Black and grey realism tattoo of a skull with scrolling ornament and a shaded rose, sitting on the upper back.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Skull and rose on upper back

Realism · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A skull with deep eye sockets and a shaded nasal cavity sits at the centre of the design, framed by ornate scrollwork and leaves. A large rose with dripping detail is positioned beneath the skull, and the shading is smooth and highly detailed. The tattoo is rendered entirely in black and grey ink against the skin of the upper back.

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 Ada,

Keep reading

The lamp in the chandlery has gone out twice this week, and Mr Pryor swears it is the draught from the harbour gate, but I have seen the wick trimmed clean and the glass still sooty. You will laugh, but I think the old house on Gull Steps is not yet done with us. Since the funeral, the ironwork on the sill has been weeping black oil, and the rose Mother planted under the window has gone the colour of wet slate, every bloom hanging its head toward the water.

Last Tuesday I went down to the slip to fetch the Pryor boy's sculls and found the skiff drawn up with its painted name scraped away. Someone had cut scrollwork into the wood with a nail, curling leaves wound round a skull, very neat and very patient, as if the carver had all the time in the world. I rubbed at it with my thumb until the skin split and the lines would not come off.

I shall not write more, as the post goes at six and I have sense enough not to frighten you further. But tonight I am sleeping with the window shut and the candle lit, and in the morning I will go back to the slip with a tin of red lead and paint over every curl.

Your loving brother, Tom

More like this

Realism tattoo of a grey shaded skull with red roses and dotwork mandala shapes on an upper arm.
Skull and red roses on upper arm
Black and grey realism chest tattoo of a skull with dark branching tree patterns and a scalpel blade in its eye socket, with fine line surgical instruments above.
Skull with branching trees and a scalpel on chest
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of two skulls facing each other above a rose, on a forearm.
Two skulls and a rose on a forearm
Black and grey sugar skull tattoo with roses and leafy vines across the upper back, shown from behind.
Sugar skull and roses on upper back
Realistic skull with two red roses and smoky shading, tattooed along the side of the ribs.
Skull and roses on the ribs
Colour tattoo of a shaded skull with pink lilies, a daisy and green vines on the upper back, in a botanical neo-traditional style.
Skull with pink lilies and daisy on upper back
Black and grey realism tattoo of a skull, monarch butterfly and rose with a red wash behind, on the upper arm and shoulder.
Skull, rose and butterfly on an upper arm
Black and grey skull tattoo with ornamental patterns and trailing vines on a man's shoulder and upper arm.
Ornate skull and vines on a shoulder
Neo-traditional tattoo on the thigh of a skull in an ornate oval cameo frame, with red roses, a beaded chain and a pendant.
Skull in cameo frame with red roses on a thigh
Realism and neo-traditional chest tattoo of a skull held by skeletal hands, flanked by paisley-bandana skulls and red roses.
Skulls and red roses on a chest
Black and grey sugar skull tattoo with a daisy and swirling linework across the top of a foot.
Sugar skull with daisy on a foot
Black and grey realism tattoo of a human skull wrapped in octopus tentacles, spanning the shoulder and upper back.
Skull and octopus tentacles on shoulder

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