Minimalist Floral Tattoo Designs With Pilot Parallel Pen
Floral tattoos with symbolic meanings and aesthetic appeal have graced the bodies of culture and body art enthusiasts since ancient times, and they continue to be a popular form of self-expression even today.
Flowers have long been associated with emotions and sentiments, and connected with traits such as fertility, femininity, abundance, and power. Floral tattoos are a great way to commemorate cherished life events and memories and also embody ideals of freedom and expression.
Tattoos are a highly personal art form, and with ink being the medium of tattoos it is natural for calligraphy to have always been a part of the practice.
Easy Floral Tattoo Design Using Gothic Calligraphy Strokes with Pilot Parallel Pen
The Pilot Parallel Pen is my favourite broad – edged pen for calligraphy. Its design and simplicity of use make it the best tool for writing broad letter calligraphy scripts like Blackletter, Italic and Uncial, and also for designing monograms, abstract art and calligraphy illustrations.
A creative exercise I often enjoy practicing is to deconstruct blackletter calligraphy alphabets and re-arrange the basic strokes to create abstract art. I often use mediums like calligraphy markers, acrylic paints and canvas boards for some of these experiments. And, one unique canvas I have always to wanted to try is the human body.
Blackletter writing styles were inspired by the architecture of gothic cathedrals and their monolithic columns. I was very curious to experiment with creating more gentle and floral visuals using a style of stroke whose strength is in the opposite visual direction. These explorations of abstracted floral tattoo designs using parallel pen gothic calligraphy strokes are my attempt.
Fleur de Lis Tattoo Design
The fleur de lis is a classic lily-shaped emblem that was featured on France’s coat of arms until the French Revolution. It is derived from the French words fleur and lis meaning ‘flower’ and ‘lily’. The fleur de lis emblem has been used in religion, military, art, architecture and literature.
I constructed this tattoo design based on fleur de lis to play with symmetry. Gothic calligraphy is not known for its strict bilateral symmetry (mirror image) in any of its forms. The challenge while designing this tattoo was to introduce a sense of symmetry while keeping to a consistent stroke angle. The resulting design is a curvaceous and graceful adaptation of a strictly angular script.
This is a digital representation of the fleur de lis tattoo designed for the upper thigh. I think this tattoo placement works well because of the contrast of the curvilinear design of the tattoo against the straight edges of the upper leg. This design could also work on upper arms which would have a similar contrast while also providing enough surface area to work on.
Fine Line Rose Tattoo Design
Associated with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, the rose is an enduring and universal symbol of passion, love, and beauty. With its timeless appeal and enchanting fragrance, the rose flower is revered across centuries and has been the favored subject of prolific artists, writers, architects and poets across the world.
For this tattoo design I wanted to capture the essence of a rose bud instead of a blooming rose flower. I created a minimalist and freehand line art tattoo design to depict a blooming rose bud. This super femme design with fine lines was created with the Pilot Parallel Pen. The flat steel nib with pointed edges was the perfect writing tool to create the fine lines of the flower and the broad shape of the leaves.
This is a digital representation of the rose tattoo designed for the upper arm. This placement of the tattoo highlights the delicate and feminine design and gives it an appearance of gracefulness. In terms of location, this design could also work on the upper back area creating a nice focal point under the nape.
Abstract Lily Flower Tattoo Design
Lilies are one of the most popular and symbolic flowers in the world. There nearly 100 species of “true” lilies and they fall in the genus Lilium in the family Liliaceae. The symbolism of lilies is often determined by the specific color of the flower and the use / occasion. While lilies are known to symbolize love and good luck they are also the most popular funeral flowers representing purity.
I designed this tattoo to capture the intricate details of the petal of a lily flower. The combination of the thick and thin curved gothic strokes showcase the trumpet – shaped petal of the flower and the tiny rounded edges of the thick strokes represent the pollen – bearing anther of the flower.
This is a digital representation of the abstract lily tattoo designed for the ankle. The curved stroked of the petals on either side of the ankle bone provide a beautiful symmetry. The ankle has a relatively small surface area, and this small and delicate design would be apt for that body part.
Image Courtesy – All flower images are courtesy rawpixel.
- Fleur de lis – L’Espoir du bonheur, dédié à la Nation (ca. 1791) by Dubois. Original public domain image from Paris Musées.
- Rose – A rose (Rosa rapa): flowering stem. Colour halftone after J. L. A. Charlin, c.1821, after P. J. Redouté. Original public domain image from Wellcome Collection.
- Lily – Yellow and White Lilies (ca. 1780) in high resolution by William van Leen. Original from The Rijksmuseum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.
