What does it mean to persevere? Is it when you fail and come back to try again? Or is it when you fail twice and still come back? Well.. coming back to try again is nice, admirable but multiply that with a thousand and a thousand more, in-fact as many times as required, perhaps even endlessly. When you are clear in your mind that the only way out is through.. That! my dear dudes and dudettes, is what perseverance is.
Woah! never thought of myself as the serious pre-battle speech-giving type. Seriously guys, I’m just a tattoo blogger and speaking of those, let’s talk about some interesting ways of getting inked that show the world that we persevere.
Meaning of Perseverance Tattoo Designs
For a topic so non-specific, the options are endless. What means ‘perseverance’ to one person could mean “a-fairy-tale-castle” to another. It’s all pretty personal if you ask me but I’m here to help you out and lay out an array of different ideas so that you can make an informed decision on what your next tattoo is going to be. After all, it’s a smart decision to thoroughly think your tattoo through. They don’t come off that easy.
Here’s 90s groove metal band Pantera’s front-man Phil Anselmo sporting a “STRENGTH” tattoo on his skull like a boss-
Now, he’s persevered through a lot of shit and with a hard-core dude like him, one can only imagine what that must’ve been. Y’all can probably consider having ‘PERSEVERANCE” written on the side of your head, but do spend some time deciding the font size, the word IS kinda long, you don’t wanna start out big and then be having to squiggle and wiggle the rest of the letters in later as you run out of skull to tattoo on. Tattoos don’t come off easy.
Jack London is one of the most important authors ever to live (for me at-least). “Call of The Wild” has been an essential in our household since the time I was a little kid. “White Fang” and “Call of the Wild” are revered literary classics. In his early career, London submitted his first story over 600 times before being accepted by a publisher. Now that’s perseverance! Any kind of reference to Jack or the characters in his books could be a great idea for a ‘perseverance’ tattoo. A fun fact about Jack, he was around and alive at the time the sport of Surfing was being discovered. He is even rumored to have tried it and caught a few waves. Catching waves is hard. On my recent surf trip, I only caught about 30 waves out of 200 attempts.
The wawa aba is one of the Adinkra symbols. The name literally means “seed of wawa-tree” and the symbol signifies “hardiness, toughness, and perseverance”. Adinkra are symbols from Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms. They are used extensively in fabrics, logos, pottery and are incorporated into walls and other architectural features. A great idea for a tattoo, if you ask me. It’s small, easy to do, easy to get done ON you and the simple shapes strangely emanate a lot of power.
Ideas For Perseverance Tattoo Designs
Let’s start off with some cool drawings and ideas that could potentially be our tattoo
Here’s a good message that isn’t a bad idea for a constant reminder that stays on your body forever. The flowers in different stages of blossoming are a great representation of growth and metamorphosis.
The Infinity flower: The simple shape of the leaves and the growing dots leading up and out of the flower signify continuity and the cyclic nature that is a part of people who persevere.
Another simple yet effective design. The sun, though a finite source of energy (scientifically speaking) is a pretty endless entity with respect to our existence. Along with the moon, this tattoo signifies balance and infinity. Interestingly, the moon is placed inside a ‘comma’ and ‘commas’ by definition, are always used to take a short pause and never to end a sentence. This is a very subtle hint at conveying continuity and also places importance on taking short breaks during our constant grind.
This one is pretty self-evident. In-fact, getting waves tattoo’d on your body is a great idea any day of the week. I’d do it too, if I didn’t have that dislike for needles that we discussed in the last article. Also, this is a pretty strong affirmation and affirmations are ‘in’ these days and it so happens that they DO work.
A DNA molecule morphing into a cherry blossom tree with mountains and rivers and mother nature intertwined with the helix. The artist here has really made something people will want to look at over and over again. Isn’t that the point of art really? To want to look at it over and over again, kinda get lost in it. The message here is rather hidden away and artfully so. A great piece to get, perseverance or not.
A Cheetah climbing atop a cliff with a lone tree and a red sun as backdrop, the visuals here are so striking. The predator cat’s stance speaks victory and a primal hunger for success. Whereas all the other ideas till now have been “in the hopes of..” or “during the struggle to..” this piece here signifies ‘arrival’ and that is another approach to take when on the hunt for a ‘perseverance’ tattoo. Another thing to note here is the tri-color scheme, which is a very practical and effective palette for tattoos that have color. This will sit well with almost all skin tones.
Where Should You Get Perseverance Tattoo Designs
You guys really need a guide for this? Kidding. Here’s some places in-case you forgot you had spaces between your fingers too, y’know.. to write stuff on.
For Women
- Ankle
- Wrist
- Finger Spaces
- Hands
- Shoulder-Blades
- Behind the Ears
For Men
- Chest
- Biceps
- Legs
- Neck
- Back
- Forearms
List of Perseverance Tattoo Designs & Meanings
If you’re jacked like the guy in the photo here, a forearm tattoo is great for you. This font has a considerable amount of flair to it and you can’t go wrong with the simplicity of just using the word in question.
An Eagle or any other predatory bird is a symbol of power. Wings drawn on a muscular back make a lot of sense because the lats (Latissimus Dorsi) themselves are our wings in a way. Add to that a caption that you like, in this case ‘perseverance’ and you have a solid back tattoo that is sure to turn heads when you take your tee off on the beach next time.
