Fine line tattoo on the inner forearm showing a red heart outline, a black script name and a grey awareness ribbon outline.

Heart, script name and ribbon on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

The tattoo shows a red heart outline arching over a black cursive script name on the left and a grey ribbon outline on the right. The linework is thin and even, with the ribbon shaded in soft grey and touches of red inside it. The photo is taken at a slight angle against a blurred interior background, with the tattoo filling the centre of the frame.

Fine line Lettering Forearm Heart Ribbon Script Name Awareness ribbon

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

The sign-writer's brush was still wet when Tommy Gale pushed through the side door of the Marine Ballroom, shaking rain off his cap. I was lettering the Thursday tea-dance names onto brass plates above the cloakroom hooks, and I didn't look up from the last loop of a capital J. "Ask me later," I said, which is what I say to everyone.

Keep reading

He wanted a name painted on the glass of the box office door, in the flowing hand the old place used on its posters before the war. "Small," he said. "Under a red heart, and a grey ribbon tied off to one side. I'll explain the ribbon when you've done the rest." He didn't need to. Plenty of people on this coast wore that ribbon for a cause nobody in the town liked to name out loud, and he had the look of a man who had sat in too many waiting rooms.

I did the heart first, in the red my mother used for the bunting, then the name in black enamel, then the ribbon, which took longest because it has to look like someone tied it in a hurry and meant it. When Tommy saw it he went quiet and tapped the glass twice with a knuckle, as if checking the word was solid.

On the Saturday, the band played the old slow numbers and the floor filled with couples who'd danced there since their courting days. I stood by the box office with a cup of stewed tea and watched the lamplight catch that painted name each time the door swung open and shut.