Sketch tattoo ideas

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

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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
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
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
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
Black ink drawing of a vintage diving helmet built from geometric hatched facets, being shaded by a hand with a marker on white paper.
Geometric diving helmet sketch
Eight line drawn arrow designs in a fine line geometric style, with a few teal accents, sketched on white paper beside two black pigment liner pens.
Eight arrow designs on paper
Blue and grey sketch-style guitars tattooed across a man's upper back, with a black hexagon pattern band on the shoulder and upper arm.
Sketched guitars across a back
Black and white photo of a floral and geometric tattoo design drawn in a sketchbook, beside a dotwork mandala tattoo on a forearm.
Floral and geometric sketch with forearm mandala
Pencil drawing of a five-pointed star with a circle, a crescent and a sharp diagonal line cut into its outline, shown in grey shading on white paper.
Pencil sketch of a star with inset shapes
Hand-drawn compass rose design in brown ink on pale paper, with a central star, concentric circles and stylised letters at the four points.
Compass rose design drawing
Two pen sketches of tattoo designs: a left panel with a skull, roses and geometric lines, and a right panel with a bull skull, moths and dotwork shading.
Skull and rose designs in pen sketches
Two black linework snail designs on pale paper, each with an ornate patterned shell, set over faint lotus outlines in a botanical flash style.
Two ornamental snail designs with lotus outlines
Black and grey sketch-style tattoo of a hand pierced by two arrows, with fine geometric construction lines, on the calf.
Hand pierced by arrows on a calf
Black ink drawing of an anatomical heart with a faceted geometric lower half and dotwork shading on the right side, drawn on white paper beside a pen.
Geometric anatomical heart sketch
Black ink mandala design drawn on pale paper, with a geometric star-like centre surrounded by ornate petal and scroll patterns, beside three red piping bags.
Radial mandala design drawn in black ink
Black and grey sketch-style whale tattoo on a forearm, drawn with loose, overlapping geometric lines that suggest the animal's body and fins.
Sketched whale on a forearm
Pencil sketch of a fox head in profile, with geometric triangles, dotwork and hatched patterning over the eye and cheek, drawn on a spiral notebook page.
Geometric fox head pencil sketch
Pencil sketch of an ornamental wolf head design with a hamsa hand, geometric triangles and filigree patterns across the face, drawn on paper.
Ornamental wolf head design sketch with hamsa hand
Geometric tattoo of a solid black disc inside an orange ring with radiating black marks, on the front of a lower leg below the knee.
Geometric sun and lines on a lower leg
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
Twelve hand-drawn black ink arrow designs in a row on a notebook page, with chevron, triangle and feather details, beside a patterned page edge.
Hand-drawn arrow designs in a notebook
Pencil sketch of a bee in flight above a faint geometric pattern of overlapping circles and hexagons, drawn as a tattoo design with no body placement shown.
Bee sketch over geometric circles
Black ink mandala flower drawings on sketchbook paper, with the foreground design in dotwork and fine line, shown without a body placement.
Mandala flower design drawings on paper
Pencil sketch of a compass rose with a leafy tree and twisting roots at its centre, with a heart-tipped loop line running to the east point.
Compass rose with tree and roots sketch
Pencil sketch of a tattoo design with a rose at the centre, leaves, stacked triangles and dotted lines, drawn on skin.
Rose and geometric triangles sketch
Three black and white geometric dotwork tattoo designs drawn on white, built from stacked triangles, diamonds and dotted shading.
Three geometric dotwork design sketches
Three pencil and ink flash drawings of roses inside triangular frames, drawn on translucent paper, with botanical and geometric detailing.
Three triangle framed rose designs on tracing paper
Black ink drawing of a lion's head framed by a large mandala and two smaller mandalas, sketched on paper as a tattoo design.
Lion with mandala motifs sketch
Two black and grey tattoo design sketches on paper, a winged moth with eyes above a ram's head framed by a triangle and geometric lines.
Moth and ram head tattoo designs
Pencil-style sketch of a stag head with large antlers, set within overlapping geometric triangles on a cream background, shown as a tattoo design.
Geometric stag head sketch
Pencil sketch of a compass rose with N, E, S and W labels and the words Psalms 32:8 beneath, shown as a possible tattoo design in black and grey.
Compass rose sketch with Psalms 32:8
Black ink sketch of an anthropomorphic cat with a hair bun, holding a cigarette, with wisps of smoke rising around the figure.
Sketched cat with cigarette and smoke
Black linework and dotwork drawing of a rose framed by mandala-style petals, sketched on tracing paper beside a pen case.
Rose within a mandala design sketch
Pencil sketch of a compass rose with ripple lines and several birds in flight, a tattoo design shaded in black and grey.
Compass rose with birds in flight
Black pen sketch of a nested geometric triangle design on a notebook page, with handwritten words Explore, Challenge, Transcend, Express, Create and Learn beside small triangle motifs.
Geometric triangle design sketch with words
Blue pen sketch of an Egyptian queen in a striped headdress, with an Eye of Horus, an ankh, palm fronds and a flower of life behind her.
Egyptian queen tattoo design sketch
Black and grey pencil sketch of an ornate tattoo design with a central rose, two side roses, lace-like patterning and dotted chains drawn on paper.
Rose and lace ornamental design sketch
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
Pencil and ink sketch of a raven head with dotwork shading, set within overlapping triangles and circles, drawn as a tattoo design on a sketchbook page.
Geometric raven head design sketch
Two pencil sketches of ornamental mandala-style flower designs on paper, drawn as tattoo designs with no body part shown.
Mandala flower and lace design sketches
Hand-drawn flash sketch of two black ink arrows on lined paper, one with dotwork shading and one with geometric fills, each labelled with coordinates.
Two arrow designs with coordinates
A woman in a dark linen slip dress shows two solid grey triangle tattoos on her upper chest and a fine line sketch tattoo on her upper arm and shoulder.
Grey triangles on chest and sketched line drawing on arm
Pencil and ink sketch of three arrows with ornate patterned feather fletching, drawn as tattoo flash on paper.
Three arrows with patterned feathers
Black and grey mandala tattoo with script lettering on a forearm, shown alongside a pencil sketch of the design and a second mandala tattoo on another pair of wrists.
Mandala with script on forearms
Fine line black tattoo of a circle with a cross and latitude lines on the inner forearm, with a handwritten reference sketch of a globe inset at lower left.
Latitude circle diagram on a forearm
Black ink compass rose design drawn on paper beside a pen, with an ornamental patterned star and fine radiating lines, shown as a tattoo design rather than on skin.
Compass rose tattoo design sketch
Black ink mandala drawing in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, with leaf-petal motifs and dotted, looped patterns, drawn on a spiral sketchbook page.
Mandala design in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head
Pencil sketch on paper of a tattoo design showing a circle set inside an upright triangle, with a vertical rod above, feather-like wisps and small stars, shown with no body placement.
Pencil sketch of a triangle and circle design