2 cm tattoo: how small is it, and what fits?
updated
A 2 cm (0.8 in) tattoo is slightly smaller than a £1 coin, a 1 euro coin or a US quarter, all about 2.3–2.4 cm across. At that size a simple outline, a single initial or a small symbol reads well; fine shading and lettering longer than a letter or two do not. It suits a finger, wrist or ankle.
How big is a 2 cm tattoo?
Tattoo sizes are given by the longest side of the design, so a 2 cm tattoo fits inside a square 2 cm (0.8 in) on each side. Put a coin on the spot you have in mind: a £1 coin is 2.34 cm across, a 1 euro coin 2.325 cm and a US quarter 2.43 cm. A 2 cm tattoo sits just inside the edge of any of them. Tattoo studios usually call anything from about 1 to 3 cm a micro or minimal tattoo, and the Sydney Tattoo Convention's size guide puts 2–3 cm pieces on the fingers, the wrists and the inner ankle.
Most searches for a tiny tattoo land somewhere between 1 and 3 cm. The difference between those sizes looks small written down, and it is large on the body, because the area grows with the square of the side. A 3 cm piece has more than twice the room of a 2 cm one, and a 1 cm piece has a quarter of it.
| Size | Inches | About as big as | What tends to read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cm | 0.4 in | under half a £1 coin | a dot, a heart, a single solid shape |
| 1.5 cm | 0.6 in | about two-thirds of a £1 coin | a bold outline with no inner detail |
| 2 cm | 0.8 in | just under a £1 coin | a symbol, one initial, a simple flower |
| 3 cm | 1.2 in | a little over a quarter | a small animal outline, a short word with large letters |
What detail survives at 2 cm?
Ink settles and spreads a little under the skin as a tattoo heals and ages. Think Tank Tattoo plans its lettering for a line spread of 10–20% after healing, and Vatican Tattoo Studio describes edges looking slightly fuzzy after about five years, with visible thickening after ten. On a 20 cm piece that softening is invisible. On a 2 cm piece the gaps between lines are often less than a millimetre, so they are the first thing to close.
Bosphorus Ink's sizing guide says that below 4 cm the margin for error becomes very small, and that fine-line work under 2 cm typically shows visible spreading within 3–5 years. In practice that means a 2 cm design should work as a silhouette. Open shapes, one line weight and plenty of empty space inside the outline hold up; cross-hatching, tiny dots of shading and lines drawn side by side merge into a grey patch.
Lettering is the usual trap. Studios recommend letters no smaller than about 3–4 mm tall (Vatican Tattoo Studio gives a 3–4 mm cap height, Think Tank Tattoo an x-height of 2.8–4.0 mm). At that height a 2 cm wide space holds roughly four or five letters in a plain font, and fewer in a looped script. A single initial or a short date in numerals fits; a name usually needs 4 cm or more.
A 2 cm tattoo on the forearm, chest and back
The three pictures below show a 2 cm woodcut on the outer forearm, one side of the chest and the upper back. Each area is framed the same way on every size page (45 cm of body in the frame height for the forearm, 50 cm for the chest, 60 cm for the back), so you can open the 5 cm or 10 cm page and compare the same view directly.
These are woodcuts, full of fine hatching, and they show the problem plainly. At 2 cm the lines of hatching in the serpent and the eagle sit a fraction of a millimetre apart, closer than any healed line can keep. A design like this needs several times the size before its texture reads (Bosphorus Ink puts detailed compositions at 12 cm and up); at 2 cm you would ask your artist to redraw it as a clean outline.
Where a 2 cm tattoo works, and where it gets lost
Small pieces look best where the area around them is also small, so the tattoo fills a good share of it. Bosphorus Ink suggests 2–6 cm for the wrist and 2–7 cm for the ankle; the Sydney Tattoo Convention adds fingers and the inner ankle at 2–3 cm. Behind the ear, the side of a finger and the inner wrist are common spots for this size.
On the upper back or the chest, 2 cm becomes a single speck in a wide field, as the back picture above shows: from a step away it reads as a freckle or a mark. That can be what you want, a private piece only you know is there. If you want it to be seen as a design, choose a narrower spot or go up to 5 cm. The forearm sits in between: 2 cm near the wrist bone reads, 2 cm in the middle of the outer forearm looks a little lonely.
How long does a 2 cm tattoo take?
The tattooing itself is short. Platinum Ink notes that a simple design with clean line work may take less than an hour once the needle starts, and Skin Design Tattoos puts pieces up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) at about an hour. Stencil placement and setup add time on top. Because the setup is the same as for a larger piece, many studios charge a minimum for any tattoo, so ask about it when you book.
Planning a tiny tattoo
Draw the outline in pen on the spot, then look at it in a mirror from about a metre away. If you can't tell what it is, the design needs simplifying or the size needs to grow. You can also put your design on a plaster 3D body in plan.tattoo, type 2 cm, and turn the camera to see it from the distance other people will. Try 1.5, 2 and 3 cm side by side on the same arm before you settle; the tattoo size chart lists the typical ranges for each placement, and how to plan a tattoo covers the brief for your artist.
Questions
Will fine lines hold up in a 2 cm tattoo?
Tattoo lines spread a little as the tattoo ages, so detail packed into 2 cm can blur into one shape over the years. Bold outlines, simple symbols and a single initial usually stay clear at this size. If the design has fine shading or small lettering, many artists will suggest going a little larger or dropping some detail.
Is 2 cm too small for a tattoo?
Not for a simple design. A clean outline, a single initial or a bold symbol holds up at 2 cm. Fine shading, close parallel lines and words of more than a few letters blur together within a few years, so those designs need more room.
What is the smallest tattoo that still looks good?
Artists will tattoo a dot or a tiny heart at around 1 cm. Below 2 cm only bold, simple shapes keep their look as the ink spreads with age, and studios warn that fine-line work at that size softens visibly within three to five years.
Can I get a word tattooed at 2 cm?
Only a very short one. Studios advise letters at least three to four millimetres tall, so a 2 cm space holds about four or five plain letters. A name or a phrase in script usually needs four centimetres or more to stay readable over the years.
Can a 2 cm tattoo be covered at work?
Usually. A 2 cm piece behind the ear, on the inner wrist or on the ankle can sit under hair, a watch strap or a sock. One on the side of a finger shows mostly when the hand turns. Place it on a plaster cast in the planner and turn the view to see which angles show it.
Sources: Bosphorus Ink: tattoo size and placement guide · Sydney Tattoo Convention: tattoo size and body part guide · Vatican Tattoo Studio: why micro tattoos blur · Think Tank Tattoo: script tattoo sizing · Black Hat Tattoo: how small can lettering go · Platinum Ink: how long does a tattoo take · Skin Design Tattoos: tattoo sizing guide