Fandoms feel like living, breathing things sometimes - they rise and fall, they have their cringe moments (looking at you, Star Wars Holiday Special) and their huge successes. And there is perhaps no greater fandom in the world than for Star Wars.

So it’s no wonder that so many people want imagery from these iconic movies, shows, games, and comics tattooed forever on their skin. JediNews.com reckons that in 2021 there were nearly 322,000 Star Wars tattoos on Instagram - more than any other film.

Even within the Star Wars universe, tattoos have as much meaning as they do in the real world. Darth Maul’s iconic red and black face? Natural stripes, embellished by tattoos. In the extended Star Wars universe, electro-tattoos which carry data are commonplace.

From incredible colour realism to bizarre mashups and new takes on old characters, these are some of the best Star Wars tattoos from Killer Ink sponsored artists!

Amy Edwards & Steve Butcher

The most popular Star Wars tattoos tend to be portraits of iconic characters. Here we have Amy Edwards’ incredibly detailed Darth Revan from the critically-acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic video game; next to it is Steve Butcher’s amazing portrait tattoo of a helmet-less Darth Vader as seen in The Empire Strikes Back, framed with gothic “Dark Side” lettering.

Ivana Belakova & Duncan Whitfield

Of course, some artists like to break the mould and inject a little of their own flavour into the tattoo – just like Ivana Belakova’s colourful graffiti-style Boba Fett, which looks almost cartoonish. Shown on the right, Duncan Whitfield opts for creating lifelike portraits in black and grey, like this amazing Princess Leia.

David Corden & Anrijs Straume

The portraits continue with David Corden’s brilliant take on an older Luke Skywalker, as seen in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. David has a real knack for creating soft, vintage-feeling portraits with beautiful detail. Next, our first tattoo of the Mandalorian Din Djarin created by Anrijs Straume, a black and grey portrait in his signature dark trash realism style with lettering built into and around the piece.

David Giersch & Khan Tattoo

David Giersch’s dreamy galaxy Darth Vader on the left is a great example of combining watercolour abstract styles with a classic portrait – the contrast of the realistic helmet with the galaxy effect is awesome. Beside it, Khan Tattoo’s realistic Darth Maul makes you feel like you’re being watched – the shading and lighting work really bring it to life.

Guillaume Martins & Nick Limpens

We have a Grogu! Since The Mandalorian came out, Grogu – alternatively known as The Child, or incorrectly as Baby Yoda – has become a popular tattoo subject for Star Wars fans. In this black and grey piece by Guillaume Martins from Me Gus Tattoo, we see him hungrily slurping down tentacle soup, in about as lifelike an image as you can make of a puppet. On the right you’ll see Nick Limpens’ strikingly colourful and dynamic tattoo of Boba Fett using his ZX miniature flame projector, with a tie-in to The Mandalorian in the form of Grogu’s wanted poster.

Samuel Sancho & Hugo Feist

In our next image, Samuel Sancho creates an entire scene of characters and elements from the original trilogy in muted colours, including Princess Leia, Darth Vader and Yoda, with a Death Star, TIE fighters and an X-wing for good measure. Hugo Feist’s depiction of Scout Troopers on the right-hand side combines a large black and grey portrait with a shoot-out scene below.

Michael Taguet & Priit Salusoo

Two Darth Vaders for you now, and they couldn’t be more different. Michael Taguet’s glossy-looking portrait of the Sith Lord performs his iconic force chokehold, looming over a colourful, artistic depiction of Luke and Vader’s iconic father-son fight. Meanwhile, Priit Salusoo takes a traditional style tattoo approach to Vader, depicting him as a pipe-smoking proud dad, releasing galaxy smoke into the noose-like heart.

Clara Sinclair & Chris Jones

It’s our first Rebel Alliance symbol, but Clara Sinclair has put her own ornate spin on the icon with this simple black and grey ornamental piece. No less beautiful, Chris Jones created this realistic colour portrait of Matt the Radar Technician – spoilers, it’s Kylo Ren gone Undercover Boss, and if you haven’t seen the SNL sketch, you’re missing out!

Q Tattoo & Chris 51

Another Boba Fett one, and this time we’ve got Q Tattoo’s colourfully dynamic take on the character aiming his EE-3 carbine rifle, with tattered pages of Han Solo’s wanted poster scattered around and sparks coming from below. Meanwhile, Chris 51 takes on Boba’s ship with this cartoon-style rendition of Slave I on a watercolour space backdrop.

Sandra Daukshta & Ralf Nonnweiler

Sandra Daukshta plays brilliantly with the contrast of red and blue seen throughout the entire franchise with a large, realistic colour portrait of Rey staring out from the shoulder, with the silhouette of her epic battle with Kylo Ren below. On the right, master tattooist Ralf Nonnweiler created this incredibly realistic black and grey portrait of an aged Han Solo, as portrayed by Harrison Ford in The Force Awakens.

Tiggy Tattoos & Adrian Hidalgo

On the left, Tiggy Tattoos takes a neo-traditional approach to a Star Wars heroine with this stylised Princess Leia, complemented by a large Rebel Alliance logo and two Stormtrooper helmets. Adrian Hidalgo, on the other hand, created this vibrant sleeve combining a colourful space scene with a black and grey Yoda portrait, coloured only by the light of a glowing green lightsaber.

Kirsten Pettitt & Daniel Nowak

On this work-in-progress piece, Kirsten Pettitt has used eye-popping colour inks to create the image of Luke Skywalker piloting his X-wing, with the more surreal addition of a muting sticker over his mouth that reads “father”. Daniel Nowak’s softly coloured Boba Fett is so realistic you can see the cracks, dents and scuffs on his armour, and even with a helmet on it’s hard not to feel watched by this piece.

Debora Cherrys & Dumitru Todirica

Not enough love is given to the ultimate hero of the franchise, R2-D2, but Debora Cherrys immortalises him in a colourful neo-traditional style, combined with red and green lightsabers, as well as the twin suns of Tattooine against a desert backdrop. In stark contrast is Dumitru Todirica’s Imperial Starfighter Pilot, a large portrait staring out from the vacuum of space, with an active dog fight between X-wings and TIE fighters beneath.

Piotr Dedel & Isnard Barbosa

Piotr Dedel’s colour realism leg sleeve depicts some of the villains of the sequel trilogy, with a large portrait of a masked Kylo Ren looming over Captain Phasma of the First Order. To its right, you’ll find Isnard Barbosa’s neo-traditional take on Grogu holding Darth Vader’s charred mask, framed by the Mandalorian himself and a destroyed Death Star.

Thanks Aanderton & Matt Difa

And finally, some slightly different takes on the theme. Thanks Aanderton combined his once-signature plant tattoo style into everybody’s most hated Star Wars character, the cringeworthy Jar Jar Binks. The juxtaposition of colour portrait for Jar Jar’s face with the cartoon-like plant pot marked with the Rebel Alliance logo makes this tattoo incredibly unique. Matt Difa, meanwhile, takes on the light and dark side from the beloved Clone Wars series with this cartoon-style crest depicting fan-favourite Ahsoka Tano and the assassin Asajj Ventress.

We've come to the end of our best Star Wars tattoos collection and we're sure you'll agree there's a huge amount of talent here.

Don’t forget to share your own Star Wars tattoos with us by tagging Killer Ink on Facebook or Instagram and using the hashtags #killerinktattoo and #killerink!

May the Fourth be with you!