Top free tattoo fonts perfect for use in your body art designs.
(Image credit: Rafa Miguel)
Choosing tattoo fonts is a big task – you don't want to have the wrong design inked on your skin forever. And if you're using the font for a project, you want to make sure you get it right because there are many different takes on tattoo typography, with different connotations and levels of legibility. The good news is that there are designers and typographers all over the world creating fantastic tattoo fonts, and there are many that are completely free.
So how do you find tattoo fonts in the style you want? We've scoured the web to find the best free tattoo fonts available for designers – 55 of them in all. Some of them are free for non-commercial use only, while others are free for all uses.
If you need more inspiration for a tattoo-themed design, check out our selection of the best tattoo designs and tattoo art. You might also find inspiration in our free graffiti fonts or free script fonts. We also have a roundup of the best free fonts for designers overall. Meanwhile, read on for our favourite tattoo fonts.
We all know that bikers often have the best tattoos, so first stop on our list of the best tattoo fonts is this motorcycle-inspired offering from Siempre Leales. There's a bold and a standard version, both of which serve to recreate classic biker designs.
Apostrophic Labs' Xanax is a solid-looking 3D font with more than a touch of graffiti swagger, and just the thing for a tattoo font that stands out from the crowd. It features upper and lower-case characters, and it's free for all uses.
Get some rustic love in your life with this jolly little tattoo font from Chequered Ink that's free for personal use and charities. It also works as an acceptable alternative to Comic Sans.
Ginga is an inky tattoo font from arch-script typographer Billy Argel. It is on the grungier end of the spectrum, with its destroyed aesthetic – and don't forget to use the > and < symbols to create the tails. Ginga is free for personal use, and you can buy it for commercial purposes from $39.
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05. Tuamotu
Tuamotu's tribal flourishes are a real eye-catcher
This South Pacific-inspired tattoo font by Imagex Fonts is really brought to life by its tribal designs within the letterforms. It's free for personal use; contact Imagex if you want to use it commercially.
06. Always Beside You
Always Beside You is a script font with just a hint of scratchiness
Jonathan Harris is a veritable font monster, with over 433 fonts on FontSpace and more than 11 million downloads to his credit. For a taste of his skills, check out Always Beside You, a slightly scratchy script font that's perfect for tattoo designs and free for personal use.
This one caught our eye because it shares its name with Fred Deakin's old band; free for personal use, it's a big and friendly-looking script font created by Billy Argel.
08. Serval
This feline font has some lovely strokes, but it might scratch
This calligraphic font from Maelle.K and Thomas Boucherie is gloriously scratchy and perfect for taking the edge off a too-serious script tattoo. It's free to use, but contact the designers if you have any commercial plans for it.
09. Tattoo Vieja Escuela 1
If Beavis and Butt-Head got tattoos, it would be one of these
Swish, painstakingly-designed tattoo fonts are all well and good, but sometimes you want a tattoo that looks like it was done in prison with a contraband blade and a ballpoint pen. If so, step up this awesome set of old-school ink from Woodcutter.
10. Tribal Tattoo
One of these would go nicely with a Global Hypercolour T-shirt
Want a bit of retro class? Get your '90s on with this collection of eye-catching tribal designs, featuring plenty of Celtic knots, stylised dragons, spirit insects and spiky abstract designs.
11. Sailor Scrawl
Celebrate a life on the ocean wave with this nautical font
Get that nautical look with this salty hand-drawn font from the Out of Step Font Company. Each letterform features a little diamond, and it's free for personal use.
12. Man Down
This Maori-inspired tattoo font is a joy to look upon
We love the bold strokes of this new decorative font from British studio Chequered Ink. Inspired by Maori tattoos, this fantastic tribal font is free for personal use, you can purchase a licence to use it commercially.
Inspired by old-school lettering, designer Rafa Miguel created tattoo font MOM. "I'm a big fan of American traditional tattoos, this is a just a tribute to the great artists that use this style," he comments on Behance. MOM is available for free for both personal and commercial use.
The first of a number of stunning scripts in this list designed by talented fontsmith Måns Grebäck, Reditum is a calligraphic font that's guaranteed to add a touch of style to your designs. Free for personal use, it comes complete with a number of glyphs and standard ligatures.
15. Lina Script
Designers Vicky Mardian and Måns Grebäck collaborated on Lina Script
This slick tattoo-style script font has a cheeky touch of graffiti to it. Designed by Vicky Mardian and Måns Grebäck, a full commercial licence will set you back $59 but you can download a free demo for personal use.
16. Angel Tears
Packed with character, Angel Tears has a beautiful handmade feel
Angel Tears, by Billy Angel, boasts a gorgeous hand-drawn feel. With 128 characters – including upper case, lower case and punctuation – it'll add a distressed look to your designs.
17. Tribal Dragon
You get a basic Latin character map with Tribal Dragon
Created by Dieter Steffmann, this tattoo font is licensed as freeware, which means that – unlike most on this list – it's available for both commercial and personal projects; no questions asked.
Crosses are a staple of tattoo design, and this dingbat font by Spanish designer Woodcutter brings together a range of brilliant designs that you can download for free.
20. Precious
BoltCutterDesign has created a number of free fonts
Designed by BoltCutterDesign, Precious Regular is a traditional, calligraphy inspired tattoo font that you can download today. The graphic design company has also created a wide range of free fonts, so be sure to check out its site.
Pentagon is a less traditional free tattoo font offering but by no means is it dull. You can download Pentagon for free if it's for personal use – we think plenty of you'll have fun experimenting with this design.
Designer Nick Curtis has produced over eleven hundred fonts – almost five hundred of them freeware fonts, which have been downloaded and enjoyed by over three million people worldwide.
23. Spring
Spring showcases the illustrative elements of tattoos
This free tattoo font entitled Spring, combines the illustrative elements of tattoo designs with the traditional, calligraphy style typography that is often etched with ink.
Going with the more handwriting font style, Rose is free for any personal design work. Featuring only capital letters, this is one of those tattoo fonts that's perfect for headlines and eye-catching straps.
25. VTKS Tattoo
You can have these tattoo fonts filled or outlined
Consisting of both lower case and capital letters, VTKS Tattoo font is a mix of old and new style tattoo typography. As is often the case with downloads of no-cost tattoo fonts, the creators would appreciate donations and so if you do end up using it, we'd encourage you to be generous.
This cute font comes in capital letters that makes for a brilliant headline font. The subtle additions to each letter make this one of the more fun and playful tattoo fonts we've seen, and will provide plenty of typography experimentation.
Extra Ornamental No. 2 is a fancier approach to tattoo fonts, with its extra attention to detail, swoops and shading. As a 'busier' font design, it may only work in bigger scales.
28. True Love
Davide Cariani's True Love design was inspired by old-school tattoo typography
Davide Cariani is a UX designer and web developer with a passion for typography. True Love was created in his spare time and is his first type experiment. It was inspired by old school tattoo typography; glyphs available include letters, numbers, dash and dot.
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Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
