Half Sleeve Tattoos in Bangkok

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Your body is your canvas which a skilled tattoo artist can use to create amazing pieces of art.

The large areas on your back, chest, and stomach are ideal locations for major pieces of artwork, but never underestimate the power of the arm as a great place to ink a major tattoo.

What Is a Half Sleeve Tattoo?

Large tattoos on the arm are usually broken down as follows:

“Full Sleeve” – covering the entire arm from shoulder to wrist
“Three Quarter Sleeve” – covering from shoulder to approximately halfway from the elbow to wrist
“Half Sleeve” – covering from the shoulder to the elbow (or just below) or sometimes from the elbow to the wrist

For all of the above definitions, sometimes the tattoos “wrap around” the whole arm (the front and back) and sometimes they are just on the front of the arm.

Half sleeve designs are getting more and more popular, as people want to get a cohesive piece of artwork on their arm but don’t necessarily want to go all the way to their wrist for various reasons such as:

They have some designs/ideas that they love but want to leave some space to add more later on
They want to be able to roll up their sleeves at work but still have their tattoos hidden (in the case of having the half sleeve on the upper arm)
They like the look of a half sleeve and feel it fits their style

So for those who believe that a half sleeve tattoo looks incomplete, they had better start thinking again!

For skilled tattoo artists, such as we have at ALL DAY Tattoo studio, the upper arm area – shoulder to elbow – provides the artist with tremendous scope to ink something really stunning.

If you struggle to find the necessary time to ink a great tattoo, another plus for the half sleeve is that it takes much less time to complete than a full sleeve.

The average time to ink a half sleeve tattoo is around three sessions totalling from 10-15 hours over 2 to 3 sessions, depending on the design.

This is still quite a commitment, but much less than the time to ink full sleeve, which can take anything from 25 to 40 hours to complete over at least 4 or 5 sessions.

Traditionally, half sleeve tattoos used to be the province of bikers, rock stars, and bodybuilders.

This is because tattoos on the upper arm are a great place to focus the eyes on the wearers’ well-developed biceps.

A great tattoo artist knows just how to create a design that can show off these bodily assets.

But these aren’t the only kinds of people who suit a half sleeve design!

Who Should Get a Half Sleeve Tattoo?

Going back a couple of decades, these were mostly the chosen style for men with large biceps and triceps to show off their gains in the gym.

As tattoos have become more common amongst the general population, increasingly, half sleeves have not only become popular for a wider range of men, but also for a large number of women.

Yes, it’s true – half sleeve tattoos are trending – for both men – and increasingly, women – thanks to the proliferation of exciting and creative designs that you’ll see on celebrities and ordinary people of all shapes and sizes!

However, don’t forget that any proper half sleeve tattoo is a major commitment.

Bear in mind that most half sleeve tattoos will be an extensive and major piece of artwork, probably involving intricate, often heavy ink strokes, and will likely contain many shades or colors.

So choose carefully before committing yourself to your chosen half sleeve, as it will be very difficult – if not impossible to remove at a later date.

This is all the more reason to come to All Day Tattoo, where you can be assured of expert advice and the finest possible artwork.

What Sort of Half Sleeve Designs are Trending?

As with any tattoo – the world is your oyster, only limited by your and your artist’s imaginations, and in recent years we have seen some really stunning and often extremely unique artwork on the upper arms.

A half sleeve tattoo can be so intricate with such detailed backgrounds that at a distance they are often mistaken for real material.

For men there are the traditional designs, such as Japanese, skulls, tribal maori and polynesian designs; and for women, designs such as minimalist intricate flowers, a watercolor design, and realistic angels are becoming popular.

That isn’t to say that certain styles only suit certain people though.

As the world grows ever more diverse and people want to really show their true selves, we see all kinds of designs on all kinds of different people.

Just a few other examples of half sleeve design elements:

a bird on the wing,
Hogwarts School,
a crazy wolf,
an owl with a rose,
a warrior and angel,
a mandala – alone or with lotus flowers,
a clock and rose,
the moon with cloud & mountain background, or maybe a mountain and tree with moon and stars,
complex geometric designs,
animals such as a lion, a fox, or elephant,
an eagle with a rose,
religious designs such as a Christian cross above hands in prayer, or a winged angel holding a cross,
a nautical star on a world map and anchor,
a girl and skull, a forest,
and so much more….

It is easy to get a complex design wrong and we will be only too happy to set you on the right track.

Not every design works well as a tattoo and that’s why you see so many really bad tattoos out there.

Our expert fluent English speaking team are more than happy to give you advice about what would work and what wouldn’t and help you to put together something truly beautiful.