Tattoo transfer paper (also called stencil paper) lets you put your tattoo design on the skin temporarily. You can then use the stencil as a roadmap while you’re tattooing instead of “freehanding” it.
When you stencil a tattoo properly, your linework becomes 10 times easier.
By the end of this article, you'll know:
Creating Tattoo Stencils By Hand
Hand-drawing tattoo stencils is an “old-school” method in the tattooing world. However, many tattoo artists will choose this option because it builds muscle memory of the design before you attempt to tattoo it on skin.
Hand-drawing tattoo stencils is an “old-school” method in the tattooing world. However, many artists will choose this option because it builds muscle memory of the design before you attempt to tattoo it on skin.
What You Will Need:
- Your design printed out on white paper
- Pen
- Pencil
- Thermographic Tattoo Transfer Paper
Each piece of a transfer paper packet has a purpose:
- 1White master sheet - this where the design will be applied
- 2Brown protective sheet stops the master sheet from getting carbon on it.
- 3Purple carbon paper (the “ink”) layer.
- 4Yellow or white back paper protects carbon paper and provides stability.
Method 1: How To Make A Tattoo Stencil by Hand
Hand Tattoo Stencil Tutorial:
STEP 1
Either print or draw your tattoo design onto a regular sheet of white paper.
STEP 2
Remove the brown protective paper (sometimes called the “onion” paper). Place the image face-up above the carbon paper.
STEP 3
Trace your tattoo design with a pencil or pen.
STEP 4
Carefully peel the tattoo transfer paper off the original design.
STEP 5
Clean the skin with green soap and shave the area before applying.
STEP 6
Cut the image out to prepare it for transfer onto the client.
Creating Tattoo Stencils Digitally
Some artists prefer to make stencils digitally with Procreate to work faster and create perfect lines.
What You Will Need:
- iPad
- Procreate app
- Tattoo transfer paper
Method 2: Creating Digital Stencils
STEP 1
Choose your reference image.
STEP 2
Digitally draw on LAYER 2.
STEP 3
Print your design on thermal tattoo transfer paper.
Quick Procreate Tutorial for Creating a Stencil:
- 1Click the “+” button, and select “screen size” to make your drawing space the size of your tablet.
- 2Click the “Actions” button (wrench) and choose “Insert Flat Image.” Select a reference photo from your camera roll. Resize as needed.
- 3“Lock” Layer One. Select “New Layer.” The button looks like two overlapping pieces of paper. Select the new Layer Two. You must always be “drawing” on Layer Two.
- 4Select the “Brush” button at the top. Use a bright red as your brush color to see where your lines are on top of the image.
- 5Zoom into where you want to start and begin drawing your lines.
- 6Select a thinner brush size and section off where you will be shading with a dotted line.
- 7When you are done, recolour your red lines back to black.
- 8Click the “Actions” button and then the “Share” button. Send your image as a jpg file and either airdrop it to your computer or email it to yourself.
- 9Print the stencil (see Printing section).
- 10Cut out your stencil.
Using a Thermal Printer
What is thermal printing?
Thermal printing is a method of perfectly transferring a drawn or printed image onto a stencil through the use of heat. After your thermal paper transfer paper and image run through a thermal printer, you’ll have an exact replica of your image on a new piece of paper, except its lines will be made of carbon printer ink instead of computer ink. It is then ready to be applied to skin.
Why is thermal printing important?
Thermal printing makes it easily create multiple stencils if one gets ruined, the client wants the image in a different area, etc.
1. Remove brown sheet
2. Load paper with carbon layer facing down
3. Load image facing inward
4. Select “Mirror” and press “Copy.”
5. Gently guide the transfer paper through the printer.
6. Peel stencil off carbon paper, trim, and place.
How to use a thermal printer:
- 1Take out the brown onion layer.
- 2Set your thermal paper to the side.
- 3Open up the back part of the machine and load the paper with the dark carbon paper facing down and the white master sheet facing up.
