Just as a picture of a sun might be the first thing a child learns to draw, sun tattoos are also elementary, and universally appealing. There are many reasons why a sun image might be personally meaningful, and why you might want to express this meaning through body art. The sun has had a religious and symbolic significance in many ancient cultures – one that is backed up by science. Honoring the sun as a giver of life is an ancient and universal impulse, and may explain some of the popularity of sun tattoos.
Sun tattoos can be rendered in a great variety of styles. There are tribal suns, of course, and there are sun images based on ancient Celtic art. For example, the circle of the sun may have a spiral – or several – inside it. These tattoo designs are simple to create, and they don’t need to be very large – but regardless of size, they are an impactful image.
Besides selecting tattoo styles for sun tattoos, decisions must be made about whether to keep these tattoos black and white or whether to incorporate color. A more naturalistic, yellow or orange sun can be very bold and attractive. Depending on how big it is, it can be tucked inside and elbow or wrist or it can spread across a lower back. That’s another thing about sun tattoo designs – the image is very versatile, and it can be made considerably bigger or smaller without losing its visual impact. A sun tattoo can be big or small, perfectly round or semicircular, as if rising or setting behind a mountain.
Sun tattoo designs are sometimes combined with a moon or star image, or both – because these three make up the complete set of heavenly bodies. Again, this set of three images is seen in a great variety of styles. We see sun tattoos in old school, flash type designs, where they might be part of a much larger and more complex composition. For some people, though, the best sun tattoos are the simplest ones. This simple image seems complete in and of itself – it doesn’t need much else. In a sense, selecting such a simple yet impactful image for your tattoo art is a huge advantage, because then you are free to enjoy the process of selecting styles and locations, knowing that you can’t really go wrong!
