Feminine tattoo designs tend to be pretty standard- butterflies, flowers, birds or cute animals, or even stars. However today, many women are expanding a bit into more universal-themed tattoos such as tribal designs, religious symbols and even realistic animals. Any of these designs would look perfect on a foot or ankle.

The most important thing when choosing the design for a foot or ankle tattoo is finding something that has some meaning to you. Think it through carefully so that you won’t regret your choice a few years down the road.

The number of choices can often be kind of daunting. Since this is a big, lasting decision you should make sure you look at lots of different options. There are tattoo galleries online that can help inspire ideas. Of course you can simply look through the available designs at your local tattoo artist. Tattoo artists tend to display their best designs, but don’t be too quick to pick a design.

Of course, you’re not limited to websites and tattoo artists to find ideas. Your ideas and inspirations can come from books or even pictures of real items and things. You might find something in a picture in a travel book or in a history text, or even in a math textbook. If you know how to draw or know someone who does, you can sketch out a design from one of these originals. Just keep your eyes open and you’ll see design ideas all around you.

In the past, ankle tattoos tended to be tiny things that were easily hidden. Today that’s just not the case. They can still be small and discreet, of course, but often those on the angle can be just as bold and striking as the tattoos on other parts of the body.

Often women tend to get ankle tattoos of things like butterflies, hearts, flowers, and cute images, but today more striking images such as Chinese characters, tribal images, and even large anime characters are becoming much more common.

A common misconception is that the ankle is a painless place to get a tattoo. If the tattoo is higher, there aren’t as many nerves, but since the skin is stretched fairly tightly over the ankle bone, the lower tattoos can be very painful.

If you want to have a tattoo that you can keep covered up on the job, an ankle tattoo might be just the thing. If it’s low enough, an ankle tattoo can be covered quite easily by socks, and higher tattoos can be covered with long pants. Again, since the tattoo is permanent, make sure you choose a placement that you’ll be able to deal with for a long time and in many different situations.

Ankle tattoos are stylish, convenient, and very versatile, so if you’re considering your first tattoo, the ankle might be the perfect place to get one. Just find a design you love then pick a specific placement that you can live with.