Tiger Temporary Tattoo

A tiger temporary tattoo puts a finished piece of tattoo art on the skin for a few days, with no needle and no lifelong decision. The designs in this collection cover most of the styles a tattoo artist would show in a portfolio: soft black and gray realism, bold old-school color, loose watercolor washes, fine line work wrapped in flowers, and darker pieces built around skulls.

Tiger temporary tattoo styles, one by one

The Black & White Tiger Temporary Sleeve Tattoo is built for length. A whole tiger stretches down the sheet in black and gray, its head at the top while the body dissolves into loose brushstrokes and stripes, a long shape made to follow the line of a forearm. The same sheet carries two smaller geometric pieces as well: a fox head set inside a triangle and a wolf head inside a pointed frame.

The Tiger Snake Temporary Tattoo is pure old-school color. An orange tiger snarls with its claws out while a red and black snake coils around its body, and a dagger plunges down through the middle of the design, all drawn with heavy black outlines and small droplets flying off in the traditional manner. A tiger locked in a fight with a snake is a long-standing theme in tattoo art, and this design gives it plenty of movement.

For something softer, the Galaxy Tiger Temporary Tattoo paints a tiger's head in watercolor, its stripes and whiskers picked out in black over shades of violet, plum and blue that spill below the chin into a starry, nebula-like wash. The Floral Tiger Temporary Tattoo stays in black and gray, with finer line work in its flowers: a tiger's face looks out from the top of the design above three large open blooms and their leaves, and it is listed at 15x21cm, a full sheet.

At the darker end, the Saber Tooth Tiger Skull Tattoo pairs a roaring tiger with a fanged skull hovering above it, the skull's long curved canines echoing the living tiger's open jaws below, all in smoky black and gray shading.

Shading, outlines and washes

Each style handles the tiger differently. Black and gray work builds fur, light and depth from shading in a single ink, which suits the soft gradations of a tiger's coat. Old-school, or American traditional, work relies on thick outlines and a small set of solid colors, so the image stays readable from across a room. Watercolor designs let the color bleed past the outline the way paint spreads on wet paper, and fine line work keeps everything to thin, even strokes with very little fill.

From a wrist to a forearm

Where a size appears in the options, it is one of two: 6x10cm for compact designs that sit on a wrist, an ankle or a collarbone, and 15x21cm for full sheets, roughly the size of an A5 page, which suit a forearm, a calf or a shoulder blade. Long, narrow compositions like the sleeve tiger follow the line of the arm, while rounder heads and faces sit well on the chest, the upper arm or the back of the shoulder.

Trying a tiger before the needle

A temporary tiger also works as a rehearsal for a permanent one. It shows how a design looks at a given size and in a given place, how black and gray compares with full color on a particular skin tone, and whether a large piece feels right before any appointment is booked. Temporary tattoos of this kind are usually applied with water: the printed side goes face down on the skin, the backing is dampened, and the paper slides away after a few seconds, leaving the image behind. How long one lasts depends mostly on where it sits, since spots that rub against clothing wear faster.

What a tiger tattoo is said to mean

Across many tattoo traditions the tiger stands for courage, strength and protection. In Japanese tattooing it is believed to ward off bad luck and illness, and it is often paired with a dragon, the two seen as opposing forces held in balance, or shown wrestling a snake. In Kerala, in southern India, the Puli Kali street performance during the Onam festival has dancers paint their bodies in yellow and black tiger stripes, a living example of the tiger worn on the skin. Our guide to what a tiger tattoo means goes through these beliefs in more detail, from Japanese tiger tattoos to white tiger, tribal and geometric designs.

See the designs in motion

The video below runs through a selection of tiger temporary tattoo designs from the store, which makes it easy to compare the black and gray work with the color pieces at a glance.

Masks, patches and the wider range

A temporary tattoo often comes out for a costume, and a tiger mask completes the look at face level, with designs running from a full tiger head to printed half masks and a cartoon face. For a tiger that stays put on clothing rather than skin, a tiger patch carries the same kind of artwork onto a jacket or a bag, with embroidered snarling heads, white tigers and pop-art designs. Both belong to our tiger accessories collection, alongside keychains, phone cases, mugs and blankets.

Common questions about these tattoos

Are there designs in color as well as black and gray?

Yes, the range mixes both. The Tiger Snake Temporary Tattoo and the Galaxy Tiger Temporary Tattoo are in full color, while the sleeve tiger, the floral piece and the saber tooth skull are worked in black and gray.

Does a sheet ever hold more than one design?

Some do. The Black & White Tiger Temporary Sleeve Tattoo comes on a sheet that also carries a small fox and a small wolf design, as its photo shows, so one sheet gives a long arm piece plus two small extras.