35 Butterfly Tattoo Ideas To Inspire Your Next Ink - Byrdie

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Search Search Close search 49 Stunning Butterfly Tattoo Designs to Inspire Your Next Ink By Lisa DeSantis Lisa DeSantis Lisa has worked in the beauty industry for 10+ years. She began her career in beauty and fashion at QVC on their public relations team and made the move to beauty editorial shortly after. Byrdie's Editorial Guidelines and Isabelle Lichtenstein Isabelle Lichtenstein

Isabelle has been contributing to Byrdie since 2020. She has worked in digital media for over five years and is an expert on a range of topics, including tattoos, piercings, and culture. Her work can be seen across the web on Backstage Magazine, Merry Jane, Vulture, and more.

Byrdie's Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 23, 2025 10:21PM Reviewed by Mira Mariah Tattoo Artist Close

Never has a butterfly fluttered past us without some form of reverent acknowledgment. Whether their majestic wings hold personal meaning, spiritual significance, or are simply too beautiful to ignore, these ethereal creatures command attention wherever they migrate. As powerful symbols of transformation and freedom, butterflies also take pride of place when it comes to tattoo designs.

Whatever your reason for wanting a butterfly tattoo, the most important part is to be sure of what you want it to look like. If you’re still searching for that perfect something, keep scrolling for 49 butterfly tattoo ideas that will help you design your next piece of ink.

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Silhouette Butterfly Tattoo

What better way to pay homage to your own personal journey or that of a loved one than with a tattoo of their silhouette surrounded by butterflies? We love how dainty this design is, despite the many different elements it encompasses.

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Shaded Butterfly Tattoo

If you want to add some intricate detailing without a lot of color or excess lines, opt for light shading to add depth to the wings. Keep any additional details thin and light to keep the design ornate, but not overwhelming.

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Floral Butterfly Tattoo

Butterflies are a perfect complement to a floral tattoo. Both occur in nature, have beautiful energy, and can represent life. Pairing them bolsters these attributes.

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Knee Butterfly Tattoo

The shape of a butterfly’s wings looks great around circular bones like the knee. Keep the design otherwise simple to play up its shape.

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Minimal Butterfly Tattoo

Butterfly designs are great because they can be stylized in a number of ways. If you prefer a minimal tattoo, stick to a few lines—maybe even just one. Because butterflies can be easily identified when broken down to their basic shapes, they look really good in a line art style.

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Playful Butterfly Tattoo

Placed behind the ear, butterfly tattoos gain a sense of playfulness, as they can only be seen from certain angles or when wearing distinctive hairstyles.

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Line Art Butterfly Tattoo

Because butterfly wings tend to be intricate, line art is a really interesting and creative approach to the design. If you plan on adding a lot of lines, keep the other decoration and coloring simple.

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Dynamic Butterfly Tattoo

Butterflies come in a variety of colors and designs, so they can easily match any aesthetic. This butterfly tattoo uses subtle shading and white ink to create a dynamic sense of light and dark.

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Pectoral Butterfly Tattoo

The pectoral, upper chest, or clavicle area is a great location for a butterfly tattoo, as the amount of surface area means you can make it any shape and size that you’d like. The extra space also allows you to add more drawn-out details, like the shadow under the butterfly in this design.

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Arm Butterfly Tattoo

The more the merrier. Placing a few butterflies along the arm gives the impression that they’re flying upward. Using a minimalist style guarantees a sense of daintiness, and spacing out the butterflies adds to the weightlessness.

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Watercolor Butterfly Tattoo

Butterfly tattoos don’t have to be super minimal or super maximal—feel free to play around with elements to find your perfect design. Here, the intricate butterfly line design is customized with a gradient of red and purple ink to add visual interest.

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Colorful Butterflies Tattoo

Can't decide on just one color for your butterfly design? This multicolor combination makes the flier feel fun and youthful.

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Shattered Butterfly Tattoo

Geometric designs work well for butterfly tattoos because of the ornate designs that normally appear on their wings. Sharp, straight lines don’t ruin a butterfly’s image—instead, they add a sense of contrast that feels organic. We love the duality of this design that features a traditional wing on the left and one with sharp jagged edges on the right.

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Natural Butterfly Tattoo

Rather than opting for a straight butterfly design, why not combine it with another natural element? Here, the butterfly is combined with florals, giving the tattoo delicately powerful energy.

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Weightless Butterfly Tattoo

If you want a more realistic tattoo, butterflies can be designed to look as though they’re about to fly off your skin. With details like a large, properly placed shadow and the dynamic shading on the wings, this butterfly is ready to take flight.

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Thick Butterfly Tattoo

Butterfly tattoos don’t have to be small and minimal. Adding heavy shading or bright colors can add some bold personality to the popular design choice.

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Neck Butterfly Tattoo

From the placement to the design, this butterfly tattoo tells a one-of-a-kind story.

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Pastel Butterfly Tattoo

Try playing around with different tattoo styles with your butterfly design. This tattoo uses pastel coloring and a technique that looks like the wings themselves are overlapping.

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Blackwork Butterfly Tattoo

Thanks to the heavy black that naturally occurs on butterflies, blackwork tends to work well in these designs. Rather than feeling heavy, the black offers bold contrast, elevating the brighter, more delicate details.

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Chest Piece Butterfly Tattoo

Placing a butterfly in the center of your chest makes a statement all on its own. But, going for a red, smudge-y color calls even more attention to it, making for a truly unique ink piece.

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Delicate Butterfly Tattoo

A sweet sprig and butterfly along the ribs feel very chic and delicate because of the curves of the body and the movement of the design.

