Although tattoos were initially used for healing, they have since grown in popularity due to their artistic potential. While many people get tattoos to reflect their beliefs, others simply get them for their unique design and style.
Luckily, through cloud tattoos, you can express your beliefs, motivations, or current mental state in the most stylish way possible.
It is often overwhelming for people who are new to the trend to make the right choice when faced with the many choices.
In this list, you will find the 155+ best cloud tattoos to help you get the perfect tattoo.
Cartoon Cloud
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With Western animation appealing to both children and adults alike, you can opt for this tattoo of a cloud showering rainbows. The tattoo shows a cloud as it rains down rainbows from itself.
The artist creates the cloud using thin lines to create a cartoonish cloud in black and white. The rainbow holds dull and yet vivid colors, made through watercolor, as they leave the cloud.
8-Bit Clouds
As video games are one of the most recognizable and influential forms of modern media, it’s no surprise someone would go for this tattoo.
The tattoo shows a black and white, pixilated cloud looking off into the distance. The cloud holds an art style very similar to the original 8-bit games of the 1980s through the artist’s intricate dotwork. Although the tattoo holds no symbolic meaning, it is stunning to look at.
Crack Of Dawn
Taking a more realistic approach, the artist creates an optical illusion where the skin deteriorates to show cloudy skies. Through detailed and realistic work, the tattoo gives a very calming feel with its snowy white clouds and tiny birds soaring through the skies.
The artist breathes life into the tattoo through vivid and bright colors. The tattoo symbolizes escapism or inner peace, but it is also up to the interpretation of the viewer.
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Cloud Forest
The cloud forest is a tattoo arm sleeve, showcasing a silhouette of a forest beneath a cloudy sky. The artist creates a grim dark scene, as if from a horror movie, and adds a sense of realism with the minimalistic light coming from the moon partially visible from the clouds.
The silhouette is jet black mixed with a lighter shade of indigo towards the top, creating a purple skyline just beneath the clouds. The moon is a dull white while the clouds sport a shade of dark gray, giving a grim ambiance.
The tattoo is a work of art; however, it is not one that holds symbolic meaning.
Lightning Cloud
Taking its inspiration from modern day comics and visual novels, the tattoo shows a comic cloud with lightning bolts shooting out of it. The artist maintains an overall humorous approach toward what is an otherwise dangerous situation.
The clouds hold a charming yet threatening look as they unleash comically small lightning bolts. The clouds carry a dark shade of gray, with their color getting lighter until the top of the cloud. The lightning bolts are a dark and dull yellow with a bright red outline. The tattoo, while holding now metaphorical meaning, is simply marvelous to look at.
The Lighthouse
This tattoo shows a lighthouse standing atop a hill where clouds surround it. You can see that the lighthouse is still shining light onto the sea during a lightning storm. The artist shows this wonderfully through the dark purple highlight that covers the scene, giving it a grim ambiance.
The clouds gathered above the lighthouse are dark grey, while the lighthouse is a mix of vivid red and white. As the lighthouse shines its bright yellow light onto the sea, it symbolizes perseverance and hope even in the darkest of times.
Ascending Ladder
The ascending ladder is a very simple tattoo showing a ladder piercing through a large white cloud. The artist drew both the cloud and the ladder in a cartoonish setting with a black ladder piercing a white cloud.
The clouds look rich with bright white ink, while the ladder looks deep with its vivid watercolor effects. The artist has left his works meaning up to the viewer’s interpretation.
Lightning Strikes
Lightning strikes is a very picturesque tattoo, showing the scene of lightning striking down on the ground. The artist shows the many trees in the area as silhouettes slightly light up after the impact of the lightning.
The clouds, as a dark vortex above the forest, shine brightly with a white flash as lightning exits the clouds to hit the ground. The artist creates a sense of realism through his intense grey color of the clouds, followed by the immense flash of white light from the lightning.
This tattoo shows the power of nature.
Planes In The Sky
The artist of this tattoo pays homage to the airplane fights of World War II. The tattoo sleeves stretch throughout the entire arm showing 5 planes dodging and evading fire. The tattoo has a brown monochromic tone along with a combination of light and dark shades.
While the planes are rather cartoonish and comical, the clouds look realistic with their sketchy art style. The attention to detail is amazing seeing how the planes of competing sides are easily differentiable.
Although the tattoo holds no metaphorical meaning, it serves as a reminder of the early 20th-century war that changed the course of history.
Storm From The X-Men
A tribute to the female superhero of the Marvel universe, the tattoo sees the storm as she calls upon the forces of nature. The artist, recreating the signature comic style, shows storm ascending towards the clouds gathering her power.
Donning the iconic black and yellow dress, Storm looks very similar to her comic book counterpart with her long silver hair and white lightning eyes.
