Show your courageous and fierce side; or represent the pride you hold for your family history by obtaining a tribal lion tattoo.
What are Tribal Tattoos
Tribal tattoos have been growing in popularity for a few years and have since become the trend for many celebrities. These designs look very modern but actually date back to over 5,000 years. Ancient tribes used the tattoo as a way to weed out the weak and as a rite passage. If a woman could not take the pain of the tattoo, she was marked as being undesirable and therefore not able to marry as if the pain of a tattoo was too great for her, then she was obviously too weak for childbirth.
Many cultures, especially the ancient Celts, have used tribal designs to denote religious following, clan designation and the like. The designs have deep meaning like the tribal lion tattoo could signify a person's loyalty, honor, courage or family crest. The popular Celtic knot is an example of a unique tribal pattern that is used in conjunction with animals such as lions, dogs and birds.
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Tribal tattoos today don't readily have a deep meaning outside of looking cool and are known as "neo-tribal".
Celebs with Tribal Tattoos
The list of celebrities with tribal tattoos include such who's who as Mike Tyson, who has a very large and very noticeable neo-tribal tattoo on his face; Angelina Jolie, among all of her ink, has a tribal tattoo on her stomach; and Alyssa Milano from the WB's Charmed and Who's the Boss has one placed on her neck.
The Tribal Lion Tattoo
Out of all of the tribal tattoos that one can get, not many match the beauty and awe of the tribal lion tattoo.
Meaning of the Tribal Lion Tattoo
You have looked thru all of the tribal tattoos and have since settled on the tribal lion but now what? The lion symbolizes a great many things in many cultures so what does it mean to you? Finding out its meaning to you can leave you with a design that is truly unique and more suited to you.
The lion represents:
- Strength
- Power
- Royalty
- In some cultures, the lion is representational of God as in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia
- Courage
- Dominance
- Vigor
If any of these qualities resemble you, inside or out, then the lion may be the tribal art for you. Of course you may just like what it stands for or like the look of it. Regardless of why you pick the lion to be emblazoned on your skin, it will certainly look good if you pick the right artist.
The Artwork of the Tribal Lion Tattoo
Part of the popularity of tribal tattoos is that they are easy to draw for the amateur tattoo artist. If you want a tribal design that involves an intricate pattern, much like a Celtic knot or other fine art, you may want to find an experienced artist with an extensive book of similar work. When looking at tribal art the key indicator of good tribal is the symmetry of the design. If they are symmetrical it is a sign of good craftsmanship. Remember that a tribal tattoo can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Celtic Knot: The ancient Celts have often used the knot as a sign of life, the change of the seasons,the never ending circle of life. You can have your lion drawn as the knot itself (much like the Celtic dog tattoo) or you can have the knot created and the lion placed on top of it.
Fine Art and Tribal: Tribal art is cool all on its own, but why not take the sharp peaks and curves and intertwine them with the beauty of a perfectly created lion's head? The tribal is designed first then the other piece is figured in later to see how it will interact. You can also do a series of lower back style tattoos as a border that surrounds another piece of art like a lion's head.
Traditional Tribal Art: The usual tribal style is used to create the lion's head as one solid tattoo.
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