How to Create My Own Logo Tattoo

Designing your own stencil can make a tattoo more personal.

Creating your own tattoo design, be it a logo or other, requires a certain level of artistic ability and should not be taken lightly. Tattoos last forever and the last thing you want is a poorly drawn image branded to your body, forever. However, if you possess the ability to draw your own logo tattoo, there are certain steps you can follow to transform your drawing into a tattoo stencil and eventually a real tattoo.

Things You'll Need

• Logo design
• Pencil
• Blank white paper
• Thin black marker
• Stencil paper (tracing paper)
• Tattoo stencil paper
• Tape
• Eraser
• Lighting desk or well-lit drawing area

Instructions

1. Determine the appropriate size of the logo tattoo.

2. Sketch the logo design on a blank piece of white paper, using a regular pencil. Make any necessary alterations and corrections with your eraser and be sure every pencil line is exactly how you want it be fore moving on to Step Three. Don't worry about shading or coloring at this point, just make a general outline of the image.

3. Trace over each pencil line with a thin black marker. If you make a mistake in marker, it is strongly advised you start over. Again, don't worry about shading or coloring and once you've completed the marker outline, erase away all the pencil lines.

4. Flip the paper over and place it on top of a lighting desk to under a bright lamp on a well-lit writing surface. This will ensure the lines shows through to the other side of the paper.

5. Trace the marker lines onto the reverse side of the paper, again with your black marker. This reverse image is the one you will use to make the stencil so the tattoo will lie frontwards on your skin once the stencil is applied. Some people use carbon paper to create a reverse image, some just flip and trace, it doesn't matter what you do, just so long as you create a mirror image of your drawing.

6. Tape a piece of stencil paper over the reverse image, once it is finished, to ensure the papers don't slide apart when copying.

7. Trace the reverse image onto stencil paper using a tattoo stencil pencil and do not rush. This stencil is the actual image you will have tattooed, if you make any mistakes at all, start over.

8. Peel the tape away once you've completed the tracing and give the stencil to your artist for application.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want the logo colored or shaded in a particular way, make the necessary alterations to the original image after you've completed the stencil. Your artist will be able to use this colored image as a guide when tattooing.

• Never be afraid to start over from scratch if at any time you do not like the way your logo tattoo stencil is looking.

References

• How To Tattoo: 3 Fundamental Tattooing Techniques
• Tattoos 101: Importance of Stencils for Tattoos