Wolf Tattoo Ideas

The Wolf symbolizes spirit, loyalty and instinct. Its meaning in tattoo design is to convey a wild and ferocious nature tempered with a familial loyalty. Traditional wolves are popular subjects of body art and their meaning varies between cultures. Choose their form carefully to avoid conveying an unintended message or idea.

Mixed Style Wolf Tattoos

Combining several engaging design styles can enhance the overall visual appeal of a tat and alter its intended meaning further. It can also be done to simply depict a wearer's true nature.

Forearm Wolf Tattoos

Pride and responsibility along with a caring nature are depicted in this wolves forearm tat. A joyful design of a parental wolf and two pups playing sends its message strongly.

How much does a wolf tattoo cost?

The average price for the wolf tattoo that takes 1-2 hours to ink ranges from $200 to $350 U.S.D. A slightly larger or more complicated wolf design will take longer to ink and will typically cost $500-$600. Prices vary from tattoo studio to studio and it is normal to pay a deposit and join a waiting list.

Small Wolf Tattoos

A stunning small tat can convey as much meaning as a larger one. This small wolf example depicts the same animal in two styles. In contemporary animation studios image detail is applied to a wire frame much like human skin covers bone.

Shoulder Wolf Tattoos

A magnificent wolf shoulder design has room to incorporate more features to help enhance its meaning. This lovely example includes a lake, trees and the moon, all part of wolf habitat.

Simple Wolf Tattoos

Meaningful tats don't need to be complicated. As you can see, the wolves in this simple outline have enough substance to convey partnership, kinship and love.

Moon Wolf Tattoos

Wolves are nocturnal, they hunt under the moonlight making moon designs popular. The moon is a common element in many wolf tats because lore suggests wolves howl at it.

Tribal Wolf Tattoos

Wolf tats and tribal tats have shared meanings of strength and loyalty. This makes them a perfect candidate for combining into a common figure. Results can be spectacular as shown in this tribal wolf hybrid design.

Are wolf tattoos cool?

The wolf tattoo is among the most popular of animal designs. People associate wolf traits such as instinct, loyalty and spirit with their own personalities and many consider the wolf to be their spirit animal. The wolf is a beautiful wild animal which makes it a desirable subject for cool body art designs of all kinds.

Black Wolf Tattoos

Since wolves are nocturnal and prefer to hunt in the dark of night it makes sense to create wolf designs in all black ink. A variant of the gray wolf has black fur so a daylight themed tat makes sense too. Either way, dark wolves are mystical artistic subjects.

Female Wolf Tattoos

Because male and female wolves look very similar it's hard to differentiate them in artwork. One way to imply a wolf is female is to associate them with female human traits. Another is to include a woman in the design, it all depends on the meaning you want to convey.

Realistic Wolf Tattoos

Contemplating getting some realistic body art? Some advice, ask your tattooist how comfortable they are creating a realistic design and review their past work. You'll find that most artists are quite honest and will likely be able to refer you to someone they consider more capable of absolute realism.

Realism is not something all artists a strong at achieving, it may not even interest some, be sure to ask! If they do a great job tip them well and tell the world.

Traditional Wolf Tattoos

When Samuel O’Rielly invented the electric tattoo machine in 1891 business in the stick and poke industry flourished. Demand for body art increased and several themes became quite popular. Though old-style tattoos were somewhat more cartoon-like than modern designs there is still strong demand for religious, military and spirit animal tats. Yes, that included wolf designs.

Half Sleeve Wolf Tattoos

A sleeve tattoo covers the arm and usually incorporates many different elements, sleeve tats tell a story. In the half-sleeve example above a realistic wolf sits above wolf silhouettes howling at the moon and it's framed over a geometric element.

Its owner may have chosen it strictly for artistic appeal but it's meaning suggests he admires the wolf, respects it's nature and admires its ways.

Minimalist Wolf Tattoos

Pondering getting inked with your spirit animal but unsure if you want a full-size design? You have options, there are great minimalist designs that retain all the meaning. The above is a cool minimalist wolf tattoo behind the ear where hair can be used to conceal it.

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