Design Your Own Tattoos

Where To Start When You Want To Design Your Own Tattoos

Think about what it is you want your tattoo to do. Are you looking to commemorate an event? A death? A celebration? A person? Or is this just a tattoo for fun? (Yes, it’s okay to get a tattoo just because you want to!)

What images come to mind? Would a yellow rose with a name in the petals be the perfect memorial to a friend who died in a car crash? Maybe you just want their initials – but what type of lettering?

You don’t have to be an artist to design your own tattoos. All you need is an idea and the willingness to work with an artist.

Finding a Design For Your Tattoos

A selection of typical Flash

Maybe you don’t want flash, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good place to start. Look through some free flash art to help get your mind jump-started. You can look for tribal designs, stars, crosses, heart designs, or whatever else you can imagine.

Finding an Artist

Once you think you’ve found the basis to design your own tattoos, then you need to find an artist. The artist may or may not be a tattoo artist – many tattoo parlors are willing to use artwork you’ve brought in from another source, although you shouldn’t discount the talent of a good tattoo artist. Many are extremely talented and may even be able to freehand your ideal tattoo!

Finding an artist can be difficult, but you have a great tool at your disposal – tattoo galleries! There are any number of tattoo galleries on the Internet, and many of them are free to browse. A lot of galleries will organize art by topic, and most of them include information on the artist and tattoo parlor where the inking was done. Don’t be shy – if you find something that you like, talk to the artist or tattoo artist. They may have exactly what you’re looking for.

If you think you’re artistically inclined, feel free to try to design your own tattoos. Create a Tattoo is a website that lets you design your own tattoo online.

Testing Your Tattoos

The Finished Design

Before you commit to the tattoo you’ve designed, you may want to test it out. There are plenty of markers meant for flesh, but you can also look into a temporary tattoo. Some places on the Internet let you upload your design, and they send you temporary tattoos that you can then practice placing wherever you think you may want the permanent one. You can also try it out in different sizes. Even Microsoft provides a set of instructions on using their programs to create your own temporary tattoos – but remember to buy some temporary tattoo paper first.

The Final Step

You’ve spent all the time and effort you could spend on trying to design your own tattoos. Now’s the time to get it done – find a local tattoo parlor or tattoo artist, and get inked!

While it may seem like a lengthy and possibly expensive process, remember that unless you want to go through tattoo removal, this is something that will be with you for the rest of your life. Spending an extra week or two will only make the tattoo more meaningful.