Black and grey sketch-style owl tattoo with turquoise accents on the eye and a blurred turquoise moon, across the inner forearm.

Sketch-style owl with turquoise moon on forearm

Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A loose, sketchy owl faces the viewer with outstretched dark feathers and a turquoise-tinted eye, set in front of a soft turquoise circle that suggests a moon. The linework is broken and feathered, with grey shading and dotted accents across the wings and chest. Black ink dominates, with turquoise used only as a small accent on the eye and the circle behind the head.

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 Tom,

Keep reading

The snow has been up to the sill since Tuesday, and Mam says the coach road over Cold Fell won't be cleared before Lady Day. We have eleven guests in the house and only one of them is talking. The rest sit by the fire pretending not to listen to the wind. I write this at the back table with the lamp turned low, because the barn owl has taken up residence in the rafters again, and I find I don't mind her company.

She came in through the hayloft gap the night the bell went quiet. Pa says she's the same owl that sat on the well-head every winter when we were small, and I've decided to believe him, since he never lies about birds. Last night she dropped onto the rail of the back stairs and looked at me so steadily that I forgot the bread I was carrying. Her eyes are the colour of the glass bottle you found in the beck, and when the moon came up over the ridge behind her, it looked as though she was holding it up for us to see.

I have a favour to ask, and you'll think me soft. The guests want a story before bed, and I have run out of the old ones. Would you send me the one about the miller's girl who climbed the chimney to fetch her brother's kite? Write it out fair and post it with the Carlisle mail if the road opens. I'll read it aloud on the night the snow stops, and if the owl is still about, I'll tell her you wrote it.

Your loving sister, Nell

More like this

Colour tattoo of a geometric owl with a galaxy-filled body on the thigh, perched on a black angular branch.
Geometric owl with galaxy fill on thigh
Black and grey linework tattoo of a cat head wearing a crescent moon headdress and scarab necklace, on the upper arm.
Cat head with crescent moon on upper arm
Black and grey barn owl tattoo with falling raindrops and stippled shading, placed on the forearm.
Barn owl under rain on a forearm
Black ink circular emblem tattoo with a central triangle, crescent and symbol motifs, in a geometric style on the forearm.
Circular geometric emblem on forearm
Neo-traditional owl tattoo in blue, purple and yellow with a black outline, spread across a person's upper back.
Blue and purple owl on upper back
Colourful owl tattoo on an upper arm in a watercolour style, with green, blue, purple and orange ink perched on a branch.
Watercolour owl on an upper arm
Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a blue bird with spread wings, a red rose and yellow leaves on the inner forearm.
Blue bird and red rose on a forearm
Black and grey realism tattoo of a small songbird perched on ornate scrollwork on a forearm.
Songbird on scrollwork on a forearm
Black geometric lion head tattoo with dotwork shading in the mane and face, placed on the upper arm.
Geometric lion head on upper arm
Colour tattoo of a blue and purple bird with spread wings and long trailing tail feathers on the side of the ribs.
Blue bird with long tail feathers on ribs
Colour tattoo of a cartoon fawn with large eyes inside teal diamond shapes on the inner forearm, in a neo-traditional style.
Cartoon fawn in a teal diamond on a forearm
Black and grey blackwork owl tattoo with feathered wings and floral sprigs across the upper back, with hands with black nails resting on the shoulders above it.
Owl with feathered wings on upper back

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