Calligraphy tattoo ideas

108 photos and flash · 70% Lettering, 10% Japanese · Back most common

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Black ink line drawing of an ornamental capital letter C with loops and crossed strokes on its left side, shown as a tattoo design on white.
Ornamental letter C with looped strokes
Black ink flash sheet of ornate calligraphic lettering designs on a beige background, including the words Joy, Love, Peace and Love One Another, with no body placement shown.
Calligraphic lettering flash sheet
Black ink calligraphy reading go live in flowing script across a pale background, shown as a lettering design rather than on skin.
Go live script lettering design
Flash design of a large black calligraphic letter entwined with green leaves, sprigs and a pale green rosebud on a white background, with no body placement shown.
Botanical calligraphic letter with leaves and rose
Black ink script lettering reading go live on a plain off-white background, shown as a lettering design with no body placement visible.
Go live script lettering design
Black flowing script calligraphy reading "it is well" on a white background, drawn as a lettering design in a lettering style.
"It is well" script lettering design
Black lettering design of the word bastarda in a pointed calligraphic script on a white background, with no body part shown.
Bastarda lettering design
Sheet of black script lettering samples spelling Alis volat propriis in several calligraphic styles, shown on a plain white background with no body placement.
Script lettering samples in several fonts
Black stylised calligraphic design resembling Arabic script with three diamonds and a vertical stroke, shown as a flash drawing on a plain light grey background.
Stylised calligraphic letterforms with diamonds
Black ink drawing of a heart outline with the word love in flowing cursive script, shown as a tattoo design on a plain background.
Love script inside a heart outline
Bold black brush-style Devanagari-style script lettering on a plain white background, shown as a standalone design with no skin visible.
Black Devanagari-style script lettering
Black ink drawing on white paper of an abstract tattoo design made of curling swirls and flourishes, with no body placement shown.
Black ink swirl flourish design
Black line drawing of a tattoo design made of looping calligraphic strokes, a thin hairline stroke and a curled spiral at the base, on a white background.
Looped flourish and spiral design
Japanese style flash drawing of a green and red dragon coiling over black and grey waves, with a small cartoon figure in a yellow robe beside it.
Green dragon flash with wave background
Flash-style drawing of a leaping brown fox with a teal wash swirl, next to a bold black kanji character meaning fox, on a white background.
Leaping fox beside a kanji character
Black ink script lettering reading hallelujah with a long flowing tail, drawn on a plain white background.
Hallelujah in script lettering
Black flowing script lettering reading À toi, pour toujours on a plain white background, a lettering design suited to a fine script tattoo.
French script quote lettering design
Black ink script lettering reading "it is well" with flowing calligraphic strokes on a pale textured background, shown as a tattoo design without a body placement.
Script lettering reading it is well
Flash sheet of 29 hand-drawn East Asian characters in black brush lettering, each labelled in English with words such as Courage, Heart and Honour.
Single-character word flash sheet
Black ink flash sheet of ornate script letter A designs, several combined with heart shapes and flowing flourishes, on a white background.
Decorative script letter A designs with hearts
Full-colour Japanese style flash design of a green spotted lion dog beside a pink peony, set among black and grey waves and swirling clouds.
Peony and lion dog back piece design
Black line drawings of eighteen angular rune-style symbols arranged in rows, each with a printed English label such as Love, Strength and Clairvoyant Sight.
Chart of labelled rune symbols
Black linework design of angular script arranged in a ring on a white background, suited to a lettering tattoo with no body placement shown.
Circular script inscription design
Black and grey flash design of a stylised phoenix in flight beside flowing calligraphic lettering on a cracked cream background.
Phoenix with flowing calligraphic script
A bold black brush-style Chinese character on a white background, shown as a standalone tattoo design with no body part visible.
Bold black Chinese character
Black script lettering arranged in the shape of a cross on a white background, a lettering design with no body placement shown.
Cross-shaped script lettering design
Flash sheet of black brush-style kanji characters, each with a small red English translation printed beneath it.
Kanji character flash sheet with translations
Black ink script lettering flash sheet with flourished phrases, scroll borders and a small ornament, shown on white with no body placement.
Script lettering flash sheet
Two black and white pen drawings of flourished script lettering, one reading Fearless and one reading Écriture Manuscrite, with a marker pen beside the second design.
Fearless and Écriture Manuscrite script lettering
Black script lettering design on a white background, with Arabic calligraphy above the English words "If it's meant to be, It will be."
Arabic and English quote lettering design
Black ink calligraphy lettering of a Latin phrase written in a flowing script across a white paper strip on a dark wood surface, drawn as a tattoo design.
Latin script lettering on a paper strip
Black calligraphic lettering arranged in the shape of a cross on a cream parchment background, with the words The Way at its centre, in a lettering style with no body placement shown.
Calligraphic cross lettering design
Black ink drawing of a stylised calligraphic script design with curling flourishes on a plain grey background, shown as a tattoo design rather than on skin.
Black ink calligraphic swirl design
Black ink drawing of a compass rose inside a pocket watch case with a calligraphic quote beside it, shown as a tattoo design.
Compass in a pocket watch case with quote
Lettering design of the French phrase Je veux vivre dans mes rêves in a tan italic script on a white background, with no body part shown.
French script phrase in tan ink
Black and white yin yang design built from stylised calligraphic shapes and swirls, shown as a standalone graphic on a grey background with no body placement.
Yin yang with calligraphic forms
Black script lettering on a white background in a flowing calligraphic style, with a large decorative initial letter, set out as a design for a lettering tattoo.
Calligraphic script quote design
Flourished script lettering reading All that glisters is not gold, with a smaller line beneath, shown as a black and grey design with no body placement.
All that glisters is not gold lettering
Four bold black brush calligraphy characters on white, labelled dragon, patience or endurance, book and peace, shown as a tattoo design sheet.
Four calligraphy characters with English labels
Black ink design of a stylised calligraphic symbol rising from a flame, enclosed in a hand-drawn circle, on a warm sepia background.
Circle with flame and calligraphic symbol
Black ink script lettering samples with flourishes, including phrases such as Adaggio and Love Catalogue, and a full lowercase and numeral alphabet along the bottom.
Script lettering specimen sheet
Black ink drawing on white paper of a stylised calligraphic lettering design with curling flourishes running diagonally across the sheet.
Calligraphic swirl design on paper
Black script lettering chart showing upper and lower case letters A to Z in a flowing copperplate style on a white background.
Script alphabet A to Z chart
Ink drawing of two hummingbirds facing each other to form a heart, surrounded by fine calligraphic swirls in black and dark red.
Two hummingbirds forming a heart with flourishes
Black Arabic calligraphy lettering design on a white background, drawn as a flowing script with a dot and a small diamond mark, shown without any body placement.
Arabic calligraphy lettering design
Handwritten flourished script lettering design reading All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be, drawn in black ink on lined paper.
Looped script quote lettering design
Black script lettering design where the word Love is formed from the text of John 3:16, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
Love lettering with John 3:16 verse
Japanese-style flash drawing of a black and white cat holding a sword, with a woman's head and pink flowers on its body, set beneath a gold halo.
Cat with sword and woman's head design