As you witness a wolf’s clean, plush and bright coat of fur, the contrast of deep, red blood spewing from the mouth, makes for one powerful symbol of contrast. The wolf can be majestic with a peaceful nature, yet when also aggressive and ferocious when determined or provoked.
There is a certain beauty about this animal that almost all men can universally respect, or at least fear when being hunted.
Now, while you might think the feel good fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs seem unrealistic, they do hold one truth: The lone wolf.
For some men, they can feel like lone wolves or in other words, rebellions in today’s society. Yet, this idea is not negative, in fact, 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 interrupt this as protecting a secret or carrying a burden too.
With that said, perhaps you can understand why many men view wolf tattoos as symbols of strength.
In other cases, some view the wolf as loyal, due to the fact that wolves hunt in packs together. After all, they are a mammal of the dog family!
To help you uncover ideas and inspiration, I’m going to share with you 70 wolf tattoo designs for men. From geometric outlines that seem bizarre to the classic lone wolf howling at the moon.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
A wolf hand tattoo which effectively operates within the small, confined skin space. The fur shading is done with distinction, while the dot work to create the section just under the beast’s nose is also a cool feature.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 best’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.
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.
Small black and gray shaded wolf tattoos 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 or abstract new wave style.
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.
