Black tribal-style dragon tattoo on the upper back near the shoulder blade, with a black bra strap visible.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Tribal dragon on upper back

Back · Black and grey · Photo

A solid black tribal dragon with a spiked crest, a long curved body and a tapering tail, drawn in bold filled shapes with sharp edges. Only black ink is used, with no grey shading. The dragon sits diagonally on the upper back against softly blurred skin and a bright 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 dragon came up out of the bay the year the salt pans failed, and it did not come for gold, whatever the fishermen say. Old Maren Tolly swore it had a crest like a burnt hedge and a tail that doubled back on itself like a rope left to coil, and she said it looked at the lighthouse the way a man looks at a debt. Nobody listened to her. They never did when she had been drinking.

Keep reading

But the dragon stayed under the headland for three weeks, and the children started leaving bread on the rocks, and the bread went missing. The young ones said it was eating the crusts. Maren said it was counting them. On the twentieth night the lamp at the point guttered out and the whole island stood on the shingle in the dark, waiting for teeth.

What rose instead was a great black shape, sharp at every edge, that settled itself on the water and simply waited. It did not roar. It turned its long head toward the harbour wall where Maren's grandson, Tam, stood with a torch he had forgotten to light. Then it lowered its neck and laid one spiked wing over the rocks, the way a dog lies down when it has decided you are not the thief.

Tam lit the torch. The dragon closed its eyes. In the morning the lamp was lit again, though nobody had climbed the tower, and the bread on the rocks had been taken by the gulls, who at least were honest about it.

More like this

Black and grey shaded swallow tattoo with a flowing tail on the lower abdomen, above low-rise jeans, beside a navel piercing.
Black and grey swallow on the lower abdomen
Black tribal-style bird with swirling tail feathers tattooed on the left side of a person's ribs.
Tribal bird tattoo on the ribs
Black swirling vine tattoo running down the centre of a person's back along the spine, in a botanical style.
Swirling vine tattoo down the spine
Black ink infinity symbol with looping script lettering above a tribal-style bird with a long flowing tail, tattooed on a person's ribs.
Infinity script and bird on 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
Black tribal band with teal accents and a shaded flower wrapping across the side of the ribs.
Tribal band with flower on the ribs
Black ink paisley and floral tattoo across the upper back and shoulder blade, with a henna-inspired linework style.
Paisley and flower back tattoo
Black fine line tattoo of a symbol with two spirals and crossing loops, placed at the centre of the back of the neck.
Spiral and loop symbol on the back of the neck
Black ink tattoo of two stylised koi fish with scrolling ornamental linework on the upper back, photographed from behind.
Stylised koi pair on upper back
Black tribal swirl tattoo running vertically down the side of a person's ribs, above the waistband of dark clothing.
Black tribal tattoo on side ribs
Small solid black cat silhouette tattoo on the upper back of a woman with long brown hair, photographed from behind.
Black cat silhouette on upper back
Small black and grey swallow tattoo in a traditional style, positioned on the upper shoulder of a person wearing a black sleeveless top.
Small swallow on a shoulder

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