There’s just something about the inner wrist that makes it a great spot for a meaningful tattoo. Maybe it is the fact that the very vessels that sustain our lives run just underneath this thin patch of skin and are clearly visible. Or the fact that many people struggling with personal demons contemplate ending it all with a deadly little slit to the area Which makes a simple tattoo like ‘cont;nue’ a message that could one day save a life. If you’re somebody who is going through some stuff, I urge you to seek professional help. It gets better, I promise! Besides, who’s going to read these silly little posts of mine if you decide to prematurely end session?
So, do continue.
- The Contest-Winning Tattoo
Things got a little heavy back there, had to share this adventurous piece. What can be said about this tattoo that it itself isn’t already saying!? The casual hand-written cursive font and it’s placement is what’s making this tattoo a rather artful experience.
Hard-core dudes representin’. The message is clear, although the flamboyant font probably has too many curvy lines and squiggles, quite the low-rider aesthetic in a way, but it works.
“Charhhdi Kala” roughly translates into “An ever hopeful spirit/positive disposition”. As a Punjabi myself, this tattoo is close to my heart in a lot of ways. From hearing the phrase countless times in our holy texts to listening to village elders use it as a response to a fellow native’s ‘howdy?’ For many of us, this will encompass a vast amount of emotions and a fair amount of nostalgia into one short phrase. However, if you do decide to get this tattoo’d, get it in a place where it is least likely to hurt the feelings and sentiments of people who follow this faith, it is a part of a religious text after all.
A solemn promise to the self. Done in the understated font that is a type-writer’s lettering. “still I rise.” is a reminder that whatever, whoever and no matter what. I continue to rise.
- The Finger Space Reminder
A small, easy to get, token of positivity that will help you through a tough time and may you never ever have to go through any tough times. May the only times that you go through be slightly inconvenient but never more than that.
- The Infinity Loop of Strength
Stay strong, persevere and triumph! Another great wrist tattoo idea.
The lower-case and cursive running-hand font on the outer thigh is giving off such a delicate vibe. Get this tattoo and keep checking yourself out in the mirror every chance you get.
- The Simple Yet Beautiful (2)
Same thing, but on the rear left side of the shoulder, will make asymmetrical/off-shoulder tops look all the more exciting when you wear them.
Phil makes a return in the form of his lower torso tattoo ‘UNSCARRED’. This tattoo is legendary, my teenage years were spent binge-ing on Pantera music videos and this tattoo is etched upon my memory like the notches Robinson Crusoe etched upon his calendar-log to keep track of the days he was marooned on that island.
Here’s another photo, a proper view of the tattoo-
They don’t make them like they used to anymore. While ‘perseverance’ is not the main quality of a Kamikaze pilot (suicide pilot), The Kamikaze reference works for us in our hunt for the perfect ‘perseverance’ tattoo as it signifies the “seeing-a-task-through-till-it’s-very-end” spirit i.e total commitment.
Another Kamikaze tattoo design that you can take inspiration from.
The sheer amount of training that it used to take to become a Samurai back in their glory days is enough testament to how much they had to persevere.
A Samurai tattoo on the entirety of the side torso is a great tattoo idea, one of my favorites from today’s post. The intricate detail is really making it pop.
This one is rather heart-breaking. As the Samurai continues to stand with an entire quiver of arrows emptied into him, this is a strong albeit graphic message indeed.
Henry Ford innovated industrial production with the introduction of the assembly line. However, before founding the extremely successful Ford Motor Company he was previously bankrupted and left penniless 5 times from failed ventures. Now that’s a real-life example of hard-core perseverance paying off from our times (well, almost.. The Model T came out around 120 years ago). This chest piece with it’s cheeky caption (Built without your tax dollars since 1903) is a very cool tattoo idea and it’s placement is also appropriate.
(Spoiler Alert!)
If you’ve seen the movie Cast Away (2000) you’ll know Wilson, the volley-ball with the red face painted on it to keep Tom Hanks’ character company and frankly his sanity while he was marooned on that unknown island for four years. It must’ve taken some military-grade ‘perseverance’ to keep himself alive long enough to run into a stray ship that could spot his signal.
Artwork depicting the key elements of the movie.
Wilson, the good-natured volley-ball and friend.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night ranks among the most recognized paintings. Throughout the artist’s life he only sold one painting to a close friend. That didn’t stop him from painting over 800 other pieces while starving and often destitute. Today Van Gogh’s “un-appreciated” work sells for hundreds of millions dollars. That! is perseverance for the sake of perseverance, the pure urge to create. A tattoo to celebrate his spirit is definitely a good idea.
Here are some interesting examples-
The Starry Night artwork but inside a heart and a tree growing out of it. Very pretty.
A very steampunk rendition of Van Gogh’s face with his most celebrated painting and matching colors making up this artwork.
And with that we come to an end to this post. Gotta level with you, this was a challenging topic, tattoos about perseverance!? what does that eve- How?? What!!?? but I feel like I gathered some useful information that can help you decide what tattoo to get to express your ‘persevera- I hate this word now. let’s call it “your undying spirit” Yes! -to express “your undying spirit” in the most fashionable yet personal way possible.
Like always, Stay Creative and have a nice day Y’all.
