Lettering tattoo ideas

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

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Black ink hand-drawn alphabet sheet showing capital letters A to Z in an ornate, sharp-serifed lettering style, suitable as a tattoo lettering reference.
Hand-drawn A to Z lettering sheet
Black ink ship's wheel with script reading Be the one to guide me, and an anchor with rope and script reading but never hold me down, tattooed on the thighs.
Ship's wheel and anchor thigh tattoos
Fine line black script lettering reading I walk the line across the outer side of a bare foot, with red painted toenails visible.
Script quote reading I walk the line on a foot
Black lettering on an off-white background forming a playing card spade, with the words We're all mad here set in flowing and block letters.
Spade lettering reading We're all mad here
Close-up of a black fine line tattoo on an ankle, showing a world map outline beside the word Wanderlust in script.
Wanderlust script and world map on ankle
Close-up of fine black script lettering running vertically across a shoulder and upper arm, in a lettering style.
Vertical script lettering on a shoulder
Fine line black script lettering on the side of a hip, just above black lace underwear.
Script lettering on a hip
Black fine line drawing of an open heart outline with handwritten script wording curving around its upper right edge.
Open heart outline with script wording
Fresh-looking red script lettering across the back of a hand, shown as a lettering tattoo in a single line.
Red script lettering on the back of a hand
Black ink tattoo spelling Always on the upper arm, with the letters built from Deathly Hallows triangles, a wand and other symbols.
Always lettering with Deathly Hallows symbols
Black and grey tattoo of a scroll banner reading Mischief Managed, with footprints and smoke wisps, on skin.
Mischief Managed banner with footprints
Black fine line script lettering reading follow your heart, drawn on a plain white background, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
Follow your heart script lettering
Black flowing script calligraphy reading "it is well" on a white background, drawn as a lettering design in a lettering style.
"It is well" script lettering design
Colour tattoo of overlapping blue block lettering with grey and white highlights across a forearm, in Lettering style.
Overlapping blue block lettering on a forearm
Collage of four photos showing small matching tattoos on wrists and ankles, including heart outlines, hash marks, a colour pinky-promise hands design and small lettering.
Matching small tattoos on wrists and ankles
Black and white photo of a fine line script quote tattoo along the side of a ribcage, with a lace bra visible above it.
Script quote tattoo on ribs
Black ink outline tattoo of an open book with the word Escape in lettering beside it, on the skin of a foot or ankle.
Escape lettering with an open book
Two forearms resting on a white sheet, each with fine line black script tattoos, including the words always in flux and float, and a small arrow on the left forearm.
Fine line script and arrow tattoos on two forearms
Two black ink drawings of tattoo designs in Elvish Tengwar-style lettering, one labelled Always and one labelled Love, on a white background.
Always and Love in Tengwar script
Black and grey flash sheet of ornate script and blackletter lettering designs, including words, numbers and month names, with no body placement shown.
Lettering flash sheet in black and grey
Pencil drawing of a tattoo lettering design with ribbon banners, French script, a heart, a pocket watch and a script word, shown without any body placement.
Pencil lettering banner with French script
Black and grey family tree tattoo with swirling leaves, script lettering and roots on the side of the ribs.
Family tree with roots and script lettering on ribs
Black line tattoo of the outline of the state of Oklahoma on the inner wrist, with the word HOME inside and a red heart in place of the O.
Oklahoma outline with HOME lettering on wrist
Hand-drawn flash design of the script phrase la Vita è Bella above a simple arrow, drawn in dark ink on paper.
Script phrase with arrow design
Black and white photo of two people embracing, with LOVE tattooed across the knuckles and black-and-grey lettering and a portrait tattoo on the forearms.
Embracing couple with knuckle lettering
Upper arm sleeve tattoo in black and grey shading with a ship wheel, waves and a banner reading of the Sea, with pink flowers and a compass star.
Ship wheel sleeve with banner and flowers
Black ink quote in a serif-style font running down a forearm, with a circular tree of life design near the wrist, in black and grey ink.
Tree of life and quote on a forearm
Black and grey script lettering reading Dum Spiro Spero on an upper arm, with a dotwork stipple shading halo around the letters.
Dum Spiro Spero script lettering on upper arm
Black line drawing of hand-drawn lettering reading Look for Beauty, Listen with Love, Live to Inspire, with a swirled butterfly, hearts and flourish dividers, shown as a tattoo design.
Look for Beauty lettering with butterfly
Colour realism tattoo on the side of the torso showing a fanned hand of playing cards with a red heart, red dice and the words Roll With It on blue water.
Playing cards and dice with Roll With It lettering
Black fine line script tattoo across the lower back reading 'The pain you feel today... is the strength you feel tomorrow', worn above a grey garment waistband.
Script quote across the lower back
Black and grey shaded rose above flowing script lettering running down the calf, with scrolled line details beside it.
Rose and script lettering on a calf
Black crown design filled with white mountain and pine tree linework, with the lettering you my are king and PSALM 44:4, shown as a flat drawing with no body placement.
Crown with mountains and lettering
Black and grey realistic lily tattoo on an upper thigh, with script lettering reading Learn from yesterday, Live for today and Hope for tomorrow.
Lily cluster with quote on thigh
Close view of a black fine line script tattoo reading wholehearted across the stomach above the waistband, with a hand resting on the hip.
Wholehearted script tattoo on the stomach
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
Inner forearm with the word WILDERNESS in serif capitals, a long thin diagonal line with a small circle, and a small fine line mark near the top.
Wilderness lettering and fine line on forearm
Black line flash design of a stitched spellbook with an eye on its cover, a banner reading It's all just a bunch of, and purple Hocus Pocus lettering.
Stitched spellbook with eye and banner flash
Four arms show temporary tattoos: a black shutter aperture on a forearm, a teal digital watch on a wrist, the word PLAY HARD across the knuckles, and a rainbow colour wheel on a hand.
Temporary tattoos of a shutter, watch and colour wheel
Pale fine line script lettering on an inner wrist and forearm, photographed against a car steering wheel and dashboard.
Fine line script lettering on an inner wrist
Black ink script lettering design with stippled shading, dots and swirling flourishes, drawn on white paper.
Script lettering design with dotwork shading
Black blackletter-style lettering reading SHIT HAPPENS, tattooed on the inner upper arm in black ink.
Shit Happens lettering on an upper arm
Fine line black script lettering reading geronimo on the upper arm, photographed close up against a floral fabric.
Geronimo script on upper arm
Fine line black script reading Beloved on the heel and ankle side of a foot, against a black and white chequered floor.
Beloved script tattoo on an ankle
Clasped hands with black block letters tattooed across the knuckles spelling BOOKWORM, with small icons on the fingers.
Bookworm knuckle lettering
Close-up of a small black fine line script lettering tattoo on the forearm of a woman with long blonde hair and silver rings.
Small script lettering on a forearm
Black lettering tattoo of Greek script running diagonally across the back of a hand, shown in a close photo.
Greek script lettering on the back of a hand
Black script lettering tattoo reading A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, with small stars and a wand line, on the side of the ribs.
Quote lettering with stars on the ribs