40 Times People Came Up With The Best Tattoo Designs And Shared Pics On This Online Group
As you might've realized from our publications on the Facebook group 'What in the $20 wish tattoo machine is this?' or the 'That's It, I'm Inkshaming' group, sadly, subpar tattoos are pretty common. Which makes the good ones even more admirable.
So we at Bored Panda decided to switch things up and balance out all the terrible designs we've covered with a fresh batch of beautiful and clever ones instead. For that, we turn to the aptly titled subreddit 'Best Tattoos.'
This online community was created all the way back in December 2014 and since then, its members have shared so many pictures, they turned the sub into one of the most impressive body art archives on the internet. Continue scrolling to check out some of our favorites!
This post may include affiliate links.
Biomechanical Tattoo
Awesome Realistic Tattoo Artwork By Artist © Roberto Carlos
To understand why a particular design ends up on this subreddit, we contacted tattoo artist Adam Grant of Gypsystables Tattoo.
"In the 7 years of tattooing, I've learned that it doesn't matter what the tattoo is as long as it's executed well," Grant told Bored Panda.
"Whether it's a full sleeve or just one small letter; if a questionable design is tattooed well then I consider it a good tattoo. Even if I personally dislike the design itself."
Tattoo Art By © Laura Koski From Pori, Finland.
Charlie Chaplin, Tattoo By Inal Bersekov
Tattoo Work By © Jean Pierre Mottin
It's common for people looking for a new tattoo to research options and images online (like this Bored Panda post), and some end up getting overly trendy designs.
"I'd say there's been a huge demand for 'fine line' tattoos," Grant said. "I have no issue with the style at all but most of the time these customers don't know or get informed about the risks involved with thin-line tattoos."
3D Tattoo By Janis Tattoo
Tattoo Artwork By © Edit Paints Tattoo
Unique Tattoo
Tattoo Works By Kozotattoo
The tattoos Grant is talking about (especially single needles) have the potential to heal more on the dark gray side and tend to fade quicker due to the fact that the ink isn't as densely packed under the skin as with other thicker tattoos.
"Always check the artist's portfolio of work before going through with an idea and look at examples of healed tattoos as you will get a more honest idea of what you will get," Grant advised.
Tattoo Artwork By © Kozo Tattoo
Tattoo Artworks By © Sandry Riffard
Crisp colours and amazing detail. It worries me how it will look in a few years time
Knight Tattoos, By Tattooist Hwi
Realistic Samurai By © Ivankacollado In Annecy | France
However, there are the classics that seem to never die out. "I love tattoos with clean bold linework and strong vibrant color," Adam Grant said.
"Those last longer and stronger than most modern styles if done correctly. For me, nothing is more timeless than skulls."
Tattoo Work By Vasilii Suvorov
Disney Tattoo By © Terioshi Otto
Tattoo Work By Kir Tattoo
Tattoo Art By © Pilgrim_ttt
If you are thinking about getting inked yourself, Grant says it's always best to listen to the artist and the advice they give you about your ideas.
"They are professionals with many years of experience [and know] what works and [what doesn't] aesthetically for you."
Of course "at the end of the day, you're the consenting adult so if you want a tattoo in mind that's advised against then it's your call, but please at least hear the artist out. They only want what’s best for you and your tattoo."
Unconditional Love, Tattoo By © Rean Sampaio
This Is My Beautiful Wife 🙂 All Tattoos On Her Done By Me
Tattoo Work By © Roberto Carlos
Batman Tattoo By Tattoist Yeono
Audrey Hepburn, Tattoo Work By © Inal Bersekov
Back Tattoo By © Nikko Hurtado
Tattoo Art By Fekete Dorina
I was going to say that this tattoo would get dated quickly, but then I remembered that I have an X-Files tattoo on my back, so ... yeah ...
Tattoo Artworks By © Amanda Piejak
I Wouldn't Want To Get It Myself, But Definitely Looks Cool
Tiger Tattoo By Ricardo G. Ciechorski
Tattoo By Javier Antunez
Tattoo Art By Piotr Bemben
Tattoo Work By © 𝐈𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚
Tattoo Work By Fabio Guerreiro
Made This Calcifer The Other Day, He Is One Of My Favorite Characters . Im Happy How It Turned Out
Tattoo Art By © Pony Reinhardt Tattoo
Tattoo Work By Sandry Riffard
Back Tattoo Art By © Mattxcannon
My sleeve cost a little over 4 thousand when completed and that's with a 75 tip every 6 hr appointment all 5 appointments. 150 an hour and that's cheap rate it goes for 200 an hr sometimes 250 hr so price gets up there
Tattoo Artwork By © Avihoo Ben Gida From Tel Aviv, Israel
Tattoo Artwork By Hannah Flowers
Tattoo Art By Checho23tattoo
Tattoo Art By Parvick
Back Tattoo By Stefan Muller
Tattoo Artwork By Hen Tattooer
My Otter Baby 💜
3D Tattoo Artwork By © Jesse Rix
Tattoo Art By © Kozo Tattoo
Tattoo Artwork By Hannah Flowers
Hannah Flowers definitely has a distinct style/look (judging only from what I've seen in this post). Beautiful.
