Fine line lotus flower outline on the back of an ankle, showing as a pale line against the skin.

Lotus outline on an ankle

Fine line · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A small lotus flower is drawn as a single-line outline with layered petals and a rounded centre. The linework is thin and even, and the ink appears pale or white against the skin, so the design reads as a light outline rather than a dark tattoo. The lotus sits off-centre on the heel, with the ankle and sole of the foot visible around it.

Fine line Botanical Ankle Lotus Flower Outline

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 shutter on Calder Street had been down since Tuesday, and Maud Tennant was still working on it at ten past two in the morning, a fine brush in one hand and a tin of white enamel balanced on the step beside her. Across the road the kebab shop hummed under its strip light, and a single taxi idled at the kerb with its meter off.

Keep reading

Her father had taught her that an outline was a promise you kept in one unbroken stroke. If you lifted the brush, you had to go back and admit it. So she drew the lotus the way he would have, starting from the tip of the centre petal and working outward, each layer of petals lapping the one beneath until the flower sat open on the grey metal like something surfacing. Mr Pryce, the landlord, had wanted a plain sign, a phone number and a word in red. He had not asked for a flower, and she had not asked him.

A lad in a hi-vis jacket stopped to watch, a chip wrapper folded small in his fist. "What's it for?" he said. Maud dipped the brush and considered the question longer than he expected. "So the place doesn't look like a hole when it's shut," she said, and he nodded as if that made sense at this hour.

She finished the last petal as the sky over the rooftops turned the colour of dishwater. The paint was pale enough that by daylight it would nearly vanish into the shutter, and she liked that it would be there only if you looked for it. She packed the tin, wiped her hands on her jeans, and walked home before the first bus, leaving the lotus to open on its own in the morning light.