Minimalist Tattoos: Elegant Body Art Drawn With Just One Line

Tattoos are generally lauded for their intricacy and complexity, but these bold, beautiful and simple alternatives become artfully different thanks to a simple trick: the use of a single continuous line.

one line lips

single line tattoo

Made by Mo Ganji, a Berlin tattoo artist, each of these works (if you look closely) starts and ends at a single pair of points, no matter how they appear at first glance.

one line koi fish

one line hands together

The zigs and zags required to make this approach work are what signal the viewer to make such a closer inspection in the first place.

one line face

one line bike

Despite the simplicity and consistency of the method, the results are surprisingly varied, from very geometric shapes of human-made objects to organic curves of human and other natural forms.

one line tree

one line conifer

In some cases, pointillist patterns are added to add texture, creating leaves, shadows or other details, but kept intentionally non-linear so as not to detract from the primary lone-line drawing. (via Colossal)