Scale tattoo ideas

469 photos and flash · 24% Japanese, 15% Realism · Upper arm most common

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Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a bearded sea god holding a trident, with waves and a sea serpent, on the forearm.
Sea god with trident and serpent on forearm
Black ink tattoo of a temple with spires, an eye and stars above, and two open hands with water drops below, on a person's upper back.
Temple with hands and eye on a back
Black and grey serpent tattoo with dotwork shading and frilled fins, coiling from the shoulder down the side of the ribs.
Large serpent coiling down the ribs
Black dotwork tattoo design of a symmetrical fan of overlapping shaped segments, drawn on a white background with no body placement shown.
Symmetrical dotwork fan design
Two side-by-side photos of a stippled dotwork fish scale pattern tattoo on skin, one with teal and purple tones and one in dark black ink.
Fish scale pattern tattoo in dotwork
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of balance scales with a geometric diamond and leaf motif on the upper back.
Balance scales with geometric diamond on upper back
Black ink flash sheet of tattoo designs including a feather, antlers, mushrooms, a cleaver, an ear, an eye, a bird skull, balance scales with a brain, and a severed arm, drawn in dotwork and fine
Flash sheet of antlers, mushrooms and balance scales
Black ink pen drawing of a dinosaur head with a exposed skeletal skull and spine overgrown with thin tendrils, shaded with fine stippled dots and textured scales.
Dinosaur skull with tendrils pen drawing
Black and grey ouroboros snake tattoo with shaded dotwork scales, wrapping around the elbow on a pale arm.
Ouroboros snake wrapped around an elbow
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of stacked planets, including two ringed planets, within a thin rectangular frame marked 0, 1/2 and 1, on a forearm.
Planets in a vertical scale on forearm
Black and grey dotwork koi fish tattoo with a mandala background, running across the upper arm and shoulder.
Koi fish with mandala on upper arm
Black and white photograph of a fine scale pattern tattoo across the back of a hand and fingers, with chunky rings and a cigarette in view.
Scale pattern tattoo on the back of a hand
Black and grey dotwork flash design of a horned animal skull above a pair of scales holding a feather and a small object, with an ankh inside a downward triangle.
Horned skull and scales dotwork design
Black and grey pencil-style drawing of a koi fish with a faceted geometric lower body, sketched on a tablet with a stylus.
Geometric koi fish design sketch
Black pencil drawing of a snake coiled around a staff, with fine hatching and stippled scales, on white paper beside a mechanical pencil.
Snake coiled around a staff
Interlaced serpent tattoo in a Norse knotwork style running down the upper arm, with dotwork shading on the scales.
Interlaced serpent on an upper arm
Black and grey dotwork snake coiled up the forearm with flowers, leaves and small dotted accents, in blackwork style.
Snake and flowers on a forearm
Black and grey dotwork drawing of two snakes forming an infinity symbol inside a circle, shown as a tattoo design on white.
Two snakes forming an infinity symbol in a circle
Black ink flash drawing of a dragon head with densely patterned scales, spiky frills and a red eye, suitable as a design for a tattoo.
Patterned dragon head in pen and ink
Dotwork tattoo of intertwined snakes shading from blue at the top to pink and red at the bottom, across the thigh.
Intertwined snakes in blue and pink dotwork
Black ink flash design of a white silhouetted creature framed by swirling waves, scale patterns and fine dotwork.
Silhouette within swirling waves
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a mermaid curled inside an open sardine tin, with bold outlines and stippled shading, on a limb.
Mermaid in a sardine tin
Black and grey dotwork fish tattoo spanning the upper chest and shoulder, with fine geometric lines and wave-like fronds beside it.
Dotwork fish tattoo on chest and shoulder
Full arm sleeve in blackwork and dotwork with a hexagon scale pattern on the forearm and an ornamental mandala on the upper arm, shown from three angles.
Blackwork sleeve with hexagon scales and mandala
Black and white ink snakes coiled together across a forearm, rendered in blackwork and dotwork style.
Intertwined snakes on a forearm
Black and grey two-panel tattoo on an upper arm in an engraved style, showing scales and a solid polyhedron on the left and a skeleton holding an hourglass above a skull on the right.
Two-panel engraving tattoo on an upper arm
Black and grey tattoo of balance scales held by a hand, framed by leafy branches and berries on the upper arm, with fine dotwork accents.
Scales and botanical branches on upper arm
Black and grey realistic snake coiled around a round orb, tattooed on the forearm.
Coiled snake and orb on a forearm
Black and grey blackwork tattoo of a scaled snake, open flowers and dotted geometric lines on the outer forearm.
Snake and flowers on a forearm
Black ink drawing of a woman's face framed by flowing hair, feathers and a tentacle, in a fine line and dotwork style, shown as a tattoo design rather than on skin.
Woman's portrait with feathers and tentacle
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of two hands clasping, one plain and one covered in scales with an eye, with a dotted arc and three drips below, on the outer arm.
Clasped hands with a scaled arm in dotwork
Two black and grey pineapple tattoos on a forearm, one in fine line shading with dotwork scales and one in bold blackwork with a solid black crown.
Two pineapple tattoos on forearms
Black and grey blackwork skull tattoo with dotted and mandala-like patterns on the upper arm, with the jaw open.
Ornate skull with mandala patterns on upper arm
Black and grey koi fish tattoo with dotwork scale shading and fine line sprigs of foliage on a forearm.
Koi fish and fine line foliage on a forearm
Black and grey fine line mermaid tattoo with flowing hair, bubbles and skulls in her tail, on the outer thigh.
Mermaid with skulls on a thigh
Black and grey tattoo of a snarling wolf head with pine trees above and Winter is Coming lettering curved beneath it, on the upper thigh.
Wolf head and pines with Winter is Coming lettering
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a skull merged with layered feathers, placed on the side of the ribs.
Feathered skull on the ribs
Black and grey tattoo of a scaled fish smoking a cigarette and riding a bicycle, with dotwork shading, on the lower leg.
Fish riding a bicycle and smoking
Black and grey dotwork mandala tattoo with a seed of life motif and scale-patterned shapes across a person's upper back.
Seed of life mandala on upper back
Black and grey dotwork chameleon tattoo with mandala-style patterning on the outer upper arm or thigh.
Chameleon with mandala patterning
Fine line and dotwork koi fish tattoo in teal, grey and pink across a person's upper back and shoulder blade.
Two koi fish on the upper back