Pencil sketch of a winged skull with four roses and leaves, drawn as a neo-traditional tattoo design on a spiral sketchbook page.

Winged skull with roses sketch

Neo-trad · Black and grey · Flash

A pencil drawing of a human skull with feathered wings spreading from either side, with leaves at the top and four roses arranged along the bottom. The linework is dark and confident, with soft pencil shading on the skull, wings and petals, and small drips beneath the skull. The image is greyscale and shows the design on a white sketchbook page.

Neo-trad Traditional Skull Wing Rose Leaves Feather

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 Kieran,

Keep reading

The lift was out again this morning, so I took the stairs with the shopping and counted every landing the way you used to when you were small. Eleven floors. The only company on the stairwell was the pigeons nesting in the vent on nine, cooing as if they'd paid the rent. I've left them be.

You'll be wondering about the sketchbook. You left it on the kitchen table with the spiral bent back, and I couldn't help looking. The skull with the wings spread out either side, and those roses underneath like they're holding it up. You drew the cracks across the top of the head so carefully I could almost hear them. I've pinned a photo of that page to the fridge beside the bin calendar, so you'll see it when you visit, and I'm not taking it down.

The roses on the balcony have finally come out, three of them, the red ones your dad bought from the market the summer before he went. Mrs Okafor from fourteen says they're the best on the estate, and she's not one to flatter. I've been out there each evening with a cup of tea, watching the lights come on across the car park, and I think the place looks better for them.

Send me the address of that shop in Leeds when you get a minute, and bring the sketchbook back at Christmas. I'll make the tea strong, the way you like it.

Love, Mum