Free Tattoo Stencils

Tattoo stencils are the black outlined drawing the tattoo artist places on the skin. After the outline is placed the artist simply traces around the design, leaving the permanent inked outline. Not all tattoos are done with a stencil, many artists will draw the design directly on the skin, this is called freehand. Some tattoo artists will use a stenciled outline that has little detail and will fill in the detail freehand as they work.

Tattoo stencils have been in use for at least since modern tattooing times and almost certainly existed in ancient times. At the turn of the century the tattoo stencil would have to be cut into a piece of plastic and carbon poweder would be rubbed into the grooves. The carbon covered pattern would then be placed on the customers body using an ointment to hold the carbon design stencil on the skin. Toward the mid fifties American tattoo artist began using electric machines used in offices to make there tattoo stencils and very quickly  3M built copiers that replaced the old school plastic stencils.

When looking for a tattoo stencil one must consider the same things they consider when looking for a tattoo design. Basically the stencil is a non-detailed, non-colored version of the finished tattoo. A person working with an artist they are not familer with would never want to work from a stencil only, as they would not know the particular artist's style.

A rose stencil can be colored with any color or filled in with any pattern for this reason befor getting a tattoo done from a stencil one must talk with the tattoo artist and make sure they are both seeing the same vision for the tattoo design.There is nothing worse than finding out,when it's to late,that the tattoo artist you have chosen and yourself have totally diffrent artistic views

Finding a tattoo design online is not the end of the process it's only the beginning.  Once a tattoo stencil is in hand, now you must find a competent artist who can make your idea come to life. A person should not come to a tattoo design website expecting to find a perfect design. The purpose of a tattoo stencils website is only to provide ideas to people looking for tattoos.

Take the design to your artist and this will give a base to work from which is much easier than starting with no idea what your looking for in a tattoo design.All the stencils or line drawing on this website where drawn by one artist and all are custom tattoo design  stencils that can only be found here.

What are "stencil" or line art in the tattoo process?

What are STENCILS (line drawings) and why are they important?



Stencils, also known as "line drawings" or "liners" are what a tattooist REALLY needs to apply the tattoo design to the skin. The line drawings are run through a thermofax (or similar device) with the result being the line drawings set to carbon paper. The tattooist then applies a liquid solution (type may vary) on the skin, and presses the carbon line drawings to the skin. This provides a "blueprint" on the skin . . . a guide to create the actual tattoo.



Stencils are a way that the tattoo flash artist (artist who creates the design on paper) communicates the intended artistic nuances of the design to the tattoo artist (who actually applies the tattoo on the skin). Like any type of communication, it is a "two-way conversation." Not all line drawings are created equal. Some tattoo flash artists put more "information" into their design stencils and some put less. Likewise, tattoo artists use stencils differently. Some will follow the stencils provided exactly as they were created, while others may alter the stencils before using them to create tattoos on the skin.



Regardless of how they are created and used, almost ALL tattooists use line drawings. There are a very few select number of tattooists who "freehand" tattoos, but even they will oftentimes use a pen directly on the skin before they start to apply any ink. In other words, they may not be using any "reference material" (designs and/or stencils on paper), but to create on skin what they have in their mind, they still create the "stencils" on skin with a pen of what they imagine the final design to look like.



The bottom line is that most tattooists NEED stencils to create tattoos on skin.

Rose tattoo samples and stencil

 

Not all rose tattoo designs have deep meaning, often a rose is a first tattoo choice simply because little meaning is assigned it. When getting a first tattoo many people find it's easy to get a tattoo like a flower or something innocuous so no great stand must be taken. Another reason the rose has been popular for so long is the act that they can look nice large or small, color or black and gray.

Rose Stencil

Rose stencils are one of the most searched for flower tattoos online. The rose design is a classic American tattoo that has been popular since before the turn of the century. Worn by men and woman alike rose tattoos have many meanings depending on the details of the design. For example a rose with a pitchfork means an assassin, and a rose with a blood drop is for a fallen loved one.

Wikipedia and Tattoo art

 

A tattoo is a marking made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding. The first written reference to the word, "tattoo" (or Samoan "Tatau") appears in the journal of Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Cook's ship "The Endeavour", in 1769: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition".


Tattooing has been practiced for centuries worldwide. The Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, traditionally wore facial tattoos. Today one can find Berbers of Tamazgha (North Africa), Māori of New Zealand, Arabic people in East-Turkey and Atayal of Taiwan with facial tattoos. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples and among certain tribal groups in the Taiwan, Philippines, Borneo, Mentawai Islands, Africa, North America, South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, Japan, Cambodia, New Zealand and Micronesia. Despite some taboos surrounding tattooing, the art continues to be popular in many parts of the world.



More about this article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo