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 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 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
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
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 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
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
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
Black flourished script alphabet on a white background, showing upper and lower case letters A to Z in rows of five.
Script alphabet chart in upper and lower case
Black ink flash design of a cartoon mouse figure built from calligraphic loops and flourishes, shown on a white background with no body placement.
Calligraphic flourish mouse design
Tattoo design of two bold black Chinese characters above the words Best Friend in script, set on a tan kraft-paper background.
Chinese characters and Best Friend lettering
Black calligraphic lettering on white reading Improvidus, Asto, quod Victum, with the English line Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome beneath, shown as a lettering design without a body placement.
Latin motto in calligraphic script
Black brush-style lettering reading I'm fine on a plain white background, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
I'm fine lettering design
A flash sheet of black brush-style Chinese characters in four rows, each with a small English translation beneath it, shown without any body placement.
Chinese character flash sheet in black ink
Black lettering design of the word grace in flowing hand-drawn script on a plain white background, with no body placement shown.
Grace in flowing script lettering
Flash sheet of six black lettering designs reading the rest is still unwritten, each in a different script or ornamental lettering style, intended as tattoo lettering.
The rest is still unwritten lettering options
Flash sheet of black kanji characters in a brush script style, each labelled with its English meaning such as beauty, courage, love and star, with no body placement shown.
Kanji flash sheet with English meanings
Black ink script lettering flash sheet with ornate words including Ginger, Beautifully and Fish Stories, plus a lowercase alphabet, with no body part shown.
Script lettering flash sheet
Five black brush lettering designs on a white background, reading Visualize and Believe, Faith, Different, Can you sense and Take action, in a lettering style.
Five lettering designs on a white background
Black ink script letter S with large curling swirls at top and bottom, drawn as a bold single-line design on a white background.
Flowing script letter S design
Black ink calligraphic script in a Tengwar-style alphabet, with grey shaded vine flourishes, drawn as a tattoo design on a pale background.
Tengwar-style script with vine flourish