Shell tattoo ideas

264 photos and flash · 18% Fine line, 15% Neo-trad · Forearm most common

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Black and grey line drawing of a woman wearing an ornate masquerade mask, with swirling hair and a shell held in one hand, on tracing paper.
Masked woman with flowing hair design
Two colour tattoos on a pair of thighs, one of Elsa from Frozen and one of Ariel from The Little Mermaid, each in an ornate oval frame in neo-traditional style.
Elsa and Ariel framed portraits on thighs
Two side by side neo-traditional tattoo flash sketches of a woman in ornate headdresses, one in green ink with a lemur, one in brown ink with feathers, with no body placement shown.
Woman with lemur headdress design sketches
Close-up of a colourful traditional style tattoo of an open pearl clam with a pink pearl and bubbles, beside a purple candy heart, on an upper arm.
Pearl clam and candy heart on an arm
Four pastel flash designs on a pink background: a unicorn with a Wonderland banner, a scallop shell, lips with a glittery drip, and mushrooms in a circle.
Unicorn, shell, lips and mushroom flash designs
Black and grey dotwork tattoo of a frilled lizard above crossed bare legs, set within an art nouveau frame on the thigh.
Frilled lizard in an art nouveau frame
Coloured flash design of a red-haired mermaid in a rope-edged oval frame, with two fish, an anchor and a SIREN banner, in a neo-traditional style.
Red-haired siren in an oval frame
Black and grey neo-traditional design drawn on tracing paper of a mermaid with a ship, anchor, rope and ship's wheel, with no body placement shown.
Mermaid with ship and ship's wheel design
Neo-traditional flash drawing of a pink scallop shell holding a white pearl, with green seaweed and teal dots, drawn on paper.
Pearl in a pink shell design
Neo-traditional flash design of a red-haired mermaid with a teal tail, two fish and a SIREN banner, in an oval frame.
Mermaid with fish in an oval frame
Neo-traditional flash design of a red-haired mermaid in a grey shell top, with a green scaled tail, wave pattern, stars and a red flower.
Mermaid with waves and red flower in ornate frame
Pencil and coloured pencil drawing of an ornate oval mirror frame with blue flowers, a shell, a star and pearl chains, shown as a tattoo design on a clipboard.
Ornate mirror with flowers, shell and pearl chains
Colour tattoo of an animated couple kissing inside an ornate gold frame decorated with shells and starfish, on the upper arm, in a traditional-style cartoon finish.
Animated couple kissing in a shell frame on upper arm
Colour tattoo of a pink cartoon starfish with a shocked face rising from a sunset sea, framed by rope and topped by a shell, on the thigh.
Sunset sea and cartoon starfish on a thigh
Colour and grey tattoo of a mermaid inside an ornate oval frame on the outer thigh, in a neo-traditional illustrative style.
Mermaid in ornate frame on thigh
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a teal scallop shell on a forearm, beside red peony and yellow flower tattoos above it.
Teal scallop shell with peony sleeve
Two colour tattoos on arms: Ariel the mermaid with a teal tail on the upper arm, and a split-face Aurora and Maleficent with a dragon on the forearm.
Ariel and a split Aurora and Maleficent tattoo
Neo-traditional colour tattoo on a forearm showing an open oyster with a pearl, framed by pink lilies, green leaves and turquoise splashes.
Open oyster with pearl and lilies on a forearm
Coloured pencil drawing of a blue turtle creature with a brown shell peering over a grey anchor inside a rope frame, with blue water swirls above, shown as a tattoo design on paper.
Blue turtle creature on an anchor and rope
Neo-traditional tattoo of a red-haired mermaid with a green tail sitting on a rock inside an ornate beaded frame with shells and a starfish, on the thigh.
Mermaid cameo on thigh
Black and grey neo-traditional tattoo of a cartoon sea turtle with large expressive eyes, shown on the upper leg.
Cartoon sea turtle on a leg
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a pink and teal perfume bottle with a gold collar, pink shell and teal atomiser bulb on a calf.
Perfume bottle with shell on a lower leg
Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a pink seahorse, orange shell and purple starfish with green seaweed on the top of a foot.
Seahorse, shell and starfish on the top of a foot
Colour tattoo of a milkshake with a cherry, striped straw and red polka dot bow on a forearm, in neo-traditional style.
Milkshake with cherry and polka dot bow
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a pug's face inside a rope circle with red flowers and a pink backdrop, on the forearm.
Pug in a rope frame with red flowers
Neo-traditional tattoo of a mermaid with flowing golden hair and a teal and pink scaled tail on the side of a thigh.
Mermaid with golden hair on a thigh
Colourful neo-traditional nautilus shell tattoo with heavy black outlines and flowing feather-like shapes on the forearm.
Nautilus spiral tattoo on a forearm
Black ink and pencil drawing of a snail with an ornate patterned shell beside geometric crystals and scrolling swirls, a neo-traditional tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Snail and crystals tattoo design
Colour tattoo of a spiral shell in blue, purple and pink on a person's shoulder blade, with bold dark outlines.
Spiral shell on a shoulder
Colour traditional-style tattoo of a pink flamingo with a flower-trimmed hair bow beside a pineapple, a sunset and sea, inside a rope-edged teardrop frame on a calf.
Flamingo in a rope frame on a calf
Blue pencil sketch of a mermaid with shells in her hair, a starfish, bubbles, waves and a fish, drawn in a neo-traditional style on cream paper.
Mermaid with shells and fish sketch
Colour tattoo of a starry galaxy-filled figure silhouette inside a scalloped shell on the lower leg, with a bold black outline and pink and orange wash behind.
Galaxy silhouette in a shell on the calf
Neo-trad style colour tattoo of an open clam shell holding a pearl, with pink, orange and teal shading, on a forearm.
Open shell with pearl on a forearm
Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a shell holding a pearl, with red hearts, green leaves and bubbles, on a forearm.
Shell and pearl with hearts on a forearm
Colour tattoo of a smiling cartoon sea turtle with large eyes and a red-spotted shell on the side of the ribs, in a bold outlined neo-traditional style.
Cartoon sea turtle on the side ribs
Two legs in denim shorts and black sneakers covered in colour neo-traditional tattoos, including an owl, a raven with roses, a fox and a rabbit.
Full leg sleeve of colourful neo-traditional tattoos
Neo-traditional colour tattoo of a woman's face framed by teal hair, octopus tentacles and peach shells, on the upper arm.
Woman portrait with teal hair and tentacles on upper arm
Collage of six colour neo-traditional tattoos of ornate perfume bottles with smoke clouds, shown on arms and legs.
Neo-traditional perfume bottle tattoos in colour
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a dark-haired mermaid with teal scales, red roses and a conch shell, on the upper arm.
Mermaid with roses and shell on a limb
Colour neo-traditional tattoo of a red-haired mermaid in a shell top, with an anchor earring and rope, across the outer thigh.
Mermaid with shell top on thigh