Can’t decide what to get for your first (or next) tattoo?
You could flip through books at your local parlour or check out your friends’ ink for inspiration.
Or, why not design your own, with Instattoo ($5.79) for Apple’s mobile devices?
Instattoo can display a number of designs, which are divided into one of thirteen core styles—ranging from stars and tribal patterns to Asian imagery, hieroglyphs, floral designs, and shaded drawings with greyish tones.
By swiping your finger on the screen, you can rotate the design wheel to create something truly unique. Plus, you can also select from one of five different modes per style, adjust the size (from extra small to extra large), or tap the 'variate' button to see other kaleidoscope-like spins on the same design.
If you’re feeling lazy, you can tap the ying-yang symbol for a randomly generated design, until you find something you’d like to go with or tweak. You can also pinch to zoom in or out of your design at any time.
The app maker says that there are, literally, billions of combinations that can be created. Additional styles can be downloaded for free every week or via the in-app store. Each for $0.99 cents, top purchases include styles called Vardar, Sirocco, and Aster.
Once you have something interesting, you can save a high resolution image to your iPad’s camera roll, wirelessly print a hard copy to a compatible printer, or use Wi-Fi to send the design to a computer on the same wireless network. If you’d like to share your creation, you’ve got the option to email it or upload it to sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Instagram.
Because no drawing skills are needed, this app is ideal for anyone who wants to design their own tattoo. It's too bad there’s no way to input text into your design, so you can see what it looks like with your loved one’s name weaved into the image, or a song lyric, religious scripture, or any other words you’d like to see. Perhaps this feature will be added with a future update.
Shortcoming aside, this first tattoo designer for iPad is a breeze to use and should help you create something unique to bring to your local tattoo parlour.
For other great apps, check out Pimp Your Screen and TuneIn Radio.
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