A swallow tattoo represents tradition linked to sailors traveling 5,000 miles on the ocean or representing being close to home. The swallow is also utilized in other old-school nautical tattoo imagery or exploring themes such as love, monogamy, loyalty, and even duality. Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins was the highest-profile pioneer of American traditional tattooing. Sailor Jerry was the inventor and...
A bird tattoo most often means freedom and flight. There are an amazing amount of birds you can use in tattoo art, with meanings ranging from death and the macabre, to joy and happiness, but any flying bird tattoo, avian hunter, or cute profile is a piece meant to convey the flight of ideas and freedom of expression. With so...
The largest of all the big cat species, tiger tattoo meaning is linked with power and ferocity, courage, longevity, nobility, and strength. In Eastern cultures the tiger wards off bad luck, evil, and illness, while the white tiger offers protection and spiritual guidance. This deeply spiritual and metaphorical significance, along with their beautiful coats and fearsome visage, help make tigers...
Bloodborne tattoo ideas are just as wild as the concept of a video game that tracks a Gothic Victorian Hunter that hunts down magical beasts, cosmic beings, and demonic creatures infected with a madness-inducing blood virus. Bloodborne was released in 2015 and has grown into a video game classic that weaves Gothic superstition with classic action and elements of folklore. ...
A Shenron tattoo idea is enjoyed by ink collectors with a love for Eastern dragon Mythology and interest in the Dragon Ball anime franchise. Shenron is a magical dragon who can be summoned by individuals that collect all seven of the Dragon Balls. As an Eastern Dragon that's kind, benevolent, and sacred, Shenron is perfect for creating a modern take...
Spider tattoo meanings represent power, mystery, bravery, and growth, as well as entrapment, sensuality, and seduction. The webs these creatures spin historically link with prison tattoos and the passing of time, but also concepts of connectivity and creation in modern application. Arachnid body art is attractive to all kinds of collectors, straddling the divide between old-school American style and contemporary...
Berserk is one of the great Japanese manga series of the 90s that's translated to brilliant tattoo art; dealing with themes of destiny, free will, loyalty, and resilience, while grappling with mortality and the duality of human nature. Berserk is a Medieval-themed dark fantasy series centered on the characters Guts, a lone mercenary, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary...
A sparrow tattoo is a sentimental design choice linked with happiness, joy, and peace that can be displayed in a wide range of application styles. The sparrow has a long history of symbolic cultural and tattoo interpretation, with its small size and bright nature providing a good luck element to body art concepts and ideas. The bird is also linked...
The Japanese anime cult classic Cowboy Bebop has become one of the most popular titles for tattoo collectors due to the memorable characters and adult themes of loneliness, existential dread, and moving on from your past. Set in the year 2071, the show follows the lives of a bounty hunter crew traveling in their spaceship called the Bebop. Cowboy Bebop...
Ravens are a deeply symbolic bird known for their great intelligence, with links to positive (wisdom, strength, curiosity) and negative (death, dark superstition, bad luck) themed tattoo ideas. A black raven can represent death and ill luck in many ancient cultures; however, their intelligence, curiosity, and foresight make them symbols of great power and positive omens in Norse mythology and...