50+ Unique Watercolor Tattoo Designs & Their Secret Meanings

Everyone is probably familiar with the artistic technique of drawing named “watercolor”. It is characterized by a light, even translucent, drawing. We can see such an effect due to the dilution of special paints with water. Layers in such a work are gradually and very accurate.

Inspired by this painting technique, the American tattoo master Amanda Wachob introduced this style into the world of tattoos. It all started with her careless, at first glance, strokes of paint on the skin, similar to water drops. They complemented the tattoo element and brought her style to it.

In our article, you can also be inspired by such watercolor tattoo motifs:

• 🎨 Space;
• 🎨 Famous Disney characters;
• 🎨 Trees;
• 🎨 Natural landscapes;
• 🎨 Lions;
• 🎨 Turtles;
• 🎨 Butterflies;
• 🎨 Birds;
• 🎨 Cameras;
• 🎨 Hearts;
• 🎨 Roses;
• 🎨 Poppies.

Why Watercolor Tattoos?

Watercolor style tattoos are very easy to recognize thanks to:

• 💫 Smooth lines;
• 💫 The richness of the colors in the tattoo;
• 💫 Blurred borders and lack of a clear outline of the drawing on the body;
• 💫 Soft color transitions;
• 💫 Aesthetic and visually distinguishable tattoo design;
• 💫 Tattoo’s aesthetics is in the 1st place, symbolism is not so mattered;
• 💫 The size of the tattoo can be both large and small;
• 💫 The saturation of colors does not matter: there can be both pastel and bright designs.

Watercolor tattoo designs are suitable for both women and men. However, this style of tattoo is preferable for a creative nature. The watercolor tattoo will emphasize the individuality and romanticism of its owner and will show the aspiration of the person to something refined and non-standard.

50+ Watercolor Tattoo Designs for Inspiration

The watercolor tattoo style is not limited in ideas and possible compositions. Plots of such tattoos can be both with animals and abstract. Very beautiful in the style of watercolor tattoo look designs with:

• 👀 Disney characters,
• 👀 Butterflies,
• 👀 Space,
• 👀 Landscapes.

Tattoos with Space

Space may not seem like the most obvious choice for a tattoo idea at first glance. However, many compositions will look spectacular in the watercolor tattoo style. The main elements can be saints, constellations, planets, astronauts, and so on.

However, in addition to the main element, it is important to choose the right place for a watercolor tattoo with space. For example, a shrine on the wrist can mean non-traditional sexual orientation. If you do a constellation tattoo on the wrist, it will be a symbol of wealth. Below we will list the meanings of other watercolor space tattoos:

• 🌌 Arrangement; 
• 🌌 Integrity; 
• 🌌 Powerfulness; 
• 🌌 Fertility;
• 🌌 Tranquillity;
• 🌌 Measure;
• 🌌 Peace;
• 🌌 Youth.

Tattoos with Disney Characters

Watercolor tattoos depicting Disney characters are popular among women. But the image of Mickey Mouse on a man’s body is no less relevant, it perfectly emphasizes his sense of humor. The wide prevalence of watercolor tattoos with Disney characters is not surprising because these tattoo designs are very cute and cheerful.

In recent years, there has been a rising trend for watercolor tattoos, especially those depicting famous Disney characters. Such a tattoo looks bright and even fabulous. Such a modern tattoo technique perfectly suits the Disney theme. 

What is more, you can easily choose your favorite character. The most popular characters to perform tattoos in watercolor style are:

• ✨ Mickey Mouse;
• ✨ Stitch;
• ✨ Toothless;
• ✨ Little Dumbo;
• ✨ Bruni (the lizard from “Frozen”);
• ✨ Pascal (the chameleon from “Rapunzel”);
• ✨ Flounder (a fish from “Ariel”).

Tattoos with Trees

Tattoos depicting a tree are not very common among those wishing to get a tattoo. However, in the style of watercolor tattoos, such a design is quite popular: it looks very bright and unusual.

A watercolor tattoo with a tree has a rather strong meaning:

• 🌳 Growth;
• 🌳 Development;
• 🌳 The pursuit of perfection;
• 🌳 Fertility;
• 🌳 Immortality;
• 🌳 Creation;
• 🌳 Connection with nature.

Tattoos with Landscapes

Artists are very fond of performing landscapes in watercolor and tattoo artists have adopted this trend. Because the landscape tattoo consists of several elements, it always looks like a complete composition or a painting. The landscape elements can be forests, mountains, rivers, starry sky, etc.
A watercolor tattoo with a landscape is often made on the hands, shoulders, and legs. Muscles will make the composition in relief and create the effect of volume.

Below we will provide the meaning of the basic elements of watercolor tattoos with a landscape. 

Forest watercolor tattoos mean:

• 🌲 Eternity; 
• 🌲 Wisdom; 
• 🌲 Permanence; 
• 🌲 Strength;
• 🌲 Fearlessness; 
• 🌲 Willpower;
• 🌲 Courage;
• 🌲 Dreaminess.

Tattoos with mountains are interpreted as:

• 🌄 Power;
• 🌄Power;
• 🌄 Indestructibility;
• 🌄 Wisdom.

River watercolor tattoos mean:

• 🌅 Change;
• 🌅 Purity;
• 🌅 Baptism;
• 🌅 The ability to adjust to circumstances.

