10 Horrible Harley-Davidson Themed Tattoos
Some tattoo artists really stretch the definition of the word "art" and end up botching even the simplest designs.
1. Harley-Davidson Motor Clothes?
We all love Harley-Davidson because their bikes are unlike anything else out there. Some people feel the need to wrap themselves head-to-toe in Motor Company-branded accessories, and the dealers are happy to oblige with quality genuine products. Plenty of independents have knock-off gear featuring the logo, too. The bar and shield and winged eagle are iconic Harley symbols, but this poor guy should have looked closer at the tag from his recently purchased jacket before having his tattoo artist copy it exactly.
2. Hardly Tribal
Some people like tribal tattoos, and some folks think they are out of fashion, but hey, it is your body. However, you really need to make a decision about style and stick to it. The kind of tribal Harley-Davidson name just looks like sloppy lettering. Maybe it was? Maybe the tribal tat around it is just an attempt to tie it all together?
3. Raider Davidson
The owner of this tat has two great passions in his life: Harley-Davidson and the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately, he could only afford a single tattoo and could not decide which one to celebrate on his arm for the rest of his life. Now he has a Raiders tat that most Raiders fans won't recognize, and a Harley bar and shield with a bunch of random words in it.
4. Grim Rider
This started out as a pretty good idea for a tattoo: the Grim Reaper riding a custom bike with an animal skull headlight. Somehow in the execution of the art it went kind of wonky, though. If the back wheel on this bike is a fat 16-inch diameter, that front would have to be something like 12 inches. The Reaper, while technically pretty accurate and frightening, has no legs; he is just growing out of the bike like a mechanical centaur. It is very important when doing original work to make a few drafts first before you start on someone's back.
5. Free and Worth It
A Harley dealer in Riverside, CA had a promotion with tattoo artists at the dealer one weekend. If you agreed to get a small tattoo featuring the dealer's name, the tattoo was free. Remember folks, you get what you pay for.
6. Letters are Hard
It looks like this one was going really well. The bar and shield are sized and shaped properly, the colors are deep and accurate, the words are all spelled properly. But then the letters kind of started to run together as the artist almost couldn't fit Harley-Davidson in there. Some artists are really good at shapes, some at people, and some at letters and numbers. Be sure you know what you are getting before you start.
7. Harley Somethinghead
The shovelhead, the panhead, the knucklehead, the Evo, and, of course, the somethinghead motor, as seen in this tattoo. Its hard to tell if the artist was just working from memory of what a Harley V-twin looked like or if he was in a hurry and didn't look closely at the picture. This V-twin is generic enough that it could even be a Yamaha Road Star motor.
8. Cartoon Chopper Chick
The more I look at this, the more I can't decide if it is good or bad. The chopper is really accurate in some aspects, like the details of the motor, but inaccurate in other, like the roundness of the wheels. The girl is a bit more cartoon-y than the bike, as if the artist was not that comfortable drawing people. I am reminded of a sketch on a notebook done during detention.
9. Hard to Face
There's a lot to like about this design. That wolf staring into your soul from the background. The bike leaned over and motoring right off his arm. But what is with the rider? We can assume the rider is supposed to be the person whose arm this is. Is he wearing a helmet so his tattoo is a public service announcement for safety? And why an open face helmet, but a full face shield? Personally, I think the tattoo artist got into the rider's head and realized he wasn't very good at faces and had to improvise.
10. Eagle Mashup
There are a lot of conflicting styles here. "Harley-Davidson" is written across the shoulders in olde English, as if it were the name of her gang. The eagle seems to be Japanese or possibly Native American in style, and besides that has a huge head and no body. Then we have the several other tats that came first that were neither covered over or worked into the design. Just like many things in life, planning ahead is important for tattoos, especially when they are this huge.
If you need advice on fixing or modifying your bike, not your body, click into the How-to section of HDForums.com
