Black and grey realism tattoo of a snarling lion head on an upper arm, with a printed lion reference drawing lying beside it.

Roaring lion head on upper arm

Realism · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A large lion head with a full mane fills the outer upper arm, shown mid-snarl with its mouth open and teeth bared. The fur is rendered with fine, soft shading and dark, deep contrast, with lighter highlights on the muzzle and brow. A printed black and grey reference drawing of the same lion sits on the left against a dark leather surface.

Realism Upper arm Lion Lion head Mane Teeth Snarl Roar

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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 Tomasz,

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The guard at Kessel Bridge asked me three times what the lion was for. I said it was a drawing, which was true, and he said everything was a drawing, which was also true. He held the sheet up against the grey morning like a man checking a banknote for a watermark. The lion looked back at him with its mouth wide open, teeth bared at the wrong country.

I should have told him about the print shop in Lenz, where Father taught us to pull a proof and wait for the ink to dry before judging it. You always thought the mane was the hardest part. It isn't. It's the mouth, because a roar only frightens when the throat behind it looks tired of being polite.

He stamped the page at last and handed it back without a word. Halfway across the bridge I unfolded it again. Someone had pressed a thumb into the lower corner, leaving a faint grey smudge over the teeth, so the lion seemed to have bitten down on something small and ordinary. I laughed out loud, and a lorry driver tooted at me from the lay-by.

Come home for the harvest. The press is still yours if you want it, and the lion is coming with me, folded inside my coat, to be framed above the bench.