Chinese Dragon Tattoo Designs

A Chinese dragon tattoo is a popular choice for many and this is not surprising when you consider the designs available based on this mythological creature. Here are 3 types of Chinese dragon tattoo design that you might want to consider for your next tattoo.

Chinese Dragon Tattoo On Leg

Many people get this tattoo placed on their upper arm and sometimes even extending into the chest. Another good place to have it is on the leg.

For men, the lower leg is often too hairy. Women who shave their legs won't have this problem. Having said that, the most popular site on the leg is the upper part of the thigh, on the outside surface.

This location for a Chinese tattoo of a dragon is great because it usually does not stop at the top of the leg. Often, the head and upper body of the dragon will extend up the side of the torso or to the front of the torso (under or passing the belt line). Sometimes, it may even go to the inner thigh.

Black Chinese Dragon Tattoos

Although many dragons are coloured, by far the most popular are simple black inked tattoos of dragons. The classic tattoo in this style uses a minimum number of lines and is a very simple tattoo. Sometimes this type of tattoo is referred to as a "tribal Chinese dragon tattoo". The word "tribal" when used for tattoos usually refers to the Maori style of solid sections of black ink interspersed with solid sections of white ink.

Even those black ink tattoos with greater detail look great when depicting a dragon. Every scale is drawn and the creature's curved pose makes for an intricate looking tattoo.

Lauren's Thigh Tattoo Salutes Mastodon

If you're reading this post and the Tattoosday banner features some wonderfully-inked revolvers, those "hand guns" belong to Amanda and the original post is here.

Just recently, I was thinking that I hadn't seen Amanda in a while and was wondering if she still lived in my neighborhood. Later that day, a much-tattooed woman named Lauren walked into the laundromat where I was packing up the weekly family wash.

I had never met Lauren before, but she knew about Tattoosday because she was friends with the aforementioned Amanda. She told me that Amanda had moved out of our neighborhood (thus explaining her scarcity) and yes, she was happy to share a piece for the blog.

Lauren has a vast array of ink, thirteen tattoos by her count, and she offered up this phenomenal thigh piece:




First of all, we don't show too many thighs here on Tattoosday, partly because they're only visible when it's warm enough for shorts. But more importantly, people with thigh tattoos tend to be few and far between, to begin with.

So what's with this image?

Lauren explained it is the album art for the metal band, Mastodon, off their debut album, Remission:


In fact, Lauren saw them play that same night at Irving Plaza with the bands Kylesa and Intronaut. Check out the awesome blog Brooklyn Vegan here to see a write-up and photos of the show.

This amazing tattoo was inked by Andrea Elston at East Side Ink. Ms. Elston has since departed New York and now tattoos out of Classic Tattoo in San Marcos, Texas. Work from East Side Ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Lauren for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! I'm looking forward to (hopefully) showing more of her work here on the site in the future!

As a little extra bonus for Mastodon fans, or for people who want to hear what they sound like, here's the band performing their Grammy-nominated song "Colony of Birchmen" with Josh Homme: