Lettering tattoo ideas

3,720 photos and flash · 59% Lettering, 22% Traditional · Forearm most common

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Black ink hand-lettered design reading 'A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor' on aged, sepia paper, with decorative flourishes above the text.
Hand-lettered sailing quote on aged paper
Black silhouette of a leaping whale with the words Do what is right, not what is easy set in white distressed lettering across its body, drawn in a vintage woodcut style.
Whale with Do What Is Right quote
Flash design of a red and black skull with lightning-bolt eyes above the words SEMPRE OLTRE, beside a black cat with red eyes above the words LA NOTTE È LUNGA, in a traditional style.
Skull and black cat flash with Italian lettering
Black line drawing flash of a fairytale castle with stars, trees and a banner reading Who says we have to grow up, shown on paper with no body placement visible.
Fairytale castle with banner quote design
Flash-style drawing of a flaming skull wearing a vest top above a banner reading LOOKS LIKE SHIT, in red and navy line work with a small star below.
Flaming skull in a tank top with banner
Black blackwork flash design of an ornate key with a castle-topped bow, a heart cut-out and the words Open Up Your Dreams in script.
Ornate key with castle bow and script
Traditional style flash design of a red heart with the words WELL FUCK, a red flower and two dark teal leaves on a cream background.
Traditional heart with flower and leaves
Red pencil flash drawing of a Ball Mason jar with flowers on the lid and a banner reading MOONSHINE, in a traditional style.
Mason jar with flowers and moonshine banner
Black line drawing of a cat face with pointed ears, whiskers and the word MEOW written beneath, on a white background.
Cat face with whiskers and MEOW lettering
Hand-drawn tattoo design of a compass with pink flowers, leaves and a scroll banner reading Take Me Home, shaded in grey with coloured pencil accents.
Compass and flowers with Take Me Home banner
Black and grey lettering design of a globe wrapped in botanical sprigs, with the words Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Globe with lettering and botanical sprigs
Traditional-style flash design of red and yellow roses and rope framing a lettered sign on a aged yellow background, with no body part shown.
Roses and rope sign flash design
Black and white line drawing of a botanical design with a dahlia-like flower and a fern stem, labelled Leo with a short line of text beneath, shown as a flash design with no body placement.
Leo botanical flash with dahlia and fern
Pencil drawing of an ornate compass rose with a lace-edged border and mandala-style petals, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
Ornate compass rose design
Black ink line drawing of a circular floral wreath with mandala-style patterns and the words BE FREE in the centre, shown on white paper with no body placement.
Be free floral wreath design
Traditional style flash design of an hourglass with an eye at its centre, two red and orange roses, and banners reading Time is Slipping.
Hourglass, eye and roses flash design
Black traditional-style swallow flying on a plain light background, with the words NOT ONE WILL FALL in capitals beneath it.
Swallow in flight with lettering
Traditional style tattoo design of an anatomical heart pierced by a blue and gold arrow, with a red and yellow rose and a banner reading El Corazon, shown as a cross-stitch style drawing.
Anatomical heart with arrow and banner
Fine line flash design of the words Do small things with great love, with a stylised flower and leaves at each side.
Quote with flowers and leaves design
Black ink drawing of the words Let me be brave in script lettering, with a bird in flight dissolving into stippled dots at the end of the phrase.
Let me be brave lettering with a bird
Black flowing script lettering reading 'to live to learn to love' in calligraphic style on a plain white background, shown as a tattoo design.
Script quote reading to live to learn to love
Black ink lettering design reading Not all who wander are lost in flourished script, beside a black and grey compass rose, drawn on pale paper.
Not all who wander are lost with compass rose
Green line drawing on black of a Cthulhu octopus head with tentacles wrapped in chains, under blackletter lettering reading Cthulhu, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement.
Cthulhu octopus with chains design
Flash sheet of hand-lettered phrases in black ink on white paper, with two pale blue panels patterned with small stars, shown as lettering designs rather than on skin.
