Top 63 Wolf Tattoo Ideas [2020 Inspiration Guide]

The wolf is an immensely popular, enduring theme of strength, power and grace.

The supple flow of movement under fur, its beauty, loyalty, and fiercely protective mentality are elements of the wolf that give it almost universal respect. It is why wolves feature in our list of the 50+ best tattoo ideas.

A wolf tattoo is a great way to display strength, familial loyalty and devotion, while for others, a wolf tattoo can be part of dreams, aspirations, or associated with the moon. A howling wolf tattoo represents strength, free spiritedness.

Whatever symbolism your wolf depicts, there is a range of awesome technical options and tattoo style that can bring it to life.

To help you uncover wolf tattoo ideas and inspiration, check out the following gallery of the top 63 wolf tattoo designs. From geometric tattoo ideas that seem bizarre, to classic realistic tattoos of the lone wolf howling at the moon, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

1. Wolf Full Sleeve Tattoo

This wolf tattoo slaps! It’s an awesome combination piece mixing portraiture, animal realism, and elements of abstract to frame a work of mastery. Both the woman’s image and wolf are depicted with flawless technique, and the piece’s shading is pinpoint. Where the half sleeve stands out most though, is in the delivery of white ink highlights to the outer rose petals, dream catcher headdress, and eyes of the woman. These technically oriented flourishes maximize the tattoo’s eye catching effects and transform a great piece into one of the very best.

When choosing a wolf tattoo sleeve, focus on your central theme, keep it simple, then slowly piece the body art together in its entirety. Whether you want a cohesive collection of tattoos or one organic piece ensure that it’s ink work which you and your tattoo artist can be proud of. The examples above show that you can portray a realistic wolf in your sleeve design, but there needs to be more to it when incorporating the length of arm or leg.

Time and budget are also important factors to consider. How much time are you willing to give for this endeavor? And how much money are you willing to spend to bring your wolf dream tattoo to life?

2. Watercolor Wolf Tattoo Ideas

A 50/50 wolf mixing realism with watercolor to make an arresting feature tattoo. Juxtaposing each eye to the opposite technique is a smart which makes the wolf’s visage a focal point. The vivid blue of the water color is the more interesting half despite the entire blueprint being the same. It ‘fits’ the image more so than the black and grey half next to it.

This a beautifully delivered water color wolf with a funky screen print sensibility. It’s made more effective by using the central features – eyes, muzzle, and whiskers – to center the image in classic black line before working around it in vivid color. ‘Running’ paint at various points is another technical feature the artist has deployed with success.

This inky wolf is a delightful tattoo. The piercing tawny eyes give the whole piece an element of quality. The use of a water color feel in black ink is a smart use of technique, aided by the artist’s decision to have the central, heavier work move away from the beast’s face in odd directions before trailing downward. The addition of just a smidgen of yellow ink at the side of the image is also a deft touch to alleviate a little of the blackness and support the wolf’s eyes.

A watercolor wolf tattoo is a bright, vivid marking made up of numerous subtle color gradients and techniques that create a more gradual color fade-out. The wolf is an outstanding motif for use in watercolor tattoo designs, because the style of watercolor tattoos is more delicate and fluid than “traditional” tattoos and works well with symbolic meaning attached to wolves, such as the moon, dreams, and visions.

For a watercolor wolf tattoo of this kind it’s best to check out your potential artist’s prior watercolor pieces to ensure you’re comfortable before proceeding with a booking and deposit. You can check their gallery of work online, via social media, or through an in-studio visit to see a folder of their best ink.

3. Innovative Wolf Tattoos

The are some brilliant aspects to this black wolf tattoo. The shape of this half sleeve creates an excellent border for the image, and mixing the black of the canine itself with negative space of the trees and smaller figure is also a deft touch. However, not giving the wolf a visible mouth or jaw leaves this tattoo looking a little strange – it creates some color and shaping issues under the nose that would be taken away by the addition of a slight snarl or even a lolling tongue.

