Lettering tattoo ideas

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

What will it cost? Try the tattoo cost calculator
Black line drawing of flowing decorative lettering surrounded by clouds, a crescent moon and a small star, a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Decorative lettering with moon and star doodles
Black and grey fine line eye inside a triangle with small text around it on the upper arm, and 'be strong girl' lettering on the ribs.
Eye in triangle and 'be strong girl' lettering
Black fine line tattoos on a person's upper back, including a botanical sprig with cones above a hanging stick, an outlined stag bust with an arrow, and a compass design.
Botanical sprig and stag bust on a upper back
Flash design of a woman in profile wearing a red horned headpiece, with red roses and a banner reading Witches be crazy, in a neo-traditional style with no body placement shown.
Witch profile with roses and banner
Traditional style tattoo of a ship's wheel over green waves with a banner reading Home Sweet Ocean, on the back of a hand.
Ship's wheel and Home Sweet Ocean banner
Traditional-style flash design of a sugar skull woman with flowers in her hair, a COSTURERA banner, scissors and a spool of blue thread, drawn in cross-stitch chart form.
Costurera sugar skull with sewing kit
Black and grey fine line script lettering reading Feminist Killjoy on pale skin, shown in a close black and white photograph.
Feminist Killjoy script lettering
Black and grey flash sheet of small hand-drawn tattoo designs, including hearts, eyes, stars, a moon and a skull, under the heading Stick and Poke.
Stick and poke flash sheet of small doodles
Black lettering tattoo reading LOVE on the inner wrist, with the O replaced by a heart containing a wheelchair symbol.
Love lettering with wheelchair symbol heart on wrist
Colourful neo-traditional tattoo on a leg of a grinning alien with an exposed brain and bulging eyes, beside red lettering reading ACK! ACK! ACK!, flying saucers, leaves and red flowers.
Alien with exposed brain and ACK! ACK! ACK! lettering
Black and grey Roman numeral tattoo on a forearm beside a fine serif lettering tattoo on another forearm, outdoors in green grass.
Matching Roman numeral and lettering forearm tattoos
Black brush-script lettering reading Feel the fear and do it anyway on off-white paper, a lettering design with no body placement shown.
Brush lettering reading Feel the fear and do it anyway
Pencil flash design of an ornate compass rose with a fleur-de-lis point and True North lettering, shown in black and grey without any body placement.
Compass rose with True North lettering
Black and white photo of tattooed forearms and hands gripping a skateboard, with a traditional rose and a woman's portrait on the left forearm and a heart design on the back of the right hand.
Tattooed hands and forearms gripping a skateboard
Black ink tattoo of a circular postmark reading Buffalo NY 142, PM and 15 JUL 2005, beside wavy cancellation lines, on the side of a torso.
Postmark stamp tattoo on the ribs
Black and grey lettering tattoo on a forearm reading Blood makes you related and Loyalty makes you family, with smoke-like shading above the text.
Lettering quote on a forearm
Black and grey fine line script reading let go, with an arrow running through the lettering, on the inner forearm.
Let go script with arrow on forearm
Black lettering tattoo reading One foot in the grave on the calf of a leg, shown next to a prosthetic leg with a trainer on the foot.
Quote lettering on a calf beside a prosthetic leg
Black and grey realism tattoo of a rose and pocket watch with a banner reading never give up and never back down, on the outer thigh.
Rose and pocket watch on a thigh
Two stacked photographs of black script lettering: on the side of the ribs it reads I carry your heart with me, and on the chest it reads I carry it in my heart.
Script quotes on ribs and chest
Ink drawing of an ornate lettering design with curling leaf flourishes and dot shading, drawn on cream paper beside a fine liner pen.
Ornate lettering sketch with flourishes
Black compass rose tattoo with blue, green, pink and red watercolour splashes and a script quote, on a forearm.
Compass rose with watercolour splashes on a forearm
Close view of a thin black fine line script tattoo reading joy on the lower leg, with a blurred background and bare feet below.
