Nothing Says Tattoo Like a Cross Tattoo!

Getting tattooed continues to be a growing practice by a large number of people in a wide age range. Taking into account all ages, about 15 percent of all males in America sport tattoos, and a surprising 13 percent of all women.

I would have thought the male population would have been much higher than women, but that has really started to change as a growing number of female celebrities and female tattoo stars such as Kat Von D bring the practice more mainstream for women.

Anyway, in this article I want to highlight an increasingly popular subset of tattoos - the cross tattoo.

What's amazing about the cross tattoo, is it is worn for a variety of reasons not connected to each other, but which together make it one of the more popular requests to have inked into a body.

For example, there can be Christian cross tattoos, Celtic, goth and tribal, among others.

The combination of a tribal/Celtic cross below with the great lines and nice colors is a good example of how the cross can be taken and made into a unique and compelling image.

Below that is a powerful portrayal of Christ with the weight of the world on His shoulders as expressed through His unsuccessful attempt to lift Himself up while it lies heavily on His body..

Cross tattoos can be displayed across all parts of the body for different effects too. I've seen some across the entire upper back, others on the upper shoulder area, and still others on the chest. There are some on the lower back and some on the outer bicep as well.

In other words, if there's a piece of skin available, there's probably been a cross tattoo put there ... whether male or female.

It's astounding to see such a simple object that represents so much to a wide variety of people applied to one art form and then have artists creating an almost limitless number of designs from it.

The cross tattoo with wings below could be an interpretation of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the resurrection being represented by the wings. Also interesting is the Gothic elements included in the tattoo design.

My favorite cross tattoos are 3D crosses, which I've included one of my personal favorites in a photo below.

Below we have a couple of unusual cross tattoo designs, with the multi-colored and full back tattoo below, followed by an interesting but disturbing tattoo of Jesus hanging on the cross with the face of a skull and lower part of His body missing. I think it would take a lot of courage to have that type of image tattooed on a person.

The cross represents many things: forgiveness, sacrifice, love, suffering and Jesus Christ, among a number of others.

In most cases it is almost always very personal and meaningful, and as you can see, can be expressed and designed in a wide variety of ways.

To this day the cross remains a point of controversy with little or no neutral ground as to its meaning and relevance to millions of people. Cross tattoo designs retain that meaning in the majority of options chosen by recipients of the powerful symbol.

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