All Over Albany

Skin Poison

Okay, so you'd really like a big dragon tattoo but you can't figure out exactly where it would look best.

Wouldn't it be great if there was someplace you could get a sort of virtual tattoo -- something that would let you visualize the tat on your bod before getting the real thing.

Turns out, there is. It's also kind of a MySpace for Capital Region tattoo lovers.

Local web development firm Overit Media has launched a new website called Skin Poison. It's really kind of two sites in one: a social networking site for tattoo lovers and a "Get Inked" tool for customers to virtually "see" a tattoo on themselves before getting a real one.

Users can take a screen shot of the body part where they want the tattoo - or upload a photo -- and then play around with how a certain tattoo would look using the "Realistify" tool. You can upload your own art or select from a gallery of various tattoo designs. Then you can re-size the image, move it, rotate it and manipulate it any other ways. You can also share those designs with other members of the site to get feedback. It's pretty cool, actually.

Once you set up a Skin Poison profile, it's relatively easy to start playing around with tattoo designs. There are plans to add more designs - potentially by category - to the gallery and users can easily add their own designs. The art just needs to be on a white background to work. The "Realistify" tool softens the edges a little when it's juxtaposed on the photo of a body part. Oh and users can also add pics of their already-obtained tattoos to show off to others.

Joe Schaefer of Overit says the company designed Skin Poison for a client who loves tattoos and wanted to create a community for like-minded people. It's a place to connect with other tat lovers. Skin Poison will also be featuring bands of the week and they hope to also spotlight local tattoo artists (no, the site is not affiliated with any brick-and-mortar tattoo parlors). Right now it's primarily a regional site, but the Overit folks are eager to expand beyond the Capital District.

Schaefer -- who's a member of the new site -- describes it as sort of like a virtual tattoo parlor. He believes it's a unique concept. In fact, the site proclaims it has the "world's first Get Ink'd app."

Photo: flickr user spookyamd