InkCraftSemicolon Tattoo Ideas, Designs and Meaning
21 original semicolon designs drawn for InkCraftBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
A sentence the author could have ended and chose not to. It is the most widely recognised mental-health mark there is, which is both the reason to get one and the thing to think hardest about before you do.
Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork semicolon tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork semicolon tattoo design
Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork semicolon tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork semicolon tattoo design
Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil: the punctuation mark are Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon tattoo design, outline stencil: the punctuation mark are
Color illustrative semicolon and ladybug tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative semicolon and ladybug tattoo design
Color neo traditional semicolon and cherry blossom tattoo design Try it on — Color neo traditional semicolon and cherry blossom tattoo design
Black and white minimalist semicolon and moon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist semicolon and moon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white geometric semicolon and mandala tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white geometric semicolon and mandala tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey ornamental semicolon and infinity tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey ornamental semicolon and infinity tattoo design
Black and white fine line semicolon and leaf tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line semicolon and leaf tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey illustrative semicolon and butterfly tattoo design: a monarch butterfly in flight Try it on — Black and grey illustrative semicolon and butterfly tattoo design: a monarch butterfly in flight
Color watercolor semicolon and butterfly tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor semicolon and butterfly tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork semicolon and dragonfly tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork semicolon and dragonfly tattoo design
Black and white fine line semicolon and heart tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line semicolon and heart tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey illustrative semicolon and heart tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative semicolon and heart tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork semicolon and feather tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork semicolon and feather tattoo design
Black and grey traditional semicolon and snake tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey traditional semicolon and snake tattoo design
Black and white illustrative semicolon and cat tattoo design: two sleeping cats forming a semicolon Try it on — Black and white illustrative semicolon and cat tattoo design: two sleeping cats forming a semicolon
Tap any design to see it on your own skin in the try-on — no signup.
This set of 21 semicolon designs, by the numbers
- Styles represented
- minimalist (6), dotwork (4), illustrative (4), fine line (2), neo traditional (1), geometric (1)
- Black-and-grey vs colour
- 86% black-and-grey, 14% colour
- Most often drawn with
- butterfly, heart, ladybug, cherry blossom
Counted from the 21 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 semicolon tattoo means
In writing, a semicolon is the one mark that joins two clauses that could each have stood alone. The author could have stopped and did not. Carried on skin it says the same thing about a life, and it says it in a code that a large number of strangers now read fluently.
That fluency is the whole calculation. Unlike a moth or a wave, which mean the same to the wearer and nothing to anyone else, a semicolon is understood correctly by people who have never met you. Some wearers want exactly that, and find the conversations worth having. Others get one and then find themselves turning their arm over.
What the mark does not say is which side of it you are on. It reads the same whether the hard part was ten years ago or is happening now, which is why most artists who do a lot of these will gently ask, and why the pieces people are gladdest about tend to be made looking back rather than from inside it.
Where the design comes from
The mark spread from a single online movement in 2013 that asked people to draw one on themselves for a day. It is one of very few tattoo motifs with a datable origin and no folk tradition behind it at all, which is why it carries almost no stylistic convention: there is no traditional semicolon and no wrong way to draw one.
Choosing yours
- Decide whether you want it read. A plain semicolon is legible to strangers; a semicolon built into a butterfly, a wave or a flower is a drawing to everyone except the people who already know. The meaning is identical and only the audience changes.
- Two marks at small size is the entire design problem. A dot under 2 mm closes into the comma as ink spreads over the years, and the pair stops reading as punctuation. Either go bolder than feels necessary or build the mark into something larger that can carry it.
Size, cost and placement
How big, and what it costs
Almost always a shop minimum. It is among the fastest pieces an artist does, which is an argument for spending the same money on something a little more considered than two plain marks, since the price is the same either way.
Where it sits, and how much it hurts
The inner wrist is the traditional placement and the most visible, which is the point for some wearers and the problem for others. The inner upper arm, the ankle and behind the ear give the same mark a private life. If there is scarring involved, raise it when booking rather than on the day.
What to ask your artist
- Whether the weight will hold the two marks apart as the ink spreads, at the size you want.
- If you are working around scar tissue, whether they take that work at all. Some specialise and some decline, and both answers are about skin.
- Whether to build it into a larger drawing, if being asked about it by strangers is not something you 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 a semicolon tattoo stand for?
A sentence the author could have ended and chose to continue. It marks surviving a point where stopping was possible, and it is the most widely recognised mental-health mark in tattooing.
Will strangers know what it means?
Many will, and that is the trade. It is understood correctly by people who have never met you, which some wearers want and others find hard on an ordinary day. If you would rather not explain it, build the mark into a butterfly, a wave or a flower instead.
How small can a semicolon go?
Smaller than most designs, but not as small as people try. The dot needs to stay clearly separate from the comma after twenty years of ink spread, which in practice means a bold weight or at least 2 cm overall.
Is there a right style for one?
No, and unusually there is no tradition to defer to either. The mark dates from 2013 and carries no folk history, so a fine-line semicolon and a heavy blackwork one are equally correct.
What a semicolon 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.
- Mental health tattoos
- The mental-health tattoo by name: Project Semicolon’s mark for a sentence the author could have ended and chose to continue, worn small on the wrist by people who did.
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.