InkCraftMemorial Tattoo Ideas and What They Mean
40 InkCraft designs chosen for memorial tattoosBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
A memorial tattoo is the one kind where the usual advice about waiting is actually worth following. Grief changes what you want to say, and it changes fast in the first year. The pieces people are gladdest about are almost always the ones made after the worst of it, not during.
The second thing worth knowing: a memorial does not have to be legible as one. A black-and-grey rose, a raven, a particular flower — these are memorials to the person wearing them and drawings to everyone else, which many people prefer to a date and a name that invites the question every time someone sees it.
Each design here has a real memorial tradition behind it, and an honest account of what it is taken to say.
9 designs that carry it, and why
- Rose
- A black rose — which in practice means black-and-grey — reads as remembrance rather than death. It is the most common memorial piece there is, and it stays a rose to anyone who does not know.
- Raven
- A messenger between the living and the dead in most European folklore, which is why it carries loss without any lettering. Darker in tone than a dove, and chosen for that.
- Feather
- Something left behind by something that has gone. The reading is almost self-evident, which is why it needs no explanation and survives being small.
- Clock
- Set to a time — of birth, of death, of the last conversation. It holds a specific moment without writing a date on the body, which is the most common way people avoid lettering.
- Angel
- The devotional memorial. Strongly Christian in origin and still read that way, so it says something about the person as well as about the loss.
- Moon
- A phase marks a moment in a cycle that continues, which is why it suits a loss you have moved through rather than one you are inside.
- Cross
- Direct and unambiguous when faith was part of who they were. Worth choosing deliberately rather than by default — it is a statement about belief as much as about grief.
- Skull
- Memento mori — a reminder of mortality generally, not a specific death. Worn for the living more often than for the dead, and worth knowing that before choosing it as a memorial.
- Dog
- Pet memorials are the memorial tattoo artists see most, and a portrait drawn from one good photograph is the piece; the paw or the collar tag is the small version of it.
Black and grey traditional rose and leaf tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey traditional rose and leaf tattoo design
Black and grey sketch raven tattoo design: a raven perched on a branch, looking to the right Try it on — Black and grey sketch raven tattoo design: a raven perched on a branch, looking to the right
Black and grey illustrative feather tattoo design: a single feather Try it on — Black and grey illustrative feather tattoo design: a single feather
Color neo traditional clock tattoo design Try it on — Color neo traditional clock tattoo design
Color traditional angel and sword tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional angel and sword tattoo design
Color watercolor yin yang and sun tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor yin yang and sun tattoo design
Color traditional cross and rose tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional cross and rose tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork skull and deer tattoo design: a deer skull with prominent antlers Try it on — Black and grey dotwork skull and deer tattoo design: a deer skull with prominent antlers
Black and grey sketch dog tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey sketch dog tattoo design
Color traditional rose and vine tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional rose and vine tattoo design
Color illustrative raven and bird tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative raven and bird tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative feather tattoo design: a single feather Try it on — Black and grey illustrative feather tattoo design: a single feather
Color traditional clock tattoo design: a clock face with Roman numerals Try it on — Color traditional clock tattoo design: a clock face with Roman numerals
Color illustrative angel and sword tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative angel and sword tattoo design
Black and grey sketch eye and moon tattoo design: an eye with long, spiky lashes Try it on — Black and grey sketch eye and moon tattoo design: an eye with long, spiky lashes
Black and white linework cross tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework cross tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork skull tattoo design: an animal skull, possibly a feline or canine Try it on — Black and grey dotwork skull tattoo design: an animal skull, possibly a feline or canine
Color watercolor dog and pet portrait tattoo design Try it on — Color watercolor dog and pet portrait tattoo design
Color traditional rose and flower tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional rose and flower tattoo design
Color trash polka raven and moon tattoo design: a black raven in flight with outstretched wings Try it on — Color trash polka raven and moon tattoo design: a black raven in flight with outstretched wings
Black and grey dotwork feather tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork feather tattoo design
Black and white sketch clock tattoo design: an open pocket watch with Roman numerals on its face Try it on — Black and white sketch clock tattoo design: an open pocket watch with Roman numerals on its face
