Positive and masculine, realistic and expressive, the manly small tattoo is a perfect addition to any man’s ink collection or the start of a venture into an artistic life of encouragement and drive. Appreciation is the key to success with a small manly tattoo design.

Small tattoos were once thought to be only for the female population. The size of the ink, the show of tolerance to pain.

However, as the tattoo industry grows and more in the public eye, meaning and artistic design are more closely appreciated than size among tattooed men.

Manly small tattoos consist of many intricate and simple designs. They range from simple anchor tattoos and borderless crosses to the more intricate Celtic, Japanese, and script designs.

Typically, these tattoos are positive and encouraging, often ranging from religious quotations and symbols to that of specific well-known positive enforcement nationalities, such as Native American, Celtic, and Japanese, not to forget the most common of all, nature.

Read on for an awesome selection of small manly tattoos you can take to your tattoo artist as inspiration for a new design.

See more about – The Top 51 Awesome Small Tattoo Ideas

1. Outdoors Tattoos 

The following small tattoos for men are great examples of how a talented artist can turn these outdoor objects into beautiful works of body art.

Few things are as powerfully bonded to ideas of independence and manhood as the time spent in the great outdoors. The smell of fresh mountain air, sleeping under the stars, sharing beers with the guys around the campfire, and trips into the wilderness have paved the way for a powerful sense of camaraderie for thousands of years.

Meaningful tattoo art can be a great way to commemorate the importance of these forays into the wild for an individual, and what better way to pay tribute to these trips than with some of the essential gear that makes them possible?