Close photograph of a black outline lion cub tattoo with grey shading on the outer ankle and heel of a foot.

Lion cub outline on an ankle

Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A lion cub in profile is drawn with a black outline and filled with soft grey shading. The design sits on the outer side of the ankle and heel, shown from a close, slightly angled view. The linework is even and the shading is smooth, with some faint pinkish tones around the edges of the skin.

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

Dear Tom,

Keep reading

The lion came off the Lisbon boat wrapped in a tarpaulin, and Mr Pardoe swore he had ordered a crate of paraffin, not a cub. It was no bigger than a bolster, with a tail that curled up over its back like a question nobody wanted to answer. The circus man had gone up the gangway before anyone could ask his name. So the cub was ours, the harbour master said so, and Dad said so too, which settled it the way things settle in Porthcombe.

We kept him in the net loft behind the chandlery. He ate pilchards, stole the gulls' bread and slept on Dad's oilskins, which smelt of diesel and everything else. Every evening he stretched his front paws out towards the window and folded himself in half, nose to tail, the way you'd tuck a letter into your coat. Mrs Keast from the fish shop said that was a lion being sad. I said it was a lion being a lion, and she gave me the bad cod for my cheek.

The men came for him on Tuesday. Not the circus, the port authority, with a form and a van with no name on the door. Dad didn't argue. He lifted the cub onto the quay and let him walk, and the cub looked back once, all whiskers and wariness, then picked his way down the slipway into the weed where the tide was turning. I thought he would swim. He didn't. He sat on the bottom step and watched the boats come in.

Write back and tell me what the sea is like out there. I keep thinking about how small he looked against the wet stones, and how straight his back stayed.

Love, Nell

More like this

Small black fine line tattoo of a sitting cat with a curled tail, placed on the ankle.
Sitting cat tattoo on an ankle
Fine line black outline tattoo of a small elephant with its trunk raised, on the inner wrist of a clenched hand with dark nail polish.
Small elephant outline on a wrist
Fine line black outline tattoo of a cat in profile with a small green eye, placed on the ankle.
Cat profile tattoo on the ankle
Fine line black tattoo of a cartoon bear with a small butterfly above its raised arm, placed on the ankle.
Small bear and butterfly on an ankle
Fine line black tattoo of a sitting cat with a curled tail on the ankle, shown in a close photograph of the skin.
Sitting cat outline on an ankle
Small solid black cat silhouette tattoo on the inner wrist and forearm, with the cat facing left and a dark grey top in the background.
Black cat silhouette on a wrist
Fine line black tattoo of two cats curled together beside a heart and a looping line, placed on the calf.
Two cats and a heart on a calf
Small colour tattoo of a cartoon lion cub with a black outline on the inner wrist and forearm.
Small cartoon lion cub on a wrist
Small black fine line tattoo of a stylised squirrel with a curling tail on the outside of an ankle, shown against a light teal surface.
Squirrel with swirling tail on an ankle
Black and grey paw print tattoo with shaded pads, a script name and a small star, on the inner wrist and forearm.
Paw print with name and star on a wrist
Small black outline tattoo of a cartoon dinosaur in fine line style on the ankle, above a striped sock.
Small dinosaur outline on an ankle
Fine line black ink outline of a small elephant with a tiny pink heart, placed on the side of a foot near the toes.
Small elephant on the side of a foot

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