Shoulder tattoos are great if you’re not quite ready for a full sleeve tattoo or if you’d prefer to have a big-yet-concealable tattoo on your arm. You have options galore when it comes to shoulder tattoos since it’s a large enough area to fit big images, yet you can also simply blow up a traditionally smaller image. On this page we will take a look at why shoulder tattoo are so popular and some of the best shoulder tattoo ideas out there.
If you want a big, bold tattoo with the option of covering it up in certain situations, a shoulder tattoo is perfect for you. You can wrap it around your shoulder and attach it to another tattoo on your body, or you can get a circular-shaped tattoo that conforms to your body. Both options are equally attractive if you choose a design that suits your and you work with an excellent artist.
For both women and men, shoulder tattoos can be shown off in the summertime or covered up for that important business meeting. This is actually why many people choose to get tattoos on their shoulders rather than on other parts of their bodies. It gives them a superman-type feeling since they can have their “normal” lives during office hours and show off their wild side when they are away from work.
Below you will find some very popular shoulder tattoo ideas:
The wing
Wing tattoos are most definitely in fashion these days, and most people prefer to get them on their shoulders or right behind their shoulders. You might think that you can only get an angel’s wing on your shoulder, but you can get any type of unique wing or even get a wing attached to some type of creature on your shoulder. If you do get a single wing, you might want to double it up and get two shoulder tattoos to even it out.
The clock
Since the shoulder is the largest circular area on your body, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that clocks look fantastic as shoulder tattoos. What’s great about clocks is that you have a huge selection of designs to choose from, making it easy to match other tattoos or come up with a whole new design. You can make it as simple or as complex as you want it to be.
The tribal
Ah, the classic tribal tattoo. You might be thinking that these designs are a bit dated bow, but the truth is that you can do a lot with all of the tribal designs out there. Plus, they are made to conform to your body, which pretty much guarantees a nice look regardless of the design you choose to go with. You will want to think about the lines that you’ll want to use and if you want it going over the top of or around your shoulder.
The dragon scales
If you want a simple yet striking look on your shoulder, then you might want to look into getting some dragon scales! You could get the whole dragon or just the dragon’s skin and you will have a shoulder tattoo that really pops. The only thing you need to think about is if you want to get them colorized or in black and gray, both of which look fantastic.
The flower
Flower shoulder tattoos are great for men and for women. You have hundreds of colors to choose from, great meanings come with each of them, and you can design the flower by itself or with other images. This is why flower tattoos continue to be in the top five most popular tattoo ideas out there regardless of where people place them on their bodies.
The maze
Mazes attract people’s eyes, so it’s not surprising that max tattoos have blown up in recent years. They look equally great as shoulder tattoos and half-sleeves, so you can start out with just the shoulder and add on to it later if you feel like it. You have some design options here too as you will want to decide if you want a simple maze that pops or a very detailed maze that is tough to figure out.
The portrait
As long as people have important family members, friends, and idols in their lives, portrait tattoos are going to be popular options. They work great on the shoulder since you can either just get their face drawn in the middle of your shoulder, or you can create a circular frame and put the portrait inside of it. These are highly personal tattoos, so focus on getting the portrait right rather than delving too deeply into extra details.
The shoulder pad
Armor tattoos are insanely popular right now. These are usually best for people with big muscles, but they aren’t totally necessary. Shoulder pad tattoos usually go up and around the shoulder to make the illusion of armor really come through, and they are generally made with black and gray ink. If you want to extend it even further, have the armor stretch down to your chest so you have a shoulder pad and a chest plate!
The tree
Everyone seems to like tree tattoos because they can do a lot of creative things with them. In most cases the top of the tree is in the shoulder area while rest of it goes down a little bit below the shoulder. It can also all fit in the shoulder area if you want a smaller tree tattoo. You could even have a wavy tree with birds flying out of it if that’s a look that interests you.
The favorite animal
If you can come up with a tattoo design that incorporates your favorite animal traveling down your shoulder, it can be a fantastic looking tattoo. There are some very attractive animal tattoos out there of heavily detailed heads of animals traveling down the arms. You can also keep your animal tattoo simple by just getting the outline of its body. The key here is to make sure the animal is designed in a way that makes you proud to have it on your skin.
The unique circular design
The shoulder area is a great part of the body to be creative with your tattoos. You can combine a bunch of meaningful images into a very personalized tattoo, or you could choose to keep it simple with one attractive image. The key is to make your shoulder tattoo design fit with your specific shoulder so you (and others) will look at it and think that it truly does belong there.
Below we’ve shared some great shoulder tattoos.
