Cartoon bear holding a balloon

Fine line · Other · Black and grey · Photo

A cartoon bear walks upright, looking up and holding a balloon by its string, which rises to the top of the design. Thin outlines define the bear and balloon, with light grey shading inside the balloon and body, and a few small insect shapes float in the space around them. The design is in black and grey on a plain, pale area of skin, with the subject centred and the rest of the frame left empty.

Fine line Other Bear Balloon String Insect Cartoon

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

Now sit closer, because the wind through Harrowmere wood carries everything, and you'll want to hear this before the lamps go out. Bramble Hob was a bear who lived where the last oaks give way to the common. He was not a clever bear. He could not count past his paws, and he believed the church bell was a very large bee.

Keep reading

One market day a travelling man came up the lane pulling a cart of painted balloons, red and green and one the colour of wet ash. Hob had never owned anything that floated. He traded a honeycomb for the grey one, the dullest on the cart, because it reminded him of the sky over the mill before rain. The man tied the string to his wrist, and Hob walked home holding it high so the balloon wouldn't drag in the ditches.

The bees followed him all the way up the lane, three of them, bumbling in his wake, and the village children ran out to see. Hob did not know that a balloon wants to go up. He only knew the string kept pulling and he had to keep reaching. By the time he reached the big oak it had lifted him onto his toes, then his heels were off the ground, and the children were shouting from below.

Here is the part they never agree on. Some say he let go. Some say the string slipped. I say the bear looked up at that grey little sky and judged it a fine enough road, so he kept his grip and went on up the lane in the air, the bees circling like escorts, and the village has been looking up at him ever since.