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While you can choose a tattoo design that literally means "strength", as in Kanji, the important thing is to have a design that gives you strength. You can choose from a number of designs as long as the one you choose has a special meaning and significance to you. It may remind you of someone close to you or someone who supported you in troubled times. Maybe someone who was there for you when you were young and from whom you gained strength.
Animal Tattoo Designs
A number of cultures used animal images to give them strength. The animals in their worlds they most admired would be a source of strength, endurance, and courage. By tattooing the animal images on their bodies they hoped to become more like them. Thus the image of a bear or lion or wolf would help the tattoo owners to become more courageous or stronger.
This might apply to you - the person who gives you strength could be represented by an image of a powerful animal, one renowned for its strength and courage.
Tribal Tattoo Designs
Tribal tattoos can evoke images in the mind of tribal battles for leadership, fighting for survival or dominance, hunting wild animals, braving the elements. They can take us back to primitive man when life itself was a gamble and only the strong survived. Whether the tattoos were done as part of a rite of passage, or to denote a position in the tribe or as an animal totem, they were all done crudely which inflicted pain. Just having the tattoo said the wearer was a person of courage because of the pain endured. Indeed, some tattoos were done simply to test a person's ability to endure pain - a test of courage.
Angel or Wing Tattoo Designs
People in the West are a familiar with Guardian Angels and as special messengers from God. Angels are also part of Jewish and Islamic faiths as well as a number of other religions and cultures going back to ancient times. They are usually represented as creatures with wings. An angel tattoo can remind us of strength as we are protected or inspired by these spiritual creatures. Wing tattoos can also act in the same way. Wings can give us a sense of protection, a sense of freedom - as in flight. How many oppressed people or prisoners or those who have lost freedom have dreamed of flying to freedom. Songs have been written about it.
Maybe there is someone in your life you see as your guardian angel, someone who inspires you, lifts you up. Perhaps it is an event - something you saw or did that makes your spirit take flight. A tattoo design of an angel or a set of wings could bring this to mind, to give you strength.
Cross Tattoos Designs
The cross is an enduring symbol of faith, hope and love. It can be used to remind you to have faith when things turn against you. It can be used to sustain you through tough times. It can be used to remember loved ones and to connect to them in spirit to give you strength.
There are other tattoo designs that can give you strength: the crown, a symbol of authority and leadership; the dragon, with its strength and magical powers; texts that are inspirational in themselves or favorite quotes of someone you love or admire. The tattoo design you choose to give you strength may be on public display but the feelings it evokes in you are uniquely yours. This is one tattoo that should be done just for you.
Designing fashion for Second Life can be a daunting prospects. Lots of residents spend lots of lindens on Second Life clothes, and a sure way to make money is to do the same. The great thing about designing SL fashion is that you can sell the same item multiple times. In fact, you can sell it as many times as you want.
The only tough part is getting started. If you are not a programmer, designer or familiar with photo-editing, you aren't going to feel comfortable, and you won't know where to get started. But don't worry, we've come up with three easy steps you can take to start you on your way to becoming a true fashionista.
STEP 1: MASTER THE IN-GAME FASHION DESIGNER: The first step in becoming a fashion designer in SL is to get used to the in-game fashion designer. Open the appearance tool (either through the top-menu or by right-clicking on your avatar) and you can edit a multitude of different factors of your avatar's appearance. To change clothing, or design new ones, you'll need to get familiar with the texture and color menu's. Once you get comfortable with the in-game designer, you can move on to the next step.
STEP 2: GET PHOTO-EDITING: To move past the simple designs you can make through the appearance editor, you'll need to get some photo-editing software. Though many of these programs can run $300 or more, we've found an alternative that is just as good. If you want to start designing fashion seriously, you'll need The GIMP. (http://www.gimp.org/). This freeware is just as good as the commercial software out there, and there is a very active and helpful community of Gimp users that can help you. Download Gimp and learn how to use some of the features. After you do this, you are ready to move on
STEP 3: GET TEMPLATES: To use Gimp (or other photo-editing software) to design clothes for SL, you'll need some templates. A template is simply a 3-D rendering that can be laid over an avatar. With a template, you can design skins, tattoo's and clothes. To start off with, you should download Robin Wood's t-shirt template. (http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLTutSet.html) This will allow you to create your very first template design: a t-shirt. The template itself is very well done, and by using layers and masks, Robin Wood has created one of the best SL Fashion aides around. Use it.
Of course, there is a lot more to fashion design than what we've told you about. (We've created an excellent fashion design guide which you can find on our website. Just click on the link below.) You can spend a lot of time learning how to create fashions, but in the end, what you want is up to you. Designing clothes for SL residents is not difficult, but it does take knowledge and practice. If you can get as far as step three, you will be ahead of 90% of everyone else in the game.