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Top 87 Triangle Tattoo Ideas [2022 Inspiration Guide]
The triangle is a popular tattoo motif due to the variety of its symbolic meaning and the range of connotations it conjures for people.
From the Eye of Providence in Christianity to themes of masculinity, femininity, and the shape’s relationship to the number 3, a triangle is a versatile option if you’re looking for a meaningful tattoo idea.
When it comes to the triangle in tattoo culture, there’s more to it than just the initial thought of mathematics or geometric shape.
For instance, if you’re a Christian, you might view the triangle as a symbol of the holy trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For those who believe in Norse mythology, the triangle is connected to the ancient old Norse symbol of three interlocked triangles called the Valknut.
Read on for the 87 best triangle tattoo ideas, ranging from small chest designs to full sleeves. There’s plenty of inspiration to discover.
1. 3D Triangle Stunning Tattoo Concepts
Working 3D precision into a simple triangle creates epic tattoos. I particularly enjoy the bending of perspectives to create a stairway or even the mind-bending needed for cubes or chunky extra-dimensional geometric shapes.
Here’s an excellent 3D triangle tattoo made by stacking cubes, with the shading an appealing hybrid of slash and dotwork. The tiny star in the middle of this tattoo art is a nice negative space tattoo.
This is another 3D-style Penrose triangle tattoo realized with skillful attention to detail. The minute dotwork technique applied with grayscale shading is a difficult transition to make; however, the result for this small tattoo is well worth it. The artist has contrasted the triangle’s detail with alternating lines of thickness and length, all cleverly and crisply inked in.
2. Solar System and Space Triangle Design
Etching the solar system within a triangle tattoo is a cool concept. It provides a cool border shape to work behind, with either elaborate colors or black and gray shadow work inside the shape to give it fine detail.
This new wave solar system tattoo is a well-deployed abstract work. The triangle in this image acts as a unique style of the border, allowing the world within to condense. The technical aspects of this work — the dotwork stars and white ink inner triangle — mesh well with the lovely swirling black, green, and maroon color scheme.
3. Eye of Providence Triangle Tattoos
These stylized ink versions of the Eye of Providence run the gamut from simple design ideas to visually arresting, impossible triangle versions of the eye of God watching over humanity. In simplest terms, providence means the guidance of God over his subjects. The triangle traditionally represents the holy trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The eye in this tattoo represents the Eye of Providence, a Christian symbol depicting an eye inside a triangle, with rays of light branching outward from it. This symbolizes the eye of God watching over humanity.
This is a more complex Eye of Providence chest tattoo. This one is etched with an amazing level of detail, matching beautiful internal dotwork inside the triangle image, with other well-crafted dots at the end of each ray of light. The laurel wreath of black linework bordering the image creates a nice contrast for the other distinct shapes to fit within.
Another Eye of Providence, another different depiction of the idea. This inner forearm tattoo goes full abstract, incorporating different pieces of linework and shading. Again, the dotwork is a prominent technical feature.
Not sure what this Eye of Providence is trying to say; however, it can’t be good. It’s a visually confronting tattoo with the scarlet central triangle and eye appearing like a cross between something from 1984 and A Clockwork Orange.
Viver is a Portuguese verb that means “to live.” By complementing the soft triangle stylized Eye of Providence, this tattoo symbolizes living under God’s eye. It’s a funky religious themed tattoo.
4. Geometric Triangle Tattoos
This is a funky group of geometric triangle tattoos. Each artist used an effective variety of concepts to bounce off each other and make badass geometric triangle tattoo ideas come to life. Each concept understands the need to balance design originality and care with cool conceptual displays.
In the tattoo design below, a single black and gray shaded triangle with intertwined endless rope among the smaller versions is an excellent technique.
Wow. This is a mesmerizing amount of triangles. It’s a small tattoo design in spirit that radiates outward with each different addition to make an abstract geometric triangle tattoo masterpiece. Look closely, and you should find the cube within the triangles as well!
This teepee-shaped triangle with beautifully worked black lines within is an interesting tattoo. It looks like a single earring from a set you buy from a craft market etched into the skin.
This is an interesting mix of a geometric triangle tattoo and an abstract design; however, the execution needs a little work. The triangles, particularly the internal ones, are fine but the circles look pushed together through the middle.
White ink highlights added to the internal image enliven the two-tone gray triangle tattoo. It’s a well-executed artwork. The different shards making the final, full equilateral triangle is exceptional.
The Penrose triangle part of this full sleeve is nicely drawn. The negative space element is a bright and simple counterpoint to the busy, black and gray shading and iconography making up the rest of the tattoo. The triangle traditionally represents the holy trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This ink is a cool 3D tattoo. The pale blue overlapping pyramids inside the well-realized hexagon make the whole piece pop. A wider image would better show how the ink splashes interact with the rest of the subject’s body art.
5. Scenery and Landscape
Depicting scenery and landscape within a simple triangle is a cool tattoo idea. You can choose almost any scene you like — camping, the night sky, or a mountain range — and work within the confines of the geometric shape to apply your chosen tattoo style.
Okay, now this is an unbelievably cool piece of body art. I know this leg tattoo represents the Turkish city of Cappadocia only because I’ve been there. The recollection was instantaneous when looking at this artwork. The hot air balloons, cave buildings carved from rock, and the beautiful colored skyline are all realized with clarity and elegance by an amazing assembly of colors separated within a series of triangles. This is top-drawer tattooing.
Look, this image just needs an alien in a bike’s basket, and we’re all set! ET jokes aside, this is a well-realized triangle tattoo built with an alternative commitment to negative space. Here, the negative space (non-tattooed area) forms the focal point of the tattoo, and the black ink provides support. I love the slightly gray shading within the moon section to give it detail.
