This is an excellent tattoo. Again, we’re talking simple and (almost) sensible, but the artist uses technical elements flawless to create the finished body art.

This is a funky geometry inspired tattoo incorporating bold black line work and a novel hexagonal shape. The asterisk representing the sun looks cool against the lines and negative space white caps. The thicker black single needle fill gives the small tattoo some much needed depth.

Another small, minimalist tattoo on the ankle. This too is simple technique, but effective with use of curves and straight line helping the waves flow effortlessly. The different sized waves are reminiscent of a mother elephant guiding her child along tail to trunk.

This dot work tattoo is very lightly inked but works well conceptually – if the ink is good quality it should stand up well over time. Rather than plonking Fuji-san behind the wave the tattooist has opted for a couple of pyramid style mountains for a nice change.

A killer abstract wave tattoo etched entirely with fine black needle work. The wave curling up and into a full hand is a well executed piece of creativity, There is opportunity to add shading and/or solid black fill to really bring out strength in the artwork.

This tattoo is about as minimalist as you could hope to find. A large heart in black envelopes a few simple waves, and that’s it. 

These waves within another circular border are some of the best etched examples in this article. The artist’s ability to cleanly tattoo unique white caps stands out against flawless technical vertical line work. Having the waves flow up the right side of the image also works from a style and balance perspective.

A funky forearm wave tattoo that opts for a long rectangular border that fits exceptionally well into the space. The waves bend and travel in a pleasing manner, with light gray scale shading added to fatten up the image. Throwing in a couple of weed leaves and the horizontally lined sun gives this tattoo a further offbeat, relaxed feeling.