Rose Tattoo Meaning – What Do Roses Symbolize?
The rose is an almost universal symbol for true love in tattoo design – it’s one of the most enduring and highly visible motifs in body art.
According to Aitken-Smith’s Tattoo Dictionary, rose flower tattoo meaning further incorporates “symbolic interpretation of transformation, mysticism, and illumination.”
Not only is the rose popular as a standalone design – either as a small rose tattoo or larger depiction – it’s also versatile enough to be incorporated into a wide assortment of other application ideas in tattoo culture.
It’s also a symbol of strength, courage, and nobility, or a contrasting concept used to juxtapose themes such as light and dark, or good and evil.
The following collection of rose design images and ideas bring together the best facets of roses tattoo art, from petal to stem, vine, and flower. There’s a style, size, shade, or placement from many different tattoo artist portfolios that are perfect for new tattoo inspirations.
Colored Rose Tattoo Meaning
Colorful roses tattoos are versatile in style and placement, the quickness of completion, and the ability to mesh well with other design styles and application techniques.
The following colors are linked with different feelings or situations, which are often transferred into rose tattoo ideas that add another layer of meaning for the collector.
1. Red Rose = Love
Iconic red rose tattoos are the most popular rose design and one of the most recognizable concepts across all styles of body art.
The red rose symbolizes the excitement and adventure of new love, but also the type of relationships that grow and deepen over time.
They can also offer a sweet classical counterpoint to other tattoo ideas. Every professional tattoo artist needs the facility to draw up and implement a range of red rose tattoo designs when called upon.
2. Black Rose = Death
A Black rose tattoo is most often associated with grief, death, and mourning. Tattoos featuring black roses symbolize the loss of a loved one or important figure.
Black roses remind the subject of their loss but also carry the grief and memory of the person with them.
3. White Rose = Innocence/Purity
Black and white rose tattoos can describe a few variations of designs featuring the iconic flower but are most often connected to purity, innocence, and naivety.
They can literally be done in black and white ink (usually white highlights) or utilize degrees of shading and negative space to create the necessary conceptual contrasts, whether it’s bloom only or a piece incorporating stems, thorns, and other additions.
4. Blue Rose = Fantasy
Blue rose tattoo ideas symbolize mystery, the impossible, or the unattainable.
The Blue rose is not present in nature but can be dyed or cultivated through a genetic modification that can be purchased from a florist or flower farm.
Because of their rarity, blue rose tattoos also symbolize uniqueness.
5. Yellow Rose = Friendship
Yellow rose tattoo ideas are fantastic symbolic depictions of joy, friendship, and caring for others.
Often, color variations, style switches, and placement choices create nuanced symbolic meanings or technical interpretations of the classic rose tattoo idea that means love and beauty.
6. Purple Rose = Success, Royalty, and Mystery
Whether it’s a lotus flower or mandala tattoo, the color purple is often linked to royalty and prestige in floral tattoo art. A blooming lavender-colored rose or vivid violet (the hue, not the plant) is often associated with success and achievement.
The ideal of the purple rose extends even further with the connection to love at first sight and mysterious connections.
Rose Tattoo Styles and Meaning
Rose tattoos provide the opportunity to utilize great variations in shading, line, and contrasting ink application, and a well-placed form further accentuates the technical aspects needed to make larger and more detailed pieces.
The rose can be designed in just about every style, ranging from highly traditional symbolic design choices to upbeat and exciting contemporary depictions.
7. Realistic Rose Tattoos
A realistic rose tattoo combines exceptional romanticism with a fierce fondness of nature’s finest offering. The layered petals also garner immense abilities to customize, particularly in regard to shading.
Realistic rose tattoos are extra sweet gestures that symbolize affectionate bonds. They are also known to make profound memorials to recently lost loved ones.
A realistic tattoo combines exceptional romanticism with a fierce fondness for nature’s finest offering. The layered rose petals also garner immense abilities to customize, particularly in regard to shading.
8. Black and Gray Rose Tattoo Designs
The black and gray rose is versatile in style and placement and ability to mesh well with every other design type or technique – such as gray wash, silhouette, or negative space.
Some collectors prefer black and gray because they are drawn to the pencil drawing and shade looks that are a hallmark of these techniques, over bright color tattoos.
Others prefer lower price quality ink because black and gray tattoos are often cheaper than color designs due to ink costs, complexity, and time.
9. American Traditional Rose Tattoo
While depicting love, the American traditional rose tattoo is often tattooed onto the body without any thorns, much like the actual flower.
