Turtle Tattoos

Turtles, which are actually classified as a reptile, are a choice of quite a few people to have tattooed on them.

There are seemingly a couple of reasons for choosing a turtle for a tattoo design. The first is a person simply enjoys turtles in general, and likes them as a theme. Second, with some turtles under threat, it is used as a symbol of support to remind people there needs to be continual vigilance to ensure their survival.

Interestingly, I found that while men and women enjoy having turtles as their choice of tattoo, women, overall, seem to dominate this specific segment of the market.

As with other tattoo designs, turtles can be used as the center of the work, or in combination with other elements. Either way, they are a terrific creature to display, whatever the reason a person decides on it.

The unique look of turtles, especially of those most of us would identify as sea turtles, offers a tattoo artist a great model to work with.

When you include the flippers of sea turtles, which spend almost their entire lives in the water, along with the unique look and shape of the turtle shell, if offers up great material to work on and display.

This allows them to be designed realistically, in scenes, as tribal tattoos, among many others. In other words, it supplies versatility and a variety of options for the recipient.

This first turtle tattoo was included simply for the large size of it. I would think this must be a tattoo for the purpose of making a statement of protecting turtles. If not, I can't think of why a standalone turtle of this size and only mediocre quality would be displayed so conspicuously.

I really like the turtle tattoo on the foot below. The color is dark and vivid, and the disjointed lines between the parts of the turtle's body and shell look great.

While I'm not a big fan of too much color in a tattoo, there are occasional exception to that for me, and the turtle swimming in the water next to the flower is one of them.

I'm not sure why the design works for me, seeing the pure black ink of the turtle blending with the colorful water and flower. Most times that ends up clashing, but it doesn't in this particular case.

In contrast to the more loud colors above, below is a much subtler turtle tattoo on the shoulder, which works nicely. Again, the apparent peach-colored flowers and the darker turtle ink blend together to make a nice design.

As this turtle shoulder tattoo reveals, tattoo artists love to take the disjointed feel and look of a turtle and interpret it like it was done below. Although there are some turtles done realistically, most are more of a caricature of a real turtle, designed with all those interesting lines.

This is a fantastic look at the variety of ways a turtle tattoo can be designed. If you look closely, you'll see that each turtle is completely different. The shapes and size of the flippers and head all have an individual look, and are quite compelling.

I also like the graduated diminishing size of the triangular objects as they go down the calf. Nice!

It's easy to see with these turtle designs why so many people decide on a turtle to be inked on their body. They look great and can be included in a multitude of scenes or by themselves. If you like turtles and tattoos, it doesn't get much better than that.