Tattoo Fonts, Tattoo Lettering & Tattoo Script

[Huero]

Mike Brown, Skin Deep tattoo, Hawaii.

Perfect, simple, readable lettering. Nails it every time. Not too much and not too little. Just right.

[Nick Colella]

I agree. Mike Browns letters are awesome.

[Julio Avila]

Oh shit!!! Forgot about mike brown!!

[Petri Aspvik]

Btw. Saw this amazing bad ass tattoo by miss Valerie Vargas and thought that who was the first TATTOO artists to start doing these so called black metal fonts? Dettmer?

Example of a Dettmer/Uncle Allan work also attached

I think the visuality of the lettering is great. Kinda like graffiti or Jackson Pollock paintings. Controlled chaos, but spirit in a different form.

[Julio Avila]

i like that lettering on paper or print or whatever. dont care for it in tattoos. for me personally, lettering should be classy and timeless. when im 75 i dont want graffiti or death metal letters on me.

[Petri Aspvik]

Im on the fence about it. I love script, but this type of stuff appeals to me too.

What do you guys think of people like Mike Giant (www.mikegiant.com/tattoo), JK5 (JK5 on Myspace), Ronnie Sanches (Ronnie Sanchez ("Ronnie") on Myspace) and Baba (http://www.vintagetattooartparlor.com) ?

[Petri Aspvik]

Forgot Norm (norm awr norm awr (NORM AWR MSK) on Myspace)

[kylegrey]

I Like Mr Sylvias traditional for really timeless and cool and Maneko aka Neto from Brazil script-wise

[Lochlan]

I always enjoy tattoo lettering that has no color and is readable wether that be script or graffiti or what-have-yous. But these days I am also leaning towards tattoos that are only black and grey with maybe one color. Regardless of what I like I can appreciate a good tattoo for a good tattoo as a collector not as to wether or not I'd wear it. Script is timeless and at the top of my list...by far!

I enjoy all the tattoo lettering that Huero put up in the Finer things in life thread by Tattooland. I keep finding myself revisiting this thread for the many pictures but the Tattooland I spend extra time on. I like how on some of them and I've seen this elsewhere where it'll be the same phrase or words written over and over again in the various styles. It is so visually appealing rather than just a letter or what not. As I mentioned in that thread I would and I am sure other LSTers would enjoy seeing a Tattooland specific thread like the 222 Tattoo one by someone who is more familiar than I. And even better how about a Chicago Tattoo Company one or other various shops like this where the history and stories run thick as well? Just some thoughts..........

[Tim Howell]

Some hand drawn script I did the other day..

[ibradley]

Custom lettering is the way to go. You gotta make it flow, man! Old english doesn't really do that.

[DrewDaggers]

i have always been a huge fan of lettering. even before tattooing. ive always noticed the lettering in cool old signs and window season displays.

once i started tattooing, first time i saw some dave gibson lettering and some jack rudy letting i was FLOORED!

you guys remember the old National tattoo convention posters that jack would design? each poster had like 9 different styles of lettering in them. all of them amazing.

that being said, if you want to be good at lettering, study the shit out of it! i notice it and space draw it all the time. for some reason, i always see good lettering at the movie theater. like right before the movie starts when words come up telling you about no smoking and popcorn and shit like that. when you cant think of anything to draw, draw letters. and i dont mean write letters, i mean DRAW letters. there is a difference.

i could go on and on with this subject.

ms rad, if you want good lettering, look for sign painters manuals. also, look at other peoples letters. see what you like and learn how to do it. and then add your own spin on it.

tattooers here in milwaukee HATE doing lettering. ill do it all day long. word

edit..... favorite style of lettering for tattoos..... SCRIPT AND PIKE STYLE LETTERS. done correctly, they will always look classy and timeless

worst style of letters for tattoos...GRAFFITI. ugh. just ugh

Pooh and Sam Bielinski do nice script here in Milwaukee. I also Like Ricardo's script, he did my collarbone at Atomic a few years ago. Most tattooers here do hate lettering tattoos though, it seems like everyone gets the same font, but I'll take it all day. I'd rather do a lettering tattoo than nothing at all.

[RockelMan]

i often get bored and start doodling lettering or script. can anyone suggest a great resource for finding examples? i know that sounds like a dumb question, but remember i'm a collector, not an artist, and because of this i don't know who to ask or where to look for this type of thing.

I know you posted this a while ago but I just read it now. You could take a look at some calligraphy books from a craft store. The script styles within some of the books are very smooth.

[Petri Aspvik]

Have to again hype Norm

WILL RISE

Would love to get tattooed by him

[mattyrunks]

Yeah..Norm is stupid good..I could look at his stuff all day... I will give one shout to Martin Lacasse..he does some next level Pike style lettering-check it out.... Freddie,Gibson,Rudy...Grillo,Slyvia...Like I've read in several cases Rollo sayin how lettering makes or breaks a tattoo is so true

[Petri Aspvik]

I cant remember who said it that if you do a banner, the letters should be INSIDE it. If not, why use the banner in the first place. As you see people make the letters go outside the banner even if they are half in there. Like they are too big for it.

Comments?

[ShaneRealz]

Norm Will Rise.

[David Flores]

I cant remember who said it that if you do a banner, the letters should be INSIDE it. If not, why use the banner in the first place. As you see people make the letters go outside the banner even if they are half in there. Like they are too big for it.

Comments?

I definetly subscribe to that school of thought as it has been hammered in to my head. If you are going to do script why not just make it fancy script with no banner instead. I have seen people just make a really wide banner so all the lettering fits in, but then you have all this unneccesary blank space in the banner, which makes no sense to me. It may be that I have always been taught one way, that anything different looks weird and wrong to my eye.

[Shannon Shirley]

break rules.....

[Ducky15568]

A good site i use to find a font is 1001freefonts.com. You can write in what you want it to read and it spits it out in that font. Its also a good starting point to give to an artist if you want a custom script in a certain style.

[Graeme]

Dan Sinnes does really great script in my opinion. His shunga tattoos are far better known and are so awesome, but his script is top notch too.

[azarajoy]

I saw this on Facebook the other day.. Found it extremely ironic with the billy angel font. Kinda made my day. Hope you guys can appreciate it as well. haha!

[neckface]

I have always loved traditional lettering. I am pretty picky with script though

[MadeIndelible]

Ron Wells for really cool, simplistic lettering.

Freddy Corbin and Katie Sellergren for script.

[CABS]

I've been contemplating getting some script done lately. Either a collar rocker or inner bicep. I don't have any on me as of yet. It would be a nice contrast to the collection I have currently.

Freddy Corbin as the obvious choice, but I also really dig Juan Puente's script and lettering too.