Choose from Millions of Tattoo Designs

Tattoo Designs Today

So much choice

Fast forward to today: men and women, young and old alike are drawn to tattoos. There is little if any social stigma left. Even people you might never expect to have tattoos – like middle aged or older women – have them and love them. And in terms of tattoo designs, again, there are no limits. We draw on world history, cross cultural designs, and modern art. A Maori symbol might make a cool tattoo design, but so might something from the Celtic or Native American culture. With all that choice, how do you go about choosing tattoo designs?

Start with everyone’s favorite information source – the internet. Look for free tattoo designs online and you’ll find a wealth of images. It may take some searching, but eventually you will come up with so many designs that the problem becomes narrowing it down to those you find attractive and are able to use. Here are some things to keep in mind: often, simple tattoo designs are the best because they allow for the boldest lines. Colors are great, but they do tend to fade a bit faster than black, so that’s another thing to keep in mind. If you haven’t gotten a tattoo before and you don’t have an image in mind, look for small tattoo designs. Some of them can be added to later on, but a smaller image is a great place to start.

Finally, enjoy yourself. The fact that there are so many tattoo designs available to day is reminiscent of a lot other things in our culture. For example, if you live in a larger town or city, chances are that you have food from many different world cuisines easily available to you. All the options can make choosing harder, but the payoff is great. The main thing about choosing tattoo designs is to choose one that appeals to you, personally – you’re the one who’s going to be living with it!

How To Take Great Tattoo Pictures

If you are looking for tattoo pictures, you go here: Tattoo Gallery or Tattoo Battles or Chopper Tattoo.

Taking a good picture of your tattoo is no rocket sience, but you need to follow some guidelines to get good looking tattoo pictures. Here are a few hints and tips that will help you taking quality pics of your ink...

1. Most tattoo pictures you see online are taken right after the tattoo has been finished. I understand, you just had new ink and you want to show it to the world, but the fact is that a new tattoo doesn't look good because of the blood, swelling and ointment covering the tattoo. Wait a couple of weeks to take a pic, until your tattoo has fully healed, then you'll be able to take that cool picture of your tattoo.
2. You need someone to help you, taking good photographs of your own body is very hard and will never produce good results.
3. Use a camera, not a webcam. It's imposible to take a good tattoo picture with a webcam.
4. The flash is not your friend because you will see reflections of it on your picture. Go outside to take tattoo pictures. If you do need to use a flash (because you can't go out because it's raining for example), apply a little cosmetic powder to the tattoo, it will reduce the glare.
5. Take a good distance: too far and you won't see the details of your design, too close and the picture will be blurred (unless you have a very good camera).
6. No shaking! Don't move while taking your tattoo picture, the results will be blurry. Try to steady your arm by placing it on top of something like a table.
7. Be creative! Try different angles, different distances, ... The beauty of a digital camera is that you can make pictures as many as you want.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you will be able to produce quality tattoo pictures. Remember to post them online here: Tattoo Battles

Feminine Tribal Tattoos Design

Generally speaking, tribal tattoos have a masculine energy about them, given their bold, thick lines. At the same time, they are versatile and they tend to look very good on women as well. Maybe it’s the appeal of the contrast.



Over the past few years though, some tribal tattoo designs have evolved that are characteristically feminine in nature. They have the same recognizable tribal patterns, but they tend to be smaller and more self contained. A good example might be the tribal butterfly tattoo, a popular choice for an ankle or shoulder tattoo. A larger version of the tribal butterfly can also look good on the lower back. Tribal rose tattoos are also popular in many of the same locations.

Traditional Tribal Tattoo Art design

Here's an overview of tribes where tattoos played and play an important role in society:

Borneo Tattoos

Tattooing in Borneo (one of islands of Indonesia/Malaysia) is an important form of body modification. The tattoos are believed to protect against pain and diseases. The Iban, Kayan en Kenyah tribes, all headhunters, share the same style of tattoos. The Kayan used carved wood blocks or carved skulls to transfer the designs onto the skin.
Polynesian Tattoos
Polynesian tribal tattoo

Polynesia is a group of over 1000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The most famous Polynesian tattoo styles are the Maori, Marquesan, Tahitian, Samoan and Hawaiian styles.

Read more about Polynesian Tattoos

Maori Tattoos

The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They use a form of personal identification called Ta Moko. Tattoos are used to carve the family history into the skin.

Learn more about Ta Moko and Maori Tattoos
Marquesan Tattoos

The Marquesa islands are a group of islands situated in French Polynesia. The Marquesan tattoo art greatly influenced today's tattoo artists. The hands are an important tattoo spot in the Marquesan tattoo tradition, as well as the ears, the shoulders and the lips.
Hawaiian Tribal Tattoos

Like the other tribal tattoos, tattoos in Hawaii have a hidden meaning and are believed to have magical power. They are applied during a ritual ceremony. Both men and women are tattooed with motifs like triangles, squares, crescents and animals like sharks and lizards.

