Lettering tattoo ideas

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

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Hand-drawn lotus flower in purple and teal ink linework over a watercolour wash, with the words Be enlightened beneath it, shown as a design rather than on skin.
Lotus flower with Be enlightened text
Navy line drawing of a pocket watch, rose, leaves and beads with a banner reading TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS, shown as a tattoo design on paper.
Pocket watch, rose and banner design
Black line drawing of the word LOVE in serif capitals, entwined with flowers and swirling vines, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
LOVE lettering with floral vines
Flash sheet showing a colour floral skull with butterflies and ribbon, a black and grey skull with a spiked crown, and JANE lettering beside a deer silhouette.
Floral skull, misfit skull and deer flash sheet
Drawn Mr and Mrs knuckle tattoo design on two fists, framed by red roses and blue forget-me-not flowers, in a botanical Hand style.
Mr and Mrs knuckle design with roses
Tattoo flash design of three dark red roses with black linework and a central script quote in an ornate frame, drawn on a cream textured background.
Three roses with script lettering flash
Pen drawing of a tattoo design showing a compass inside a tree wreath, with banners reading 'Not all who wander are lost' and an anchor below, in a botanical line style.
Compass, anchor and tree banner design
Black linework flash design of a cartoon T-rex with feathered crest and leafy wreath, with the words We Need More Teeth, drawn in fine line on paper.
T-rex with leaves and We Need More Teeth
Black and white drawing of the words The Strokes inside a black circle, surrounded by intricate floral and paisley doodles, shown as a tattoo design.
The Strokes logo with floral doodle design
Pencil-style drawing of a tattoo design with the word Love in ornate script, a large swash L, leaves and buds in black and grey.
Ornate script Love with botanical flourishes
Black line drawing of the words GET AWAY FROM ME, with each letter set on a thin stem with small leaves, shown as a tattoo design on a plain white background.
Get away from me lettering on stems
Pencil sketch of a neo-traditional tattoo design showing a castle in a beaded oval frame, surrounded by roses and the words Beauty Lies Within.
Castle and roses in an oval frame
Line drawing flash design of three lilac-shaded roses with grey leaves beside the lettering "We shall meet in a place where there is no darkness" and the numerals I-XVII-MMXV, shown on a white
Roses with quote lettering design
Red pencil sketch of a woman's face with closed eyes, a feathered headdress and roses, drawn as a tattoo design on a sketchbook page.
Woman with feather headdress and roses sketch
Colour drawing of a tattoo design showing a purple and orange mountain inside a golden laurel wreath, with the words Don't paint me black when I used to be golden in black lettering.
Mountain in a golden laurel wreath with lettering
Black line drawing of ornate script lettering decorated with flowers, hearts and dotted outlines, shown as a tattoo design on paper.
Script lettering design with flowers
Overhead view of many small temporary tattoo designs, including animals, flowers, lettering and simple line motifs, scattered around a silver tin marked SUPER.
Temporary tattoo designs around a metal tin
Flash design of the words Mama Tried in ornate gold-brown lettering, with a revolver and pink and white flowers around it.
Mama Tried lettering with revolver and flowers
Pencil sketch design of an anchor wrapped in a rope and vine, with hibiscus flowers and the word Ohana written beneath it.
Anchor with hibiscus and Ohana script
Colour drawing of the words BE YOU, NOT THEM in ornate orange lettering, decorated with flowers, a mushroom, bluebirds, a skull and turtles, with red swirling linework.
Be you, not them lettering design
Black ink drawing of the phrase It is well with my soul in hand-lettered script, flanked by two sprigs of leaves and berries on a white background.
It is well with my soul lettering with leafy vines
Black and white tattoo design of bold italic script lettering set within a circular wreath of roses, peonies and a dahlia, with no body placement shown.
Script lettering in a circular rose and peony wreath
Pencil drawing of a tattoo design with an open pocket watch, a lily, a beaded chain, bee and scrollwork, with script lettering on the watch lid.
Pocket watch, lily and beaded chain design
Line drawing flash design of a dotwork-shaded snake coiled around two pink roses, with planetary symbols and the Latin phrase Omnia Vnvs Est beneath.
