How to Design Your Own Tattoo With Swirls Going Around the Lettering
Designing your own tattoo lettering is the easiest way to ensure a unique and personal image no one else will have. The more detailed you want the letters to be, however, the more artistic ability you'll need to have. for example, if you want swirls around each letter or around each complete word, you will need the artistic ability draw an image that matches the idea you have in your mind. Once you can do that, making a stencil is really just a matter of tracing.
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Things You'll Need
- Pencil
- Blank white paper
- Thin black marker
- Eraser
- Tape
- Stencil paper (tracing paper)
- Tattoo stencil pencil
- Lighting desk or well-lit drawing table
Instructions
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1
Determine the appropriate placement for the tattoo on your body and measure out how large the tattoo should be.
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2
Sketch the letter and their swirly design on a piece of blank white paper using a regular pencil. Draw lightly and correct any mistakes with an eraser -- don't worry about shading or coloring at this point, just draw a broad outline of the letters and the design you want. make sure every line is exactly to your specifications before moving on to step 2.
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3
Trace over the pencil lines with a thin black marker, making smooth and confident strokes. If you make a mistake, you may have to start over from scratch, so take as much tie as you need to do the job right.
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4
Erase away all the pencil lines underneath the marker, flip the paper over and copy the image onto the other side with your black marker. This reverse image is what you will use to make the stencil so the tattoo will lie frontwards on your skin. Some people use carbon paper, others just flip and trace, it doesn't matter what you do, so long as you achieve this reverse image.
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5
Tape a piece of stencil paper over the reverse image so it wont slip or separate while tracing.
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6
Trace the reverse image onto your stencil paper with a tattoo stencil pencil. These pencils are very difficult to erase, so you should start over on a fresh piece if you make any mistakes.
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7
Peel away the tape once you have finished tracing and give the stencil to your artist for application.
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Tips & Warnings
Be open to any suggestions or corrections your artist may want to make to your stencil -- he more than likely knows more than you when it comes to tattoo stencils.
Tattoos last forever. Take as much time as you need to make a perfect stencil. Do not rush any steps and never be afraid to start over from the beginning.
References
- Photo Credit Ciaran Griffin/Lifesize/Getty Images
