Black and grey traditional tattoo of a cat with a small dark bird in its claws, placed on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Black cat clutching a bird on an arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A black cat with its head raised and mouth open holds a small dark bird in its front paws. Bold outlines and solid black fills are combined with stippled dotwork shading along the cat's body and the lighter stripes. The design is in black ink on pale skin, with the arm filling most of the frame against a pale blue paper background.

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Before the church clock struck four, a sparrow dropped down the flue of Pell's bakehouse and landed in the flour bin like a burnt cinder. Mrs Pell swore at it and reached for the broom, but the black cat was quicker. Tallow had slept all night on the warm lid of the copper, and he came off it without a sound.

Keep reading

He did not eat the bird. He carried it under his chin across the cold slate floor and set it down by the banked fire, where the dough was proving under damp cloths, and then he sat over it with his ears flat and his mouth open to show his teeth. Mrs Pell lowered the broom. Her husband, Ned, said the cat was a thief and always had been, and went out to fetch the first sacks from the cart.

The sparrow stopped fighting after a while. Mrs Pell watched it lie still between the cat's front paws and felt the yard's chill come in under the back door. She said the bird was dead. Tallow looked at her as if she had said something foolish, and under his claws the small heart went on, quick as a clock.

When it steadied, he opened his paws. The sparrow went up in one flap, struck the rafter, and was out through the door into the grey, where the first loaves were coming out of the oven. Mrs Pell set them on the sill to cool. Tallow licked his paw, took the warmest place by the oven, and did not look at the door again, which she took to mean the bargain was kept.

More like this

Black and grey realism tattoo of a tabby cat's face on the inner forearm, with shaded fur stripes and whiskers.
Tabby cat portrait on the inner forearm
Black and grey dotwork yin yang tattoo of two cats curled together, placed on the calf.
Yin yang cats on a lower leg
Black and grey tattoo of a Siamese cat's face with pointed ears on the upper thigh, shaded with fine stippling and linework.
Siamese cat face on a thigh
Black and grey realism tattoo of a black cat with a ruffled collar and bow inside an oval frame, on the outer thigh.
Black cat with ruffled collar on thigh
Colour tattoo of a cat face with bright turquoise eyes and angular black, brown and tan shading, on the inner forearm.
Geometric cat face on a forearm
Black and grey geometric cat head tattoo with dotwork shading on the inner forearm.
Geometric cat head on a forearm
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a cat wearing a striped scarf and holding a takeaway coffee cup, on the upper arm.
Cat in a scarf holding a coffee cup
Black and grey neo-traditional tattoo of an anthropomorphic cat in a top hat and lace-trimmed coat, with scrollwork, on a forearm.
Anthropomorphic cat in a top hat on a forearm
Black fine line tattoo of a cat's face with whiskers and shaded ears, on the inner wrist of a forearm.
Cat face tattoo on the wrist
Black and grey realism tattoo of a cat's face above a sleeping cat, with clouds behind them, on a forearm.
Cat portrait and sleeping cat on a forearm
Black and grey tattoo on the outer thigh of a cat with green eyes, its body filled with a sketchy forest scene of bare trees and a small cabin.
Black cat over a forest scene on thigh
Black line geometric tattoo of a cat face with angular facets on the upper arm, shown against dark patterned fabric.
Geometric cat face on upper arm

From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.