How To Draw Tattoos: Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide 🖌️ (2024)

How To Draw Tattoos: Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide 🖌️ (1)

  • Written ByDan Hunteron November 15, 2020
    Last Updated: October 22, 2023

It’s easy to pick out your favorite tattoo from a catalog, though it doesn’t always carry the same meaning as a custom design. Many tattoo artists are happy to let customers express themselves by creating their own unique pieces.

A professional artist can make drawing tattoo designs look easy. However, for most of us, it’s a labor-intensive process that requires plenty of time, thought, and effort to achieve. Here, we’re going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to draw tattoos.

Consider Your Passions

A tattoo is a permanent form of personal expression, and it should have some sort of significance to you and your lifestyle. When drawing your own tattoo, try to come up with ideas and themes that align with your interests.

Avoid creating a tattoo on a whim or designing it after a current fad. A tattoo lasts forever, so you don’t want to get one based on a temporary interest. Almost 25% of people end up regretting their tattoo down the road, but you can avoid being one of them with plenty of research and planning.

It’s best to base your tattoo around long-time hobbies, interests, and deeply-held beliefs. You should also consider what style meshes best with your personality. If you’re not sure about artistic direction, you can seek outside inspiration.

One of the most obvious places to look for design ideas is by studying other tattoos. You can look through professional artists’ portfolios to get a sense of what you do and don’t like when it comes to body art.

You don’t necessarily have to stick to looking at tattoos for inspiration. You can also look through artwork, cultural artifacts, or even out in nature to find the sort of style you want for your tattoo. As long as you do your research, you’ll have plenty of unique ideas to pull from when it comes to the drawing stage.

Choose a Location

You should consider your tattoo’s location before you start drawing it to get an idea of size and shape constraints. The site also determines visibility, which may be important for those in a professional setting. Even if it’s not at the moment, you may want to avoid designing tattoos for highly visible areas, as it could affect your future job prospects.

Think about your body as a canvas. Take some time to look over all of the areas that you could potentially place a tattoo. Some people want something that’s readily visible, while others prefer a more private location. Many choose to get a tattoo that they can display to the world or cover up as needed.

When choosing a location, it’s a good idea to remember that some areas are more sensitive than others. You should save intricate designs for the most painless parts of the body, such as the outer thighs, forearms, and lower back. Areas such as the ankles, knees, and chest areas are more tender. It’s best to stick to simple designs here, as the tattoo artist can complete them more quickly and with less pain.

Once you’ve chosen a location, make a note of how much space you have available. You should also consider factors such as bumps and bones that may distort your canvas. If the tattoo is in an area prone to sagging, know that the design may experience distortion over time.

Make a Rough Sketch

It’s only after you’ve done your research that you should break out the pencil and paper. Once you know the content, the style, and the location of your tattoo, you can begin to sketch out a rough design draft.

Don’t limit yourself to just one sketch; try out various design ideas to see which ones you like best. You can also make tweaks as needed to whittle your piece down to perfection. Many people go through multiple iterations of the same design before they make a final decision.

How To Draw Tattoos: Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide 🖌️ (2)

Choose Colors

While many people choose to get tattoos in traditional black ink, color is becoming an increasingly popular part of tattoo culture. The colors you choose will depend on your design, palette preferences, and skin tone.

Remember that while color tattoos make an eye-catching statement, they also require more maintenance than black ink tattoos. The older a color tattoo gets, the more it will fade into your skin. Your tattoo will need a touch up every so often to keep colors looking bright and bold.

Get Outside Input

Getting input from friends and family can help you to have more confidence in your tattoo design. It can also help you to make improvements you may not have considered otherwise. You should ask those closest to you what they think about your design and its potential placement. While not all feedback will be positive, it’s a good idea to listen to what your friends and family have to say.

Professionals know how to draw tattoos that will look good off-paper, therefore, it’s a good idea to ask their opinion on a piece before finalizing the design. Most artists will happily schedule a consultation, often free of charge. They can offer expert design pointers and help you to ensure that your tattoo will look good on your body.

In Conclusion

If you follow our step-by-step guide, you can draw custom tattoos that are both attractive and meaningful. Let your creative side go wild and design something that you’ll be proud of for a lifetime.

Once you know where you want to place a new tattoo, you can sketch up a colorful design that revolves around your hobbies and passions. With a little bit of input from friends, your family, and your artist, your final design will be a piece that truly encompasses who you are as a person.