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Full Side Piece Butterfly Tattoo

Not all butterfly tattoos have to be dainty and delicate. This full side-piece design takes advantage of the increased canvas space and packs it with photo-realistic hues and heavy line work.

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Word Butterfly Tattoo

Placing a word or phrase next to a butterfly tattoo will enhance the tattoo’s symbolism. While butterflies often represent change, endurance, or life itself, adding your own quote will give it a meaning that’s important to you.

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Botanical Butterfly Tatttoo

Like floral details, botanicals make a natural pairing to butterfly ink designs. We love how the organic shape of this piece elegantly wraps around the arm.

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Butterfly Foot Tattoo

Butterfly foot tattoos don’t need to be simplified to keep them from overwhelming the space. Feel free to add extra shading and details for visual interest while keeping it well-spaced.

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Series of Butterflies Tattoo

To play up the movement that comes naturally to a butterfly tattoo, go for a design featuring a series of butterflies. Place each butterfly’s wings into a different mid-flight position to make them seem like they’re flying away.

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Butterfly Wing Tattoo

Because the body of a butterfly is dominated by its beautiful wings, a design without the actual body can still make an obvious impact. In this tattoo, the wings almost feel more weightless without the body, as it conjures up the image of delicate dried wings, rather than live ones.

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Contrasting Butterfly Tattoo

Rather than focusing on the inner wing of a butterfly design, try pulling attention to the blackwork complexities of the wing. The white details create a striking contrast while managing to feel natural.

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Aesthetic Butterfly Tattoo

Butterfly tattoos don't all have to look the same. Try going for a playful design that’s more about the overall aesthetic than a specific style.

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Balanced Butterfly Tattoo

Large butterfly tattoos can feel just as weightless as tiny designs since butterflies always have a fair amount of negative space in their design. This naturally pushes the thicker lines to the inner and outer parts of the tattoo to strike the right balance.

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Womanhood Butterfly Tattoo

Butterflies are often associated with women and “femininity,” so they pop up in designs featuring other such images, like florals or the crescent moon. Delicate details, including sparkles and dot work, pair just as beautifully.

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Cartoon Butterfly Wings Tattoo

As long as you keep the general shape of a butterfly’s wings, you can customize the design in any style you want. Here, the wings feature a Kuromi cartoon design and in the place of a body, there's an unexpected black heart.

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Personal Meaning Butterfly Tattoo

Adding a word, symbol, or phrase to a butterfly tattoo can underline its meaning. This design, incorporating a semicolon, pays tribute to the butterfly’s representation of life.

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Eye-Spy Butterfly Tattoo

This original blue and black butterfly featuring wavy lines and eyes with lashes proves that even though it's a popular tattoo design, you can make sure that yours is truly unique.

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Butterfly Goddess Tattoo

Whether you're creating a design that matches a special someone's likeness or showcasing Mother Nature herself, a butterfly-adorned goddess makes for a stunning tribute. The tiny details are everything.

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Realistic Butterfly Tattoo

Opting for a more realistic butterfly design doesn't have to mean using color. Instead, go for a tattoo that uses varying line thicknesses, smooth and light shading, and small bits of blackwork to give the illusion of depth and light.

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Blue Butterflies

Bright blue ink is pretty rare to see in tattoos, so it'll easily elevate any design, butterflies included. We love the shade variations throughout, which create an overall harmonious piece.

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Shin Butterfly Tattoo

Because the shin or calf area is such a resolute, straight part of the body, placing a butterfly tattoo there creates a contrast that makes it pop.

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Matching Butterfly Tattoo

Butterflies are a great idea for matching tattoos as they embody a foundational design that ensures cohesion. Plus, they can be customized to any shape, size, and style, so your matching tattoos are unique to the pair of you.

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Hand Butterfly Tattoo

Butterfly designs make for great hand tattoos because of the movement innate to both the insect and the body part. The wing shape of the butterfly also fits well with that of the hand, so the two elements harmonize with one another seamlessly.

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Flapping Wing Illusion Butterfly

If you look at this trippy butterfly tattoo for too long, it actually looks like it's moving. This type of illusionist artwork requires a specific tattoo artist, so if it's what you're looking for, be sure to do your research.

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Tarot Card Butterflies

Being that monarchs have some mythical qualities to them, it makes sense that they'd be incorporated in a tarot card tattoo design such as this one.

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White Ink Butterfly Tattoo

You have your black ink and colored ink to choose from, but an often overlooked option is a white ink tattoo. This tiny white butterfly design is perfect for someone who's not trying to call attention to their ink.

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Butterfly Add-On

Thanks to their ability to be any size without losing detail, butterflies are great add-ons to existing tattoos. If you’ve already got ink and are faced with filling an empty space, a butterfly can be just the thing to do it.

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Whimsical Butterfly Tattoo

This rainbow butterfly with a whimsical, ethereal design is the ultimate conversation piece. Make sure you find the right type of tattoo artist to achieve this design.

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Mystical Butterflies

We can't think of a more suitable creature to be our guide through life. This delicate butterfly tattoo is paired with esoteric elements to illuminate the journey ahead.

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Butterfly Thigh Tattoo

This butterfly duo tattoo is perfect for a large area of the body like the thigh.

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Butterfly Finger Tattoo

Who needs a ring when you can have a butterfly permanently landed on your fingers? The matching nail art is what really makes this piece soar.

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Faux Butterfly Tattoo

Not ready to fully commit to a permanent piece? Take inspiration from Megan Thee Stallion with gorgeous temporary butterfly tattoos. We especially love the addition of rhinestones for a little extra sparkle.

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