@cacatuidaes Thank you very much!!! Well - I’m no designer, but I would be happy to talk about what I did and why. And then, whatever happens next is between you and your tattoo artist. :)
Please see above for very loosely drawn close-ups with quickly chosen colors, and please see below for explanations on what it all is!
Thinky-Thoughts on Jim’s Tats Below the Cut:
I numbered these just for the sake of proximity - more or less I imagine he gets them congruent with the chronology of events in the series … you’ll see what I mean!
1. The Enterprise - This one is obvi haha. His first command and first love. Inside of a vague rendition of the UFP logo, for placement. In my headcanon, this is his second-ever tattoo.
2. Swallows - The only reason I did that original tats piece in the first place was because I wanted to take inspiration from traditional sailor’s tattoos - I think often about what it might be like if being on a starship were more navy-like (hence trying to get rid of Jim’s spacious captain’s suite and cram him into a tiny single bunk LOL sorry Jimby *N S FW LINK*). Originally, each swallow signified 5,000 nautical miles that the sailor had traveled. Obviously Jim will have traveled vastly greater distances, so I’d imagine either the swallow has evolved to encompass starship-equivalent distances, or maybe Jim just has a personal interest in them, or maybe he even started keeping them with an intention of using them as markers, but then realized if he kept it up he’d be covered in birds and left them at a tasteful foursome. Maybe there is an old superstition about a captain’s first 20-x lightyears!
3. Starburst - For luck. Placed on his shoulder just out of reach of being visible in a shirt, it has come to represent how frequently he gets out of trouble. Jim’s ink is all placed in areas that can’t be seen while in uniform. It is a good place for Spock to gently kiss. :3c
4. Zinnias in Pink, Yellow and Orange - From the ep “Shore Leave” and inspired by that one post about a zinnia grown in space (as it turns out, it was not an homage to Star Trek, but I still wish that lovely space-flower all the best). Since then, as I’m sure many people have done, I headcanon zinnias as Jim’s fave flower - and as we know, he appreciates beautiful things, so he put them on his body.
5. A planetary system - I admit I didn’t think too hard about this one - not intended to be our system obvi - maybe a system where he had a very important encounter?
6. Tarsus IV - This was Jim’s first tattoo. He got it when he turned 18. Two sprigs of wheat on his ribs, a part of the body visually associated with famine, it’s in remembrance of everything that happened. He lies about its meaning to everyone who asks about it - until his encounter with Kodos on the Enterprise in his adult life.
7. Ashayam (with a smudge!) - Ashayam of course is “beloved” in Vulcan, my very favorite Vulcan endearment. :) He got it on his first anniversary of being bonded to Spock. Spock understood the sentiment and was dearly touched by it, so when Jim told him that he wanted the calligraphy to be in Spock’s own script, Spock painted it onto Jim. It got a little smudged cause they got handsy during, and Jim asked the tattoo artist to keep it as part of the final work.
8. Enemy Within - This box is meant to be a super super reduced interpretation of the gemini symbol, with the Command starburst inside. It’s about his two sides and how they come together to make him who he is, not too much beyond that. :)
9. The Conscience of the King - This one represents the end of Jim’s Tarsus ordeal, the end of his solitary burden, and the beginning of his healing. The mask is loosely based off of the ones the players use in this episode, and the dagger going through it is meant to both represent events in Macbeth as well as Kodos’ death. (10.) I linked the mask to the above “Enemy Within” tat with circles, which I find are very comforting shapes even as they are simultaneously a shape about change and movement. It seemed appropriate to associate the two, ‘cause it makes this section represent all the difficult and painful shit that makes Jim-Jam who he is.
11. Galaxy filler - Starts to feather out from the Kodos tattoo and goes all the way around the arm. Maybe it is a specific galaxy?
12. The Obelisk from “The Paradise Syndrome” - Honestly this ep is such a Mess, but in it Jim is stranded alone on a planet for three months with no memory of Starfleet, and takes a wife. That’s a pretty fucking notable event in one’s life lmao - esp when you consider the fact that he’s committed to Spock (and I do, I always do ‘cause I’m a stan for established relationship hehehe) which is why I then put 13. on top of it.
13. The Nautical Star - The nautical star is another old sailor tattoo that represents a way home, when he is lost in life or in travel. :)
14. GSK - George Samuel Kirk
Soooo that’s my thinking, I hope I didn’t bore you to tears haha! I tried to go for things that weren’t “traditionally” Trek - like for example a phaser is cool but Jimby is soft and I don’t think he’d like to ink a weapon onto his body. Nor do I think he would ever under any circumstances ink a tribble onto his body hahaha even though they are beloved by all. There’re a ton of other really important events throughout TOS that I know Jim would want to commemorate, but these few were the first that came to mind so I just went with it.
His sleeve is very colorful. Not my personal taste, but I think it suits him! :)