Related Tattoo Articles

  • Getting A Tattoo / Preliminary Planning

  • Questions To Ask A Tattoo Artist Before Getting Inked

    Booking A Tattoo Appointment / Getting A Tattoo

  • Should You Smoke Weed Before Getting A Tattoo?

    Getting A Tattoo / Getting A Tattoo Questions

  • Eyeball Tattoos: Why You Should Never Get One

    Getting A Tattoo / Getting A Tattoo Questions

  • Unveiling the Chaos: The Deep Meanings Behind Joker Tattoos

    Getting A Tattoo / Tattoo Designs / Tattoo Ideas

  • Can You Get a Tattoo While Wearing Fake Tan?

    Common Tattoo Questions / Getting A Tattoo / Getting A Tattoo Questions

How To Draw Tattoos: Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide 🖌️ (2024)

FAQs

How to make a tattoo step by step? ›

The Tattoo Process Step-by-Step
  1. Decide on the Tattoo You Want. ...
  2. Find the Right Artist To Do Your Tattoo. ...
  3. You'll Make Sure the Shop Is Legit. ...
  4. You'll Work on Designs and Sizing. ...
  5. Your Skin Will Be Prepped for the Stencil. ...
  6. Your Artist Will Complete the Outline. ...
  7. Your Artist Will Add Color.
May 15, 2023

How do you draw a perfect tattoo? ›

To draw in stages, we recommend using a red pencil to build up your basic shapes. You can use a blue pencil to fill out details and finalize your design. We recommend using a black pen to go over your design and create perfect line work, since you'll use this final version as the stencil for your tattoo.

How do I start drawing like a tattoo artist? ›

After using paper, you can start practicing your drawing on irregularly shaped objects with contours to mimic the human body. Try tattooing an apple, a lighter, or an old piece of pipe. This will help to prepare you to work on different parts of the body that have curves and contours.

How do tattoo artists draw up tattoos? ›

An artist will simply take a pen or marker and draw directly on the skin. Often starting with a lighter color or highlighter to get a rough sketch, the artist will then go back with a darker line, making it more accurate and suitable to use as the tattoo stencil.

How do I start making tattoos? ›

Follow these steps to start your career as a tattoo artist:
  1. Consider studying art. ...
  2. Learn the basic elements of art and design. ...
  3. Develop your drawing skills and style. ...
  4. Find a mentor. ...
  5. Build a portfolio. ...
  6. Secure an apprenticeship. ...
  7. Get certified. ...
  8. Obtain licensure.
Jul 13, 2023

How to tattoo at home for beginners? ›

To tattoo yourself, you'll need either a tattoo machine or stick-and-poke needles, plus tattoo ink, nitrile gloves, stencil paper, and tattoo ointment. A tattoo machine offers thicker and more uniform lines, but is a fairly expensive. Stick-and poke tattoos are more beginner-friendly and cheaper.

Do tattoo artists draw it first? ›

We all have a certain kind of wonder for the mastery of a tattoo artist to create such amazing artwork on our bodies. But the process itself starts with them drawing the design on paper. As you can imagine, there is no set time for someone to do this, it really depends on what you're looking to get done.

How do tattoo artists do shading? ›

A common kind of shading is whip shading. This is when you gradually move your tattooing tool upward as you apply the ink. This will create a gradient effect, with one area being darker and the other lighter. Experts described this as creating a flicking motion with the needle.

How deep should the needle go when tattooing? ›

A Tattoo needle penetrates 5 layers of the epidermis

That may sound like a lot of skin, but in reality it is only 1/16th of an inch, about 1-2mm. That's pretty tiny. It goes through five layers of the epidermis, through the dermal layer, and into the topmost layer of the dermis.

What are 3 dangers affecting getting a tattoo? ›

However, getting a tattoo can still put you at risk of: infections, such blood-borne viruses. allergic reactions. thick scars.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Trent Wehner

Last Updated:

Views: 6104

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (76 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Trent Wehner

Birthday: 1993-03-14

Address: 872 Kevin Squares, New Codyville, AK 01785-0416

Phone: +18698800304764

Job: Senior Farming Developer

Hobby: Paintball, Calligraphy, Hunting, Flying disc, Lapidary, Rafting, Inline skating

Introduction: My name is Trent Wehner, I am a talented, brainy, zealous, light, funny, gleaming, attractive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.