Neo-traditional seahorse tattoo in purple, lavender and grey with black outlines, sitting on the calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Ornamental seahorse on a calf

Neo-trad · Calf · Colour · Photo

A stylised seahorse with a curled tail and ornate scalloped detailing along its body and fins. Bold black outlines frame the design, with shaded grey areas and lavender and purple fills, and a small pink accent in the eye. The tattoo sits centrally on a calf against a plain background, with the design filling most of the frame.

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 lift has been broken since Tuesday, so you carry the tank up fourteen flights with your hip against the rail and the water slopping over the lip at every landing. Mr Abara from flat 3 offers to help and you tell him no, because the seahorse has been your father's since before the flats were painted green, and because he would hold it like a shopping bag.

Keep reading

Inside, the seahorse hangs in the weed as if it has been waiting for you to stop moving. Its tail is wound tight as a clock spring, its body plated in those scalloped ridges that look like the edges of a pie crust, and the lilac has faded to the colour of old lavender bags in a drawer. You pour the water slowly, the way he showed you, and watch the small pink eye follow the light from the window across the estate.

Your father used to say the spiral was for holding on in a current. Nothing to hold on to now but the rail, the tank and the bus timetable taped to the fridge. You set the tank on the windowsill where the sun lands at four, tap the glass twice, and count. It does not move for a long while. Then the tail uncurls a single turn, and you realise you have been holding your breath, and you let it go.

More like this

Colour tattoo of a purple and teal seahorse with a curled tail and pink cheek, shown on the thigh in a neo-traditional style.
Purple and teal seahorse tattoo
Black and grey seahorse tattoo with shaded scales and spiny fins on the forearm, in a traditional style.
Seahorse on a forearm
Colour Japanese-style tattoo of a green and blue fish tail curling through black-outlined waves on skin.
Green and blue fish tail with waves
Colour traditional tattoo of two swallows, a yellow measuring tape and a black needle and thread on the upper thigh.
Swallows and measuring tape on a thigh
Traditional style seahorse tattoo in blue, teal and grey with black outlines and small bubbles, on the inner forearm.
Seahorse on a forearm
Small black fine line seahorse tattoo on the ankle, shown in profile with a curled tail and hatched shading.
Small seahorse on an ankle
Colour tattoo of a golden koi fish swimming among pink flowers and teal water plants on an upper arm, in a Japanese-influenced neo-traditional style.
Koi fish and flowers on an upper arm
Neo-traditional tattoo of a grey snake coiled in a green shield crest with scrollwork, on the upper thigh.
Green snake in a shield crest on a thigh
Black and grey shaded seahorse tattoo with a curled tail, placed on the ankle of a bare leg above a white shoe.
Seahorse tattoo on an ankle
Colour tattoo of a peacock feather with purple hearts and a small blue butterfly on the top of a foot.
Peacock feather and hearts on a foot
Colour tattoo of a skeleton mermaid with flowing red hair and a green scaled tail, in a traditional style, on a lower leg.
Skeleton mermaid on a lower leg
Blue and teal seahorse tattoo with black outlines and small bubbles on a person's forearm, against a red wall.
Blue seahorse with bubbles on a forearm

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