Sailors would often receive the single rose tattoo to honor their loved ones, including a girlfriend they had to leave behind while on a trip out to sea.
10. Rose Tribal Tattoo
Tribal influenced rose and flower tattoo has maintained popularity despite a downturn in other expressions of this design type that were hugely popular in the early part of the century.
Tribal rose ink allows the colorful rose flower to work against the flowing lines and rich black ink patterns that tribal tattoos most often deploy in their concepts.
See more about - Top 81 best black and grey rose tattoo ideas
Popular Supporting Tattoo Images and Symbolism
Not only is the rose popular as a standalone design, but it’s also versatile enough to be incorporated into a wide assortment of other thematic ideas.
11. Rose Skull Tattoo Meanings
Duality is a popular symbolic choice in the world of tattoo, with the relationship between life and death, and love and despair chief among them.
Rose skull tattoo concepts – whether prison tattoo or artistic – are the prime expression of this relationship. The rose represents love and life, the skull explaining death and decay.
12. Rose and Dagger Tattoo Art
When paired together in a traditional tattoo the two central images of rose and dagger represent duality. The rose refers to true love, positivity, passion, and trust, and the dagger for betrayal, cunning, and deception.
A dagger is the world’s oldest personal weapon. It both protects and provides with a level of intimacy you don’t find with other weapons such as the gun, spear, or bow.
13. Tiger Rose Tattoo Design
The combination of rose and tiger tattoo images creates an intoxicating mix of strength, beauty, and power in body art imagery.
Combining classic design ideas of the tiger and rose often results in awe-inspiring tattoos contrasting the rose petals beauty with the tiger’s raw strength and magnetism.
14. The Money Rose Tattoo
Money rose tattoo designs fuse Eastern origami with Western concepts of wealth and beauty.
A lot of complexity and detail is put into the intricate folds of the rose petal, and the currency itself requires ample attention to recreate paper textures.
15. The Gypsy Rose Tattoo
The gypsy rose tattoo remains a classical American Traditional tattoo design, although more contemporary forms of the mysterious figure are now entering the tattoo lexicon.
When combined with the timelessly beautiful gypsy woman – a staple of old-school tattoo culture – rose flower ink describes the nomadic way of life; the passion and freedom of traveling and living in the moment, good luck and good fortune, independence, and desire.
16. Rose Vine and Rose Stem Tattoos
Adding the vine, stem, and/or thorn gives a rose tattoo realism, but can also be used to symbolize pain and sacrifice is often involved in making and shaping people.
For others, it can create a dose of realism by creating a tattoo contrasting with brightly colored roses, or showcase the flow of muscle and flesh in the placement of the design.
17. Other Rose Symbolism
As a symbol of love, passion, and possibility, the rose works either as a complementary or contrasting symbol in a tattoo piece.
These ideas include family names, members, and memorials, pets or animal motifs, or more esoteric choices like jewelry or cool contemporary crossovers such as mandala tattoo designs and geometric ink.
Also, with the rose being such a worldly symbol, you’ll find plenty of tattoos incorporating the rose in pop culture, for example, the rose in the bell jar from Disney classic The Beauty and the Beast.
FAQs
Are rose tattoos for guys too?
Rose tattoos are for everyone with an interest in body art, whether you’re a hardcore collector or someone choosing their first piece.
American traditional roses are some of the most popular tattoo designs regardless of gender, while rose tattoos depicting duality (good versus evil) or opposing symbols are important themes in men’s ink.
What do different rose tattoo colors represent?
The following colors are linked with different feelings or situations, which are often transferred into tattoo designs and ideas to add another layer of meaning for the collector.
- Red – Love
- Black – Death
- White – Innocence and purity
- Blue rose – Fantasy
- Yellow rose – Friendship
- Orange rose – Desire and sensuality
- Pink rose – Femininity
- Green rose – Rejuvenation
- Peach rose – Gratitude
- Purple rose – Success, royalty, and mystery
How much do rose tattoos cost?
Tattooists work on a per hour rate and it comes down to the time taken in executing the design to figure out how much your final price will be.
An experienced, professional tattooist’s average per hour price is $150-$200. Star tattoo artists can charge as much as $300-500+ an hour.
Most likely, a simple rose tattoo will be a three-hour job maximum, with a simple black ink outline or tiny one color tattoos lucky to take an hour of etching.
However, make sure you get an accurate idea of the price framework before confirming your booking or sitting in the chair.
Also, don’t forget to set aside 15-20% of your total budget for tipping your artist.