For most kids, a day with their grandparents involves picking up a new toy or overindulging on baked goods and TV. However, on Rick and Morty—the Adult Swim animated series in its fourth season—time with grandpa entails fewer toys and treats and far more interdimensional travel.
The show’s title characters—maniacal, unsentimental scientist and grandfather Rick Sanchez and his awkward but good-natured grandson Morty Smith—find themselves in endlessly absurd situations that have led the show to quickly become one of late night’s most successful sitcoms. Seriously: It even won an Emmy last year.
And some people love the show so much that they’ve opted to permanently mark their fandom with tattoos. Here we’re sharing 11 of our favorite Rick and Morty tattoos, and a bonus piece inspired by Aqua Teen Hunger Force, another equally entertaining Adult Swim program. Be warned though: These designs are so good they may inspire a Rick and Morty binge session, a new piece of ink…or both.
1. A psychedelic scene
To be totally honest, watching too many episodes of Rick and Morty in a row can feel like a wild trip. Here, David Peyote, a Montreal-based tattoo artist, captures that feeling perfectly with this illustrative portrait of the characters. He contrasts bright colors and splashes of white ink with heavy blackfill to create a psychedelic, out-of-this-world effect that feels like a natural fit within the Rick and Morty universe.
2. This descending duo
Ben Kaye, the artist behind this massive calf tattoo, is clearly a big Rick and Morty fan. In anticipation of the show’s fourth season (which premiered earlier this month), the owner of Ship Shape Tattoo in New Zealand tattooed this dark, illustrative design. It does such good justice to the characters and their ongoing antics that it looks like it was copied and pasted directly from the show’s reel onto the client’s leg, don’t you think?
3. This pickle patch
If you’re looking for a particularly unique way to put your fandom status on display, you might consider an embroidery tattoo like this Pickle Rick piece by Terioshi Otto, a Brazilian tattooist who also practices in the watercolor and realism styles.
Like this design? Check out Adult Swim’s semi-permanent “Pickle Rick” tattoo on Inkbox.
4. This dizzying dotwork design
Interdimensional travel is a regular occurrence for Rick, so this wrist tattoo of him on his way into a portal to another dimension is totally on-brand for the cartoon. Done by Vancouver-based tattoo artist Denyse, this piece makes use of her signature dotwork style to give the portal a shaded, outer space-esque effect.
5. Cranky but colorful
Cayo is a skilled graffiti artist whose style of spray painting translates perfectly to his New School style of tattooing. Known for its use of bright colors and animated figures, his technique gives Mr. Meeseeks a three-dimensional quality that really emphasizes his cranky-ass expression.
6. The blackwork edit
Colorful tattoos don’t match everyone’s aesthetic. If you’re one of those people, a blackwork piece like this bold rending of Rick’s face might be a better fit for your taste. Gonzalo Corr, the artist behind this design, works out of Monkey’s Ink studio in Buenos Aires and specializes in blackwork cartoon characters. Other notable faces in his portfolio include SpongeBob SquarePants, Stitch (we love a good Disney tattoo), and Angelica Pickles.
7. A little bit of glitch
We suspect the distortion that defines a glitch tattoo such as this one—done by Italian artist Lilly Meraviglia—looks a lot like what Rick and Morty must feel like while traveling through time and space.
Into this piece? Shop the “Blurrick” design in Adult Swim’s official semi-permanent tattoo collection.
8. This fierce fistfight
Do you and your bestie both love Rick and Morty? If so, perhaps matching tattoos like this set by Pikka Cool Cool, an up-and-coming tattooist based in China, should be under consideration. Using her signature bright, cartoon style, Pikka gave these two girlfriends very cool (cool) Rick and Morty tattoos that manage to make even a brawl between the grandfather-grandson duo look cute.
9. A Pulp Fiction crossover
Every so often, there’s a Rick and Morty crossover so good that you want it to last forever. So when the show gave viewers the animated version of Pulp Fiction they didn’t know they needed, this fan decided to make the moment permanent with a Meeseeks-meets-Jules Winnfield tattoo from Australian neotraditional artist Adam Miller.
10. This tiled tribute
A tattooer who isn’t afraid to play with multiple styles in a single piece might just be the perfect artist to pay tribute to a show that takes place across multiple dimensions. Using cartoon, geometric, and blackwork styles, this South Korean artist—solely known by their Instagram name @polyc_sj—creates designs that are both fun and complex, much like the universe that inspired each of these Rick and Morty tattoos.
11. These mini, minimal portraits
Rick and Morty is a show whose characters go on all sorts of over the top adventures, but that doesn’t mean all Rick and Morty tattoos need to be complex. Case in point: this great minimal portrait piece by Istanbul-based artist and fineline master Cagri Durmaz.
Like this design? Check out Adult Swim’s semi-permanent “Mortyfied” tattoo on Inkbox.
12. Our Lady of Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force would never mistake Carl for a pious character, yet Texas-based tattooist Jeremy Arias used the classic backdrop of paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Catholic patron saint of Mexico—and, not to mention, some impressively fine lines—to honor the curmudgeonly character.
If you liked our post 11 Rick and Morty Tattoos, be sure to check out 15 Space Tattoos That Are Out of This World.