What Do Tattoo Artists Use to Draw? Tools and Skill

Updated on 02/09/2026 by Rita Moreira

Ask ten tattoo artists what they use to draw and you will get ten slightly different answers: a stack of cheap layout paper, an iPad balanced on the workbench, a roll of stencil paper, or nothing more than a marker and a steady hand. The tools have changed enormously over the last twenty years, but the thing sitting underneath them has not.

This guide walks through what tattoo artists actually reach for at each stage, from the first pencil sketch to the line drawn on the skin. It also covers the part most beginners skip: why the drawing skill behind the tool matters far more than the tool itself.

What do tattoo artists use to draw?

Tattoo artists use a layered kit: graphite pencils and layout paper for flash and rough designs, thermal stencil paper and a stencil printer to transfer the outline, an iPad running Procreate for digital work, and a surgical skin marker to draw freehand on the body. Each stage feeds the next, and hand-drawing skill sits under every one of them.

No single tool makes a good tattoo. A brilliant Procreate mock-up still has to survive being transferred, stretched over a curved arm and read from a metre away. That is why most experienced artists still sketch by hand before anything reaches a machine.

Drawing flash and references on paper

Flash is the classic term for ready-made tattoo designs drawn on paper, and paper is still where most artists think. For rough sketching they reach for a range of graphite pencils, usually a soft grade like a 2B or 4B for loose work and a harder HB for clean lines. A simple pad of layout or cartridge paper handles the daily thinking.

The British maker Derwent has produced graphite pencils in the Lake District since 1832, and a modest set of three or four grades covers almost everything a flash sheet needs. There is no advantage in an enormous tin: I tell my students that an HB and a 4B will carry you a long way before you ever need more.

Good paper matters here too, because a design you can barely see will never translate cleanly onto skin. If you are choosing a pad, my notes on the best paper for drawing and on graphite pencil grades explain what each weight and hardness is actually good for.

Turning a drawing into a stencil

Once the design is finished, tattoo artists use a stencil to carry the outline onto the skin. The modern method is a thermal printer, often a Spirit or similar machine, which prints the artwork onto purple thermal transfer paper. A light coat of transfer solution then presses that outline onto the skin so the artist has a guide to follow.

Before thermal printers were common, artists traced the design by hand onto stencil paper, and plenty still do for custom pieces. The principle is exactly the same one used in the studio: a clear line drawing transferred faithfully from paper to a new surface. My step-by-step on how to transfer a drawing covers that logic in detail.

A stencil is only ever as good as the drawing behind it. If the proportions are wrong on paper, the machine will copy the mistake perfectly onto someone’s arm, where it is far harder to fix.

Drawing digitally: the iPad and Procreate

For digital work, the near-universal answer is an iPad with an Apple Pencil, running Procreate. Procreate is an illustration app built by the Tasmanian studio Savage Interactive, first released in 2011, and it won an Apple Design Award in 2013. Tattoo artists use it to draw designs, resize them instantly, layer colour tests and send a client a realistic mock-up before the appointment. You can read what the app does on the official Procreate site.

The appeal is obvious: undo buttons, endless resizing and a design you can email. Some artists also use Wacom tablets with a desktop, but the iPad has become the studio standard because it travels and doubles as the client-facing screen.

Here is the honest catch, though. A digital brush that blends and corrects for you can hide a weak grasp of light, form and proportion, and skin does not have an undo button. The artists whose digital work looks strongest are almost always the ones who can already draw the same thing with a pencil.

Drawing on the skin before the needle

For freehand pieces, the artist draws directly on the body using a surgical skin marker, the same soft-tipped, skin-safe pen a surgeon uses to mark before an operation. This lets them map placement, flow and proportion so the design follows the muscles rather than fighting them.

This stage is pure drawing, and it is where hand skill shows most nakedly. There is no stencil to hide behind and no layers to delete: it is just observation, a marker and the confidence to commit a line. Learning to draw what is genuinely in front of you, rather than what you assume is there, is the same discipline I describe in drawing what you see.

Why learning to draw by hand still matters most

None of these tools teaches you to see, and seeing is the real job. When tattoo artists first started coming to my classes to study realistic drawing, I honestly wondered whether pencil technique would help someone working with a machine. After a few months, nearly all of them said the same thing: their work had changed, and they had started noticing things they used to miss.

What shifts is perception. Learning realistic shading trains you to read subtle shadows, accurate facial proportion and the direction of the light, which is exactly what separates a flat tattoo from one that looks alive. My guide to light and shadow drawing works through that skill from the ground up.

Drawing also builds the quieter habits: patience, self-criticism, a comparing eye and steady hand control. That is why the reassuring answer to a common worry is yes, this is trainable. Whether talent or graft matters more is something I unpick in is drawing a talent or a skill, and the short version is that anyone willing to practise can build the eye. Realistic drawing has its own long tradition, from the Photorealism movement documented by the Tate to the portrait tattoos filling studios today, and the skill underneath is identical.

Where to buy the materials in the UK

For pencils, paper and markers, Jackson’s Art and Cass Art both stock artist-grade Derwent and other ranges, and Hobbycraft is handy for a starter pad on the high street. An iPad and Apple Pencil come from the Apple Store, while stencil paper and transfer solution are easiest through a dedicated tattoo supplier. Amazon.co.uk carries most of the basics if you would rather compare in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do tattoo artists use to draw stencils?

Most tattoo artists use a thermal stencil printer, such as a Spirit machine, which prints the design onto purple thermal transfer paper. A thin layer of transfer solution then presses that outline onto the skin as a guide to follow.

For custom work, plenty still trace the design by hand onto stencil paper first. Either way, the outline is only as accurate as the original drawing, so a clean, well-proportioned sketch on paper is what makes a stencil worth using.

What do tattoo artists use to draw on an iPad?

On an iPad, tattoo artists almost always use Procreate paired with an Apple Pencil. Procreate lets them sketch designs, resize them instantly, test colour on layers and send clients a realistic preview before the appointment.

Some artists prefer a Wacom tablet connected to a computer, but the iPad has become the studio standard because it is portable and doubles as the screen you show the client. Whichever device they pick up, the app cannot see for them, so the underlying skill is still ordinary hand drawing.

What do tattoo artists use to draw flash?

Flash designs are usually drawn with graphite pencils on layout or cartridge paper, then inked or coloured once the artist is happy with the sketch. A soft pencil like a 2B or 4B handles shading, while a harder HB keeps the outlines clean.

Many artists now draw flash digitally in Procreate as well, because it is easy to reprint, recolour and resize on demand. Either way, the choice of paper or screen matters far less than the drawing ability behind the sheet.