Black and grey winged emblem tattoo with a central figure, spread across the left ribs of a bare torso.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Winged emblem on the ribs

Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey tattoo of spread wings with a central figure or emblem sits on the side of a bare torso, below the ribcage. The wings have fine feather detail and soft grey shading, and the centre has darker linework. The image is a close, warmly lit crop of the midriff and navel, with a dark waistband and a light fabric edge at the left.

Ribs Wing Figure Torso

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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 Nell, the rain has been on Oldgate market since Tuesday and the stalls have gone soft at the corners, so I've carried the lettering board in under the arch by the fishmonger's, where the drip falls on the cobbles and not on my paint. Mr Okafor wants the winged badge for the Saltmarsh night boat finished before the tide turns Friday, and he says I'm not to smudge the feathers this time, as if I did it on purpose.

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The design is all in the feathers. Eleven primaries on each wing, every one cut with a fine nib so they overlap like slates on a roof, then shaded from the quill end outward until the grey goes almost to black at the tips. The centre is a small figure standing on a ship's rail with a lantern held up in one hand. The lantern is the hard part. It has to look lit without any yellow, so I leave the paper bare where the flame would be and let the darker lines do the glowing around it.

Yesterday a woman came under the arch with her hood dripping and asked whether I could copy the badge onto a canvas bag for her son, who sails on Friday. She had no money to speak of. What she offered was her late husband's pocket compass, its glass cracked straight across the north point. I said no, and then I said yes, because she didn't ask twice. I traced the lantern figure through wet tracing paper and my hand shook so badly the flame came out crooked.

This morning the rain stopped at last. I got the lantern straight on the fourth try and held the board up to the grey light, and for a moment the little figure seemed to stand up off the paper. I'm posting you a rubbing of it. Don't fold it.