Fine line script word joy on a calf
Two forearms crossed together, each with matching black script reading I will always stand by your side and a small swallow on the forearm.
Matching script quote and swallow tattoos
Back view of a black and grey heartbeat line tattoo with an outlined heart across the upper back and shoulders, with lettering on both upper arms.
Heartbeat line and heart across upper back
Black ink line drawing of a heart built from flowers, leaves, swirls and cursive lettering, a flash-style design with no placement on skin.
Heart made of flowers and swirls in pen
Black lettering tattoo reading "One foot in the grave" on the back of a calf, beside a blue prosthetic leg.
Lettering reading one foot in the grave on a calf
Hand-drawn flash design of a syringe wrapped in grey banners with lyrics, with two purple flowers, in a traditional style.
Syringe with lyric banners and flowers
Neo-traditional flash design of a pin-up styled Snow White figure with a red bow, framed by a rope border, red roses and a banner reading waiting for true love's kiss.
Pin-up Snow White with banners and roses
Two open palms facing the camera, each with a black line tattoo of a game controller, one showing a d-pad and the other round buttons, with lettering across the fingers.
Game controller tattoos on palms
Two raised forearms showing a shaded black dotwork rose with leaves on the left forearm and the word Dreamer in fine script lettering on the right inner wrist.
Black rose and Dreamer script on forearms
Pencil flash design of a pirate ship under a compass rose with Tinker Bell and shadowy figures, above the words Second star to the right and straight on till morning.
Pirate ship and compass rose flash design
Flash-style illustration of a cartoon woman with glasses and a striped headband, framed by banners reading I'm no hero, I put on my bra, one boob at a time, with roses and daisies.
Cartoon character with banners and roses
Black and grey photograph of the words you only live once in black script tattooed diagonally across the inner forearm.
You only live once script on a forearm
Fine line black script tattoo reading Never look back on the inner forearm, set against reddened skin.
Never look back in script on the arm
Traditional style tattoo on a limb showing a handshake in front of a red sun, with GRATITUDE arched above and red and orange flowers below.
Handshake and flowers with GRATITUDE lettering
Painted-style colour tattoo of Batman with a glowing bat emblem on the chest, beside red and black quote lettering, across the left ribs.
Batman and quote tattoo on the ribs
Neo-traditional tattoo of a skull in a knitted bobble hat with an eyepatch, crossed crochet hooks and a HOOKED banner, on a leg.
Skull in a knitted hat with crossed crochet hooks
Black and grey script lettering with flourishes tattooed across the tops of two feet, one phrase on each foot.
Script lettering across both feet
Black ink quote tattoo in a gothic-style serif on the inner upper arm, reading I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.
Poem quote along the inner upper arm
Close-up of the word agape tattooed across a finger, with a small red heart in place of the o, in fine lettering on a hand.
Agape lettering on a finger
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a Martian head with exposed brain and bulging eyes in a glass dome, with ACK lettering, on the calf.
Martian head in dome with ACK lettering on a leg
Colour realism tattoo of planets, including ringed Saturn, in a pink and blue nebula, with a quote written across the thigh.
Planets and nebula with quote on thigh
Pencil sketch of the words Family First in flowing script lettering on pale paper, shown on a wooden table beside an eraser and a pen.
Family First script lettering sketch
Colour tattoo of a green awareness ribbon with the word Fighter written in black script across it, on the forearm.
Green awareness ribbon with Fighter script
Black fine-line feather tattoo with script lettering beneath it on the side of a ribcage.
Feather with script lettering on the ribs
Drawing of a purple awareness ribbon with a butterfly on top and the script Strength through Weakness on a peach background.
Purple ribbon and butterfly design
Black and grey realism back tattoo showing a pale child with yellow eyes holding a box, flanked by a masked rabbit figure and a wolf, with the word Korn above.
Surreal child and animals on a back piece