How Do I Choose a Font for My Tattoo?

Tattoos that come with fonts can vary widely. You can get one that has a simple word written in cursive, or you can go extravagant and get a detailed piece that includes graffiti writing. Both designs contain words, but the way in which those words are displayed are vastly different.

Tattoos with words are usually the more sentimental tattoos that I see in a shop. Typically, the words within the tattoo are those that are the person lives by or perhaps the name of an individual that the person holds near and dear to their hearts.

The only way to pay justice to the beautiful words or quote you’re getting tatted on your body is by making sure you choose the right type of font. There are various font ideas out there, and yes, it can get a bit confusing when it comes to choosing one.

So if you plan to get a word tattoo and need help in choosing the perfect font, this article has got you covered and will help you in choosing the best font for your next tattoo.

What Are The Most Popular Fonts?

Black Block Lettering Font

If you want to achieve a bold design and something’s that a person candy sees on your forehead or body from a distance, then the block lettering font is something you should consider. This font includes heavy dark black ink and really makes your tattoo stand out.

If you want to make a statement and make sure you get your message across to everyone, then this is the font you should definitely go for. The appearance of this font also helps add to the overall visuals of the tattoo.

The Ambigram Font Tattoo

Ambigrams are words that you can read from any side you choose. You can read these backward or forwards, right to the left, or left to right. This is quite a cool style and is perfect for people who are into solving jumbled-up words. Such fonts help add a touch of uniqueness and curiosity, making the other person trying hard to figure out what you’ve got tatted.

You can combine two words together as well, leaving you with a cool tat design. These fonts usually come in bold black ink and are the perfect way to add some suspicion and mystery to your tat.

Hand Writing Font

If you want to make your tattoo special and more meaningful, then you can incorporate your own handwriting in your tattoo font. Tattoos such as memorial tats become even more special when someone close to you writes the tattoo in their handwriting.

This way, you can preserve their memory as well. If the person is no longer with you anymore, you can choose something personal, such as an excerpt from their diary. You could also use their signature if you want to remember their name.

Hence, handwriting tattoo font is one of the most sentimental fonts you will come across and is definitely something you should consider.

Cursive Font Tattoo

You’re probably familiar with cursive writing during your school days, and if you are, you now have the chance to adapt those writing techniques into your next tattoo designs. Cursive fonts are very diverse and come with a lot of history, and this writing style was very common among the ancient eras.

This writing style was also used in church writings. This type of font helps to add a bit of creativity to your word tattoo and also sentiment, especially if you’re getting a tribunal tattoo.

Cursive font tattoos are very common and are the safest option to go for, as in the end, you will surely be happy and impressed with the final results.

Script Font Tattoo

Script font is another common tattooing font and leaves you with a beautiful end result. This font involves minor details that help make your word tattoo unique and graceful.  Details like the curving lines and flows make up the perfect script font tattoo.

Your tattoo artists may also add their own touch to your script font to enhance the look of the tattoo. You will add your own creativity in your tat if you go for a script font as you can write down the tattoo yourself and add your own customized touches.

Important Things to Consider Before Finalizing the Font

The Grammar and Spelling

At times in much excitement, you tend to naturally ignore the silly mistakes visible in your tattoo font and figure them out quite late. One of the most common mistakes noted in a tattoo font is grammar and spelling.

It’s completely normal for misspellings to occur in your tattoo font, but you would want to fix it before you get it tatted on your body. Common grammatical errors include placing a comma or inverted comma in the wrong place, and this could change the whole meaning behind your word tattoo.

The best way to avoid issues of spelling and grammar is by double-checking properly before you finalize your design. You can also use a spellchecker for more accuracy.  You can also ask your tattoo artist to properly review the font design so that they may pinout any mistake in the dies that you weren’t able to note down.

Not doing so will only ruin the whole design of your tattoo and see the beauty that lies within. So it’s best to avoid a major mistake like this, as you definitely wouldn’t want to go through tattoo cover-ups that would only further ruin your tattoo design.

The Placement of the Tattoo

You have to keep in mind the placement you’re considering to get your tattoo tatted, as you must choose a font according to that. You wouldn’t want to go for a block letter font and choose to get it tatted on the side of your fingers or elbow, as it wouldn’t look good and hide the unique details that lie within the tattoo design.

It is best not to choose a placement for your word tattoo that include creases or natural bends such as the side of your foot, the elbow ditch, wrist, and side of your finger.

The placement might not seem very important before you go get the tattoo, but you will see how it makes a difference in the appearance of your tattoo. Hence, make sure to keep this in mind before creating the font and going ahead with your tattoo appointment.

The Size of Your Letter Tattoo

If you want your letter tattoo to last long and look prominent, then you should opt for big or medium-sized lettering. While small and discreet lettering adds a very aesthetic touch to your word tattoo, it reduces its longevity and cannot assure you that it will be visible to others if that’s what you want.

So when choosing the size and font of your letter tat, make sure it’s at least 1/2″ tall. You can opt for a bigger size, but this should be the minimum.

The Font Style

Now that you’re aware of the different font styles mentioned above, you must see what font will make your tattoo look good. While each font has its own uniqueness, there are certain fonts that don’t look good, depending on the overall design of your tattoo.

If you want your tattoo to last for long and look amazing as ever, then avoid going for a font that keeps the words too close that it looks like they’re stuck.

This makes it difficult to understand what you’ve written and ruined the overall appearance. You should also avoid intricate fonts as, over time, these start to expand and comes in the way of the legibility and the quality of your tattoo.

Make sure the font you go for is somewhat natural and suits the words or phrases you have chosen for your word tattoo.

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Two Best Ways to Choose a Font for Your Tattoo

Choosing a font on your own for your tattoo does get a bit overwhelming, essp0eclly when you have a million options available on the internet. Mentioned below are two easy ways you can choose a font for your word tattoo:

Use a Tattoo Font Generator

If you want to achieve the best font design for your word tattoo and make life a bit easier for yourself, then you can use a font tattoo generator. These font tattoo generators are available online, and you can easily use them on your laptops or tablets for free of cost.

You will have to download the app, or some software also allows you to directly start working from the website. This tattoo font generator software will give you multiple font options so you can preview your tattoo easily.

This way, you can try out all the different options and choose the best font for your word tattoo. All you will need to do is type out the text that you want in your tattoo design, and from there onwards, the font generator will help you out. Once you have the final design, you can print It out, drag it to your tattoo artist and begin with the tattooing process.

Ask Your Tattoo Artist

Almost all professional tattoo artists have some amazing font ideas and examples at the tattooing studio. If you’re unable to settle on a font, you can ask your tattoo artist to advise you on what font to go with, as most of them have font ideas available at the tattoo parlor.

Final Words

With the help of this article, you can now hopefully have an easier tattoo font choosing process. Make sure to enjoy the process and not stress or overthink too much about it. But, it is also important to keep the above pointers in mind so that you achieve the word tattoo of your dreams and flaunt it!