Black and grey geometric lion head tattoo in dotwork and fine line on a person's upper back, with a small cross tattoo on the right shoulder.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Geometric lion head on upper back

Geometric · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A faceted lion head faces forward at the centre of the upper back, outlined in fine black lines with a mane built from angular, triangular sections. Shading is created with stippled dots and fine hatching, giving the mane and muzzle depth against the pale skin. The photograph is black and white, with the tattoo centred and dark hair falling at the top edge, and a small cross tattoo visible on the right shoulder.

Geometric Dotwork Fine line Back Shoulder Lion Lion head Cross Geometric Mane

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

Uncle Dai could never draw a curve he trusted, so every animal he ever made for us came out in planes and points. He said a curve was a promise you had to keep with the stone, and a straight edge was honest. When the colliery offered him slate from the old tip for the lodge gate, he went down to the Cwm with a sack of chalk and sat on an upturned crate for three evenings, sketching a lion until the chalk ran out.

Keep reading

The lion he settled on had a mane like a cracked helmet, every tuft a sharp triangle, and eyes he cut so deep the lamp-boys swore they followed them across the yard. I held the bucket while he worked. The dust got into everything, our bread, our hair, the creases of our knuckles, and still he would not hurry the eyes.

The winter the men came out, the gate lay unfinished in its crate under a tarpaulin. Nobody had money for a mason. Dai carved on by the light of a paraffin lamp through the cold, and the only thing he said about it was that the lion would not mind waiting.

When the gate went up in the spring, the lion looked down the hill towards the winding house, where the cage came up each morning with its black load. Dai had set it facing the pit, not the road. I asked him why. He wiped his hands on his trousers and said somebody had to watch the men come home.