Black and grey fine line roses with leaves and buds across a person's shoulder and collarbone.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Rose cluster on the shoulder and collarbone

Botanical · Shoulder · Black and grey · Photo

Two open roses, a closed rosebud and a bud with fine stems sit in a diagonal cluster running from the top of the shoulder toward the collarbone. The linework is delicate and sketch-like, with soft shading on the petals and light hatching on the leaves. The tattoo is in black and grey only, and the framing crops the face out of shot, leaving the skin and tattoo as the focus.

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 Ines,

Keep reading

The frost came early again this year, so I have been keeping the glasshouse hotter than the rules allow, and Mr Okonedo has stopped pretending not to notice. The rose cutting from the old Carrow wall has finally taken. Three stems, two open heads and a closed bud, all threaded through the north bed where the light falls thinnest. I went out at dawn to count them and found myself kneeling in the wet soil longer than I meant to.

You asked why I keep drawing them when the seed bank has the genome on file. The answer is that the file cannot tell you how the petals fold over one another, or where the shadow pools under the lowest leaf. I work in fine ink, quick hatching for the leaves, and I soften the petals with a stub of graphite so they look like they might breathe. Nobody on the ring will ever need a drawing of a rose. I need one.

Last week the older bud split along its seam while I was sketching it. I had meant to leave it closed on the page, the way the catalogue shows them. Instead I let it open, a little ragged, and the drawing looked more honest for it.

I am sending the sheet with this letter. Keep the bud closed in your copy, if you like. I will open the real one in April and tell you how it went.

More like this

Fine line peony tattoo with pink wash and grey leaves running from the side of the neck across the shoulder blade.
Peony and leaves across neck and shoulder
Black and grey fine line rose tattoo with leaves and a bud across a woman's shoulder and upper back, seen from behind.
Black and grey roses on a shoulder
Large red rose tattoo with black linework and green leaves on the upper back near the neck, in a sketchy watercolour style.
Red rose with green leaves on upper back
Black and grey botanical tattoo of a carnation with a bud, stem and leaves running down the side of a person's ribs.
Carnation with stem and bud on the ribs
Black and grey tattoo of peonies with leaves and a flock of birds flying up towards the shoulder blade on a person's upper back.
Peonies and birds across a upper back
Black and grey traditional-style roses with leaves and fine script above them, tattooed across a woman's shoulder.
Black and grey roses with script on shoulder
Black geometric rose tattoo with dotwork stippling and a single drip below it, placed on the upper back.
Geometric rose on upper back
Black and grey hatched rose tattoo with leaves on the upper back near the shoulder blade, with dark hair falling over the shoulder.
Hatched rose on a upper back
Black and grey botanical tattoo of roses and peonies covering the upper arm, shown on a woman with blonde hair and a grey top.
Black and grey roses and peonies on an upper arm
Black and grey tattoo of three shaded roses with leaves on the upper back near the shoulder blade, seen from behind.
Three black and grey roses on a shoulder blade
Fine line black tattoo of a floral mandala with leaves and a paisley swirl across a shoulder.
Floral mandala and paisley swirl on a shoulder
Realistic colour tattoo of three pink roses with dark green leaves across the upper arm and shoulder of a person wearing a black top.
Three pink roses on an upper arm

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