Wings tattoos are a beautiful and meaningful way through which you can express your love of freedom and movement to demonstrate your faith. They can also be dedicated to someone you loved who has passed away or to carry a constant reminder of your ability to overcome fear, obstacles, and whatever life throws at you. These tattoos are the perfect choice for anyone with a deep love of nature and her creations, and they can provide a more unique design than merely getting a tattoo of a given animal.
Variations of Wings Tattoos
There is a whole range of possibilities when it comes to these tattoos that you can get done, each one with their distinct meaning. Wings tattoos are perfect for both men and women, and they can easily be adjusted to be a small design on the ankle to a full-back piece.
Even though the most straightforward design is sometimes the best, the basic angel wings tattoo can be completely customized to reflect your personality, struggles, or heartfelt losses. You can decide to make this tattoo an authentic statement piece by having the wings cover your entire back. In essence, this can demonstrate your belief that you will be lifted and reside with the angels someday, while a smaller set of angel wings placed discreetly somewhere can be a constant reminder that your guardian angel is always watching over you.
Angel with Halo Tattoo
This tattoo of angel wings with a halo atop them is a way to remember a loved one who has passed away and is now an angel in heaven. Although seemingly simple in its design, this tattoo can become quite personal if you add the name or initials of the person below the wings, or include meaningful phrases such as ‘Gone but not forgotten.’ You are free to vary the color and design of this tattoo: you may want to keep things simple and just have an outline of the wings and halo, or you can do both of them in white and gold, respectively.
Cross Tattoo
Crosses are a particularly popular design with many tattoo enthusiasts, and getting a winged cross tattoo is a great way to make sure your design stands out from the crowd. The winged cross can serve as a statement of religious freedom, a tribute to a lost loved one, or a reminder of your own near-death experience. If you want to personalize this design, you can put the name of the lost loved one on the cross, or the date of your near-death experience. You are free to add a crown of thorns to the cross to demonstrate the suffering you’ve gone through, or as a reminder of Jesus’ suffering on the cross, thereby also depicting a vital image in Christianity.
Heart Tattoo
The heart is a powerful symbol on its own, and adding wings to this design will further increase its meaning. Hearts can represent love, strength, and energy, while wings often designate freedom and the ability to fly away. Thus, the combination of the two symbols can demonstrate your free-spirited nature and love of liberty. Another possible design of this tattoo would be to get your partner’s name or a loved one tattooed in the heart; together with the wings, this design will demonstrate how they are always with you.
Broken Wings Tattoo
If you want to demonstrate your status as a fallen person, you can get a tattoo of an angel with broken wings. This design can include either the full angel or just its wings and can be placed almost anywhere on the body. You can set the fractured wings on your back, like a typical angel wings tattoo design, to demonstrate that you see yourself as a fallen angel. If you decide to design your tattoo to include the whole angel, the right idea is to have the angel looking plaintively up to heaven, as if searching for redemption.
Devil Tattoo
Another spin on the ‘fallen angel’ tattoo design is to portrait the wings as devil wings. To do this, your plan can incorporate colors like red or black, or have the wings appear as bones or rotten flesh: any of these design choices will make it immediately evident that this is not your typical angel wings tattoo. If you want to further emphasize the devil aspect, place red or black horns above the wings.
Demon Tattoo
Demon wings represent an excellent alternative for the traditional ‘fallen angel’ tattoo motifs and leave your space to get creative with the design. You can use any sort of color that you feel represents your personality and potentially demonic state: for instance, red for anger or rage, green for envy or greed, and pink for lust or desire. You can further create a unique style for the design, such as scaled like a dragon’s or paneled like a bat’s. The back is an ideal location for this tattoo design, though you can choose to put them anywhere on your body and make the wings as large or small as you see fit.
Angel and Demon Tattoo
The best way to express the duality of human nature is through the different images of angel and demon attributes. From one side of this tattoo design is the angel wing and on the other the demon wing, and looks especially useful as a whole-back piece. You are free to experiment in the design of the wings. In essence, perhaps you want the two wings to be white and black, to symbolize the antagonistic nature of these two creatures, or you may decide to have the demon one done in a particularly gruesome fashion. This wins this way your personality can shine through, so work with your tattoo artist to determine how you can make this design capture the best representation of yourself.
Fairy Tattoo
Fairy wings are great for anyone with a whimsical side or love of fantasy and are an excellent choice for a tattoo. Most often, these tattoos are done delicately, with a light outline or almost feathery consistency to portray the ethereal essence of a fairy. The tattoo is done best with colors that are light and airy, such as pastels, though more earthy hues can be used, too. This tattoo is perfect for a full-back tattoo in the same vein as an angel wings tattoo, or behind your ear or inside your wrist for a more feminine tattoo.
Butterfly Tattoo
Butterflies are famous around the world for their ability to emerge from the cocoons of the humble moth. This is the reason why a butterfly wings tattoo is a symbol of your ability to transform and metamorphose, developing from a challenging or lousy situation as a healthier being. The unique and beautiful colors of butterflies are what make this tattoo design perfect for anyone who wants to express their aura through a particular palate. The placement of these tattoos is a matter of personal preference: the small nature of the butterfly means its wings can fit just about anywhere on the body, but you can also enlarge them to create a full-back set for yourself.
There is a profound meaning behind the skull with wings tattoo. Although these are conflicting images, since the skull is a symbol of death and the wings a symbol of life and freedom, when they come together, they make one image that represents how end provides freedom from the burdens of life, or that a human soul has progressed through to the afterlife. You can personalize this design in several ways: for instance, if you want the image to represent the passing of a loved one, you can include their name or initials underneath the skull. This design is often done in grayscale, though you can add colors to make the skull in a ‘Day of the Dead’ style, or if you’d like the wings to be a specific color.