Wow, what an epic tattoo. The woman’s face here is photographically flawless. The inky lines run down her face in beautifully etched black line. The wolf is a snarling menace of abstract black line ferocity and intricate dotwork – the purposeful use of line ‘errors’ make the beast much sharper and more effective. But it’s the mottled mix of snakeskin color and shading back towards human that sets the piece apart, yet brings it together as well. The total image is highest quality art on skin.

Not sure what’s going on here, to be honest. There’s definitely a black wolf etched in with cool technique to delineate the beast’s fur, but it doesn’t have a mouth. And there are four arms, with no bodies, limbs, or anything else. It’s a cool abstract image, yet incredibly weird at the same time.

Any tattoo artist worth their salt brings their A game to creating a wolf tattoo. The beast has so much scope for innovation and expression. Even if the wearer has a tightly defined idea for their wolf tattoo, the range of opportunities to play with technical aspects and composition is lots of fun.

Japanese culture, new wave, or abstract 3D, color or black and gray, fur and fang, darkness and light, dreamscape or nightmare, a wolf tattoo design can head in any direction, incorporating any mix of application choice into a beautiful wolf tattoo design.

These examples show off flowing dreamcatcher tattoo elements, Native American culture, and spirit animal depictions of dreams, or the juxtaposition of angry wolf with calm human in a range of arresting ways.

4. American Traditional and Neo Traditional Wolf Tattoo

Wolf concepts of loyalty, courage and strength are important topics in American traditional wolf tattoo, thanks to the style’s heavy association with symbolic meaning and frequent references to the military which the tradition was built on.

Neo traditional style builds on these concepts, but opens the genre to more lurid examples within the tattoo art. These example designs show the best of simple old school design right next to the vivid color schemes and out there placements of the newer wolf tattoo meaning.

5. Uniquely Placed Wolf Tattoo Designs

The tattoo mentality of “not above the collar, or below the cuffs” has been obliterated in recent years, as tattoo expression now reaches every part of skin on the human body. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but that’s too bad.

These finely etched wolf tattoo examples are placed in a variety of positions that were once considered off limits – an old school tattoo shop, aware of how society still treats visible tattoo may still try to stop a subject taking the plunge. What they all share is a commitment to quality tattoo art, whether it’s a Japanese wolf on the hand, or a snarling alpha wolf on the charge.

6. Geometric Wolf Tattoo Art

The artist’s command of black line technique is put on full display with this brilliantly etched image. It’s like the wolf’s fur has been pulled up away to show a mash up of angles, circles, lines and arrows where the flesh should be. The effect of highlighting a portion of each large circle with slightly thicker black line is an exceptionally deft piece of artwork.

A geometric wolf tattoo can be depicted in anyone of a hundred ways and done with tremendous skill. The examples above are testament to the use of a brilliant range of broad geometric tattoo designs – fractal triangles, straight lines, face splits and symmetrical break ups, recurring patterns and border shapes – all made to throw off or augment the traditional realistic view of a wolf tattoo.

7. Realistic Wolf Tattoo

This is a solid wolf tattoo in the realist style. The artist has shaped a half sleeve around a snarling wolf, with realistic depiction of the fur, muzzle whiskers, and red eye key features. The fill images of moonlight trees are also successful at shaping the piece.

This piece is effectively two separate wolf tattoos joined together by shared space. The upper wolf is a great realist example, the skin of it’s nose and fur of the head look like you could run your hands over it and come away fluffy. The supporting artwork is a deft piece of gray and black shading that creates a small tattoo of the moving wolf mirrored by ambiguous shadows off the ground.

Just like with other animals of power, strength, and command – like a bear or lion tattoo – the most popular style of tattoo for the wolf by far is a realistic tattoo design. The wolf’s face offers a great starting point for any kind of realistic tattoo, due to its range of expressions, and the ability to convey a range of meaning into a facial expression.

Whether it’s a black and gray wolf, or full color wolf design, a skilled tattoo artist can bring it to life, and easily imbue the animal tattoo with the required symbolism to get it’s point across clearly.

8. Technical Wolf Tattoo Design

Whatever your wolf tattoo meaning it offers an almost unrivalled opportunity to play with the technical tattooing aspects. A howling wolf, snarling aggressive wolf, or loyal and patient wolf can be depicted with the right deployment of linework for the muzzle, tongue, and wolf’s face.

