Black and grey realistic tattoo of an owl perched on stacked books with a wand and a sparkling smoke trail on skin.

Owl perched on books with a wand

Realism · Black and grey · Photo

A realistic owl sits on a stack of old bound books, with a wand resting across them and a wisp of smoke curling with small sparkles to the left. The owl's feathers and face are built up with soft grey shading and fine dark outlines, while the books have defined spines and page edges. The composition is centred on the owl, with the smoke trail balancing the empty skin on the left side.

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

Mrs Ashdown had been dead eleven years when the owl first came down the chimney of the reading room, and nobody in Little Hadham thought to ask whether she had sent it. The books were already stacked on the reading desk where she'd left them, spines cracked, a pair of brass spectacles folded on top of the uppermost volume as if she had only stepped out for tea.

Keep reading

Tobias, the vicar's boy, found the owl there at dusk, perched with its round head turned sideways, regarding him over the rims of nothing. It did not hoot. It simply waited, and after a while he understood it was waiting for him to open the book with the green clasp.

Inside, the pages were blank except for a single line in faded ink: Whatever you write tonight will be the weather tomorrow. He laughed at that, then didn't. He took the wand from beside the spectacles, a length of grey driftwood with a knot at the tip, and wrote that it would rain on the church roof. Smoke curled up from the nib in a thin ribbon, sparkling like frost in lamplight, and the owl ruffled its feathers with what looked very much like approval.

By morning the lead was dripping into the font. Tobias went down to the reading room with his heart in his mouth and found the owl gone, the spectacles missing, and the green-clasped book shut tight. On the front board, in fresh ink, someone had written his name and a single word: Next.

More like this

Black and grey traditional tattoo of an owl wearing cat-eye glasses and perched on a stack of books, on a forearm.
Owl in cat-eye glasses on stacked books
Black and grey realism tattoo of an owl perched on a stack of books, on the upper arm.
Owl perched on a stack of books
Black and grey realism tattoo of a perched owl with detailed feathers and wide eyes, placed on a person's upper back near the shoulder.
Owl tattoo on a shoulder blade
Colour tattoo of a brown owl perched on a yellow open book, drawn with sketchy outlines on the inner forearm.
Owl perched on an open book
Black and grey ornate owl tattoo with stippled feather detail and a patterned head, shown on a forearm.
Ornate owl on a forearm
Colour tattoo of a flying owl with spread wings on the neck behind the ear, shaded in browns and tans with yellow eyes.
Flying owl tattoo behind the ear
Small owl tattoo perched on a branch with green leaves, outlined in grey with pink shading, on the lower leg.
Owl on a branch on the lower leg
Black and grey traditional style tattoo of a wide-eyed owl perched on a stack of books with a ribbon bookmark, on the side of a leg.
Owl perched on a stack of books
Black and grey shaded tattoo of an owl with a smaller owl inside a ring-shaped frame, on the upper back.
Owl tattoo on upper back
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a brown owl holding a red heart, framed by black scrollwork on the upper arm.
Owl and red heart on upper arm
Black and grey shaded tattoo of a small owl perched on a Deathly Hallows triangle symbol, placed on the ankle.
Owl perched on a Deathly Hallows symbol
Black linework owl tattoo on a calf, with a third eye on its brow, an eye inside a triangle on its chest and a rose below.
Owl with eye and rose on a calf

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