Lettering tattoo ideas

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

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Flash design of a black-outlined ribbon banner with green shading carrying the lettering IN THE WAVES OF CHANGE WE FIND OUR TRUE DIRECTION, shown on a speckled background.
Ribbon banner with a lettered quote
Pencil sketch of a traditional style tattoo design showing a headstone inscribed Wish You Were Here, a crescent moon, a rose and leaves.
Headstone with rose and crescent moon design
Black teardrop design with white ornate script lettering reading The craziest thing we can do is nothing, drawn as a lettering design with no body placement shown.
Teardrop lettering with swirled script
Black and grey dotwork flash design of a flying saucer emitting a light beam over pine trees, inside a circle with the words The truth is still out there.
UFO over pine trees with slogan
Black handwritten script reading "She's not afraid" with a small open heart beneath it, drawn as a lettering design on a white background.
"She's not afraid" script with a heart
Black brush lettering design reading Fuck around and find out, with sweeping underlines, drawn on a plain white background, shown as a lettering design rather than a tattoo on skin.
Fuck around and find out lettering design
Black ink line drawing of a figure seen from behind, with antlers rising through wavy hair inside an oval hatched frame, above the words Sugar we're goin down.
Antlered figure with lyric lettering
Black line drawing of a hand with a cuff reading LOVE KILLS, holding up a card marked with a heart pierced by an arrow.
Hand holding a heart card with Love Kills
White ornamental lettering reading Serenity, with swirling flourishes above and below, on a plain black background, shown as a tattoo design.
Serenity lettering with flourishes
Red pencil sketch of a neo-trad tattoo design showing a sugar skull woman with pinned curls, a profile of a man with a quiff, and a Vigilante script banner.
Sugar skull woman and profile man flash
White script lettering reading Be Brave above a horizontal arrow, shown as a tattoo design on a black background.
Be Brave script lettering with arrow
Pen sketch of a tattoo design showing a safety pin with a bow and two lettered ribbons, drawn on paper with no body part visible.
Safety pin and bow with lettered ribbons
Black linework drawing of a pair of legs in high heels, covered in traditional-style tattoo flash designs such as a heart banner, anchor, spider web and skull across the calves.
Traditional flash designs on drawn legs
Black ink drawing of the word hope in flowing hand-lettered script, with two feathered arrows passing beneath it, shown as a flash design on a white background.
Hope script lettering with two arrows
Black and grey flash design of a pin-up skeleton woman and a top-hatted skeleton man holding hands, with a banner quote above and below them.
Skeleton couple with banner quote
Black line drawing of an Art Nouveau style mermaid with flowing hair, surrounded by octopus tentacles and a lettered circular border, as a tattoo design.
Art Nouveau mermaid with octopus tentacles
Black handwritten script reading 'This too shall pass.' on a plain white background, a lettering design suited to a fine line tattoo.
Handwritten 'This too shall pass' lettering
Black line drawing of the words OFF WITH HER HEAD arranged in the shape of a playing card club, with a spiral in the top lobe, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement.
Off with her head lettering in a club shape
Black flowing script lettering reading Carpe Diem with long thin flourishes on a white background, a design for a tattoo.
Carpe Diem script lettering design
Black line drawing of a compass with a rose at its centre and a scroll banner reading Wanderlust, shown as a flash design with no body placement.
Compass and rose with Wanderlust banner
Two black and grey traditional swallow designs on white fabric, each with a ribbon banner reading HIS on the top and HERS below.
Traditional swallow designs labelled his and hers
A six-panel grid of small black fine line tattoo designs on pale backgrounds, including mountains with a moon, a tree with stars, a leaf, a serpent, and a ring with inscribed lettering.
Six small fine line tattoo designs in a grid
Gold foil anchor design with the words Bride's Mate, printed on cream paper squares laid out across a blue patterned background.
Bride's Mate anchor temporary tattoo designs
Three hand-coloured traditional flash designs on paper, showing a red heart, a blue rose and a blue swallow, each with a scroll banner carrying names.
