Dragon Tattoo- Your Choices From East to West

The dragon, more popularly seen as a strange reptile that is fond of abducting damsels, breathing fire and mercilessly killing knights, and not to say hoarding treasures had been a part of human culture. For thousands of years, this mythical creature had been the subject of human curiosity and his adoration for art. And while they are often portrayed in the books, paintings and the likes, the modern world has seen the dragon's potential place in the tattooing world.

Thus, its popularity as major tattoo designs.

It is the symbol of power, of fear, of honor, of evil (and sometimes good), of protection, of virtually anything, depending on who you would ask. Nevertheless, dragon tattoos lend themselves so beautifully for the appreciation of both artists and audience.

Both the eastern and the western world adopted dragons in a wide spectrum of art forms including depicting them in body arts.

The cultures in Asia, more significantly the Chinese, Japanese and the Koreans were oriented to the belief that dragons are the benevolent protectors of humanity, the bringer of good fortune, the healer of the sick and the bearer of life. Eastern dragons were extensively used in marking human skin for ages.

Eastern dragon tattoos are significantly more mythical-like than western tattoos. These usually have grinning flat faces, and a serpentine body that extends long enough so as to accommodate a number of feet (only in size). But actually, these dragons only have two pairs of feet, one pair as front legs and the other as hind legs.

These dragon tattoos are also depicted large and elaborately designed, often seen wrapping a person's back or crawling on the surface of the skin. While the art of tattooing is perceived to have spread in many cultures around the globe, it is thought that the earliest tattoos were of eastern dragon designs since the formal art of tattooing actually started in Japan.

Western dragons, on the other hand, were portrayed in the exact opposite of the eastern dragons. They are unmerciful, breath nasty fire, and wreak havoc against humankind.

These dragons are often seen with more reptilian images. Scales cover their entire body and they are characterized with razor-sharp teeth and snouted mouth and face. Their wings are large and powerful as well. Thus, they were considered as the embodiment of evil and myths and legends testify to these attributes. Nonetheless, they are covered with certain degrees of mysteries and mystique that lead other people to conclude of their existence.

In dragon tattoos, western dragons are beautiful creatures with less elaborate designs as compared with those crafted from the eastern dragons. Western dragon tattoos with smoking nostril are popular as well as those that depict impressive span of dragon wings.

With the two types of dragon tattoos compared, it is likely that we discover that eastern dragon tattoos are more elaborately designed than the western dragons are. The latter are also smaller in size.

The meaning dragon tattoos represent may vary with the person wearing it or the person observing it. In a sense, their implications are so varied that it is impossible to contain all them and define them in one heap.

Not only do dragon tattoos testify to some symbolism, they are also so fluid that you may see them covering the entire or majority of the body parts. Some hard core tattoo enthusiasts even choose to adapt a dragon tattoo design that starts from their lower body towards the torso and the above parts.

http://www.todaytattoos.com/Articles/52.html