Black and grey tattoo of a woman's face inside a solid black circle, with the words STRANGE and I MYSELF AM and AND UNUSUAL, on the outer thigh of a person wearing denim shorts.

Strange and unusual portrait on a thigh

Blackwork · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey tattoo sits on the outer thigh, showing a woman's face with short spiky hair framed inside a solid black circle. The word STRANGE is set in large white letters across the circle, with I MYSELF AM above and AND UNUSUAL below in smaller black lettering on the skin. The bold, high-contrast blackwork shapes are set against pale skin and a black background, with denim shorts at the top of the frame.

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 diary, Tuesday 9th March 1954. The fen wind came off the drain again and took the washing from Mrs Pargeter's line, so all of Watling Row watched her chase her bloomers across the allotments. I wasn't watching. I was watching Iris Coyle, who has come to live with her aunt above the chemist's and who sits on the churchyard wall with her hair cut short as a boy's and a face like a closed letter.

Keep reading

At dinner break she drew a circle on the playground wall in chalk, big as a cartwheel, and rubbed it black with the side of her shoe until it shone. Then she wrote STRANGE across the middle in capitals. Sister Hilda came out and asked who had done it, and Iris only said, "I didn't do anything. I'm just what I am." Sister Hilda made her scrub it off with a yard broom, but the chalk only went grey and the letters came through like ghosts.

After school I walked her home past the sluice. She told me the words come from a film her cousin saw in London, where a man says I myself am strange and unusual and the whole cinema laughed as if it were a joke. Iris didn't laugh. She said it was the most honest thing she had ever heard anyone say on a screen.

Mother says I shouldn't walk with her, that strange is what people are called once they've been talked about and then talked about some more. I have decided that I will. Tonight I borrowed Father's fountain pen and wrote the whole line on the inside of my wrist, backwards in the hall mirror so it reads true when I hold it to the window. It will wash off by Sunday. Iris says that doesn't matter. The point is you know where it is.

More like this

Black and grey realism tattoo of a man with curly hair above the quote 'This is the strangest life I've ever known' on a lower leg.
Portrait and quote on a lower leg
Black and grey tattoo of a pale-faced woman with long dark hair and fangs, eyes hidden by a banner reading Save the Vampire Queen, with an anchor below, on an upper arm.
Vampire queen portrait on a upper arm
Traditional black and grey tattoo of a woman with a blunt fringe, one hand raised to her mouth, on the shoulder and upper arm, with a red rose partly visible at the edge.
Bob-fringed woman with hand at mouth on shoulder
Black and grey traditional tattoo of a woman with a curled updo holding banknotes, with the slogan BITCH BETTA HAVE MY MONEY beneath, on a calf.
Woman holding banknotes portrait on calf
Black traditional tattoo of a crowned hand with a pointing finger on the outer thigh, with denim shorts at the top of the frame.
Crowned hand on a thigh
Traditional tattoo on a calf of a woman curled inside a dark crystal ball on a fringed pedestal, surrounded by black stars, with a black cat and pumpkin tattoo at the left edge.
Woman in a crystal ball with stars on a calf
Black linework tattoo of a stylised face framed by roses with red accents, on the inner upper arm.
Stylised face and roses on an upper arm
Colour neo-trad tattoo of a woman in a wide-brimmed black hat holding a book titled Recently Deceased, with blue crystals beside it on the skin.
Woman in a wide hat holding a book
Black and grey dotwork fox curled up asleep beneath a crescent moon, with teal accents, on the upper arm.
Sleeping fox and crescent moon on an upper arm
Neo-traditional colour tattoo on a forearm showing two profile faces, a man in round sunglasses and a woman with a bob, beside a sprig of blue and green leaves.
Two profile faces and leaves on a forearm
Black and grey traditional tattoo of a woman with arms crossed resting on a snarling tiger head, on the inner forearm.
Woman resting on a tiger head on a forearm
Close photo of a black serif lettering tattoo reading 'You are an expression of the universe' in centred lines on the upper arm, with a dark t-shirt sleeve rolled above it.
Text quote tattoo on upper arm

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