- 4Close the machine over the paper. Let the place where the papers are attached together hang out the end.
- 5Feed the design into the machine facing away from you.
- 6Select “Mirror” on the machine.
- 7Press “Copy.”
- 8Gently guide the transfer paper through the machine.
- 9When finished, peel off the carbon paper and cut out your stencil.
Are Hand-Drawn or Thermal-Printed Stencils Better?
Stroke | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
Hand-Drawn Stencils |
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Thermal Printer Stencils |
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Preparing the Client’s Skin
You want to make sure you’re applying the stencil in a sanitary and safe way.
What You Will Need:
- Green soap (with witch hazel)
- Unused razor
- Unscented hand sanitizer
- Sterile surgical skin marker
- Stencil solution/primer
- Paper towels
Here’s our Step-By-Step Guide:
- 1Wash the area with Green Soap containing witch hazel to prevent redness from shaving. Leave the skin wet so it is easier to shave.
- 2Shave the area. Brush away any hair with a paper towel and dry the skin.
- 3Apply hand sanitizer. The alcohol will strip the oil out of the skin.
- 4Lightly hold the stencil over the skin and mark with a sterile surgical skin marker where the edges of your stencil will be.
- 5Apply a stencil solution/primer and work it into the skin. Let it dry until it is tacky.
- 6Make sure your client is standing up in a neutral position so they won’t be flexing or twisting, as this will warp the stencil.
- 7Place your stencil, lining it up with the guiding lines you drew earlier.
- 8Press down starting from the center and work your way out.
- 9Hold the stencil onto the skin for a few moments to ensure the entire design has transferred. You’ll want to let the stencil stay on the skin for about 30 seconds.
- 10Peel off, starting at one of the edges.
- 11Pat with a paper towel to remove excess stencil ink.
- 12Wait 15 minutes to allow the stencil to dry.
Working with a Stencil… Without Smudging
No tattoo stencil is smudge-proof. Making sure your stencil stays on through the entire tattoo is essential. There are a few different ways to watch out for your stencil while working on the tattoo itself.
What You Will Need:
- Vaseline
- Distilled Water
- Paper Towels
Pro Tips to Prevent Smudging:
- 1Wipe away from the tattoo. Work from the bottom right of the design up to the top left (if you are right handed). When wiping the ink, wipe away from the untattooed stencil. You can’t smudge what you have already tattooed. If you wipe ink on your stencil and then try to clean it off, you will erase the stencil along with the ink.
- 2Keep your hands off the stencil. The ink will rub off of the client and onto you.
- 3Apply a thin layer of vaseline to the whole tattoo after it has dried. This keeps excess ink from being absorbed by the skin, making it easy to wipe without taking off the stencil.
- 4Rub off excess ink with distilled water. Do not use anything with alcohol in it at this stage; it will smudge the stencil and cause skin irritation.
Prepare for a Tattooing Career with the Artist Accelerator Program
Learning how to use tattoo transfer paper is an important step in your journey, but it can also be pretty eye-opening to how difficult tattooing can be. Without the right knowledge, it’s impossible to level up your skills and become a professional tattoo artist.
However, finding the straight-forward information you need to progress is difficult. And with so much out there online, it’s hard to avoid picking up bad habits from incorrect and outdated resources.
This is one of the biggest struggles new tattooers face, and too many talented artists have given up their goal of getting into tattooing because of the years it would take to unlearn their bad habits.
That’s why aspiring artists are learning to tattoo with the Artist Accelerator Program’s structured course. As a student, you learn every step of the tattooing process from professional artists with the experience and advice you need to build your skills and create incredible tattoos.
With the Artist Accelerator, you can stop wasting time searching through incorrect information. You just get the clear, easy-to-understand lessons you need to start improving fast… along with support and personalized feedback from professional artists in our online Mastermind group.
Over 2500 students have already gone through the course, with many of them opening up their own studios. If you want to join them and learn the skills you need to start tattooing full time faster…
Click here to learn more about the Artist Accelerator Program.
