The connotation for spider web tattoo designs has tended toward criminal tattoo and the prison gang culture of symbolic ink.

In modern times the meaning of Spider web tattoos is changing; they’re useful filler for joining up American traditional tattoo style designs or used in tattoo dreamscapes linked to Native American tattoo art.

An intricate spider web tattoo is useful for the tattoo enthusiast looking to showcase complexity in their ink choices, and due to the difference between black spider ink and negative space, can be excellent designs on hard to ink areas such as the elbow, patella, armpit and neck, or as a joining image in a sleeve tattoo.

While spiders – commonly the black widow spider – are often implemented in this kind of tattoo, they’re not necessary in every spider web design. Their size varies drastically, but the eye-catching style of a spider’s web remains intact at any proportion.

As proof of their prowess, the 79 spider’s web tattoos on our docket are certain to pique the interest for spider man – or spider woman’s – next trip to a friendly tattoo artist.

1. Leg Spider Web Tattoos

2. Neck Spider Web Tattoo Design

3. Forearm Spider Web Illustration

4. Upper Arm Spider Web Art

5. Shoulder and Chest Spider Tattoo

6. Elbow Spider Web Tattoo Design

7. A Cobweb on the Knee

 

8. Unique Spider Web Tattoo Illustration

9. Spiderweb Tattoo on the Arms

10. New School: The Palm Spider Web Tat

Spider Web Tattoos FAQs

Are spider web tattoos prison tattoos?

The spiderweb tattoo has a lot of different meanings but is most often associated with a criminal tattoo signifying the process of doing time in prison.

One meaning of the spider web symbolizes being trapped and tangled in the prison system, or having cobwebs form due to inaction and inactivity that comes with spending time in a cell.