reasons, these individuals have gone beyond the "look what I did, isnt that cute?!" to a conscious desicion to endure numerous hours of pain to express onesself -that noone can ever take away from them. It is utterly yours. You tend to look at things in a different way when you experience taking your body & mind to out of ordinary extremes. Not all people are meant for it. The person who has had 6 hours of tattoo work is someone on a completely different level than someone who complains about the pain of their 10 minute "baby daddy name" for example.

That being said, from an artists perspective, its like the difference between a true "serious tattoo collecter", and the "casual client" , who maybe only prefers one or a few. The collecter chooses to live the modification lifestyle (whether privately or publicly), & usually continues to become more heavily tattooed. They research artists & styles, are more willing to travel for a particular piece/artist, considers the art before the price.
The casual client (as a generalization) could be a first-timer who genuinely knows nothing about tattoos or the process, etc..; sporatically gets a tattoo every few years for whatever reason ,maybe leapfrogs around to local parlors (sometimes ending up in someone's cousin's living room) to price-shop. Its interesting, when people ask "how many tattoos do you have ?" some answer with number of , while others the amount of hours under the needle. Theres a definitive difference. While some are content to get tattoos just because, and others who find the whole idea distasteful and abhorrent, there are select individuals who really just arent complete without them. You know who you are with that insatiable need for more ink. ; )
*Not to get all new-agey but maybe through getting tattoos the evolution of mankind progresses further by transcending from the physical to the emotional/spiritual conciousness.*
But dont take my word for it, im pretty fucked up.. : )

[Zoe]

Ink Goddess has pretty much summed up exactely my thoughs on tattoos. My 1st tattoo was a spiritual symbol and although my second tat is flash, the whole experience of having a tattoo is a very spiritual experience, my third tat is another spiritual symbol.
I really don't know what the answer is, i guess i wouldnt consider anyone heavily tattooed, i would be more interested in the art that they carried around with them.
I got my first tat when i was 34 and now i feel like i want to cover my whole body with images that are close to my heart, that way no one can steal my art,.
I don't consider thre cost of tattoo's, but i do invest time in reasearching my tattoo's and i also spend as much time as possible talking to my artist about what i want. Luckily i have found an artist who has an understanding of my spiritual path, and he very much understands why i have choosen an image and what it means to me. Actually preparing to have a tattoo done has become a ritual for me and i spend many hours in deep thought about the images, placement, aftercare. Actually having the tattoo, causes extreame reactions in my body, i meditate throughout the whole process of the tattoo, and i have to say that i dont often feel heavy pain, more a niggle on the skin, by using relaxation breathig tecniques you can actually push the pain out of your mind.

[ABF]

My artist once told me that I am a "tattooed person" rather than someone who "has tattoos." I took it as a compliment and had a sense of what she meant without being exactly sure; I think your articulate post answers the question about the difference between the two.

As far as whether someone is "heavily tattooed," it reminds me of the definition of obscenity, which is based on community standards. Within my office culture, I was heavily tattooed after one sitting. Within the Inkedinc community, I'm probably on the lower end of the spectrum.

[Alex]

I think the line gets crossed when you start getting more tattoos than is "socially acceptable" and yeah, I think that definition can change depending on who you're around.

For example: I have a back piece in progress, it's going to cover the entire of my back and extend down my legs a little way - I'd consider that heavily tattooed and I think most people would agree. However, some of my friends (all non modified in any way) have told me they already considered me on the way to being "pretty heavily tattooed" because of my four little pieces of flash... guess it depends on your outlook!

For me the start of my backpiece marked my crossing into "heavily tattooed" territory even though my back is usually completely covered and is in no way finished.

[Jordan]

I would agree that context matters. As I have more piercings than tattoos, I think I crossed the line into "heavily pierced" by general American standards, though living here in Portland I'm still fairly low on the scale. Especially because one of them is on the back of my neck and not terribly visible. I figure I'll start being heavily tattooed if I ever go in for the back piece idea I have floating around my head right now.

[Dana]

This is an interesting topic and there's no one answer either. I guess I don't really see someone having a full back piece and nothing else heavily tattooed because there's still so much blank skin left! I think you become heavily tattooed to others/ society when your tattoos are visible or if you're around people who have no tattoos than you will be considered heavily tattooed with less ink (I fall into that category for sure).

I would also agree that a good indication of people who are or one day will be heavily tattooed are the people who explain their work in the number of hours rather than how many tattoos they have.