A dotwork and mandala-patterned cat tattoo in black, grey and red on a forearm, shown beside a photo of the real white and brown cat it depicts.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Ornamental cat tattoo on a forearm

Dotwork · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

The image is split into two panels. The left shows a white and brown cat wearing a blue collar, seated on a printer. The right shows a cat outline on skin filled with mandala-like ornament, including scrolls, dots, chevrons and teardrop shapes. The linework is bold and the fill uses stippled dotwork, with black and grey shading and muted red accents.

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 Ysolde,

Keep reading

Forgive the smudged ink. The Chancellor's grey-and-white cat has taken my drawing board again, and I have given up moving her. Each morning she sits where the sun falls through the east window, tail wrapped round her feet, while I try to draw the court's mandalas on the sheet beneath her. The commission is for the Hall of Lanterns: forty panels of ornament, each one a cat sitting upright and filled with scrolls and teardrops. The Chancellor insists this is the old court style. I have told him the old style is only a cat's outline with nothing inside it, but he does not listen to painters.

Yesterday I finally did what Father taught us. I stopped trying to invent and simply counted. The cat has a white blaze down her chest, and where the brown patch sits on her flank the fur runs in tiny whorls, each one a dot with a ring round it. I counted nineteen in a row before the light moved. Then I saw that the chevrons along her back matched the markings of her spine, and the teardrops at her shoulders matched the fan of her whiskers. Every ornament I was meant to dream up was already on her, waiting to be noticed.

So I drew her as she is, dot by dot, and used the red wash only where her warm patches showed. The Chancellor came at dusk and said nothing for a long time. Then he asked me to do his hound next.

I will go on, though the cat watched me all afternoon with an expression I can only call unimpressed. Write soon, and tell me whether the sea air in Marrowgate has made you as stubborn as I hear. Your loving sister, Idrenne

More like this

Diptych of a Japanese style colour tattoo on a lower leg, showing a black and grey cat with teal eyes wrapped around a blue and orange dragon with swirling cloud motifs.
Cat and dragon tattoo on a lower leg
Black ink blackwork tattoo of a seated cat filled with mandala patterns on a forearm, with a paper stencil of the same design beside it.
Mandala cat on a forearm
Black ink tattoo of a seated cat seen from behind, filled with swirling ornamental linework, on a forearm against a dark background.
Ornamental cat silhouette on a forearm
Colour tattoo of a calico cat's face with green eyes, pink nose and whiskers, in a soft illustrative style, on the forearm.
Calico cat face on forearm
Traditional style tattoo of a seated cat filled with mandala and paisley ornament in black, grey and red on the forearm.
Ornamental seated cat on forearm
Solid black cat face tattoo with pointed ears and white eye shapes on the forearm, shown beside a photo of the real cat it copies.
Black cat face tattoo on a forearm
Black and grey realism tattoo of a tabby cat's face on the inner forearm, with shaded fur stripes and whiskers.
Tabby cat portrait on the inner forearm
Black and grey geometric tattoo of a sitting cat filled with ornamental patterns, placed on the ankle.
Patterned sitting cat tattoo on the ankle
Realistic black and grey tattoo of a cat's face with blue eyes, shaded in fine detail on the inner forearm.
Realistic cat face on forearm
Colour tattoo of two cats sitting on a black crescent moon with a red heart and green leaves, placed on the upper back, shown beside a photo of two cat silhouettes at a window.
Two cats on a crescent moon on the upper back
Fine line black tattoo of a cat's face on the inner upper arm, with whiskers, ears and shaded fur detail.
Cat face tattoo on an upper arm
Ornamental fox silhouette tattoo on the lower leg, filled with swirling linework that shifts from orange at the top to pink and red lower down.
Ornamental fox silhouette on a calf

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