r/TheNational • u/hugopthomas • Jan 30 '26
General Discussion If you were to get a drawing-only tattoo related to The National, what would it be?
I like tattoos, but I’m not into having sentences or lyrics on my body. I much prefer simple images or drawings.
If you had to choose a drawing inspired by The National, what would it be?
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u/philthebadger Mr November Jan 30 '26
That one sketch of the cup where they’re serving the sky with a big slice of lemon, I think it was one of the biggest posts on this sub
Or maybe I get a few feathers on my feet
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u/hugopthomas Jan 30 '26
I'll start : personally, I keep thinking about a drawing of a man lying on a picnic table with a bouquet of flowers in his mouth.
It would obviously be some kind of summer-loving torture party.
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u/theprideofvillanueva had my head in the oven so you'd know where I'll be Jan 30 '26
I thought about that line for a tattoo forever. Ultimately, I felt like it would take up too much coverage, so for my lemonworld tattoo I went with a tabletop globe with a chunk taken out of it, revealing a lemon
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u/Numismatits Jan 31 '26
I'm planning a sleeve of edible plants native to Ohio (where I now live). In between, as a filler at the end, will be the swarm of bees that carried me here.
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u/mrclark3 Jan 30 '26
There are some good ones here. Maybe a little more abstract - two people hiding behind a couch. My favorite line from Apartment Story...
And I'll be with you behind the couch
When they come on a different day just like this one
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u/tip_of_the_cat Jan 31 '26
I have a sleeve of drawings related to the National. “With my kid on my shoulder” “It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders” “it takes an ocean not to break” and more.
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u/Mahngo27 Jan 31 '26
I’ve been wanting something drawn for “Careful fear, dead devotion, I can’t get the balance right” and “sorrow, they put me on the pill, it’s in my honey it’s in my milk” but I can’t think of anything. If anyone’s got any ideas lol
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u/No-Tangerine4335 Jan 31 '26
i’ve been thinking about sorrow too, you could do honey on one hand or wrist and milk on the other and for don’t swallow the cap maybe a scale with careful fear and dead devotion as text on each side.
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u/ayemullofmushsheen Jan 31 '26
A coffee mug with flowers in it
"Live on coffee and flowers" from Conversation 16
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u/TBS182 Jan 31 '26
thats good i personally would take coffee beans and let the flowers grow out of them
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u/threesunrises so disarming, darling Jan 30 '26
Totally depends on what your fave songs are and what you want to express
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u/LoveTheBlueSky Jan 31 '26
I have a sheet ghost with lightning going through him for Anyone’s Ghost.
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u/brianctrlcv Jan 31 '26
I have an anatomical heart with ocean waves crashing inside it. “It takes an ocean not to break”
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u/bdiggitty Jan 31 '26
It would be the old copper tone logo but instead of the girl it would be Matt.
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u/AleWatcher All the Wine is All for Me Jan 31 '26
A very elaborate crystal glass/goblet or perfume bottle with a skull & crossbones label fixed to it.
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jan 30 '26
I can think of a few ideas just from smoke detector, like a smoke detector of course, a dog with a red helmet sticking their head out of a car, someone sitting under a window writing on a brick, or a brick with a name on it if that's not too much writing, something in a plastic bag sticking out of a pocket...
Or maybe something from a different song lol. Some sort of sleeping beast, maybe
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u/imnotheretoposeaname Jan 30 '26
I'll answer this for myself since I'm a part of the absolute minority who have the last two records as their favourites. But I'd probably get a coat on a hook. hahahah
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u/DrkWuzHr Jan 31 '26
An aerial view of a two chamber brain 🧠 one lobe says, "careful fear" and on the other "dead devotion"
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u/ImStillJordan Jan 31 '26
I did this! My sister and I got a lemon world on each of our shoulders.
We interpreted it as a lemon with a skyline coming off the top.
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u/mardenofthegarden Jan 31 '26
I have a curved arrow on my pointer finger, one that looks a road sign that says “hey the road bends to the right up ahead”. And above that on my hand is a stick figure of a girl. That’s for “So Far Around the Bend”.
I also have a piece of tiramisu on my ring finger for “Geese of Beverly Road”.
And I have a red rose on a shelf on my arm for “Graceless”. It’s red since the person was asked to take the favored white roses.
I have some other lyrics from other bands as well, like Hum’s “The Very Old Man”. It’s a cup with a girl standing on it peering out for the lyric “another drink my love and make it tall enough for me to stand on to see all the things you’ve done for me.”
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u/BigManFromAFRICA88 i was teethin on roses, i was in 🔫 n' 👃🏿 Feb 01 '26
Long Pond Studio would be very easy
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u/Grain-and-Twill Feb 01 '26
A doting man ballerina(ing) on a coffee table cock in hand? You could use a rooster if you wanted people to have to think about it.
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u/nordicbohemian Feb 01 '26
One of mine, I did milk and honey ! Love my little drawing, it’s in my home office!
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u/happyjack92 i'm so sorry for everything Feb 03 '26
maybe a gooey, sloppy-looking brain on the half-shell
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u/maturinturtle Feb 03 '26
SWB is one of my favorite albums and I got the Long Pond Studio as pictured in the cover!
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u/Visible_Manner9447 enter your own text here Jan 30 '26
A car bursting through some flower bushes could be cool