Solid black tribal design of a stylised winged figure with a long tapering tail on a white background, shown as a flash drawing with no body placement.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Tribal winged figure design

Blackwork · Black and grey · Flash

A bold black tribal motif shows a stylised winged figure with a narrow central body, spiky upswept horn-like crest and wings that spread outwards. The shapes are solid black with sharp, tapering points and no shading, and a long curved tail extends downwards from the centre. The design is isolated on a plain white background.

Blackwork Winged figure Bird Tribal Wing Tail

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, The Harrowby Green fair pulled in on Tuesday, and Mr Vell has finally let me paint the backboard of the shooting gallery, though he wants it black, nothing but black. He says a crowd follows a clean shape better than any colour, and he is right, because the winged figure has them lining up before the lamps are even lit. It was cut from boiler plate years ago by a man named Ostrow who died in Leeds, and it has a spiked crest like a flame going up, two wings swept wide and thin at the tips like torn paper, and a tail that runs down the pole nearly to the grass. The lads throw wet sponges at the tail tip for a penny a go.

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The trouble started on Thursday night, when the wind came off the moor and took the painted canvas clean off the frame. Vell swore and reached for the lantern, but the iron stayed put. The bolts had been put through the body, not the wings, so in the lamplight the whole black thing seemed to lift off the pole and hang there, the tail trailing like it had only just stopped moving. Two children ran screaming to their mothers, and a farmer from Cold Ashby offered Vell five pounds for it on the spot.

Vell said no. He doesn't say no to money. I went back alone at midnight with a torch and a spanner, meaning to tighten the bolts, and I stood there a long time looking at it. The wings were wider than I remembered, or the shadow was. I tightened the bolts anyway. Come and see it before we move on to Sleaford, and bring your good boots, because the ground is soft and the tail has opened my fingers twice already from trying to shift it.

Your sister, Nell