Tattoo Works By © Pantarei
Deadpool By Kozo Tattoo
Tattoo Work By Stefano Alcantara
Tattoo Work By © Sandry Riffard
LED Coult Tattoo Artist
Gorillaz Tattoo Artworks By © Duda Lozano Tattoo
Back Tattoo By Noelin Wheeler
If I ever see this guy in real life I'm going to have him stand there for at least an hour while I try to discover everything in this tattoo.
Rad Collab By © Hoon Unco And © Baegi
Tattoo Artwork By © Moon.cheon
i could never commit to something like that, its so cool tho, i wonder how the tattos wrap around their arm???
Tattoo Artwork By © Dmytro Nosov
Black Tattoo Artworks By © Maks Mrzv
The Book Of Life, Tattoo By © Duda Lozano Tattoos
Tattoo Artwork By © Rapha Lopes
Tattoo Art By Tibo Wildhands
The Lord Of The Rings, Awesome Tattoo Work By © Inal Bersekov
Popeye & Olive Oyl By Curtyoung
Nope. Clash of styoles does not work here, sorry. Either both 'realistic' or both cartoon.
Tattoo Art By Martin Z8
The Tattoo Is Almost As Beautiful As The Canvas
Who Would You Add To The Table? ... By Kozo Tattoos,
Skull Tattoo By Ners Ofk
Tattoo Artwork By © Tattooist_hwi
Artist © Julian.siebert On © Bella Isadora
Tattoo Art By Ondrash Tattoos
Love it but would have been even cooler if the feather had the same colors that are missing in the hole on the left
Would You Look At That?
© Julielili Prevost
Tattoo By Timor Tt
Star Wars Tattoo By Isnard Barbosa
Realistic Portrait Tattoo By © Oleg Shepelenko From Rostov-On-Don, Russia
Venom Tattoo By © Jean Mognon Tattoo
Tattoo Artwork By © Victor Portugal
Tattoo Artwork By Hannah Flowers
Joker Tattoo By © Duda Lozano
Pulp Fiction By Kozo Tattoo
Tattoo Artwork By © Chalana Dots
Tattoo Art By © Franky Danisch Tattoo
Tattoo By Vladimir Drozdov
Awesome Tattoo Works By ©️ Fabio Guerreiro
Tattoo Artworks By © Sderenato Tattoo From Monza, Italy + Essen, Germany
Tattoo Art By © Baegi From Seoul, South Korea
The Hungry Wolf, Tattoo Done By Artist © Gabriele Pellerone Tattoo, Milan | Italy
grr im a tuff guy imma get a grr wolf tatto to show how badass i am grr /s
My Tattoo :3
Tattoo Artwork By © Samurai Standoff
Back Tattoo By © Kamilart Tattoo
Tattoo Work By Hardstudio
Tattoo Artwork By © Tritoan Ly
The most classy, elegant, bold yet soft, speaks volumes of exquisite ..........
Tattoo Work By Bloodyart, Poland
Halloween Tattoos By © Angelo Parente
Tattoo Work By Cristian Carrion
Tattoo Artwork © Adrien Giordani
Joker By Avihoo Ben Gida
Tattoo Art By Amanda Wachob
Black Tattooby © Ryan Murray From Salem, Massachusetts
Absolutely Insane Back Piece Done By © Dodepras Lumina
Tattoo Art By Ksu Arrow
There you go, EvilNob! Some Florentine work, whipstitching and french knots
Tattoo Artwork By © Matthew Murray
Tattoo By Eugene Attic
Chest Tattoo By Väterchen Vrost Tattoos
Tattoo Work By Giovanni Tattoo
Tattoo Artwork By © Jamestran
Tattoo Work By © Israelpaketh
Something I Made Few Days Ago Based In UK Hitchin Search For Th0rant On Insta
Tattoo Artwork By Dzo Lama
Black Tattoo Art By © Dmytro Nosov
Back Tattoo By © Mihail Kogut
Tattoo Artwork By Jesse Rix
Dave Paulo, Done In Jersey City. I’m...very Happy With It
Wolf Head Cover-Up By Tessa Von At Inksane (Roeselare, Belgium)
Tattoo Artworks By © Frick.ink
Seriously Awesome!