Snake with roses and planetary symbols
Black ink drawing of an ornate calligraphic letter with floral and leaf filling and stippled dotwork outlines, shown on white paper beside a quartz cluster and a fine liner pen.
Ornate floral lettering design in fine ink
Black ink line drawing of a heart made of leaf veins, with the word DAD formed from leaves, shown as a tattoo design on a white background.
Heart of leaves spelling DAD
Fine line drawing of an outstretched hand with poppy flowers, leaves, a moon and an eye motif, and the words trust the path unseen, in black ink with blue accents.
Hand with poppies and lettering
Black ink flash design reading One for the road, surrounded by feathers, a kookaburra, a moon, a sun, wattle, a fish, a bottle, an eye and animal skulls, drawn in fine line with stippled shading.
One for the road tattoo flash design
Neo-traditional flash design of a woman with a hair bun and a frog on her hand, framed by pink lotus flowers and a banner reading Bayou Beauty.
Bayou Beauty portrait with frog and lotus flowers
Black line drawing of a weeping willow tree with a ribbon banner reading BEND DON'T BREAK wrapped around its trunk, in a tattoo flash style.
Willow tree with Bend Don't Break banner
Papercut traditional-style flash design of a compass, roses, dice, a butterfly and a banner reading Not all who wander are lost, shown as white cut paper on grey card.
Compass, roses and dice flash design
Black ink line drawing of a pine tree, a deer and hatched hillside with a banner reading Prone to Wander, on aged paper.
Prone to Wander pine and deer design
Pencil sketch tattoo design of a pocket watch with Roman numerals, roses and leaves, and the script words Time flies.
Pocket watch with roses and script lettering
Hand-drawn script lettering reading freed, with CHRIST above and ME below, flanked by green leaf sprigs on a speckled off-white background.
Christ freed me script lettering with leaves
Black and grey tattoo design with the words She is clothed in strength and dignity, framed by blossom branches and two butterflies.
Proverbs 31:25 lettering with blossom and butterflies
Black and grey flash design of the words Be Different in script lettering over a stippled dotwork flower with leaves, shown as a drawing with no body placement.
Be Different script over a dotwork flower
Hand-drawn coloured design of a whisk, knife and spoon crossed over purple flowers and green leaves, with a yellow banner reading Mis en place.
Whisk, knife and spoon with flowers and banner
Black and grey flash design of a ribcage, heart, spine and pelvis framed by serrated leaves, with no body placement shown.
Anatomical ribcage and pelvis with leaves, Cancer
Black handwritten script reading be brave, framed by green leaves and small orange, yellow and pink flowers, shown as a tattoo design on a white background.
Be brave script with flower wreath
Black line drawing of a dandelion whose seeds become musical notes and a treble clef, with the script words don't let them say you ain't beautiful, shown as a tattoo design and not on skin.
Dandelion turning into music notes with script
Green shaded four-leaf clover with a curling stem above the Irish phrase go deo i mo chroí, drawn as a flash design with no body placement shown.
Four-leaf clover with Irish lettering
Flash design of three purple and green thistles tied with a purple and cream ribbon, above a cream banner reading Sassy Lassie, on a black background.
Three thistles with ribbon and banner
Black and grey flash design of a globe with a botanical sprig border and script lettering reading Be the change you hope to see in the world.
Globe with botanical lettering design
Hand-drawn flash design of arrows radiating from the words follow your arrow, with feathers and a lotus flower, in fine line and blue, teal and pink colouring.
Radiating arrows and feathers flash design
Black and grey flash design of dandelion seeds drifting up from an ornate silhouette with butterflies and flowing script lettering, on a white background.
Dandelion seeds and script design
Black and grey flash design of a crescent moon filled with line-drawn flowers and dotwork shading, with a constellation of stars and handwritten script beside it.
Floral crescent moon with stars and script
Black ink flash drawing of a bird in flight carrying a sprig, with a landscape inside its body and flowers around it, in a botanical neo-traditional style.
Bird in flight with flowers and lettering
Two black line drawings of potted cacti and succulents on banners reading DON'T BE A PRICK and SUCK IT, a botanical flash design.
Cactus and succulent flash with banner lettering