Skull tattoos

The skull tattoo—more than menacing

In Vegas, we’re all about skull tattoos. These tattoos are thought to originate in ancient Egypt where two crossed scepters were carved on the tomb of pharaohs. We haven’t been to Egypt, but we could easily head to Vegas’s very own Egyptian pyramid (we’re looking at you Luxor) to see if there are indeed crossed scepters on the replica of King Tut’s Tomb.

What we do know is our skilled-tattoo artists here at Hart & Huntington Las Vegas have done a LOT of skull tattoos. And, they’ll tell you every skull tattoo they design has a unique meaning to the owner—and most of them have nothing to do with death like you may think.

Commonly skull tattoos take on religious meanings. For instance, in Christianity skulls represent human mortality and remind us to live each day to the fullest until we transcend to eternity. The spiritual meaning of the skull in Kabbalah is a sign of rebirth and is often tied to a person who has left this world and entered the spiritual world.

But, skull tattoos don’t have to go that deep. A lot of people choose skull tattoos simply because they look cool. And there’s really no better place to look cool than right here at H&H Las Vegas.

So if a skull tattoo is on your radar, here is some inspo to get you started.

Skull & Dagger Tattoo With a Serpent
One of the more common skull tattoos, is the very ornate Skull & Dagger tattoo with a serpent twisted around the image. Skull tattoos in Black and Gray are stunners. Black ink and shading brings life to the monochromatic color scheme. On the other end of the spectrum Neotraditional Skull & Dagger tattoos deliver vivid colors and flash art style for an eye-catching piece of art.

Skull Tattoo With Roses
Using dark colors with gradient shading for the skull and deep contrasting red for the roses is a popular design style for skull tattoos with roses throughout. But don’t discount Watercolor, Neotraditional, Realism, and Sugar Skulls which represent the day of the dead in Mexican culture.

American Traditional Skull Tattoo with the Jolly Roger
Pair a skull tattoo with the Jolly Roger and you’ve got an American classic. It goes without saying that this is one of the hottest combos when it comes to tattoo designs.

Where you take it from there, American Traditional, Sketch and anything between is up to you. But one thing for sure, skull tattoos paired with the Jolly Roger always look badass.

If you’ve got a grasp on the type of skull tattoo you want and the placement, set up a consultation with one of our talented artists who can bring your vision to life. And if you make it to the Luxor on the Strip (or hey, even Egypt), let us know if there really are two crossed scepters on the pharaohs' tombs.