Realistic Tattoos By © Aaron Olaguivel From Manila, Philippines
My Victorian Sleeve By Razvan Grecu @ Nr Studios, Cheltenham, UK
Tattoo Artwork By © Kirk Jones
Tattoo By Anjelika Kartasheva
Tattoo Artwork By © Maksimpatrick
Dark Mark, Tattoo By © Matthew Murray
Next Level Tattoo Studio
Tattoo Art By Alcaz Alex
Tattoo Artwork By © Dzo Lamka From Wroclaw, Poland
Tattoo Art By © Joseph Haefs-Tattooer
Badass Piece By © O One Art At Bloodcandy Tattoo In Busan, South Korea
Tattoo Work By Brando Chiesa
Tattoo Work By © Patryk Hilton
Dark Tattoo By © 12.bbk
Tattoo Artworks By © Tattooer Bbrung
Tattoo By © Dodepras Lumina
Back Tattoos By © Julian Siebert
Japanese Ink By © Buslaytattoo
Futurama Crossover By David Peyote ✦ @thedavidcote (Velours - Montreal, Canada)
Tattoo Art By Charlie Rose Tattoo Canggu Bali
I think I’ve seen something of this quality about 3 times and mostly it’s just indifferent art work. This level of skill and beauty is inspiring.
Tattoos are so subjective, which is one of the things I love about them. There are a lot of tattoos here that are really well done but I don't like them at all. While in all those "awful tattoos" articles there are usually a lot of them that I really really like.
i agree. to me, a lot of these looked like poster/computer wallpaper designs copied & pasted onto people because of the HD shading & inability to see any skin underneath at all. it looked uncanny & oddly placed. i love the awful tattoos though, because they actually look like body art with stories behind them, picked out by people with a sense of humor!
Load More Replies...This! I see a lot of tattoos in this post that will fade and look awful.
Load More Replies...And resistance to pain!!!!! Wow, some look so painful!
Load More Replies...Some of these are true works of art. I can also see some regrets in the future for some of these other tatoos also.
Beautiful stuff. I do wonder though, especially with the larger works, what they are going to look like in 5, 10, 25 years.
A BP article about tattoos and the artists are actually credited, finally!
I wish they put how many hours and how many visits these took. Clearly most of these took a lot of time!
These are all absolutely stunning. I’d be keen to see what some of the more fine lines tattoos and the hyper-realistic ones look like in a few years before I got one myself. I feel like they may blow out, fuzz and fade (I hope they don’t, but…). So much talent here.
I used to feel like my tattoo looked like cr@p. Now I'm thoroughly confident that my tattoo looks like absolute cr@p.
A lot of these look incredible now but are going to age poorly. There's a reason that the traditional styles have such longevity.
All of these are amazing! No "Chicken Fried Rice" misspelled into someone's forehead or anything!
these tattoo artists are insanely talented like... it blows my mind! now i want a tattoo
Woahhhhhh these tattoo artists have talent. But they must have been pretty expensive (and painful...)
Love the ones in color. Unfortunately I can’t use color due to a slight inflammatory reaction to my first one with color that only had purple and yellow. Don’t want to try it a second time for fear the reaction will be much worse. Can’t finish my ankle tattoo to make it look like a flowered ankle bracelet.☹️
the skill and work and hour and pain and beauty and talent and ... thank you for this journey
I think I’ve seen something of this quality about 3 times and mostly it’s just indifferent art work. This level of skill and beauty is inspiring.
Tattoos are so subjective, which is one of the things I love about them. There are a lot of tattoos here that are really well done but I don't like them at all. While in all those "awful tattoos" articles there are usually a lot of them that I really really like.
i agree. to me, a lot of these looked like poster/computer wallpaper designs copied & pasted onto people because of the HD shading & inability to see any skin underneath at all. it looked uncanny & oddly placed. i love the awful tattoos though, because they actually look like body art with stories behind them, picked out by people with a sense of humor!
Load More Replies...This! I see a lot of tattoos in this post that will fade and look awful.
Load More Replies...And resistance to pain!!!!! Wow, some look so painful!
Load More Replies...Some of these are true works of art. I can also see some regrets in the future for some of these other tatoos also.
Beautiful stuff. I do wonder though, especially with the larger works, what they are going to look like in 5, 10, 25 years.
A BP article about tattoos and the artists are actually credited, finally!
I wish they put how many hours and how many visits these took. Clearly most of these took a lot of time!
These are all absolutely stunning. I’d be keen to see what some of the more fine lines tattoos and the hyper-realistic ones look like in a few years before I got one myself. I feel like they may blow out, fuzz and fade (I hope they don’t, but…). So much talent here.
I used to feel like my tattoo looked like cr@p. Now I'm thoroughly confident that my tattoo looks like absolute cr@p.
A lot of these look incredible now but are going to age poorly. There's a reason that the traditional styles have such longevity.
All of these are amazing! No "Chicken Fried Rice" misspelled into someone's forehead or anything!
these tattoo artists are insanely talented like... it blows my mind! now i want a tattoo
Woahhhhhh these tattoo artists have talent. But they must have been pretty expensive (and painful...)
Love the ones in color. Unfortunately I can’t use color due to a slight inflammatory reaction to my first one with color that only had purple and yellow. Don’t want to try it a second time for fear the reaction will be much worse. Can’t finish my ankle tattoo to make it look like a flowered ankle bracelet.☹️
the skill and work and hour and pain and beauty and talent and ... thank you for this journey