Lettering tattoo ideas

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

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Traditional colour tattoo of an anchor and ship wheel within a rope heart, framed by orange flowers, teal leaves and the words INTO THE SEA, on the thigh.

Anchor and ship wheel in a rope heart

Black and grey traditional tattoo of a compass rose over a torn map with a banner reading The Journey Never Ends, on the outer thigh.

Compass and torn map on thigh

Traditional style colour tattoo of a flying saucer beaming rainbow light, with the words STAY WEIRD above it, on a limb.

Stay weird UFO tattoo

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

Traditional style tattoo of a skeletal hand in a pinch gesture with the words THE END beside it, shaded with dotwork on a leg.

Skeleton hand with THE END lettering

Colour neo-trad tattoo on an upper arm and shoulder of a hand with a raised middle finger, surrounded by scissors, thread, a paintbrush and ink bottle, with PRIDE IN CRAFT on banners.

Hand and craft tools on an upper arm

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

Traditional style colour tattoo on a forearm showing a purple yarn skull with crossed knitting needles and orange banners reading KNIT FAST and DIE WARM.

Yarn skull with knitting needles on a forearm

Black and grey traditional tattoo on a forearm showing a skull within an ace of spades, banners reading Life is a gamble, roses, a crown and dice.

Ace of spades skull with dice and roses on forearm

Two colour traditional tattoos on forearms, one of a hand holding a lighter with a 'BEST' banner, the other a hand holding a joint with a 'BUDS' banner, both with cannabis leaves and red flowers.

Matching lighter and joint hand tattoos on forearms

Black line drawing of a striped bee with hatched wings holding a banner that reads HAPPY, shown as a tattoo design.

Bee with a HAPPY banner

Traditional style flash sheet showing a black heart with a pink rose and teal leaves, beside two black and gold hearts with a YOU SUCK banner and arrows, with no body placement shown.

Rose heart and banner hearts flash sheet

Traditional-style flash design on a wooden board showing a smiling sloth above a banner reading DON'T HURRY BE HAPPY, framed by colourful flowers and leaves.

Sloth with banner flash design

White line drawings on a black background of traditional tattoo flash, including a skull with a dagger, a horseshoe, an anvil, roses, an envelope reading I HATE YOU and a spider web.

Traditional flash sheet with skull, dagger and horseshoe

Traditional-style tattoo on an upper thigh showing a dagger over a banner reading Fear Cuts Deeper Than Swords, flanked by blue roses and dark leaves.

Dagger, banner and roses on a thigh

Black linework traditional flash sheet showing a perfume bottle, a potted plant with a banner, a sundae, a hand holding lipstick, a pin-up, cherries and a knife with banners.

Traditional flash sheet with pin-up and cherries

Colour traditional tattoo of a golden potion bottle with a cork stopper, purple ribbons, a Lucky banner and a Felix Felicis tag, on the calf, over a pink stippled cloud.

Potion bottle with Lucky banner on a calf

Black and grey realism tattoo of a woman in an oval frame with a large rose and script lettering across the upper arm and shoulder.

Portrait and rose on upper arm

Heavily tattooed forearms crossed over a white t-shirt, with a Japanese-style koi fish and red flowers on one forearm and a traditional skull and crossbones on the upper arm.

Koi fish and skull tattoos on crossed arms

Traditional colour tattoo of a gramophone with green leaves on a calf, set against a grey dotwork background with the word HARDCORE.

Gramophone and leaves with HARDCORE lettering on a calf

Traditional style flash design of a dagger dripping blood, wrapped in lettered banners over a drawn arm with a spider web and rose.

Dagger and banners flash with blood

Traditional style colour tattoo of a weathered wooden outhouse under an orange sun, with a banner reading IT NEVER ENDS.

Outhouse and It Never Ends banner

Traditional style forearm tattoo of a red and grey anchor wrapped in banners reading Hold Fast, 604 and In Christ, with blue roses.

