Is there a better way to express yourself than with tattoos on your skin? If you want to get your message over clearly, words are the best way to do it in most cases. So-called ‘letterings’ have always been popular as tattoo designs, but finding a suitable font is not always easy.
This article shows some of the most popular tattoo fonts for tattooing in 2022. We start with the six best-broken fonts that are easy to read and then display five artful curved fonts.
What To Look For In Tattoo Fonts
When using fonts for tattoos, it is crucial to ensure that the font allows enough space between each letter or number. If the spaces between the individual letters or numbers are too small, the beautiful font may be only recognisable as a single (black) bar in a few years.
The letters and numbers should have good space in between, as these can blend over time and become difficult to recognise. This is especially the case with small letters such as “e” and “a”, but numbers such as a “4” or “8” can also become unrecognisable very quickly.
Of course, it always depends on which font size and needle size is chosen. More prominent is better (as is always the case with tattoos), as the spaces will also be more significant. For this reason, a good tattoo artist should advise his customers not to get a tattoo that is too small that will no longer be recognisable in the near future. The smaller the tattoo, the firmer and more precise the work must be.
Letterings are almost always done with black ink; black provides the best contrast and increases legibility and expressiveness.
The 6 Best Easily Readable Tattoo Fonts
These fonts are relatively simple and easy to tattoo, and well readable. They are particularly suitable if the message is to be easily recognisable.
Our selection:
- Calibri (Sans-Serif): This modern classic is particularly suitable for legibility. The font has large spacing and a more straightforward structure than Arial and Helvetica, its close relatives. Its precise forms and simplicity make it the best all-purpose weapon for lettering and numbers.
As the font is subject to a proprietary licence, this font may only be used with a purchased licence. Alternatively, the font “Carlito” can be used, which has an open licence.
Link: https://fontlibrary.org/de/font/carlito
- Spectral Light (Serif): This font is particularly suitable for Fineline. It is slightly more artistic than a “standard font” and is particularly ideal for lettering or multi-line text passages.
Link: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Spectral
- JMH Typewriter (Serif): Of course, a typewriter font cannot be missing from our list of best tattoo fonts. This variant is particularly well suited for tattooing as it has no curlicues or the like. Such fonts work incredibly well for single words (with a dot at the end) or short lettering.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/jmh-typewriter.font
- Something in the air (Sans-Serif): A wonderfully universal font. It looks like it was written by hand with a marker and is suitable for almost everything. Due to the large spaces between the letters, it is very legible and tattooable but requires some leeway depending on the length of the text.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/something-in-the-air.font
- Letters for Learners (Sans-Serif): This font is just right if you want it to be simple and straightforward. The font looks less machine-like and can be used universally, but it is best for short sentences and times. It even features a version with dots.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/letters-for-learners.font
- Timeline (Serif): This font works very well, especially with capital letters for single words. Due to clear lines and large spaces within the letters, it can be tattooed well, and thanks to the slightly narrower letters, it does not take up as much space as, for example, the Spectral Light Font mentioned above.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/timeline-2.font
The 5 Best Artistic Tattoo Fonts (Calligraphy)
Now it’s time to get artful and sophisticated. The following fonts all have their unique style and add a certain feeling and a touch of emotion to the lettering.
These are our favourites:
- Exmouth: This beautiful handwriting-style font has a beautiful flow and can be used universally. This font always looks appropriate as a single word and as a quotation.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/exmouth.font
- Old London: A typical gothic font. The capital letters are richly ornamented and appear monumental, whereas the smaller letters are somewhat reduced but still reminiscent of the Middle Ages.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/old-london.font
- Infinite Stroke: This font immediately looks like a modern love letter. Delicate curlicues emphasise this font’s elegance and adds a little extra sweetness to every word and sentence.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/infinite-stroke.font
- Pacifico: This font immediately evokes holiday feelings. Therefore, the font is particularly suitable for a single (city) name or dreamy sentences.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/de/pacifico.font
- Ghastly Panic: This font is suitable for those who like it slightly edgier. It looks heavy but is still delicate and easy to read with a slight horror undertone.
Link: https://www.dafont.com/ghastly-panic.font
Custom Letterings And Script Tattoos
Of course, nothing beats custom fonts for letterings and script tattoos. Custom lettering is the supreme discipline when it comes to extra artful fonts. Some tattoo artists have specialised in developing their own fonts or making completely individual fonts for their clients.
These artistic tattoos are sometimes more and sometimes less readable (this is intentional) and can cover entire body regions. The transitions from writing to design are usually fluid.
Alternative Fonts
Experimentation is always fun. Old books offer great inspiration for making your own fonts. Or, (this is a secret tip) do you know the letter stencils for children? Well, they are perfect for creating customised lettering tattoos, as you can decide the spacing between the letters yourself.
Maybe you know someone who has interesting handwriting that is suitable for tattooing? You can turn that into a tattoo template in no time.
Where Can I Find More Fonts?
If you want to do some research yourself and discover your favourite font, we recommend the following sites where you can find numerous free and paid fonts:
https://www.1001freefonts.com/de/
https://www.designerinaction.de/fonts/
http://www.schriftarten-fonts.de/
Conclusion
We have showcased some of the best fonts that are particularly well suited for tattoos. Any tattoo artist can use these fonts to tattoo a meaningful message, a special word or a memorable date, for example. However, if you want it to be particularly artistic and legibility is less important, custom letterings – specially created fonts – are the first choice, as there are no limits to your creativity.
With tattoo lettering, care should be taken that the spaces between and within the individual characters are always large enough so that the tattoo remains clearly readable over a long period of time and does not slowly “merge” and become unrecognisable.
Find out how to revive a faded tattoo in our Advice Hub article ‘Tips for a faded tattoo’.
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