Small black elephant tattoo with a raised trunk and a patterned blanket, placed on the side of a person's ribs.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small elephant tattoo on the side ribs

Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A small elephant with its trunk raised is tattooed on the side of the torso, shown from behind with the skin partly exposed by a loose white top and denim shorts. The design uses dark outlines with patterned detail on the elephant's blanket and body. The ink is dark with grey tones, and the photograph has a warm vintage filter and a dark background.

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 painted cloth had been Mohan's grandmother's wedding gift to the elephant, and by the time the monsoon reached the hill fort of Surajgarh, the red and indigo stitching had faded to the colour of stewed tea. Lakshmi did not care about the cloth. She cared about the river, which she could smell long before anyone else in the village would admit it was rising. Each evening she stood beneath the broken north wall, lifted her trunk to the sky and held it there until someone came out to look at her.

Keep reading

Nobody came out but Anjali, who kept the elephant and had long ago stopped expecting the village to listen to anything it did not already believe. The headman said the elephant was sulking because the mango season had been poor. The schoolmaster said she was simply old. Anjali sat on the bottom step of the bastion with a tin cup of chai going cold in her hands and watched the water creep over the lower gate stones, one by one, as if counting them.

They left before dark, in the end, because Lakshmi would not move from the gate and the water would not wait for the headman to finish his argument. Anjali lifted the children onto the elephant's back, one after another, and the old well-keeper climbed up last with his bundle of brass pots clanking against his knees. The painted blanket rode under them like a map of the lanes they had just walked through, its lozenges and small stars still bright where the lamplight caught them.

The children grew up and moved to the city, and many of them forgot the flood. They did not forget the elephant. When they talked about Surajgarh, they traced the faded pattern on the blanket with their fingers, and they told each other that it showed the road out, which was true, although nobody had painted it on purpose.

More like this

Side of a torso showing a black cat silhouette filled with pink roses and foliage, tattooed on the ribs, in a botanical style.
Rose-filled cat silhouette on the ribs
Close-up of a fine line tattoo of two small elephants facing each other on a woman's shoulder, with fingers touching the design.
Two elephants on a shoulder
Black ink tattoo of four small sea turtles in a vertical line with faint swirling trails, on the upper back near the shoulder blade.
Four sea turtles on upper back
Black and grey photo of an ornate elephant tattoo with its trunk raised, placed on the upper back of a woman seen from behind with her hair tied up.
Ornate elephant on upper back
Small black outline lotus flower tattoo on the lower abdomen, just above the waistband of denim shorts, in fine line style.
Lotus flower on the lower abdomen
Small black anchor tattoo with a bow wrapped around its shank, sitting on the ankle beside a beaded anklet and charm.
Anchor with bow on an ankle
Black and grey bow tattoo with shaded loops and trailing ribbon ends on the lower back of a woman in dark jeans, seen from behind.
Bow tattoo on the lower back
Small black outline tattoo of a pizza slice with melted cheese and pepperoni detail, sitting on the side of the ribs below the arm in a fine line style.
Small pizza slice tattoo on the ribs
Black and grey photograph of a bold black tribal dragon tattoo running down the side of a person's ribs.
Tribal dragon on the ribs
Close-up of a small black outline Hello Kitty tattoo on a bare midriff, beside a navel piercing, with a pink waistband and printed shorts.
Small Hello Kitty outline tattoo on the abdomen
Black line dreamcatcher tattoo with two feather charms on the side of a ribcage, photographed on a seated person in a loose pink top.
Dreamcatcher tattoo on the ribs
Two black and grey butterfly tattoos sit on a woman's upper back near the shoulder blade, photographed from behind with her hair pulled up.
Two butterflies on upper back

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