InkCraftSmall tattoos for men that read at arm's length
32 men's small tattoos photographed on skin for InkCraftBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
Each photograph here shows one of our designs on a man, in a small spot: wrist, ankle, finger, hand, foot, hip, collarbone or behind the ear. On a broader frame those spots are bigger than the word suggests, and several designs were drawn up to fill them.
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese tattoo on a man's wrist
- illustrative · colourTry it on — Color illustrative swallow tattoo on a man's ankle
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese moth tattoo on a man's finger
- dotwork · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey dotwork tattoo behind a man's ear
- geometric · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white geometric phoenix tattoo on a man's collarbone
- dotwork · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey dotwork werewolf tattoo on a man's hand
- fine line · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white fine line moon tattoo on a man's foot
- blackwork · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white blackwork raven tattoo on a man's hip
- fine line · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white fine line tattoo on a man's wrist
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese tattoo on a man's ankle
- illustrative · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey illustrative tattoo on a man's finger
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese koi fish tattoo behind a man's ear
- watercolor · colourTry it on — Color watercolor tattoo on a man's collarbone
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese tattoo on a man's hand
- tribal · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white tribal eye tattoo on a man's foot
- watercolor · colourTry it on — Color watercolor tattoo on a man's hip
- traditional · colourTry it on — Color traditional tiger tattoo on a man's wrist
- blackwork · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white blackwork lion tattoo on a man's ankle
- illustrative · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey illustrative woman tattoo on a man's finger
- illustrative · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey illustrative moon tattoo behind a man's ear
- dotwork · black and greyTry it on — Black and grey dotwork koi fish tattoo on a man's collarbone
- linework · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white linework tattoo on a man's hand
- new school · colourTry it on — Color new school tattoo on a man's foot
- traditional · colourTry it on — Color traditional skeleton tattoo on a man's hip
- fine line · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white fine line tattoo on a man's wrist
- linework · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white linework tattoo on a man's ankle
- geometric · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white geometric tattoo on a man's finger
- blackwork · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white blackwork hole tattoo behind a man's ear
- fine line · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white fine line bird tattoo on a man's collarbone
- illustrative · colourTry it on — Color illustrative elephant tattoo on a man's hand
- Japanese · colourTry it on — Color Japanese bee tattoo on a man's foot
- blackwork · black and whiteTry it on — Black and white blackwork demon tattoo on a man's hip
Every pair is one tattoo: the design as it was drawn, and a photograph of that same design on the body.
These 32 tattoos in small spots on men, in numbers
- Body parts
- 8
- Black and grey
- 19
- Colour
- 13
- Most common style
- japanese
Small spots on a broader frame
Small describes the spot here before it describes the drawing. The grid walks the eight body parts the small page is built on, and on men several designs were scaled up to meet them: the Japanese lion on the wrist climbs a hand-width onto the forearm, and the oni mask and the flowered elephant each take most of the back of a hand.
That is a deliberate adjustment. A design drawn at two centimetres for a slim wrist leaves a margin of bare skin on every side of a broad one, and the margin is what people notice first. The pieces that stay truly small in these photographs are the ones with an edge to sit against: the matchstick along the top of a finger, the crescent moon tucked behind the ear, the compass rose just above the ankle.
Black and grey outnumbers colour in the set, and Japanese is its commonest style. The koi pair behind the ear, the rising sun on the ankle and the bee among cherry blossom on the foot all use flat fills inside a black edge, which holds at small size far better than a soft blend of colour does.
What three to five centimetres can hold
Three centimetres is a little wider than a £2 coin, which measures 28.4 mm; five is just under the short side of a bank card, which is 54 mm. At that size a design has room for its outline and two or three marks inside it, and these photographs divide along exactly that line. The linework compass and the fine line lotus are outlines with nothing to close up. The dotwork werewolf carries fur, muscle and a face in stipple, and it needs the whole back of a hand to do it.
Line weight is the other decision, and at this size it is not a matter of taste. A single-needle line and an outline pulled with a seven- or nine-needle liner age differently, because the thicker line lays down more pigment and has more to lose before it looks faded. "Bold will hold" is the rule of American traditional, the flash Norman "Sailor Jerry" Collins painted in Honolulu until his death in 1973, and the swallow on the ankle borrows that manner: heavy edge, flat colour, no gradient to wash out.
Two of the spots where fine work lasts least are in this grid. Shoes and socks rub the top of the foot every day, and the back of the hand is washed, gripped and sunned more than almost any other skin a man shows. The fine line moon on the foot and the linework kingfisher on the hand are the two to compare against a bolder version before booking.
Fingers, rings and hair behind the ear
The most famous knuckle tattoo came from a film: LOVE and HATE across the knuckles of Robert Mitchum's preacher in The Night of the Hunter, 1955. The four finger pieces here run the other way, along the finger rather than across it — a Japanese moth over cherry blossom, a compass hung with flowers, a standing woman in grey, a matchstick. Running lengthwise uses the whole finger but crosses the knuckle creases, and the creases are where finger ink softens first.
Rings are the practical limit. Two of the hands wear a band on the ring finger, the one with the flowered elephant across its back and the one with the compass on the neighbouring finger, and neither tattoo goes under the band, because ink beneath a ring is hidden and worn down at once. Finger tattoos for men covers the tattooed band for anyone who would rather not wear metal.
Behind the ear, hair decides whether a piece is seen at all. Three of the four men photographed there have short sides and the fourth wears his hair tied up, which is why the koi pair, the eye and the black crack running onto the neck are on show; hair grown past the ear would cover the parts closest to it. The koi and the crack also spill below the ear onto the side of the neck, so in an open collar they read as neck work.
Common questions
- Do small tattoos look lost on big hands?
- Only when they are sized for a smaller hand. On a broad hand a two-centimetre design floats in the middle of a wide, flat area. Either take it up to fill the space between the wrist crease and the knuckles, as the oni mask and the elephant here do, or move it onto a finger, where the sides of the finger frame it.
- Is fine line or bold line better for a man's small tattoo?
- It depends on the spot. Bold line suits the hand, the fingers and the feet, where skin is rubbed and renewed quickly; fine line holds on the collarbone, the hip and the inner wrist, where it is protected. The fine line bird on the collarbone sits on the sheltered side, and the blackwork lion on the ankle, where socks rub, is drawn heavy enough not to mind.
- Should a man's tattoo behind the ear stop at the hairline?
- It is worth deciding before the stencil goes on. A design kept below the hairline shows cleanly with any short cut. One that reaches the hair, like the koi pair here, which curls round the back of the ear, is fully visible only with the sides clipped short and blurs at its edge as the hair grows out.
- Which small tattoos on men fade fastest?
- Fine line on the fingers, the back of the hand and the top of the foot, where grip, washing and shoes take pigment out quickest. The same designs in a heavier line, or moved to the collarbone or the hip, keep their edges for years longer between touch-ups.
See it on your own skin first
InkCraft places a design on a photo of you — scaled, wrapped and shaded to the spot you pick, so you can judge the size against your own body before it is permanent.