Custom tattoo sketch: what to send your artist

References help understand mood, composition and detail. A good design is not a copy of someone else's work; it translates your preferences into an original tattoo.

Send images that show line weight, density of detail, shading style or symbolism. They do not have to be tattoo images.

The smaller the tattoo, the less detail it can hold. Fine leaves, thin lettering or miniature ornaments need enough space to stay readable after years.

That is why a design may be adjusted: enlarged, simplified or rebuilt into a cleaner composition.

Describe the meaning, placement, approximate size, style, language of any text and whether you want the result to feel delicate, graphic, dark, ornamental or minimal.

The clearer the brief, the fewer correction rounds are needed and the faster we arrive at a design that can actually be tattooed.