Hand-lettered phrase sheet with star panels
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
Black ink script lettering spelling the word Fearless with looping flourishes, drawn as a tattoo design on a plain grey background.
Fearless script lettering design
Black script lettering on a white background reading I'm not making any resolutions this year, nobody likes a sober skinny bitch anyway, shown as a design with no body placement.
Script quote about New Year resolutions
Coloured flash design of a rose, sunflower, leaves, helmet and a pen-like tool, with banners reading DEMONS RUN, WHEN A GOOD MAN and GOES TO WAR, in a neo-traditional style.
Banner and rose design with sunflower and helmet
Black and grey dotwork design of an anatomical heart framing a room with a chair and hanging light bulb, above the words YOU LIVE THERE.
Anatomical heart with chair and light bulb
Neo-trad style tattoo design of two fantasy characters back to back, one masked, above a cream banner reading I'll See You Again, with no body placement shown.
Two fantasy characters with a scroll banner
Traditional style flash design of the BB-8 droid with red roses, a sunburst and a banner reading They See Me Rollin.
BB-8 droid with roses and banner
Black and grey flash design of a Darth Vader helmet with stippled shading, two roses and leaves, and the words Who's Your Daddy arched above.
Darth Vader helmet with roses flash
Black and grey traditional-style flash design of two ghosts in a framed panel, with the lettering No Feet beneath them and a spiderweb behind.
Two ghosts in a framed box with No Feet
Flash drawing of a black cat with a pentacle on its head, a blackletter banner reading Harm none, Do as ye wilt, and a row of moon phases above.
Black cat with banner and moon phases
Black line drawing design of the word ADVENTURE in hand-drawn lettering, with solid mountains, a bow and arrow, a pine tree and an acorn formed into the letters.
Adventure lettering with mountains and arrow
Cream line drawing of an eye on a dark background, with the words Don't Look Back set into the outline of the eye in a lettering design.
Eye with Don't Look Back lettering
Black ink flash drawing of a cartoon penguin in a bow tie, framed by flowers and two banners reading It Ain't Easy and Been Wheezy, in a traditional style.
Penguin with banners flash design
Black hand-lettered script design reading The Struggle is part of the Story on a cream background, drawn as a lettering design for a tattoo.
Script lettering: The Struggle is part of the Story
Black line drawing flash design of a thread spool with crossed needles, a crown, scissors and a banner reading Make Things, in a traditional ornamental style.
Spool, needles and Make Things banner
Black script lettering reading I, a red outlined heart and Jesus on a pink background, shown as a fine line tattoo design with no body placement.
I heart Jesus script lettering design
Black and grey traditional flash design of a sailing ship on rough sea inside a ship's wheel, with banners reading NEED YOU LIKE WATER IN MY LUNGS.
Sailing ship in a ship's wheel with banner lettering
Pencil drawing of a tattoo design with a spiral, a row of arrows, two figures standing in a circle and the lettering We can live like Jack and Sally if we want.
Spiral design with Jack and Sally quote
Black and grey line drawing of a compass rose with an arrow, ribbon and feathers, above the words Time flies like an arrow, shown as a tattoo design on a white background.
Compass rose and arrow design with lettering
Black flash design of a treble clef merged with a fountain pen nib, with the words THIS IS MY STORY THIS IS MY SONG set in lettering beside it.
Treble clef and pen nib with lyric text
Black line drawing of Bender, the Futurama robot, holding a cigar, with flowers, leaves and a LETS GO ALREADY banner in a traditional flash style.
Bender robot banner flash design
Black ink lettering design reading thankful and grateful, joined by a horizontal arrow with a feathered tail and open head, drawn in a hand-lettered script style.
Thankful and grateful arrow lettering design
Black ink drawing of four stacked heart outlines with handwritten script words beside them, sketched on lined paper in a lettering design.
Stacked heart outlines with script words
Black and white traditional-style dagger design with three banners reading WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SCARY MOVIE, shown as a sticker on a wooden surface.
Dagger and banner with scary movie lettering