Dolphin Tattoo Design

Question:
I'm looking for a one inch or one and a half inch design for a dolphin tattoo! Not a lot of luck finding what I want! I don't want a comic looking one, but something "real," or artsy? I like the ones that are sorta arched, too . . . but I can't seem to find anything. Have GREAT hopes that somebody can help me!

Answer:
- In my personal opinion you are on your way to making several standard tattoo newbie mistakes. First is that the tattoo is too small. It aint linoleum. A tattoo that small will look like a smudge from a distance and over time, it will get blurrier and even you will have trouble justifying it as a dolphin. Second, the best designs are ones you find yourself *AND THEN* work collaboratively with a tattoo artist to develop the image for your body. Third, if you can not become comfortable with an artist doing the above, keep looking, that is not the artist you want. You see, if one of us found a dolphin image, it would not be yours. This is your quest. There is no shortage of Dolphin images around (use one of the internet search engines). A good artist may have several of their own to show you. - Is it okay to post two of the graphics I've found? They are kind of small, as file size goes, and I like one, because of the color- the other, for the shape! I just don't know HOW to put the two together! I want the tattoo to go right at the top of the outside thigh, where you can see it with a French cut swim suit. I just don't want anything TOO overt! - I can agree to that, when I had my first tattoo (a prehistoric style taurus) done, I wanted it to be smaller (its now 2" by 1"). The artist said that he couldn't do it any smaller, because it would fade to much over time. Even at this size it faded a bit, I now regretted that I didn't listen to him and got it a bit bigger (3" by 1.5"). The design is still recognizable but this is because its a tribal representation. - If you want something 'real', you' should understand that you simply will not get anything that will look good for very long, if you insist on something that small. Details will be lost as the tattoo gets older. Even brand new, it will probably not look very good unless the viewer comes within about a foot of it - further away and it will probably end up looking like a large mole or a birthmark at best, a big colored smudge at worst. I don't know if there's ever been a study done, but popular consensus seems to be that you always regret not getting your first tattoo larger. That said, you should go find a good (tattoo) artist. Someone who does custom work, and may be a bit more expensive, but has a portfolio with photos of their work, should be able to draw up a dolphin to meet your specifications.