Traditional anchor and roses on a forearm

Traditional style tattoo of a tomahawk forming a cross, with a wood-grain handle, lettering on the blade and a feather with teal beads, on a forearm.

Tomahawk cross with feather on a forearm

Traditional colour tattoo of a bottle with orange smoke rising from it and a black banner reading FELIX, on a limb of the body.

Felix banner and bottle tattoo

Traditional face, heart and chain with cuffed hand

Traditional style forearm tattoo of an eye inside a grey cloud above an umbrella and red raindrops, with the words IS THAT TEARS OR IS IT RAIN.

Eye in a cloud with umbrella and raindrops

Traditional colour tattoo on a thigh of a hand shake with a snake biting the wrist, above the words Trust No One.

Snake and handshake with Trust No One lettering

Colour traditional-style tattoo of an anchor wrapped in rope, with the words THE LORD IS MY above and Anchor below, on skin.

Anchor with rope and scripted text

Colour tattoo of a cartoon character with yellow eyes and horns, coiled around a red tail, with the quote What fun is there in making sense? on the calf.

Cartoon character and quote on a calf

Vertical flash sheet of black and grey engraved designs, including a skull with candle, an eye, crossed bones, hands, scales and a plague doctor, with Latin lettering.

Vertical sheet of occult and engraved motifs

Traditional style flash sheet of red and black heart designs, including a dagger through a heart, a rose with a MOM banner, and swallows with LOVE ALWAYS lettering.

Traditional heart flash sheet

Traditional tattoo of two swallows above and below a LIVE FREE banner, with yellow flowers, on the upper arm.

Two swallows and LIVE FREE banner on upper arm

Traditional flash sheet with a green umbrella over a red rose and a path of raindrops, beside an anatomical heart, each with a scroll banner of lettering.

Umbrella, rose and anatomical heart flash

Traditional style tattoo of a pink rose with green leaves above the lyric How Strange It Is To Be Anything At All in a scrolled black cartouche, on a lower leg.

Pink rose and quote on a calf

Black and grey traditional style flash design of a skeleton framed by banners reading COME BACK TO LIFE, with a VERB banner at the top.

Skeleton with come back to life banners

Black winged emblem tattoo with a script banner across the stomach, and the words Young Lust in black lettering on the forearm.

Winged emblem on a stomach with arm lettering

Black line drawing of a sailing ship, tentacles, waves and an anchor with a banner reading I am the captain of my soul, shown as a traditional-style tattoo design.

Ship and anchor flash with captain banner

Black and grey pencil flash drawing of a bomb with fins, a smoke cloud and a ribbon banner with lettering, in a traditional style.

Bomb with banner and smoke flash

Traditional style tattoo of a red heart with a green crack through it, set in a black flame burst with the words The World, Will Never and Take My Heart, on a thigh.

Cracked red heart with flames and lettering

Traditional style flash drawing of a magenta coffin wrapped in three yellow banners that read LEAVE A PRETTY CORPSE, with bold black outlines.

Coffin with banner reading Leave a Pretty Corpse

Teal line drawing in a traditional nautical style showing a sailing ship, waves and an anchor wrapped in rope, with a banner reading I am the captain of my soul.

Sailing ship and anchor banner design

Black and grey traditional tattoo of a swallow, two roses and a key on banners with lettering, placed on the side of the ribs.

Swallow, banners and roses on ribs

Black and white flash sheet of Joker-themed tattoo designs, including a jester skull, playing cards, HAHA lettering, a grinning mouth and the word JOKER.

Joker-themed tattoo flash sheet in black ink

Traditional style tattoo on an upper arm of a hand holding a wand beneath a black-rayed sunburst, with the word Lumos in script beside it.

Hand holding a wand under a sunburst

Traditional style tattoo on a thigh of a quote, Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt, framed by red roses and green leaves.

Rose wreath with quote on thigh