The type of fur is the most fun -there’s unlimited potential for exploring the patina and consistency of gray or white wolf fur, or the outline and make up of wet fur or a body dappled in shadow, while negative space, line thickness, and abstract concepts can also be explored to make a cool wolf tattoo.

9. Wolf Chest and Shoulder Ink

What an amazing neo classical tattoo. The piece is so well crafted that looking at each different element sucks you in to pinpoint on that part of the artwork. It’s hard to actually keep your distance from it and take all of this chest tattoo in. The most mesmerizing part is how the simple, black line that borders each part and either joins or separates it to the next, can be inked in with such vivid style. You could be forgiven for thinking they were bright neon given their ability to stand out. This is so cool!

Is this the ‘dark’ tattoo version of a turducken? The human skull stretching out from the demonic wolf’s head to bite across the sternum is a nifty image. The piece utilizes balance of light and dark, color and black and gray to provide a nice chest tattoo, although shading under the Koi (right breast) may have benefited from a bright blue or aqua instead of black.

Look, the wolf on the left breast and shoulder needs to see a vet. The slavering mouth and discoloration over its left eye seems like rabies to the untrained eye. The realist wolf on the right seems ok though, if a little concerned about getting closer to its pack mate. Added to the skull in a headdress below these three images create a nice triangular shape to the chest artwork. The use of different grades of black and gray alternate shading show good command of technique, while the skeleton’s eye sockets are an epic freakshow.

As you witness a wolf’s clean, plush and bright coat of fur, the contrast of deep, red blood spewing from the wolf face makes for a powerful symbol of contrast. The wolf can be majestic with a peaceful nature, yet also aggressive and ferocious when determined or provoked. Demonstrating this kind of duality works really well on areas such as the chest or shoulder, as they offer a broad canvas to work on.

Wolf Tattoo FAQs

What does a wolf tattoo symbolize?

A wolf tattoo is a great way to display strength, familial loyalty and devotion. The wolf is a pack animal. For every lone wolf on the prowl, there are ten more who work within their family unit, and this concept makes for compelling body art.

Wolves are fierce, naturally loyal creatures that hunt together and rely on each other for survival. They have a clearly defined family structure with clearly articulated roles and responsibilities.

Some people get their family wolf pack tattoo, a single wolf paw tattoo, or protective image of the snarling, angry wolf.

For others, a wolf tattoo can be part of dreams and aspirations. They are powerful motifs in Native American tradition, Japanese, or Celtic wolf tattoo and linked closely with the moon, the world not yet awake, visions and illusions.

What does a howling wolf tattoo mean?

An alpha wolf is known for howling at the moon to communicate with other wolves. A howling wolf tattoo represents strength, free spiritedness, and a connection to being wild, free, and unfettered.

Some individuals can feel like a rebellious lone wolf in society. The concept of being free and wild is quite liberating. A wolf is truly one with nature, roaming the wilderness with the ability to protect itself and survive on its own.

Some interpret this as protecting a secret or carrying a burden too.

How much are wolf tattoos?

The cost of a wolf tattoo comes down to various factors that impact on time. The less time your bad ass wolf tattoo takes to get inked the less it will cost, unless you’re working with a master that charges a per piece rate for the artwork you wish to get and then the cost is quite immaterial to the desire for beautiful body art.

An easy black and gray shaded small wolf tattoo on the forearm or shoulder can take an hour or two – minimalist black line ones even less – and cost as low as $200, while large complex pieces might start at $1000 and climb higher for painstaking dot work detail, an embellished white wolf, heavily detailed tribal tattoo or abstract new wave style wolf head.

The average cost for an experienced artist is usually around $150 – $200 an hour. In demand, harder to book artist charges start at $300 and go up to $500. Make sure before you commence your wolf piece that you have a good understanding of the cost framework.

Allow 15-20% on top of the expected total to tip your artist once your work is complete.

Did you enjoy these different wolf tattoos? Looking for more of a different tattoo idea? Click on the links below for more cool wolf tattoo and associated galleries: