Sketch tattoo ideas

480 photos and flash · 22% Botanical, 14% Fine line · Forearm most common

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Pencil drawing of a tattoo design showing a jellyfish with a large eye in its bell and a woman's face among its trailing tentacles, with no body placement visible.
Jellyfish with an eye tattoo design sketch
Pencil sketch of a swallow in flight above two roses and a rosebud, drawn in blue and orange pencil on cream paper, as a design for a tattoo.
Swallow and roses tattoo sketch
Pencil sketch of a compass design with skis running north to south, crossed ski poles on the diagonals and mountain peaks across east and west, with N, E, S and W lettering.
Compass design with skis, poles and mountains
Pencil sketch on paper of the word Always in cursive script, with a Deathly Hallows triangle-circle-line symbol before it and a lightning bolt after it, drawn as a tattoo design.
Always lettering with Deathly Hallows symbol
Blue pen sketch of an ornamental design with paisley leaves, a fish with scale detail, an open eye and flowers, shown without any body part.
Paisley, fish and eye design sketch
Fine line pen sketch of a small seated elephant raising its trunk towards three musical notes, drawn on plain paper as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Elephant with musical notes fine line sketch
Pencil sketch of an ornate key with the word Honesty in cursive script across its shaft, drawn on paper as a tattoo design.
Honesty key pencil sketch
Blue pencil sketch of a faceted teardrop gem with swirling ribbon and leaf flourishes and a row of beads, drawn as a tattoo design.
Sketch of a faceted gem with ribbon swirls
Pencil drawing of a tattoo design with a battered helmet, a rose and leaves in black and grey shading, with lettering across the top.
Helmet, rose and lettering design
Pen drawing of a layered mandala flower design in blue and teal ink in a spiral sketchbook, with two pens resting beside it.
Blue and teal mandala flower design
Pencil sketch design of a tiger head with ink swirls and splatter dots, drawn as a possible tattoo flash without placement on the body.
Sketched tiger head with ornamental swirls
Pencil drawing of a shaded anchor wrapped in rope, with a flock of birds rising from the top of the rope, shown as a tattoo design sketch.
Anchor, rope and birds design
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
Two hand-drawn black ink sketches of crossed arrows on paper, shown as a design for a tattoo with no body placement visible.
Crossed arrows design in two versions
Split image showing a purple linework sketch of R2-D2 beside a coloured traditional-style tattoo of R2-D2 on a thigh, with a banner reading BEEP BOOP and a flower.
R2-D2 banner tattoo, sketch and colour
Black and grey fine line tattoo of a paper plane with ink splatter on a person's shoulder.
Paper plane tattoo on a shoulder
Black ink drawing of a bee in fine hatched linework and stippled shading on white paper, beside a dip pen and ink pot.
Ink drawing of a bee with dip pen
Loose, sketch-style heart tattoo with pink and purple shading, blue streaks and black outline, on the upper body.
Sketchy heart tattoo in pink and purple
Pencil flash sketch of an elephant framed by lotus petals and mandala detailing, with a mechanical pencil resting across the drawing on tracing paper.
Elephant and lotus tattoo sketch
Fine line black tattoo of a heart within a heartbeat line ending in the word faith, placed on a shoulder.
Heartbeat heart with faith script
Pencil and pink-tinted sketch of a compass surrounded by roses and dotted lines, drawn as a tattoo design on paper with pens beside it.
Compass and roses tattoo design sketch
Sketch-style elephant tattoo wearing a feather headdress, with teal and red accents, on the upper arm and shoulder of a woman.
Elephant in a feather headdress on the upper arm
Pencil sketch of a bird with a raised, feathered wing and clawed talons on cream paper, drawn as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Diving bird sketch with raised wing
Pencil sketch of an open pocket watch with a dangling chain, drawn in black and grey on paper, shown as a tattoo design without any skin visible.
Pocket watch and chain sketch
Black and grey sketch-style tattoo of a police box with ink splashes and fine trailing lines on the upper back.
TARDIS with ink splashes on upper back
Neo-trad style tattoo on a calf showing a snarling bear head behind a woman's face, with grey shading and warm orange skin tones.
Bear and woman portrait on a calf
Black and grey sketch-style tattoo of a tall tower with stacked platforms and a small cap on top, placed on the inner forearm.
Tower sketch on inner forearm
Black ink sketch of an elephant head in profile with curled trunk and tusks, drawn on a sketchbook page beside pens and brushes.
Ink sketch of an elephant head
Pencil sketch of a griffin-like bird with spread wings, raised talons and a long swirling tail, drawn as a possible tattoo design with no body part shown.
Pencil sketch of a spread-winged griffin
Black and grey dotwork lion head tattoo with a triangle outline and chevron lines on a forearm, shown beside its pencil sketch on paper.
Lion head with geometric triangle on a forearm
Fine line sketch tattoo of a woman in profile with butterflies and teal accents running down a woman's upper arm and forearm.
Sketched woman and butterflies on upper arm
Pencil sketch on lined paper of a plain outlined cross with the words Philippians and 4:13 in script lettering, drawn as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Philippians 4:13 script and cross sketch
Black and grey pencil drawing of three roses and two leaves with scrolling swirls, a tattoo design sketch with no body placement shown.
Pencil sketch of roses with swirls
Greyscale pencil drawing of an octopus with its tentacles wrapped around a human skull, shown on paper on a wooden desk.
Octopus wrapped around a skull drawing
Black and grey lilac sprig tattoo with stippled petals and two leaves on the thigh, beside a pencil drawing of the same flower.
Lilac sprig on the thigh
Red pencil sketch of an octopus with curling tentacles and suckers, drawn as a tattoo design with no placement on the body shown.
Octopus with curling tentacles sketch
Pencil sketch sheet of four cute chibi baby dragons with wings and curled tails, one with a butterfly, suitable as tattoo flash.
Chibi baby dragon sketch sheet
Black ink sketch of a winged dragon in a rearing pose with claws raised, drawn on cream paper, shown as a design for a tattoo.
Winged dragon ink sketch
Black and red sketch-style tattoo on an upper arm showing a female figure, a shaded skull, radiating lines and red gear motifs.
Sketched figure and skull on upper arm
Pencil sketch of a heart with the word Love in flowing script lettering, drawn on tracing paper beside a black marker.
Love script heart design sketch
Five black ink sketches on paper of continuous line designs with dotted starts, spirals and infinity-style loops, shown as possible tattoo flash.
Five line-work swirl and loop sketches
Two pencil and ink sketches of wolf heads combined with geometric line frames, drawn as tattoo design studies on white paper beside a pen.
Geometric wolf head sketches on paper
Pencil sketch of a stylised flower bud with curled petal tips and a long stem, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
Stylised flower bud pencil sketch
Black ink dotwork drawing of a dagger piercing a stippled rose, with red geometric circle lines behind it, on white paper.
Dagger and rose tattoo design
Pen sketch in purple ink of a stag's head with antlers, set within loose swirling lines beside a leafy botanical sprig, drawn on cream paper.
Stag head with botanical sprig sketch
Two Medusa design sketches in a sketchbook, one in red pencil linework and one shaded in grey, with snakes wound through the hair.
Medusa sketches in a sketchbook
Sepia sketch of a lion's head with a flowing mane, drawn as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Lion head sketch design
Black ink pen sketch of stylised cursive script lettering on cream paper, drawn as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Hand-drawn script lettering sketch