For some people, choosing a tattoo spot means finding a spot that’s easy to cover. for others, that consideration doesn’t really matter.
Men who make the jump to highly visible tattoos don’t have to get huge back drawings like paintings or designs that cover one leg.
Instead, a man might opt for a small tattoo to accentuate the rough features of his hands, using the design to highlight strong fingers or calluses that reveal interesting hobbies.
Tattoos on the hand can be single letters, words that move with tendons, a design on a finger or anything else. the important part is that bold is the key to keeping the tattoo looking good for years to come.
small spaces can have big impacts, especially when the hand is basically bare. ink connoisseurs will know that even a small tattoo can have a dramatic impact. our hands are one of our best communicators, and one with a tattoo says bold and brave.
The gallery below shows creative examples of small hand tattoos and should give you an idea of the range of styling options you can make. your hands will be one of the first things people see and they should get an idea of who you are. there should be a lot of inspiration here.
small hand tattoos
These small double anchor tattoos exemplify popular homages to classic American tattoos, bringing back a time when sailors, like outlaw bikers, liked to show off their otherness through tattoos. body art.
This nifty ax is more detailed than many other small hand tattoos. there is an attractive degree of shading on both the handle and the ax head. the solid line makes for interesting handiwork.
Crowns are popular for small hand tattoos due to their interesting shape and ability to be made unique. this is a good example of a solid black crown, with the jewels contrasting with the solidity of the rest of the piece.
a rustic minimalist take on the classic dog paw tattoo. These small tattoos are also becoming more popular on the ankles and feet.
The swallow is another nod to classic American tattoo art. This piece is beautifully done, using the simple Sailor Jerry color scheme to fill in the bird as it flies over the top of the man’s hand.
This intricate compass is effective in such a small space. this type of tattoo can sometimes be difficult to achieve due to the hardness of the hand to make quality lines and shading.
a pair of simple and minimal crossed anchors. you could be forgiven if you think they look like a pair of cufflinks randomly tossed in your top drawer.
Simple crossed arrows on this man’s palm belie the difficulty of this tattoo. palm tattoos can be the hardest to pull off anywhere. Make sure you are fully aware of color fading and aftercare issues when contemplating a palm tattoo. some artists won’t consider doing it.
another paw tattoo; note slight staining/discoloration of smaller foot pads. this often happens in hand tattoos and can be gracefully “aged” or touched up, which may incur additional cost.
This delicate flower is very well represented for such a small tattoo. it seems likely that it was delayed during the aftercare process without dropout.
“fight to live” has a nice font for that part of the hand and the words run nicely along the curve. the main part is complemented by red flourishes that will settle with the aging of the skin.
This is a modern take on the complementary double hand tattoo. there is an excellent use of lines and shadows to create this piece. also note the missing blade on his right hand due to the tattoo he has on his other hand.
This is a great example of a small animal realism piece. it is made with great skill and delicacy, highlighting the elegant shading of the wing and tail feathers. the artist spent some quality time executing this handicraft.
this is very impressive. when doing hand tattoos it’s hard to put a lot of depth into the image, and here the artist successfully gets a couple of skulls inside the four leaf clover, balancing sweet grayscale shading with crisp black line work .
This tribal-inspired art combines the eye of horus, which symbolizes regeneration and rebirth in ancient egyptian scriptures, with another piece of text to form an entirely matte black image. this would have been done with a single narrow gauge needle.
this is an impressively detailed complete axe. the double-bladed head is heavily shaded, but the key to this is the shading along the handle to create a small, realistic wood grain and leather binding for the hilt.
This is a well executed Chicano style font in four parts. the line here is extremely sharp, giving the letters a calligraphic feel.
The number 13 in the tattoo ‘flips’ the script on cleanskins who see it as an unlucky number. 13 is a popular tattoo as a symbol of otherness from the norm, dating back to a time when tattoos were not as accepted as they are now. studios now market tattoos by selling lucky 13 days, lightning days, and just days to do business, get clients, or gain traction on social media.
Avant-garde and ironic tattoos are often used in ink by hand. this can be anything from the funny mustache to this example: the guy on the bike rolling around with a bike tattoo on his hand.
Carving these bold Norse runes into this man’s skin would not have tickled him. the effect is a strong work of art on both hands. It would probably have taken a steady hand and a single needle to implement this idea, but the line work is exceptional and well worth a little pain in the digits to pull off.
wow. This deer head is a well drawn realistic tattoo. sweeping antlers are a great flourish of clean line work. small hand tattoos of this type are rare – it’s hard to navigate such detail in a hand tattoo.
anubis, the jackal-headed ancient egyptian god who was replaced by osiris as lord of the underworld and left to attend to mummification and clothe the dead. amulets of the ancient gods are still very popular. this is a beautifully solid hand-inked rendering. The strength of black is that it makes Anubis look like he’s stamped, not tattooed, on top of his hand.
This is a crazy version of a minimalist tattoo. the simple church has been drawn with nice clear lines, looking much larger than it is at the top of your knuckle.
This simple tribal tattoo is a bit weird, as it’s inked on the edge of the hand, just above the wrist bone.
no man’s land tattoos on the edge of the hand are no different from those on the palm in that the color can fade and lose structure, especially over time. these “have a heart” letters are well drawn and benefit from simple, clean lines in the font rather than a less appropriate pattern.
This kitchen knife is a cheeky cover up for an old tattoo. you can see the old work in blue, inside the sheet frame, which has seriously faded since it was first done.
You could argue that this delicately drawn Native American headdress should take pride of place on more important real estate, like a shoulder or sleeve. It’s a fantastic miniature tattoo: the feathers are incredibly worked and it must have been difficult to get it right in execution.
tattoo of the hand of a gentleman. the focus of this image is the clock, but the ink is remarkable, especially given the lack of love that visible tattoos generate among the general population. the pair of minimalist interconnected triangles are almost demure when contrasted with the massive watch face.
I can’t help but dig out the old school halloween flash art notebook that’s emptying into someone’s fingers. It’s like a combined Friday the 13th flash sale in the hands of one man. it’s effective and quite bold when taken together as a complete piece.
The old school razor: a hipster barber or a blinder? the shading stands out, creating a realistic blade and grain on the knife’s carved wood handle. The image folded in half also adds impact to the shape of the tattoo on the hand, which may have been lost if it was fully unfolded.