The artist uses watercolor to recreate some parts of her dress while the rest of her uses the similar dark ink. To this day, Storm is the embodiment of female empowerment as she is one of the strongest members of her team.
Watercolor Cloud
As the name suggests, through watercolor the artist creates a tattoo with eves of clouds around the customer’s arm. With the mix of sky blue, pink and a little grey, the artist creates a mesmerizing pattern of clouds wrapping around the arm.
With the help of new school techniques and paintbrush effects, the artist is able to make the clouds and pattern near lifelike. While the tattoo holds no hidden meaning it is very soothing and relaxing to look at.
The Stormy Sea
The Stormy Sea is another very picturesque tattoo that tells a story without the use of words. The artist shows a ship as it struggles to maintain balance, leans to the side in the midst of a rainstorm. There is great attention to detail throughout the scene.
From the shapes and patterns of the clouds to the men falling overboard, there is detail down to the minutest object. The tattoo while having a monochromic setting is able to differentiate colors and tell a grimdark tale through its dark clouds that surround the ship and its large waves that look down on the many helpless sailors.
Fall Of Icarus
A tale that shows the price of overconfidence, the tattoo depicts the events of the story through its tattoo sleeve. The artist recreates the 15th-century art style near to perfection.
Depicting Icarus as he reaches above the clouds, on the bicep, where the sun is shining brightly, and in the lower part of the arm they show how he begins to fall. Through the monochromic setting, you can see the beautiful color grading as it shifts from bright on the top to dark and dull at the bottom. This tattoo embodies the original moral of the myth of Icarus, of how overconfidence is not a good thing.
Traditional Japanese Dragon
In Japanese folklore, dragons are wise ancient creatures that lived for centuries within the clouds. The artist shows a large dragon as he walks above the clouds with his large body stretching around the bicep making a sleeve.
The artist follows the traditional Japanese style of tattooing mixed with some new school tattoo elements. The artist shows the dragon bathed in a jet black color with red lines circling it.
Besides the black dragon are the equally bright and vivid clouds that bring balance to the scene. The artist has left the meaning of his work to the viewer’s interpretation.
Hot Air Balloon
The hot air balloon tattoo shows a hot air balloon as it floats along the clouds looking down on a city. The artist creates a feeling of grand scale with his intuitive art style.
With the artists use of watercolors and dark thick ink he creates a replica of a poster color painting. With some colors blending into each other while there is still a certain level of individuality left in all the different colored objects.
The tattoo comes to life with its diverse range of colors and art style. Since there is no symbolic meaning to the tattoo, it is pure style and design.
19th Century London
The 19th century London Tattoo shows a man walking down an alley through the old buildings on his way to the Big Ben tower. The man, sporting a top hat along with a cane and tuxedo, walks the dull blue monochromic streets of 19th-Century London.
In the scene, you can notice the Big Ben Tower made in a near replica of the original. Through the new school and old school methods of tattoos, the artist makes the streets of London look lifelike.
Stairway To Heaven
A nod to the famous Led Zeppelin song by the same name, the Stairway to Heaven tattoo is a replica of the original album art. The original album art is a staircase with curves, leading to the top of the clouds where a light is shining bright.
The tattoo replicates this original design through its traditional and new school method of tattoos to give the old art a fresh new look. There is a lot of attention to detail with the artist making the flowers on the staircase as well.
With a large color palette, the tattoo looks like a carbon copy of the original art.
All Seeing Eye
For those of you who are very religious or believe in online conspiracy theories this tattoo is for you. The artist shows the eye among clouds as it watches soullessly at the viewer. The tattoo follows a green monochromic tone that fills the clouds and the eye at different shades.
The eye, inspired by the Illuminati sign, is placed in the middle of the clouds along with some minute tribal work at the edges of the eye. While the artist has left this tattoo up for interpretation, that doesn’t stop you from making up your own theory.
The Lonesome Sailor
The Lonesome Sailor sees a man paddling a boat under the cloudy sky. The artist gives an overall magical feel of the scene as the sailor moves out of the shore alone on his own.
You can see the water reflecting the small shafts of moonlight through the clouds. With their light grey appearance and the boat’s dark brown color, the artist highlights the scene with royal blue to add to the effect.
The Lonesome Sailor, without words, symbolizes loneliness and despair.
Rocket Launching Into The Clouds
A very cartoony tattoo, the artist makes a simple rocket as it is blasting off into the clouds. As the simple monochrome replica of the rocket is launching of, ahead of it are the rainbow-colored clouds. With a neo-traditional art style, the tattoo shows the vivid colors of the clouds in contrast to the black and white setting of the rocket. The tattoo holds no specific meaning rather the artist has left it to interpretation.
Clouds symbolize many different things, such as holiness, Zen and peace. In conclusion, there are many different tattoos out there with different styles, so choose wisely what tattoo you get.