More about Hawaiian Tattoos
Taino Tattoos

The Taino were Indians that lived in the area of the Caribbean Sea: the Dominican, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, ... They were the first people Christoffel Columbus came in contact with in 1492.

Tattoos were an expression of faith for the Taino people, the higher the tattoos were on their body, the closer they were to god. Tattoos were usually worn by men, the women wore piercings.

Celtic Tattoos

The Celtic people used to live in tribes spread over Great Britain and parts of Western Europe and were heavily tattooed. Interlacing patterns, spirals and knot work are typical for Celtic tattoos.

More about Celtic Tattoos

Tattoos played a big role in the culture of the American Indians. They were used for identification, to give praise and to give magical powers or protection. Typical Native American tattoo designs include animals (eagles, snakes, bears), feathers and mythical creatures.
Aztec Tribal Tattoos

The Aztecs were another group of Native Americans. They lived in central America from the 13th to the 16th century and used tattoos to mark a warrior's rank and differentiate between the various tribes. Typical Aztec tattoos include gods like Quetzalcoatl and Huitilopochtili, suns and eagles.

Learn more about Aztec Tattoos

The history of the Chinese tattoo is not very interesting, but there are several ethnic minorities in China with a strong tattoo tradition. The most important tribes are those of the Dai, Drung and Li.

More about the Chinese Tattoo
Haida Tattoos

The Haidas are the indigenous people of the territory that lies on the west coast of North America (southeast Alaska). The people of the haida tribe decorate their objects with crests (totems) and use tattoos to represent the family crest and social status. The crests included all kinds of animals (killer whale, shark, wolf, eagle, owl) as well as the sun, the moon, clay, ...

Tribal Tattoos designs

Tribal tattoos have been in vogue for quite a while now (since the early 1990s) and it’s easy to see why, they just look good.

Advantages of getting a tribal tattoo:
The tattoos of an older Indian woman

* There's a lot of black ink in tribal tattoos, which has the advantage that it holds up very well, black tattoo ink doesn't fade as fast as other colors.
* Tribal tattoo designs are very popular, so as long as you don't want a specific or traditional tribal, you shouldn't have a hard time finding a good tattoo artist that can design your custom tattoo.
* It's easier to design your own tattoo or at least a mockup of your own tribal than it is with other tattoo designs.
* Tribal tattoos have a bold visual appeal: their thick, black curving lines and interlocking patterns lend themselves well to many of the standard tattoo locations, such as the upper arm (in the form of a tribal armband for example) , the back or the lower back.

Disadvantages of tribal tattoos:

* Tattoo removal is not working very good on those large patches of black ink.
* Covering them up with another tattoo ain't working either.
* Finding a tattoo artist or tattoo parlor is not easy when you want a traditional design of a specific tribe.
* When you're getting a tattoo that is an imitation of a traditional tribal design, keep in mind that you might be insulting the original tribe members. This is especially the case with Ta Moko, which is a form of family and personal identification of the Maori people. Copying their designs is a form a identity theft.

Tribal tattoo design

The tribal styles we see today originate from various old tribes like those from Borneo, the Haida, the Native Americans, the Celtic tribes, the Maori and other Polynesian tribes.

The shapes and motifs of these tribal tattoos are deeply rooted in the tribe's mythology and view of the world. The traditional tattoo artist aims to reflect the social and religious values of the tribe in his tattoo designs. Recurring themes are the rituals of the tribe, the ancestors, the origins of the world and the relationship with the gods.

What are tattoos used for in tribal communities?
* Identification: each tribe and family has its own tattoo motifs. Tribal tattoos read like a book: they tell a lot about the origin and the social hierarchy of the person who wears them. Tribe members can identify each other by their tattoos, in this life and in the afterlife.
* Social status: the style and size of a tribal tattoo says a lot about a person's social status in the group. A person with a big tattoo usually has a higher rank in the society compared to one with a simple tattoo.
* Rite of passage: getting a tattoo is part of the ritual that turns a boy into a man, a girl into a woman.
* Magic, healing and protection: tribal tattoos are believed to have magical powers. In some tribes the boy gets assigned a totem animal during his rights of passage. By tattooing that animal it is believed that the wearer inherits some of the powers of his totem animal.
Tribal tattoos

Modern tribal tattoos are generally speaking not strongly associated with any particular tribe and are usually stripped of their social meaning. Tribal tattoo art we see in the Western world today are often based on:

* Polynesian tattoo designs
* The tattoo designs of the tribes of Borneo, namely the Iban and Kayan (Sarawak) and the Kenyah (Kalimantan)

Tattoo artists like Leo Zulueta, an American with Filipino roots, and Alex Binnie, from London, had a great influence on the development of this modern tribal tattoo style.

Traditional application of a tribal tattoo


Luckily for today's tribal tattoo lovers, the methods used to apply the tattoos have changed. Bone needles and plant or animal dyes have been replaced by tattoo machines and the circumstances in which a tattoo artist today works are generally more hygienic than those of a tribal community. Some people though, want to go all the way and prefer to be tattooed using the traditional methods.