Taking an arrow to the knee is among the profuse risks that an adventurer takes when embarking on a quest in Skyrim. Nonetheless, taking ink to the knee is one way to commemorate your many adventures in the Skyrim universe IRL.
Skyrim is fantastical, with a plethora of inspiring images, designs and symbols to draw inspiration from for your next tattoo.
Should you decide to use the cryptic dragon language to hide a message, to give yourself a gamer’s tribal tattoo, or to take advantage of the space on your knee that you might otherwise overlook with a meme reference, Skyrim tattoos can go in an exciting variety of directions. In fact, many may have a difficult time choosing just one aspect of the game to represent in the form of body art.
Many iconic images from the game are handily transformed to tattoos that have a classic, tough, “I’ve seen things” vibe. The tacit reference to a video game will be lost on those who have not immersed themselves in the world of Skyrim, but this doesn’t detract from the beautiful displays of artwork that they can be with the right tattoo artist.
This means that even your friends and family who have no idea about your adventures in a virtual world will still be able to enjoy the aesthetic of your tattoo.
1. Quirky Skyrim tattoos
– Alex Mayhem Graham at Mayhem Tattoos
You’ve got to love references to an “arrow to the knee,” the popular catch cry and enduring meme from the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Getting it inked is a boss level move, immediately placing you as a visible fan of the franchise. The creativity invested into these tattoos is tremendous, whether it’s an American tattoo style representation of armor or the use of fine black needle line in creating a cracked stone effect or simple, bold ink.
2. Traditional black and gray Skyrim ink
There’s an exceptional level of detail etched into these superb traditional black and gray tattoos. They deliver excellent contrast by implementing classical style in background shading, with intensity and individuality of fine detail deployed in the warriors weaponry and armor. The use of negative space is well worked to provide mist and smoke effects, relieving darkness from the color scheme.
3. Skyrim runes
These runes represent the dragon language used heavily in Skyrim. Just like with various real languages, these tattoos provide the opportunity for cool balance between black ink and smart placement.
4. Innovative warrior ink
These bad ass warriors are the core of Skyrim. You choose to become one of these fighters then go from there in 1000 different adventurous directions. I love how these tattoos embrace the rich source material. There’s bold black focused tattoos, traditionally shaded large scale battle pieces, or more contemplative sketch shading application. What they all share is an excellent understanding of space, line, contrast and placement, while also creating strong likenesses to characters within the game.
5. Skyrim blades
The crafting, development, and display of an arsenal of weapons and armor is an enjoyable part of the Skyrim game. You can even build vast manor houses to show off your cache of loot. The tattoos above bring some these weapons to life by recreating their elements – glass, ebony, dragonscale, Elven fashioning, or simple steel. The type of blade created means a great opportunity for artists to utilize shading, color, and line work in a manner both innovative tattoo and native to the video game.
6. Dark Brotherhood tattoos
The Dark Brotherhood are the cult of shadowy assassins that form a major mission sub plot to the Skyrim game. They represent the sneakier, shadier, and more bloodthirsty elements of Skyrim, so of course are a popular choice for getting tagged. There’s some wicked imagery deployed in this collection. From the heavy bloody red hands, to variations of the American traditional skull and dagger pieces, these tattoos effectively show off the darkness and death associated with the assassin’s guild.
7. Skyrim logo ink
The Skyrim logo is an extremely versatile image for use in tattoo. Much like the symbols in games such as the Witcher or Borderlands, they can be manipulated into strong art by a variety of color, shading, or abstract etching techniques. I really enjoy how negative space, and black/white ink highlights are added to the dragon sigil to give them unique characteristics and more pop against the black or gray base colors, while others opt for more subtle use of shadow combined with bold black lines.
8. Skyrim dragon tattoos
These Skyrim dragons are fantastic, showing realistic flair in reflecting creatures as they appear within the game. Most artists in the examples above have focused on re-creating the dragon’s elaborate scales, using effective dark shading in combination with white ink highlights or negative space to form solidly contrasting detail. In the game, scales and plate can be collected from slain dragons to build armor, so utilizing this aspect as a foundation of epic dragon tattoos is an effective concept. I also like how some of these pieces add to the dragons with fighting or scary scenes to affect larger tattoo space and create more elaborate art through flowing delivery, deft line work and complementary color/shade patterns.