Dragonfly tattoo meaning, ideas and designs

Where the dragonfly meaning comes from

The change reading is grounded in biology rather than folklore. A dragonfly nymph lives underwater for anything from a few months to several years depending on species, hunting with an extendable jaw, then crawls up a reed, splits its exoskeleton and leaves the empty shell behind. The adult flies for a handful of weeks. People who have come out of a long bad stretch tend to find that sequence useful.

The Japanese line is older and better documented. Tombo appears on samurai equipment and family crests because the insect flies forward and does not retreat, which made it a sign of victory, and classical poetry calls the country Akitsushima, the dragonfly island. European folklore went the other way and gave the animal names like devil's darning needle, which nobody tattoos on purpose.

Readings people bring to it

• Change, from the years underwater and the short flying life
• Victory and not retreating, from Japanese armor and family crests
• A memorial, usually tied to seeing one at a specific moment
• Water, for people who grew up beside a lake or a river

How much wing detail to keep

The wings are the whole decision. A real wing has hundreds of cells and a real tattoo can hold somewhere between eight and about forty of them depending on size, so the artist picks which veins carry the shape and drops the rest. Keeping the main longitudinal veins and the leading edge gives you something that still reads as a dragonfly wing. Keeping everything gives you a grey panel in six years.

Sizing, placement and the shape it wants

A dragonfly is a cross: a long vertical body with two pairs of wings set near the top. That shape goes two ways. Oriented head up, it is a vertical piece that fits the spine, the back of the neck, the inside of the forearm along the bone and the outer ankle. Turned sideways it is wide and low, which suits the sternum, the top of the foot and the back of the shoulder.

Below about 4 cm the wings have to be empty outlines and the abdomen segments drop to three or four marks. At 6 to 8 cm you can keep eye stippling and a dozen wing cells, which is where most people land. A realistic dragonfly resting on a leaf with full venation needs 12 to 14 cm, and at that size the wings overlap the body and the artist has to decide which lines win.

What fails first on a small dragonfly

• Wing cells closer than 2 mm, which merge into a solid panel
• The thin stalk between thorax and abdomen, which thickens and loses the waist
• Hairline legs, which usually vanish entirely during healing
• Light grey wash inside the wings, which can drop out in three to five years

Styles, cost and the versions people regret

Fine line with a little dotwork is the most common and it suits the subject, as long as the piece is above 6 cm and the artist leaves the wings mostly open. Blackwork solves the longevity problem by filling the wings and cutting the veins out as bare skin. Japanese style gives you a bold outline and flat color on the body, and it holds for decades. Watercolor dragonflies are popular and they look worst at year eight, because the washes sit outside the line and spread.

Expect $120 to $250 for a 6 cm fine line dragonfly, and $350 to $600 for a 12 cm piece with shading or color. The regret is almost always size. A 3 cm dragonfly on the inner wrist with full venation drawn in is a tattoo with a five year life, and the fix is either a cover up or accepting that it has become a small dark insect shape.