A tall blonde dressed in bright work-out clothes points to her ribcage and slides her finger up and down along the large area she wants covered. “So how long do you think it would take to get it done like… here?” she says.

Her friend stands next to her, dressed in an equally bright ensemble, staring up at the hundreds of tattoo drawings displayed on the wall. With the exception of that right wall, Gizmo’s Tattoo shop on Lower Greenville is covered in a dark purple, black and green jungle-like pattern. The air is clean and crisp, the traces of sterilizing chemicals and air freshener still floating around. The faint buzz of a tattoo machine can be heard over the rock music playing in the background.

“It depends on how detailed you want it,” says tattoo artist Cody Menely, who has been working at Gizmo’s for three years. The blonde nods, saying she will come back when she decides what she wants. She pays for the small flower tattoo she has just gotten and walks out.

Whether we want to accept it or not, tattoos are becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. What was once stereotyped as a symbol for gangs, prisoners, bikers and sailors, is now extremely common. From big tattoos to smaller ones, it seems everyone is getting inked these days. A study done by Statistic Brain in 2012 showed that the total number of Americans who have at least one tattoo was 45 million. Gizmo’s is one of the many tattoo shops that has been witness to this change.

“In the last few years I think it’s really started to come around,” says Menely. “It’s just really hard to pigeonhole people now, you know?” he says. Menely is 27 and got his first tattoo, an Aztec sun on his shoulder, at 18. For him, being a tattoo artist is a family tradition. He grew up watching his cousin tattoo, and he decided to pursue it himself.

Interestingly, Menely says many of the customers that stop by Gizmos are women. He believes that when it comes to tattoos, there no longer seems to be a double standard for women.

“I love the diversity of the clientele that comes in the door,” says 42-year-old Jon Lipscomb, who goes by the nickname “Lil Jon”. Lipscomb has been at Gizmo’s for the last five years and says he gets anywhere from people who live around the neighborhood, college students, and business men to people who just come across the street after a night at the bar.

“But yeah, females are tougher than guys,” he says laughing in agreement with Menely. Lipscomb suspects it’s because they get something that usually means something to them, which allows them to have a “grin and bear it” attitude toward the pain. He believes the sentimental value behind a person’s tattoo is what gets them through the not-so-pleasant process, something Lipscomb says he’s been happy to see change, that people’s tattoos are much more meaningful now, no matter how big or small. He’s been tattooing for 16 years and says that when he first got into body art it was very different because it was just done mostly on criminals and bikers.

Just a few weeks ago however, Lipscomb gave his mother her first tattoo.

“I gave her a butterfly and she loves it,” he says. “She loves to show it off,” he says with a smile.

Chris Everbeck, 27, is a frequent customer at Gizmo’s and explains that tattoos are a coping mechanism and a form of self-expression.

“I usually get mine when I’m going through something, but sometimes it’ll be just for fun,” Everbeck says. His tattoos range from comic book super heroes to phrases in different languages or various symbols.

“Some people dye their hair, some people get tattoos,” he says. “It’s a way of orchestrating who you are to the world and I think that’s great.” For Everbeck, tattoos are a form of art that should never be viewed negatively.

Still, what about the professional world? The fact that there have been such negative connotations with the idea of tattoos in the past can make it hard for people to welcome them with open arms, especially for those who grew up at a time when tattoos were exactly what their stereotypes made them out to be.

According to an article published in Forbes in 2013, after talking to the CEOs and spokespeople of several major companies about their tattoo policies, most employers agreed they’re interested in hiring the best candidate, meaning a person’s appearance isn’t nearly as important as their skill set.

“It might be part of a generation gap, but I don’t think people care so much anymore,” says 22-year-old Mayra Cisneros. Cisneros works at Regis salon in Northpark and is one of the few working there who doesn’t have a tattoo.

SMU Archeology teacher’s assistant Christopher Kiahtipes says he hasn’t received negative reactions to the two large birds tattooed on his right arm. For presentations, he simply wears a long sleeve shirt.

“It can be traced back to indigenous societies where it was part of the culture,” he explains. But more than its anthropological roots, he views tattooing as an art.

“You’re getting a permanent installation on your skin,” he says. “It’s the art of the future, and the past somehow.”