How big is a 15 cm tattoo?
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A 15 cm tattoo is 15 cm (5.9 in) on its longest side, about the height of a smartphone or half the long side of an A4 sheet. It is where medium tattoos turn into large ones: 15 cm runs most of a forearm, fills one side of the chest and sits as a mid-sized piece on the upper back.
How big is 15 cm, in everyday terms?
Fifteen centimetres is 5.9 inches, just short of 6 inches (15.2 cm). Hold up a phone: most are roughly 15 cm tall, so the length of your phone is a good stand-in for the length of the tattoo. A bank card is 8.56 cm long, so 15 cm is nearly two cards end to end. An A4 sheet is 29.7 cm long, so a 15 cm tattoo is half of it, the size of an A5 page's long side.
Size guides draw the line between medium and large right about here. Bosphorus Ink calls 7–15 cm medium and 16–30 cm large; Skin Design Tattoos calls anything over 6 inches large. A 15 cm piece sits on that boundary, so expect your artist to treat it as a serious piece of work, with its own drawing and time set aside.
15 cm, 15 inches, "6x4": which one do you mean?
Searches for tattoo sizes mix centimetres and inches, and the two are easy to confuse. A 15 inch tattoo is 38 cm: that is a large back piece covering much of the back, more than twice the size shown on this page, and closer to the 30 cm page and beyond. A "6x4 tattoo" usually means 6 by 4 inches, which is 15.2 × 10.2 cm: a 15 cm tattoo with a width of about 10 cm, the shape of many forearm and calf pieces. A "15–20 cm tattoo" is the range size guides give for a full lower arm or a large upper back piece; the 20 cm page shows the top of that range.
What a 15 cm tattoo looks like on the forearm, chest and back
Each area is framed the same way on every size page (45 cm of body top to bottom for the forearm, 50 cm for the chest, 60 cm for the back), so these compare directly with the 12 cm and 20 cm pages. At 15 cm the serpent fills a third of the forearm picture's height, the eagle 30% of the chest picture and the rhinoceros a quarter of the back picture. The bodies are plaster casts at adult proportions.
Where a 15 cm tattoo fills the area, and where it still sits small
The same 15 cm changes character from one placement to the next. The Sydney Tattoo Convention guide lists 15–20 cm under large tattoos for a full lower arm, the upper back and the thigh.
- On the forearm, a full wrist-to-elbow piece is 15–20 cm, so on a shorter arm 15 cm already runs from wrist to elbow. On a longer arm it leaves a few centimetres of clear skin at one end. Check your own forearm with a tape before you choose.
- On the chest, 15 cm is the top of the medium range for one side. It covers most of one pectoral, and a wide design starts to reach towards the breastbone or the shoulder.
- On the upper arm, 15 cm is the start of a large piece and wraps onto the front and back of the arm if the design is wide.
- On the ribs and the thigh, 15 cm is a comfortable medium piece with room around it.
- On the upper back, medium runs 10–20 cm and a full back piece 20–40 cm, so 15 cm is a clear, central image between the shoulder blades that leaves room to grow.
What a 15 cm design can hold
At 15 cm there is room for real shading, layered linework and a background. Bosphorus Ink lists detailed floral compositions at 12–25 cm and blackwork or geometric designs at 8–25 cm, so 15 cm suits both. Ink still spreads slightly over the years (Vatican Tattoo Studio and Black Hat Tattoo both describe lines thickening and softening over about a decade), but at this size there is space between lines for that to happen without the design closing up.
What can fail at 15 cm is a design that was drawn for a bigger area. A busy composition with a small face, a date or a line of script tucked into one corner puts those small parts at a few millimetres, and Vatican Tattoo Studio advises against script with capitals under about 3–4 mm. If a part of the design matters, measure how big it will be at 15 cm, not how big the whole design is.
How long does a 15 cm tattoo take?
Usually one long sitting or two. Aloha Tattoos gives six to ten hours for large thigh, chest and ribcage pieces, usually over two or more sessions. Skin Design Tattoos puts 5–7 inch pieces (13–18 cm) at eight to eleven hours. Platinum Ink says a full-day session runs five to eight hours. Simple linework at 15 cm can be much quicker; the estimates above are for well-filled pieces. Ask your artist for their own estimate once they have seen the design.
How a 15 cm tattoo reads from across the room
From a few metres away a 15 cm tattoo reads as a picture with a clear subject, and the main areas of light and dark carry. Bold outlines and solid black hold up best at a distance; very fine grey shading blends into a single tone. On a forearm at 15 cm the tattoo is the first thing people see on the arm.
Questions
How big is a 15 cm tattoo in inches?
A 15 cm tattoo is 5.9 inches on its longest side, just under 6 inches. That is about the height of a smartphone, or half the long side of an A4 sheet of paper.
Is a 15 cm tattoo medium or large?
It sits on the line between the two. Studio size guides call 7 to 15 cm medium and anything from about 15 or 16 cm upwards large. On a forearm it reads as a large piece; on the upper back it is a mid-sized one.
Is a 15 inch tattoo the same as 15 cm?
No. An inch is 2.54 cm, so a 15 inch tattoo is 38 cm long. That is a large back piece covering much of the back, more than twice the length of a 15 cm tattoo, and usually done over several long sessions.
What size is a 6x4 tattoo?
A 6x4 tattoo usually means 6 by 4 inches, which is about 15 by 10 cm. That shape suits the outer forearm, the calf and the upper arm, where the length runs along the limb and the width curves around it.
How long does a 15 cm tattoo take?
Studio estimates for a well-filled piece of this size run from about six to eleven hours, often split over two sessions. Simple linework at 15 cm can take far less time, so ask your artist for an estimate once they have seen the design.
Before you book
Measure 15 cm on the spot you have in mind, following the curve of the skin, and see where the ends fall against your wrist, elbow or collarbone. Then set your design to 15 cm on one of plan.tattoo's 74 plaster bodies and turn the camera to see how far it wraps. How to plan a tattoo covers what else to bring to your artist, and the tattoo size chart lists the typical sizes for every placement.
Sources: Sydney Tattoo Convention: tattoo size and body part guide · Bosphorus Ink: tattoo size and placement guide · Skin Design Tattoos: tattoo sizing guide · Aloha Tattoos: how long mandala tattoos take · Platinum Ink: how long does a tattoo take · Vatican Tattoo Studio: why micro tattoos blur · Black Hat Tattoo: how small can lettering go