Gear tattoos aren’t the most popular tattoos in the world, but no one can deny that they look great on the skin. On top of that, there are quite a few great gear tattoo meanings that you can use and modern tattoo artists can do some amazing things with gear designs.
They come in all shapes and sizes, so if you’re interested in getting a gear tattoo, you can pretty easily find a way to design one that you’ll always be proud to wear on your skin.
Before you commit to getting a gear tattoo, it is very important to understand what they represent and what you need to think about during the design process. Below you will find some of the most commonly used gear tattoo meanings as well as design and placement options.
Popular Gear Tattoo Meanings
People will also often get their gear tattoos to show that they know they play an important part in the world. They are one of many “gears” and they have their part to play. This is an excellent meaning to use if you are looking for a motivational tattoo that is a bit different than all of the others. In these cases, people will usually either get just one gear or they will make sure that one gear stands out in a collection of gears.
Unsurprisingly, people will sometimes get their gear tattoos to show that they love everything having to do with steampunk. Steampunk, which is a blend of new-age technology with 19th-century machines, has a huge following right now and has been used in movies and artwork among other things. The gears usually stand out in these pieces, though they can sometimes be parts of larger machines, such as mechanical arms, hats, or even animals.
Collaboration is yet another popular meaning that people use when they get a gear tattoo. Since most machines use multiple gears to work, it just makes sense to get a gear tattoo to show that you see the value in teamwork and cooperation. In these cases, the designs usually have three or more gears that are clearly all working together to make some type of machine work. This idea can be used in those machine tattoos that have the appearance of being inside of the person’s body.
Other Gear Tattoo Meanings
A slightly less popular reason for people to get gear tattoos is to show that they have an engineering background. Engineers don’t have too many options when it comes to tattoos that represent them, so the gear tattoo is an excellent choice. In fact, if you love to create anything, the gear can be a great symbol to use in your tattoo.
Clockmakers and watchmakers are also perfect candidates for gear tattoos. Sure, they could get a full clock or watch tattoos, but many prefer to get the inner workings of the timepieces to show what really matters in them. You will find that these people will usually get very finely designed tattoos to ensure that every line of the gear is perfectly accurate.
You can also get a gear tattoo if you simply love fixing things. The gear design works even if the things you usually fix don’t require gears. Even though this is not the most popular gear tattoo out there, most people will have an idea of what it represents even if you don’t tell them why you got it.
Gear Tattoo Designs and Placement
One of the reasons why gear tattoos are so popular right now is because there are so many ways that you can get them designed and they look great in just about any size. You can design them based on the meanings that you’re using, or you can even come up with something completely new. You definitely don’t have to be obvious with the meanings, which is great because that allows you to focus more on the design itself rather than trying to match the look to the meanings.
Most people decide to get their gear tattoos designed as realistically as possible. They want the gears to have either a shiny or rusty look, but the most important thing is that they look metal and they have realistic-looking holes and grooves. You can go abstract with your gear tattoo, but you’ll still probably want to make it recognizable.
As far as placement goes, you really could put a gear tattoo anywhere on your body. Of course, the larger you go, the more skin you’re going to need so you should plan ahead. Gear tattoos are very popular as sleeve tattoos right now, but in those cases, people usually get five or more larger gears in a machine tattoo.
You could go that route, or you could even get a very small gear tattoo that could fit on your forearm, wrist, ankle, or anywhere else that you think would look good. It is normally a circular design, so it would also work quite well as a chest or shoulder tattoo.
Is the Gear Tattoo Right for You?
If you find that any of the meanings mentioned above make sense for you or you like gears for any other reason, then there’s really no reason to pass up getting a gear tattoo. They usually look amazing on the skin and the people that get them are often quite proud of what they represent.
The one downside of gear tattoos is that they usually don’t blend well with other designs. This is important to keep in mind if you know that you are going to want to get a lot of tattoos in the future since you probably won’t want to have any other tattoos around your gear(s).
If you do plan on getting a gear tattoo, you will want to work with an experienced tattoo artist since these are usually quite complex designs. Ideally, you’ll find someone who has made gear tattoos or cyberpunk tattoos in the past, but the main thing is to find an artist who has consistently positive customer satisfaction.