Tribal tattoo ideas

556 photos and flash · 54% Blackwork, 9% Geometric · Upper arm most common

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Close view of a leg in black strappy heels and a gold chain anklet, showing a black tribal blackwork tattoo wrapping around the ankle and up the calf.
Black tribal tattoo on an ankle and calf
Colour tattoo of a green butterfly and a purple butterfly with black tribal swirls on the upper back near the shoulder blade.
Green and purple butterflies with tribal swirls on a back
Two black tribal-style owl designs on a white background, one perched with wings folded and one with wings spread, both in a Polynesian-inspired blackwork style.
Tribal owls, perched and spread-winged
Colourful realistic galaxy tattoo with planets and drifting asteroids across a shoulder blade, shown beside an earlier outlined tribal design on the left.
Galaxy with planets and asteroids on a shoulder
Flash sheet of ten black tribal-style heart designs on a white background, each built from swirls, dots and linework, with no body placement shown.
Ten tribal heart designs on a flash sheet
Black blackwork tribal sleeve with circular motifs and rosettes covering a man's upper arm and shoulder, shown from three angles.
Tribal sleeve with circular motifs on upper arm
Black and grey tribal tattoo with a large circular motif and sweeping spiked shapes across the upper arm and shoulder.
Tribal circle tattoo on upper arm
Black tribal dragon tattoo with wing-like scrollwork across a man's upper back, running down the spine, seen from behind.
Tribal dragon back tattoo
Black tribal phoenix design with flame-like spread wings and a small bird head at the centre, shown as a standalone drawing with no body placement.
Tribal phoenix with spread wings
Black tribal-style dragon design coiled in a circle on a white background, drawn as a flash with no body placement shown.
Coiled tribal dragon design
Black tribal blackwork sleeve covering the upper arm and forearm, with bold bands and triangle patterns, shown against a dark background and a grey sleeveless top.
Tribal blackwork sleeve on arm
Black and grey tribal swirl tattoo of bold bands and spirals across a person's lower back and waist, shown in a black and white photograph.
Tribal swirl tattoo across lower back
Green tribal-style line drawing of a cat face with swirling bold strokes, shown as a flat design on a white background.
Tribal cat face design
Black tribal-style dragon design with a curling tail, clawed feet and flame-like spines on a white background.
Tribal dragon design in solid black
Black line drawing of a tribal-style tattoo design across the shoulder blade and upper back of a sketched male figure seen from behind, with a katana hilt at the waist.
Tribal shoulder and back design sketch
Black tribal swirl tattoo across the lower abdomen, photographed in black and white with an orange belt and a navel piercing with a dragonfly charm.
Tribal swirl tattoo on the abdomen
Flash sheet of gold, silver and black metallic temporary tattoo designs, including feathers, a hamsa hand, chevrons, a cross, the word dream in an infinity loop and tribal bands.
Metallic temporary tattoo sheet with feathers and chevrons
Black tribal feather tattoo with swirl details sitting on the upper chest near the collarbone.
Tribal feather on upper chest
Black tribal tattoo of a bear paw print above an animal head in an oval, on the upper arm.
Tribal bear paw and animal head on upper arm
Close photograph of a black tribal tattoo with a reddish flower on a woman's upper chest, extending toward the shoulder.
Polynesian tribal and flower chest tattoo
Black tribal-style lizard tattoo with a long curling tail wrapping down towards the heel, on the outer ankle and lower leg.
Black tribal lizard on an ankle
Digital illustration of a skull covered in red tribal patterns, beside a vertical strip of skulls, crossbones and tribal flames on a dark textured background.
Tribal skull with red patterns and crossbones
Black tribal-style design of a winged horse head with flowing mane on a plain white background.
Tribal winged horse design
Black tribal tattoo with a central sun-like disc and swirling wings across the upper back, in a Polynesian-inspired blackwork style.
Tribal sun motif across the upper back
Black tribal eagle with spread wings tattooed on an upper arm, drawn in bold solid linework.
Tribal eagle tattoo on upper arm
Black tribal tattoo with spiral and swirl motifs covering a shoulder and upper arm.
Tribal spiral piece on a shoulder
Black tribal-style design of a heart outline with two curled spiral motifs facing each other, shown as a drawing on a white background.
Tribal heart with twin spirals
Black tribal blackwork leg tattoo covering the thigh and calf, with red flower motifs on the thigh, worn by a woman sitting on a wall.
Tribal leg sleeve with red flowers on thigh
Black tribal-style kangaroo tattoo with swirl detail and two lines of coordinates on the outside of an ankle, above white canvas trainers.
Tribal kangaroo with coordinates on an ankle
Red tribal-style butterfly design with bold wings and the Greek letters delta, sigma and theta set between them, shown as a flash design with no body placement.
Red tribal butterfly design with Greek letters
Black tribal-style design of a large star with swirling ornamental linework, framed by four corner motifs on a white background.
Tribal star with corner ornaments
Black and grey blackwork tribal tattoo covering one side of a torso, extending across the chest, ribs and upper arm, with the other side left bare.
Tribal blackwork across chest, ribs and arm
Black tribal tattoo with swirling and spiked shapes covering the upper arm, shown in a black and grey style on a person wearing a red top.
Black tribal design on upper arm
Black and grey realism tattoo of a roaring lion in front of a pale moon, with leaves and paws, covering a person's upper back, with a small green tribal dragon on the right shoulder.
Roaring lion and moon on a back piece
Grid of twenty elephant tattoo designs in tribal, mandala, line and colour styles, each shown with a price and a View tattoo button.
Grid of elephant tattoo designs
Black tribal-style dragonfly tattoo design on a white background, with swirling wings and a segmented body.
Tribal dragonfly design
Pen drawing of a tribal-style swirl tattoo design on white paper, with blue and black linework and shaded curls.
Tribal swirl tattoo design in blue and black
Black and grey tribal tattoo with spiral swirls and sharp spiked shapes covering the shoulder and upper arm.
Tribal swirl piece on shoulder and upper arm
Black tribal flash design of a stylised face inside a circle, with sun-like rays and bold blackwork patterns.
Tribal sun face design
Black and grey tribal line design of a mermaid riding a large fish decorated with sun motifs, paw prints and a small lion, shown without any body placement.
Tribal fish and mermaid design
Black and white photo of a shaved-headed man seen from behind, with a large blackwork tribal tattoo across his back, shoulders and upper arm.
Blackwork tribal back and shoulder tattoo
Black blackwork-style tribal butterfly design with swirling wings and curled antennae, shown as a flash drawing with no body placement.
Tribal butterfly design in solid black
Black and grey tribal phoenix tattoo with spread wings across a man's upper back, shown in a black and white photograph.
Tribal phoenix with spread wings on upper back
A tattooist applies black tribal blackwork linework to a bare arm, holding a tool above a small ink cap.
Tribal tattoo being applied to an arm
Black tribal-style lion head design with bold, spiked mane and solid black shading on a white background.
Tribal lion head design
Solid black tribal-style howling wolf head tattoo on a forearm, with bold blackwork linework and a spiral pattern in the neck.
Tribal howling wolf on a forearm
Black tribal sun tattoo on one inner wrist and a matching tribal crescent moon on the other, shown in black and white.
Matching tribal sun and moon on wrists
Black tribal scorpion tattoo designs on a white background, shown as a flash sheet of four separate motifs.
Four tribal scorpion flash designs