Color traditional angel tattoo design: a kneeling angel with large, richly colored wings Try it on — Color traditional angel tattoo design: a kneeling angel with large, richly colored wings
Black and white blackwork bear and mountain tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork bear and mountain tattoo design
Black and grey illustrative cross tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative cross tattoo design
Color traditional skull and crown tattoo design: a detailed skull wearing a golden crown Try it on — Color traditional skull and crown tattoo design: a detailed skull wearing a golden crown
Black and white linework dog tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework dog tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and white linework rose tattoo design, outline stencil: a single rose in full bloom Try it on — Black and white linework rose tattoo design, outline stencil: a single rose in full bloom
Black and grey illustrative raven tattoo design: a raven perched on a branch Try it on — Black and grey illustrative raven tattoo design: a raven perched on a branch
Color traditional feather tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional feather tattoo design
Color illustrative clock tattoo design: a clock face with Roman numerals Try it on — Color illustrative clock tattoo design: a clock face with Roman numerals
Color neo traditional angel tattoo design: a kneeling angel with a halo Try it on — Color neo traditional angel tattoo design: a kneeling angel with a halo
Black and white linework deer and moon tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white linework deer and moon tattoo design, outline stencil
Black and grey dotwork cross tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork cross tattoo design
Black and white linework skull tattoo design, outline stencil: a frontal view of a human skull Try it on — Black and white linework skull tattoo design, outline stencil: a frontal view of a human skull
Black and grey ornamental dog and mandala tattoo design: a detailed wolf or husky head Try it on — Black and grey ornamental dog and mandala tattoo design: a detailed wolf or husky head
Black and grey dotwork rose and flower tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey dotwork rose and flower tattoo design
Color neo traditional raven and bird tattoo design Try it on — Color neo traditional raven and bird tattoo design
Black and grey dotwork feather tattoo design: a single feather, split down the middle Try it on — Black and grey dotwork feather tattoo design: a single feather, split down the middle
Black and white minimalist clock tattoo design, outline stencil Try it on — Black and white minimalist clock tattoo design, outline stencil
40 designs drawn in-house across 9 motifs. Tap any one to place it on a photo of your own skin.
Timing
Most artists who do a lot of memorial work will quietly suggest waiting six months to a year. The reason is not that early tattoos are wrong but that early grief wants to say everything at once, and the pieces that come out of it tend to be crowded — a portrait, a date, a quote, a symbol, all in one composition, none of it with room to breathe.
If you want to mark it immediately, one option is to get a small, deliberately simple piece now and plan a larger one later. A single flower or a date in a good hand is something you will not regret, and it does not use up the space or the idea.
Portraits, dates and lettering
Portraits are the hardest work in tattooing and the least forgiving as they age — skin moves, fine shading spreads, and a face that was a good likeness at year one can be subtly wrong at year ten, which is a specific kind of painful for a memorial. If you want one, pay for a specialist and expect it to cost several times what you assumed.
Dates in Roman numerals are the most-requested memorial element. They age better than script because the forms are geometric, but they still need weight — thin numerals under 2 cm will close up. Give them size and clear space.
Handwriting — an actual line of theirs, scanned from a card or a note — is the one lettering choice almost nobody regrets. It is specific in a way no font is, and because it is irregular by nature it does not look wrong as it softens.
Common questions
- How long should I wait after someone dies?
- Six months to a year is what most artists who do this work regularly will suggest. Early grief tends to produce crowded pieces that try to say everything at once. If you want something now, get something small and simple and leave the larger idea for later.
- Should I get a portrait?
- Only from a portrait specialist, and knowing it is the hardest and least forgiving work there is. A likeness that goes slightly wrong as it ages is a particular kind of hard to live with on a memorial. Many people choose an object of theirs, their handwriting or a flower instead.
- Does a memorial tattoo have to look like one?
- No, and most do not. A black-and-grey rose, a raven or a particular flower is a memorial to you and a drawing to everybody else. That privacy is the main reason people choose a symbol over a name and a date.
- What about using their handwriting?
- It is the lettering choice people are gladdest about. Scan a note or a card, have the artist clean it up without regularising it, and give it enough size to survive ink spread. Because handwriting is irregular to begin with, it ages far better than a neat script font.
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.