The image of the crow is often associated with the concept of metamorphosis or passage. There are many interpretations, often in contrast with one another, according to the cultural tradition in which they have their origins.
Black, majestic, with powerful talons and a prominent beak, in the West, the crow is associated with death and destruction.
In Medieval art it is often connected with scenes of death on the battlefield, in part because this is a bird which will gladly feast on human carcasses, and for this reason too it has been associated over the ages with mournful graveyard scenes.
It was also linked to witches and evil souls in direct contact with the underworld and this gave it a brooding, mysterious presence which, in Western culture at any rate, made it a harbinger of doom.
In other cultural traditions however, for example, in that of the Celtic Irish and Native Americans, the crow is considered a spiritual intermediary between the world of the living and that of the dead and is associated with intelligence and profound knowledge.
In China and Japan the crow actually represents gratitude, family ties, and is considered a bearer of good news.
In Asian mythology one of its most well-known manifestations (mainly associated with winter scenes) is the three-legged crow, Yatagarasu – representing the Heavens, Earth and Human Kind and has become a sacred symbol which can be found before Shinto temples and sacred places.
In tattoo the crow is a subject used in all the most common styles, in Realistic Black and Grey. Horror, Traditional, where it appears more often than not in total black (@samfreecity for example), as in classic Oriental and more recent interpretations of which (@gakkinx) is a fine example.
In our digital tattoo library tattooebooks.com you can find all sorts of sources of inspirations from the interpretations various tattooists have given to this subject. One example is the ebook A Murder of Crows by Ben Lucas, proprietor of the Californian tattoo shop Eye of Jade, a collection of 80 illustrative plates (in pdf) ready to download on your device.
TATTOO EBOOK
Take a look at the ebook A Murder of Crows by Ben Lucas here:
Here, with nothing more than the black ink on the white background of the page, Ben is the undisputed protagonist, with attention to talons, eye, beak. And executed together with crosses, or dry branches or stark, grim visual elements, underlining the more sinister western interpretation of this creature.