Heart, rose and swallow flash designs
Black line drawing of a snarling wolf head pierced by a dagger, with a Winter is Coming banner and snowflakes, shown as a tattoo design.
Wolf head and dagger with Winter is Coming banner
Black ink flash design of an eye inside a triangle, with feathers, a crescent mandala and lettering, drawn in blackwork and geometric style.
Eye in triangle with feathers and lettering
Pencil drawing of flourished script lettering reading Generic Life Advice You've Heard Before, sketched on grid paper beside a black brush pen.
Script lettering design on grid paper
Black ink line drawing of a circular mountain landscape with pine trees, cottages, a winding path and a moon, framed by the words I could have lived a million different lives.
Circular mountain landscape with quote
Black line drawing of a flying saucer over a desert with cacti, an eye motif and the lettering Just Hold On We're Going Home, in a traditional flash style.
UFO and lettering tattoo design
Fine line black ink drawing of a steaming coffee mug with the word Mornin' beneath it, drawn on a pale grey background.
Coffee mug with Mornin' lettering
Black ink hand-lettered script with flourished swashes reading "Shit's totally fucked, let's eat pizza", with a small pizza slice drawn below, sketched in a notebook.
Hand-lettered script with pizza slice sketch
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 fine line script lettering reading remain in me on a sage green background, a tattoo lettering design with no placement shown.
Remain in me script lettering design
Black script lettering reading One Love with sweeping flourishes on a white background, a lettering design with no body placement shown.
One Love script lettering design
Two pencil drawings of tattoo designs in script lettering: a shaded key reading one heart, and a red and grey heart reading one love.
One heart key and one love heart designs
Fine line flash design of a circular symbol with interlocking circles above the handwritten words I Love You, drawn in black on a white card.
Circular script and I love you design
Black and grey traditional flash sheet showing a central urn, a hand holding a dagger, a bird, an eye, a pipe, flowers, arrows and script lettering.
Black and grey flash sheet with urn and hand
Flash sheet of green lettering designs with two-word phrases such as Hold Fast, Home Sick and Open Eyes, headed Knucks, drawn for knuckle tattoos.
Knuckle lettering flash sheet, mix and match
Traditional-style flash design of a blue teacup with a skull and crossbones, coffee spilling out, framed by two scroll banners of lettering on a red splash background.
Skull teacup with coffee banners
Traditional flash sheet of four designs in colour: chess pieces with a rose, a sunset over waves, an hourglass with a skull, and a fox with pine trees, above a BRAND NEW banner.
Traditional flash sheet with rose, fox and hourglass
Navy line drawing of a bearded sailor in a striped top and cap, with tattooed arms, anchor and rope, and the lettering A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.
Sailor flash with smooth sea lettering
Hand-drawn ornate script lettering reading New York with fine line flourishes on white paper, sketched in progress with a pen.
New York ornate script lettering design
Black ink pen drawing of a hot air balloon with banners reading It's not about the destination and It's about the journey, surrounded by clouds, rays and an anchor, in a lettering style suited to a
Hot air balloon with journey banner design
Pencil sketch of the words Stay a little longer in flowing script lettering with swirled flourishes, drawn on paper beside a stencil and an eraser.
Stay a little longer script lettering sketch
Black cursive script lettering of the word agape on a plain white background, shown as a lettering design with no body placement.
Agape in cursive script lettering
Traditional style flash design of a skateboard with a lettered banner, orange flames and two blue flowers, with no body placement shown.
Skateboard with flames and blue flowers
Dotwork drawing of a stern gorilla wearing a military helmet with bullets on the band and the words Beware the imposter of man, in black and white.
Gorilla in a military helmet with stippled shading
Pen drawing of a traditional-style tattoo design on paper, with two banners reading Fatally Yours, a skull, a heart, a flower and leaves, shown without a body placement.
Fatally Yours banners with skull and flower