Calligraphy tattoo ideas

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

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Teal script lettering in a French quote runs down the back, beside a sheer lace garment, on a tattoo placed along the spine.
Script quote running down a bare back
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
Close-up of a fine black Arabic script lettering tattoo on pale skin, with the body area not clearly visible in the crop.
Arabic script lettering in fine black ink
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
Close photograph of a small black calligraphic script tattoo on the inside of a woman's foot, worn with black pointed heels and cropped denim.
Fine calligraphic script on the foot
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 and grey realism tattoo across a man's upper back showing the word Amendment in flowing script, two engraved handguns and a quotation beneath, viewed from behind.
Amendment lettering and two handguns on back
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 fine line calligraphic script tattoo running diagonally along the side of a person's ribs, against pale skin and a coral top.
Script tattoo running along the ribs
Black script tattoo of the quote Si vis pacem, para bellum on the inner upper arm, with the arm flexed and a hand with red nails pointing at it.
Latin and English quote on upper arm
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
Pale fine line Arabic script tattoo on the back of a person's neck, photographed from behind with hair tied up.
Arabic script tattoo on the nape of the neck
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
Matching black ink symbol tattoos on the tops of two bare feet near the ankles, with small script beside the left one.
Matching symbol tattoos on two feet
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
Close-up of a black script tattoo reading "We're all mad here" in flowing lettering on the inner forearm, with a beaded bracelet at the wrist.
"We're all mad here" script on a forearm
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 lettering-style tattoo forming a rabbit shape on the side of a lower leg near the ankle, with a bare foot visible at left.
Rabbit made from characters on a lower leg
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
Fine line black tattoo of a small flower on a stem with leaves and Arabic script beside it, placed on the ankle and foot.
Flower stem and Arabic script on an ankle
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 script tattoo running vertically down the nape of a person's neck, in a calligraphic lettering style, with dark hair above.
Vertical script tattoo on the back of the neck
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 bird with feathers and roses on the side ribs, with flowing script tattooed on the thigh, in a black and white photo with a patterned yellow bikini.
Bird and roses on ribs, script on thigh
Black script lettering tattoo running along the outer forearm, with thick strokes and sharp, tapered ends.
Black script tattoo on a forearm
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 ink script and ornamental swirl tattoo running vertically down the middle of a woman's back, viewed from behind.
Script and swirl design down the spine
Black lettering tattoo in two lines of angular script across the inner wrist and hand, shown in a close photograph.
Two lines of script on an inner wrist
Black ink bamboo stalks and leaves with Japanese-style calligraphy down the back, extending onto the shoulder, with small red seal stamps.
Bamboo and calligraphy across a back
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 Chinese character tattoo in a bold brush style, placed on the side of the body.
Chinese character tattoo on the side of the body
Black and grey treble clef tattoo with flowing script lettering woven through it, shown on the upper back.
Treble clef with script on upper back