One of the basic foundations of tattooing is the tattoo design. Without them, what is there to tattoo? A great bonus to tattooing is the endless amount of nice artwork out there to use as designs and this in itself is a sort of “job security.” Printed design sheets, made readily available by tattoo suppliers, are called “flash” in the tattoo trade.
The starting tattooist, or any tattooist for that matter, should have a vast store of these on display for the customers to choose from. Flash sheets are an excellent value for your money and are a quick way to stock up on designs that may take ten years to draw yourself. There are not that many great artists out there tattooing, and you don’t have to be a fantastic designer to be a great tattooist.
These sheets are drawn by designers for the tattooist to work from. They range from the traditional to the totally bizarre and you can find just about anything you like. For starters, at the end of each chapter in this book is a good tattoo design to use. A good selection of traditional designs is a must because this is what people expect and more often than not, are what will keep you busy. If you happen upon some particular design theme or style that suits you, you may even want to just specialize in that.
A common mistake in the field is that a tattooist who can draw feels that their shop won’t be respectable if they carry “store bought” flash and insist on hand drawing every design on their shop walls. Don’t fall into this category, because people have really different tastes and a good stock of all types of designs from all types of artists will ensure something for everybody. It is good business sense to have a variety. If someone wants a custom design for themselves, no problem.
Personalized tattoos are great for sales and the customer walks away with a “one-of-a-kind.” If you can’t draw it, ask them to bring the design in themselves, or have a local artist do it for you (tack on the extra price with the tattoo.) You can spend hours and hours on special designs for people who ordered them and might not ever return. So, if you’re smart, get a deposit when someone wants you to draw up something special. Charge them for the time spent drawing it up. If they don’t want to pay for that, tell them to find a design already made up and you’ll be happy to put it on them.
Designs for tattoos are found everywhere. You should be able to copy just about anything and transfer it to the client (consult Chapter on Stencils). If you look around, good designs can be found from many sources; books, photos, cards, brochures, wall paper, posters, comics, advertisements, television, magazines, etc. The size usually needs to be changed and often it will need to be modified for tattooing in some way. Not everything looks good on skin. So experiment a little and try to use an artistic eye when judging these matters.

Posted on September 1st, 2008 by admin
Tags: butterfly tattoos, free tattoo designs, Tattoo designs, tattoos

Filed under: Tattoo designs