Can You Use Another Artist’s Work For Your Tattoo?

The short answer is: technically, yes. But, it’s a bit of a tricky situation. When you’re taking someone else’s artwork and using it as a design for your tattoo, you might think that you’re in the clear because you found it online. The internet is a public domain, so no one owns what’s online, right? Wrong. You might run into some issues if you choose your tattoo design this way, and we’re going to explain the specific ways you can use another artist’s work for your own tattoo design.

Copyright

The biggest issue you need to contend with in using another artist’s work is copyright law. Artists who create their own work, even if they publish it online, own the rights to those images, so you could be violating copyright law in taking that design to use for your tattoo.

You can get around this by working directly with an artist to custom design your tattoo; this way, you’ll own the rights to the artwork, and you can use the images however you want to. You’ll have a completely original design, and you won’t have to worry about breaking the law.

Tattoo Artist Refusal

You might have trouble finding a tattoo artist to agree to copy someone’s work onto your body. Tattoo artist, Timothy, explains, “One thing that most tattoo artists hate is being asked to copy someone else’s exact tattoo”. It’s not just that they’re concerned about copyright laws, [but] copying someone else’s design is completely unoriginal. “I want exactly this, the same as it is tattooed on this person, and this person, and those ten other people”. For artists like Timothy, a tattoo design is supposed to be unique to you as an individual, and copying someone else’s negates that originality and uniqueness.

Pinterest and Instagram

Getting tattoo design ideas and inspiration from Pinterest or Instagram is a great way to find out what sorts of styles are out there, and what’s popular at the moment. This is especially true with Instagram – you get to see the styles and skills that different tattoo artists offer, which can help you choose where to go when you have your design chosen.

The one thing you don’t want to do is take an image from these platforms, and bring it to a tattoo parlor to get that exact design inked onto you. Again, you could be in violation of copyright laws, and it’s just not worth it. You’ll likely end up with a tattoo that twenty other people have too.