3. Dragon Shoulder Tattoos

Wow. This is an exciting Chinese Dragon, rendered even more impressive by a unique choice of blue gray ink to create a solid color rather than shading you’d find with normal black or gray pigment. The color is accentuated by the single needle, crisp black lines of the scale and patterning of the dragon’s head.

This is the more traditional full dragon sleeve in the Irezumi style. The plating of scales is done by intense shading in black and gray, with the use of motifs such as cherry blossoms and waves to complement the sinuous serpent.

Shoulder tattoos design ideas can’t get much more hectic than a well-done dragon piece. The sinuous lines of the dragon’s body supported by scales and fangs take a front shoulder tattoo to the next level – the swirls, curls, and curves work brilliantly in stretching up from a simple chest tattoo idea to incorporate the bicep and sleeve, or along from collar to shoulder cap.

Other associated images, clouds and wind in the Asian style or more mundane knightly images of European shoulder tattoos achieve brilliant results.

5.The Unique Shoulder Tattoo Idea

The neo classical elements of this piece are nicely drawn, with the font and bannering being well placed to draw the other parts of the image together. While the shading is important the ink is also helped by good use of not tattooing parts of the skin as well.

Trash Polka is developing renown by mixing a small color palette – black and red – with a mishmash of abstract ideas inside the one piece. This tattoo does just that, with the shading of the black being of most interest. It’s like only half the tattoo stencil was transferred in places and worked on by the artist.

An interesting all black take on a new wave tattoo, the piece uses the odd placement to create an arresting bit of work.