6. Elaborate Black and Gray Ideas
Wow. This upper bicep tattoo is fantastic. The use of various triangles in different shades and even negative space create the impression of glass shards. They create a great counterpoint to the pin-up style portrait of the woman, whose hair is etched in windswept, flowing strands.
Funky inner forearm tattoo alert! What intrigues with this piece is whether or not the triangle facing downward — symbolizing earth from an alchemy perspective — will be filled or remain negative space framed by the epic tree. Hopefully, it remains as is because the stark space left unblemished works brilliantly in the context of the surrounding branches.
This is not an Eye of Providence tattoo, just in case you weren’t sure. It’s a badass scene of mayhem capped by wicked-looking Gothic-style triangle framing. I love the simple crosses and the irony of the shining sun behind the death-dealing skelly-headed conqueror.
7. Skull Triangle Design
Combining aspects of tattooing with the popularity of skulls and triangles makes for cool, creative design elements. These examples utilize an impossible triangle or a mix of different superb geometric triangle tattoo linework to frame the heavily textured skull focal point.
8. Animal Triangle Tattoo Meaning
Incorporating your favorite animal motif into a triangle makes a cool symbol. The triangle outline makes an epic border shape to contain your wild beast or wise owl design inside, and create a piece with any application style you like inside.
9. Penrose Triangle Tattoo Ideas
Created by Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd in 1934, the Penrose triangle or Penrose tribar is an optical illusion. It can be depicted as a triangle in drawing form but can’t be a solid object.
The impossible triangle, as shown below, can be depicted in a variety of awesome Penrose triangle tattoo design ideas that show off different sizes and effects.
For example, this is a tricky hand tattoo. The tattoo artist applied a good mixture of fuzzy shading in black with sporadic dotwork to achieve interesting details in the impossible unique triangle image. Being a hand tattoo, this ink will get noticed and draw comments about the visual trickery of the Penrose tribar.
10. Small Triangle Tattoo
One of the most popular ideas for a triangle tattoo meaning revolves around the direction of the shape. In other words, is it pointed up or down? Pointed up represents male energy, air, and fire, all masculine elements. Female elements water, energy, and earth tie into triangles facing downwards.
Playing with directions makes it easy to get a range of ideas across in a small tattoo design. These small tattoos utilize different aspects to broadcast their symbolic meaning.
11. Waves
Again, the triangle tattoo design works as a border for the internal ocean and wave core element to be depicted in a vast array of technical applications.
12. Linework
Simple tattoo designs in these examples draw on non-religious concepts to form cool pieces. In alchemy concepts featuring a double triangle tattoo, the upward-facing triangle symbolizes elemental air, while the one facing downward is earth.
The combination of minimalist and abstract ideas works to form impressive, unique pieces of body art built with simple lines and occasional heavy black ink.
13. Innovative Triangle Body Art
You don’t see these types of white ink tattoos very often. This triangle is worked fully opposite to convention, demonstrating a boss-level artistic skill and painstaking technical application.
Here, the artist had taken a flat black triangle, then applied tiny pieces of dotwork technique to form an engrossing patterned image using white ink. The degree of difficulty for this kind of body art is off the scale.
These triangle examples make stunning tattoo art. Each tattoo artist worked to deliver boss-level artistic skill and painstaking technical application. The degree of difficulty for some of the triangle ideas is off the scale, and if you like Pink Floyd, then the Dark Side of the Moon cover on your skin is sweet.
Tattoo ideas, such as simple 3D elements or linework versus detail, can make a small tattoo stand out, while a small triangle outline helps form balance for an opposing shape, such as the traditional half-folded razor.
Did you enjoy these ideas, from the simple triangle tattoo to more elaborate shapes and designs? Click on the links below for more cool galleries:
Triangle Tattoo FAQ
Traditionally, triangle tattoos are closely linked with Christianity. As triangles have three points and three straight sides, they’re most often used to represent the holy trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The triangle symbol can also be the number 3 in numerology and tattoo culture, representing balance and wisdom, while for the non-religious, the triangle has a broad association with the moon or with the past, present, and future.
In Celtic tradition, the Triquetra (or Trinity Knot) is believed to be a symbol used by Christian monks to further the faith and is one of the most enduring design ideas.
During pagan times, the Triquetra symbolized the triple goddess: mother, maiden, and crone.
It is one of the most popular designs in Celtic tattooing.
Twin superimposed triangles of the same size are alchemy symbols that have been commandeered into the realm of body art.
If the two triangles point skywards they represent the element of air, while a downward pointing pair of triangles symbolize the element of earth.
Another popular representation of twin triangles occurs with an upside-down triangle where the tip points downward to symbolize the female/feminine. The triangle with the point facing upward is a man/masculine symbol.
If the two triangles point skywards they represent the element of air, while a downward pointing pair of triangles symbolize the element of earth.
Another popular representation of twin triangles occurs with an upside-down triangle where the tip points downward to symbolize the female/feminine. The triangle with the point facing upward is a man/masculine symbol.
The Valknut is three interconnected triangles, whose name was coined by the Old Norse words valr, meaning “slain warriors,” and knut, meaning “knot.” The exact meaning behind the symbol is unknown but has had a number of explanations supposed by Norse Mythology scholars.
Because the symbol often appeared on burial gifts during the 8th-9th centuries, it is assumed that the Valknut is associated with death and the afterlife. It will depend on the person’s reason behind getting the tattoo will signify which explanation they relate to.