Starry sky tattoos’ meanings are:

• ✨ Luck;
• ✨ Infinity;
• ✨ Spirituality; 
• ✨ Inner purity and purity; 
• ✨ Mystery.

Tattoos with Lions

The lion is a long-known animal, worshiped in cultures of different countries since ancient times. The image of the lion is often found in myths and legends of ancient times.

The watercolor tattoo with a lion is interpreted as follows:

• 🦁 Respect;
• 🦁 Royalty;
• 🦁 Wisdom;
• 🦁 Power;
• 🦁 Nobility;
• 🦁 Courage;
• 🦁 Ferocity;
• 🦁 Justice.

Turtle Tattoos

Watercolor tattoos of turtles are done on the arms (from and to the elbow) and legs (hips). They can be supplemented with the fish, sea, and other elements to create a complete composition.

A watercolor turtle tattoo can have the following meanings:

• 🐢 Persistence;
• 🐢 Poise;
• 🐢 Patience;
• 🐢 Reliability;
• 🐢 Stability;
• 🐢 Wisdom;
• 🐢 Longevity;
• 🐢 Health.

Butterfly Tattoos

The butterfly is perhaps one of the most popular tattoo designs, which looks especially magical in watercolor style. Very often a butterfly tattoo is chosen by women for their first tattoo. 

This is because this design is very neat, minimalistic, and stylish. Although you can choose any size for a watercolor butterfly tattoo.

A watercolor tattoo with a butterfly has these meanings:

• 🦋 Lightness;
• 🦋 Independence;
• 🦋 Liberty;
• 🦋 Soulful warmth;
• 🦋 Family happiness;
• 🦋 Immortality of the soul.

Tattoos with Birds

It is a mistake to think that only girls do watercolor tattoos with birds. This is not true. Men also consider ideas for such drawings. What may differ is the choice of the bird itself. For example, girls prefer swallows, tits, hummingbirds, parrots, and peacocks. Men choose watercolor tattoos with crows, owls, eagles, hawks, and so on.

Below we list the meanings of the most popular watercolor tattoos with different birds: 

Raven watercolor tattoo means:

• 🐦 Courage;
• 🐦 Militancy;
• 🐦 Wisdom;
• 🐦 Pride;
• 🐦 Loyalty;
• 🐦 Memory;
• 🐦 Intelligence;
• 🐦 Insight;
• 🐦 Patience.

Hummingbird watercolor tattoos’ meanings are:

• 🐦Tenderness;
• 🐦 Lightness;
• 🐦 Vigor;
• 🐦Life-loving.

Peacock watercolor tattoo means: 

• 🎋 Beauty;
• 🎋 Nobility;
• 🎋 Wealth;
• 🎋 Love.

Owl watercolor tattoos’ meanings are:

• 🦉 Wisdom;
• 🦉 Wit;
• 🦉 Prudence;
• 🦉 Clear Thought; 
• 🦉 Intelligence;
• 🦉 Knowledge;
• 🦉 Vitality;
• 🦉 Erudition.

Parrot watercolor tattoo means:

• 🦜 Stubbornness;
• 🦜 Carelessness;
• 🦜 Sincerity.

Tattoos with Cameras

One of the rarest tattoo designs is the camera, but this idea is widely known among fans of the watercolor style. A watercolor camera tattoo will perfectly emphasize your individuality and creative nature.

Watercolor camera tattoos have these interpretations:

• 📸 Art;
• 📸 Memory;
• 📸 Creativity;
• 📸 Desire to travel;
• 📸 Beauty;
• 📸 Aesthetics.

Tattoos with Hearts

The heart tattoo is especially popular among couples, it becomes their eternal symbol of love and devotion. So you and your chosen one can make a non-standard watercolor tattoo with hearts as a sign of your love.

A watercolor tattoo with a heart design carries such meanings:

• ❤️ Devotion;
• ❤️ Love;
• ❤️ Friendship;
• ❤️ Vitality;
• ❤️ Courage;
• ❤️ Unity of lovers.

Rose Tattoos

The rose tattoo design is one of the oldest and most common in the world. It is popular in any style, but modern watercolor trends bring special creativity and uniqueness to such a tattoo idea.

The watercolor rose tattoo design means:

• 🌹 Youth;
• 🌹 Beauty;
• 🌹 Love;
• 🌹 Holiness;
• 🌹 Purity;
• 🌹 Rebirth;
• 🌹 Passion.

Tattoos with Poppies

Floral motifs in watercolor tattoos are very popular, especially poppies. This is because such a flower can be depicted very beautifully in this modern technique. But before making a watercolor tattoo with a poppy, you need to study its versatile and ambiguous meanings.

The watercolor tattoo with poppies is interpreted as follows:

• 🌺 Death;
• 🌺 The transience of life;
• 🌺 Oblivion;
• 🌺 Truth;
• 🌺 Honesty.

Summary

The style of watercolor tattoos owes its appearance to the painting technique of the same name. They are characterized by an abundance of light and translucent so this style is easy to recognize among hundreds of others. 

Other important features of watercolor tattoos are smooth lines, soft color transitions, blurred borders, and a lack of a clear outline of the drawing on the body. These characteristics make watercolor tattoos suitable for both men and women. 

So why should you choose a watercolor tattoo and which tattoo idea is more suitable for you? In this article, we talked about why watercolor tattoos are a good choice, listed 50+ watercolor tattoo designs for men and women, and divided them into 12 groups for your convenience.

Shine brightly and attract the attention of others!

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