Two black and grey hummingbird tattoos in fine line shading on the inner forearm, one hovering with wings raised and one in flight beside it.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Two hummingbirds on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

Two hummingbirds are tattooed on the forearm, one with its wings spread upward at the left and the other with its long beak extended toward the left, both in flight. The birds are drawn with fine, delicate linework and soft grey shading that shows feather detail and texture. The pale, plain background keeps the focus on the ink, which is entirely black and grey.

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

Now sit closer, because the wind off the Humber likes to steal the good parts. You want to hear about the birds. Everyone wants the birds. Parrish Dunmore ran the big top at Cathcart's Travelling Marvels for forty winters, and by the year the lions were sold off to a farm in Lincolnshire, there was nothing left under that canvas but damp sawdust and a brass cage holding two hummingbirds nobody could explain.

Keep reading

A Liverpool sailor had traded them off a Portuguese captain for the price of a good wool coat. Little green things, no longer than a man's thumb, that hung in the air as if someone had pinned them there. Children paid a penny to watch them drink from a saucer of sugar water. Parrish used to say they were the last honest act in the show, because nothing about them pretended to be anything but fast.

One October a boy called Teddy Vance left the cage flap open while he swept, and he was sick with sorry about it for a week. The birds went out into the rain, over the dodgems, past the rusted Ferris wheel, and the whole town stood on the promenade with its collars up to watch them go. Parrish walked the sea wall three nights running, calling their names into the spray. On the fourth morning he found them perched on the rail of the lifeboat shed, wings going so quick they were only a blur, waiting for him to bring the sugar.

He never caught them, and he never tried again. Some evenings you can still see two specks above the harbour wall, hanging perfectly still, looking down at the empty field where the circus used to pitch. The old men on the bench say that is Parrish, keeping the count.

More like this

Black fine line leaf tattoos trail up the inner forearm from the wrist, with the hand raised above.
Falling leaves trail on a forearm
Two swallow tattoos on a wrist and forearm, one in coloured ink with red throat and brown wings, the other a solid black silhouette.
Two swallows on wrists
Black tattoo of a flock of birds in flight across the inside of a forearm, with larger birds near the wrist and smaller ones rising toward the elbow.
Flock of flying birds on a forearm
Solid black silhouette tattoo of three orcas arranged in a circle on the inside of a wrist, against a plain white background.
Three orcas on a wrist
Small black silhouette tattoo of three birds in flight on the inner wrist of a hand held palm up against a dark background.
Three birds in flight on a wrist
Realistic grey tabby cat head in profile with peach, pink and blue roses on the inner wrist of a raised hand against a white background.
Grey cat and roses on a wrist
Small solid black silhouette of a soaring bird on the inner wrist of an open palm, with a plain pale background.
Soaring bird silhouette on the inner wrist
Black ink illustration of a songbird perched on a leafy branch, with partial script beside it, on the inner wrist and forearm.
Songbird on a branch with script on a wrist
Small blue bird on a leafy branch tattooed on the inner wrist of a raised hand with red painted nails.
Blue bird and leafy branch on a wrist
Black and grey swallow tattoo in a traditional style on the forearm of a light-skinned arm, shown in flight against a pale background.
Swallow tattoo on a forearm
Black fine line tattoo of two feathers on the inner forearm, close to the wrist.
Two feathers on a forearm
Teal and blue jellyfish tattoo with soft, wash-like shading and trailing tentacles on a forearm, with the hand raised at the top of the frame.
Jellyfish tattoo on a forearm

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