Taurus tattoo ideas, meaning and designs

What people want from a Taurus tattoo

The traits attached to Taurus are patience, loyalty, appetite and a refusal to be rushed. In a design that translates to mass. A bull standing still reads as more Taurus than a bull charging, and artists who understand the sign will draw weight in the neck and shoulder rather than motion in the legs.

Venus rules the sign in astrology, which is why so many Taurus pieces carry flowers. Roses and peonies both suit the horns, and the lily of the valley for a May birthday gives you two layers of the same date in one design without saying so out loud. Horns and stems share a curve, which is why the combination works.

The glyph, the bull and the actual stars

The glyph is a circle topped by two horns, and it survives shrinking better than any other sign because the parts are far apart. Keep the circle a true circle. Ovals are the most common error and they read as a mistake rather than a style choice. Check the stencil in a mirror before anyone starts.

The constellation is a different brief. Aldebaran sits at magnitude 0.87, one of the brightest stars in the sky, and it anchors the V of the Hyades that makes the bull's face. Many artists render Aldebaran slightly larger than the rest, which is honest, since it genuinely outshines its neighbours. The Pleiades are a tight cluster, so draw six or seven dots in a compact group.

Ways people build it

• Glyph alone, 2 to 4 cm, wrist or behind the ear
• Hyades V with Aldebaran weighted, 10 cm or more across
• Glyph with the Pleiades as a small cluster above it
• Bull's head in black and grey, 15 cm and up, chest or upper arm
• Horns only, drawn as a curve with a floral fill

Size, placement and pain

Glyphs at 2 to 4 cm suit the inner wrist, behind the ear, the ankle and the back of the arm, and most shops charge their $90 to $150 minimum. The constellation wants a broad flat panel, since the V is wider than it is tall. The shoulder blade, the outer forearm and the sternum all give you that width.

Sternum is the painful option at roughly 7 out of 10, with thin skin over bone and no fat to soften the needle. The shoulder blade is around 5 and heals easily under clothing. A full bull's head at 15 to 25 cm belongs on the chest, upper back or thigh and takes four to six hours, so expect $500 to $1200.

Styles that suit it, and how it ages

Blackwork and black and grey realism both carry a bull well, because the animal is all mass and shadow. Geometric treatments work on the horns. Watercolor is the risky choice here: pale washes behind a heavy subject fade unevenly and usually need a touch up by year eight, sometimes sooner on sun exposed skin.

For the constellation, space the dots at least 3 to 4 mm apart and keep each one at 1.5 mm or wider. The Pleiades are the trap, since seven stars in a real cluster sit very close together, and a faithful rendering at 4 cm becomes one grey blob by your forties. Enlarge the cluster or drop it. Bring the finished design to a licensed artist who will scale it to your frame.