InkCraftPisces Tattoo Ideas, Designs and Meaning
33 original pisces designs drawn for InkCraftBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
Two fish swimming in opposite directions, joined by a cord. The opposition is the sign, and the cord is the part almost every drawing leaves out.
Black and grey illustrative pisces tattoo design: the Pisces zodiac symbol Try it on — Black and grey illustrative pisces tattoo design: the Pisces zodiac symbol
Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the astrological symbol for Pisces Try it on — Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the astrological symbol for Pisces
Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the astrological symbol for Pisces Try it on — Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil: the astrological symbol for Pisces
Black and white fine line pisces tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line pisces tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork pisces tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork pisces tattoo design
Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist pisces tattoo design, outline stencil
Color trash polka pisces tattoo design Try it on — Color trash polka pisces tattoo design
Black and grey sketch pisces tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey sketch pisces tattoo design
Black and white geometric pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil: the Pisces zodiac sign Try it on — Black and white geometric pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil: the Pisces zodiac sign
Color watercolor pisces and wave tattoo design: the Pisces zodiac symbol Try it on — Color watercolor pisces and wave tattoo design: the Pisces zodiac symbol
Black and white blackwork pisces and lotus tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork pisces and lotus tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative pisces and leaf tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative pisces and leaf tattoo design
Color traditional pisces and star tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional pisces and star tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative pisces and lotus tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative pisces and lotus tattoo design
Black and white fine line pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork pisces and fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork pisces and fish tattoo design
Black and white fine line pisces and constellation tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line pisces and constellation tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white fine line pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line pisces and fish tattoo design, outline stencil
Color neo traditional koi tattoo design Try it on — Color neo traditional koi tattoo design
Black and white Japanese fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and white Japanese fish tattoo design
Color traditional fish tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional fish tattoo design
Black and white illustrative fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and white illustrative fish tattoo design
Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design
Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork koi and fish tattoo design: a koi fish Try it on — Black and grey dotwork koi and fish tattoo design: a koi fish
Black and white linework koi and fish tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework koi and fish tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design: two koi fish Try it on — Black and grey Japanese koi and fish tattoo design: two koi fish
Black and grey dotwork fish and skeleton tattoo design: a fish skeleton Try it on — Black and grey dotwork fish and skeleton tattoo design: a fish skeleton
Black and grey ornamental moon and mandala tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey ornamental moon and mandala tattoo design
Color illustrative fish and leaf tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative fish and leaf tattoo design
Color Japanese koi and fish tattoo design Try it on — Color Japanese koi and fish tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative koi and fish tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative koi and fish tattoo design
Black and white linework koi and fish tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework koi and fish tattoo design, outline stencil
Tap any design to see it on your own skin in the try-on — no signup.
This set of 33 pisces designs, by the numbers
- Styles represented
- illustrative (6), japanese asian (5), fine line (4), dotwork (4), minimalist (3), traditional (2)
- Black-and-grey vs colour
- 79% black-and-grey, 21% colour
- Most often drawn with
- fish, koi, lotus, leaf
Counted from the 33 designs shown on this page. Every one was drawn for InkCraft — none are scraped or reposted. Free to reference with a link to this page.
What a pisces tattoo means
The sign is a statement about being pulled two ways at once and staying whole. The fish face away from each other and are tied together, which is not a picture of conflict resolved but of conflict held, and that is the reading people who wear it usually mean.
The glyph says the same thing more plainly: two arcs turned away from one another with a straight bar joining them. Drawn without the bar it becomes two unrelated curves, which is the most common error in the category and changes it from a sign into a decoration.
Water carries the rest of it. Pisces is a water sign and the associations that come with that, depth, intuition, things happening below a surface, are as much a part of what people mean by it as the fish themselves.
The direction the pair swims is worth settling before the stencil. Drawn facing away from one another the sign reads as its traditional self, two pulls held in one person. Drawn facing the same way it becomes something gentler and much rarer: agreement rather than tension, which some wearers actively want and almost no reference sheet offers.
Where the design comes from
The constellation is Babylonian and the two-fish reading reached Greece through it, where it was attached to the story of Aphrodite and Eros turning into fish and tying themselves together so as not to be separated. The cord in the glyph is that cord, which is why leaving it out removes the story as well as the shape.
Choosing yours
- Keep the cord. It is the element most often dropped for cleanness and it is the one that carries the meaning, since two fish without it are just two fish.
- Decide whether you want the glyph or the animals. The glyph is small, legible and unmistakable; the fish are a much larger drawing with far more room for a good artist to work. Combining both usually makes a busier piece than either alone.
Size, cost and placement
How big, and what it costs
The glyph on its own is shop-minimum work. Two drawn fish with real scale detail are a two-to-four-hour sitting and want 12 cm or more, since two animals in one composition need room to stay distinct.
Where it sits, and how much it hurts
The glyph suits small fields: the wrist, behind the ear, the ankle, the inner forearm. Two fish in a circular arrangement want a flat area with room around them, which the shoulder blade and the thigh both offer.
What to ask your artist
- Whether the connecting cord is staying in the design.
- If two fish, how they will be kept distinct from one another as the ink spreads.
- Whether the glyph would say it better at the size you actually want.
Prices vary widely by city and artist — treat these as session lengths rather than quotes, and expect a shop minimum on anything small. The cost guide turns hours into money by size, placement and style.
Common questions
What does the Pisces symbol mean?
Two fish swimming in opposite directions and tied together: being pulled two ways at once and staying whole. It is a picture of tension held rather than resolved, which is the reading most wearers mean.
Why do the two fish face away from each other?
Because the sign is about opposition held together, not about agreement. The Greek story has Aphrodite and Eros turning into fish and tying themselves together so they would not be separated, and the cord in the glyph is that cord.
What do most Pisces designs get wrong?
Leaving out the connecting bar. Without it the glyph is two unrelated arcs, which removes both the shape and the story. It is the element most often dropped for cleanness.
Should I get the glyph or the fish?
The glyph is small, legible and unmistakable. The fish are a much larger drawing with far more for an artist to work with. Combining both usually produces a busier piece than either one alone.
What a pisces tattoo can mean
The meanings this motif carries on the pages that argue them. Each line is that page's own reason for including it.
- Matching tattoos
- Two fish tied at the tail is already a matching design: one fish each, drawn from the same line, for two people who share the sign or a birthday.
- Couples tattoos
- Two fish circling each other, joined at the tail, was a pair before it was a star sign; couples take one fish each, so the drawing only closes when they stand together.
- Siblings tattoos
- The Pisces glyph is two fish bound together and swimming apart, which is the sibling relationship exactly; siblings born under the sign split the drawing one fish each.
See it on your skin before you commit
InkCraft places any of these designs on a photo of you — scaled, wrapped and shaded to the placement you pick.