InkCraftBest Friend Tattoo Ideas and What They Mean
40 InkCraft designs chosen for best friend tattoosBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
The specific problem with a best-friend tattoo is that most matching imagery is romantic by default. Hearts, interlocking rings, two halves of one thing — all of it reads as a couple to anyone who does not know you, and that is the thing friends most often say they would change.
The way around it is to match on a motif that carries steadiness, shared history or a private joke rather than love. Anchors, stars, waves and compasses all pair obviously without implying anything romantic. So does a number, a coordinate or a shape that only the two of you can explain.
The other advantage friends have over couples: there is usually no expectation that the pieces be identical. Two different drawings in one hand, obviously from the same set, is the version that ages best and photographs just as well.
9 designs that carry it, and why
- Star
- Small, cheap, identical every time, and completely neutral — the most-used friendship match for exactly those reasons.
- Wave
- Repeats naturally into a set of three or four, which matters because friendship groups are rarely two people.
- Anchor
- Says steady, not romantic. The clearest way to match with someone without the tattoo being read as a couples piece.
- Moon
- Phases give each person a different piece from one set — the best option for a group where nobody wants the identical version.
- Sun
- Warm without being romantic, and it pairs with the moon if two of you want complementary rather than matching.
- Infinity
- Neutral enough to mean "ongoing" rather than "in love", and small enough to sit on a wrist at shop-minimum cost.
- Butterfly
- Common in friendship sets because it scales down well and each person can take a different colourway from the same drawing.
- Flowers
- A different bloom each, drawn in one style, is the friendship version of a birth-flower set — personal per person, obviously one group.
- Dog
- The one friendship that never needs a matching design: a portrait of the dog itself, drawn from a photograph, is a best-friend tattoo more people wear than any pair of hearts.
Color traditional star and moon tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional star and moon tattoo design
Black and white blackwork wave tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork wave tattoo design
Black and white traditional anchor tattoo design Try it on — Black and white traditional anchor tattoo design
Black and white illustrative moon tattoo design Try it on — Black and white illustrative moon tattoo design
Black and white sketch sun tattoo design: a rising or setting sun Try it on — Black and white sketch sun tattoo design: a rising or setting sun
Black and grey ornamental semicolon and infinity tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey ornamental semicolon and infinity tattoo design
Color illustrative butterfly tattoo design: a monarch butterfly with outstretched wings Try it on — Color illustrative butterfly tattoo design: a monarch butterfly with outstretched wings
Black and white fine line flower and poppy tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white fine line flower and poppy tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey illustrative dog and pet portrait tattoo design: a sleeping dog curled up in a ball Try it on — Black and grey illustrative dog and pet portrait tattoo design: a sleeping dog curled up in a ball
Black and grey dotwork star tattoo design: a stylized star with a trailing comet-like effect Try it on — Black and grey dotwork star tattoo design: a stylized star with a trailing comet-like effect
Color watercolor wave tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor wave tattoo design
Black and grey traditional anchor tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey traditional anchor tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork moon and sun tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork moon and sun tattoo design
Color new school sun tattoo design: a stylized sun with an angry, robotic face at its center Try it on — Color new school sun tattoo design: a stylized sun with an angry, robotic face at its center
Black and white blackwork infinity tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork infinity tattoo design
Color illustrative butterfly tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative butterfly tattoo design
Color illustrative flower tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative flower tattoo design
Black and white blackwork dog tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork dog tattoo design
Black and grey ornamental star and mandala tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey ornamental star and mandala tattoo design
Color Japanese wave tattoo design: the wave, adding a dynamic and modern touch Try it on — Color Japanese wave tattoo design: the wave, adding a dynamic and modern touch
Color watercolor anchor tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor anchor tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative moon and sun tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative moon and sun tattoo design
Black and white tribal sun and eye tattoo design Try it on — Black and white tribal sun and eye tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork infinity tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork infinity tattoo design
Color watercolor butterfly tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor butterfly tattoo design
Black and grey stick and poke flower and leaf tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey stick and poke flower and leaf tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork dog and skull tattoo design: an animal skull, likely a canine Try it on — Black and grey dotwork dog and skull tattoo design: an animal skull, likely a canine
Black and white geometric star tattoo design, outline stencil: an interwoven, knot-like appearance Try it on — Black and white geometric star tattoo design, outline stencil: an interwoven, knot-like appearance
Black and grey sketch yin yang and wave tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey sketch yin yang and wave tattoo design
Black and grey biomechanical anchor tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey biomechanical anchor tattoo design
Black and grey biomechanical moon tattoo design: a crescent moon Try it on — Black and grey biomechanical moon tattoo design: a crescent moon
Black and white tribal sun tattoo design Try it on — Black and white tribal sun tattoo design
Black and white minimalist infinity and heart tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist infinity and heart tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white blackwork butterfly tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork butterfly tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork flower and daisy tattoo design: a single daisy Try it on — Black and grey dotwork flower and daisy tattoo design: a single daisy
Black and white geometric dog tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white geometric dog tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork star tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork star tattoo design
Color neo traditional hourglass and wave tattoo design: an hourglass with a brown wooden frame Try it on — Color neo traditional hourglass and wave tattoo design: an hourglass with a brown wooden frame
Black and grey dotwork anchor tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork anchor tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork moon tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork moon tattoo design
40 designs drawn in-house across 9 motifs. Tap any one to place it on a photo of your own skin.
Designing for more than two
Friendship tattoos are more often three or four people than two, and that changes which motifs work. Anything built on halves is out immediately. What you want is either an identical mark that scales to any number, or a set with natural variations — moon phases, different blooms, different bearings.
Agree the placement as a group before anyone books. The most common failure is four people picking four different spots, which leaves you with four tattoos rather than a set. Wrists and inner forearms are the usual answer because everyone can take them and they photograph together.
The cost conversation, had early
Most friendship pieces are small enough to fall at or near a shop minimum, which means the price is roughly the same whether the design is simple or fiddly. That is an argument for choosing something a little more considered than a tiny outline — you are paying the minimum either way.
Book the group into consecutive slots with one artist rather than scattering across a week. Same hand, same day, same ink is what makes a set look like a set, and it is usually cheaper as one booking.
If someone in the group is not sure, let them sit it out. A friendship set with a gap in it is a much smaller problem than a tattoo somebody did not want.
Common questions
- How do we avoid it looking like a couples tattoo?
- Stay off hearts, rings and interlocking halves. Anchors, stars, waves, compasses and moon phases all pair obviously without any romantic reading. Three or more pieces also solves it by itself — nobody reads a set of four as a couple.
- Do they have to be identical?
- No, and friends usually get a better result from a set with variations: the same hand and style, a different element each. It gives everyone something of their own while still being obviously one set.
- What if we live in different cities?
- Get them on the same trip if at all possible. Failing that, have one artist draw the design and send the stencil, so the second person is getting the same drawing rather than someone else’s version of it.
- What size works for a friendship tattoo?
- Most sit between 3 and 6 cm. Below about 3 cm fine detail closes up within a few years; a simple bold shape survives smaller. Since small pieces usually hit the shop minimum anyway, err toward the larger end of what you are comfortable with.
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 how it reads on your body before it is permanent.