Small and simple tattoos have become immensely popular in recent years. Whether you are getting your first tattoo and want some easy artwork or adding to a growing collection of ink, there are numerous small simple tattoos that pack a ton of meaning into a tiny space. After all, small tattoos can be much more tasteful, especially if you are a professional in the workplace.
The real challenge is picking from the thousands of small, simple tattoo ideas. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of the best small tattoos for men along with advice for customizing them to your liking. With so many cool designs, guys will find plenty of inspiration to decide on a meaningful little tattoo.
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Best Small and Simple Tattoo Ideas For Men
Small tattoos are often underappreciated by guys. There are many reasons to go small and simple.
For starters, getting a small or simple tattoo is more tasteful. Sometimes, less is better and a small design on your forearm, wrist, hand, or finger looks cooler than stretching your artwork or message to fit on your arm, chest or back.
Furthermore, when men choose simpler designs, they end up with a more meaningful tattoo. Generally, simple tattoos are more artistic in their minimalism. A tiny piece of artwork requires creativity to represent symbols, ideas, and life philosophies.
Another consideration is that little tattoos for men are easier to cover up at work. If you are a business professional working in an office, a small tattoo on your shoulder, bicep or chest offers more privacy and less hassle.
Finally, small or simple tattoos result in the best first tattoo ideas for men. Cool and easy designs for beginner tattoos make a lot of sense since guys are just starting to get comfortable with the inking and healing process.
Plus, if you aren’t married yet and want to get your girlfriend’s name or a matching tattoo, small artwork can potentially mean less regret down the line.
Best Small and Simple Tattoo Designs
Simple tattoos for guys come in a variety of shapes and styles. Here are some factors to ensure you get the best tattoo.
Color
When planning simplistic tattoos, think about whether you want your design in black and white, color, as an outline, or even a silhouette. Each of these options can provide a completely different look.
Just keep in mind that incorporating several different colors into small tattoos can make them look too busy and thus muddling the artwork. Nice little tattoos should be all black or just a couple colors.
Detailed Artwork
Clean, crisp lines and detailed artwork is crucial to an awesome tattoo. However, just as too many colors can make small designs look bad, the same can be said for detail. Though some detail is certainly possible, too much can make it hard to decipher what’s in the image. The simpler the tattoo, the cleaner the work and final result.
Design
Simple tattoo designs offer a lot of variety. Fortunately, there are so many examples of beautiful and meaningful ideas. From anchors to mountains, roses, crosses, wings, dates, crowns, arrows, trees, birds, and compasses, guys have a multitude of concepts to pick from.
Location
One of the best things about small simple tattoos is the fact that you can place them almost anywhere on your body. Your arm, chest, and back are always good locations, but if you want something tiny, you could even put it on your wrist, hand, finger or behind your ear.
In some cases, the location of a small tattoo is just as symbolic as the tattoo itself, so keep that in mind. For example, a heart tattoo would look great on your chest, next to your actual heart.
Cool Simple Tattoo Ideas
There are several ways to approach cool tattoos. From awesome to the meaningful to badass, here are the best small and simple tattoos for men. Let this gallery of unique designs and ideas inspire you!
