Small outlined scorpion tattoo with teal and lilac fill and spiral detailing, on the ankle and heel of a foot.

Scorpion tattoo on an ankle

Ankle · Colour · Photo

A small scorpion design with a curled tail and pincers sits on the side of an ankle near the heel. It has a bold black outline with spiral details on the body and tail. The fill is in pastel teal, lilac and purple, with the colour applied in soft patches rather than solid blocks.

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 Scorpion was the last ride to go up on a Friday, because Dad said the lilac on its tail needed the evening air to set. Nobody else on the Marigold Crown Fair bothered with the old chair-o-plane, its paint gone soft as sugar, but I loved how its pincers swung out over the crowd like someone reaching for a dropped coin.

Keep reading

Mo Halloran painted it the summer before I was born, working from a sketch on the back of a betting slip. He used a sable brush no thicker than a hair and filled the spirals by eye, never with a ruler. When the wind came up off the marsh, he'd say the scorpion was steering us home, and Dad would tell him to stop talking rubbish and check the bolts.

The year the council wouldn't renew our pitch, we packed the ride in the dark. I found Mo's old brush wrapped in a handkerchief inside the tail housing, still stiff with teal. I sat on the cold running boards for an hour, trying to copy one spiral on a cracked mirror with my thumb, and got it wrong every time.

Next spring we set up on the sea wall at Cromer, and the first thing I did was climb up and dab a new curl beside the old one. It came out lopsided and lilac. Dad looked at it for a long while and said it was the first thing on that ride he had ever wanted to keep.

More like this

Purple and blue outlined butterfly tattoo in a traditional style on the top of a foot, with painted toenails visible.
Purple butterfly on the top of a foot
Black and grey fine line tattoo of a beaded anklet with a small heart, with a shaded feather swirl on the top of a foot near the ankle.
Heart anklet and feather tattoo on a foot
Black fine line vine with curling swirls and a small flower tattooed on the top of a foot, running towards the toes.
Swirling vine tattoo on top of foot
Close-up of a botanical tattoo of a purple lily with black swirling vines on the top of a woman's foot, with red painted toenails.
Purple lily with swirls on the foot
Black ornamental vine and swirl tattoo wrapping around the ankle and onto the top of the foot, with leaf shapes and a small animal silhouette in a circle.
Black vine and swirl tattoo on an ankle
Fine line dragonfly tattoo with teal wings and black scrolling swirls on the top of a foot, with pebbles beside it.
Dragonfly and swirls on a foot
Colour botanical tattoo of a green thistle vine with purple flowers on the top of a foot, with purple painted toenails.
Thistle vine on the top of a foot
Small blue and black butterfly tattoo in a fine line style on the top of a bare foot, with orange toenail polish.
Small butterfly tattoo on a foot
Black and grey fine line botanical tattoo of three flowers with swirling vines across the top of a bare foot.
Floral vine tattoo across the top of a foot
Red plumeria flower with black tribal bands, swirling vines and a small cross tattooed across the top of a foot.
Plumeria and tribal band on the foot
Colour tattoo of blue and purple butterflies with black outlines and yellow stars across the top of a foot.
Butterflies and stars on a foot
Bold black stick figure tattoo with wavy hair and two rotated numerals on the top of a foot, shown on a blue paper surface.
Stick figure and numerals on a foot

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