14 free tattoo fonts to download today

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Text tattoos have always been a popular way for people to express themselves, with many choosing to incorporate words, short quotes, names and sayings into body art designs. And in recent years, tattoo-style typography has become a big influence on all areas of design - from graphic design and illustration to web and app design and beyond. As a result, there are now hundreds of tattoo fonts available online for use in your projects, and many are free!

But how do you find tattoo fonts that rock - the diamonds among the rough? To help you out, we've scoured the web to find you 14 top examples of free tattoo fonts for designers. Enjoy!

01. AngillaTattoo

Designed by Måns Grebäck, this script-based addition to our tattoo fonts list includes 357 characters, and is freely available - though only for personal use. You can also buy the font for commercial use for $59 here. And don't forget to Use the numbers for swashes (e.g. A1ngilla4 Tattoo8).

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02. Los Angeles

As far as tattoo fonts go, they don't get much better than this. Designed by Vicky Mardian, this font evokes fond memories of LA drive-bys and botched drug runs. On the Xbox, of course. The above version is for perosnal use, with a commercial version avaialble here for $20.

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03. True Man Tattoos

If you're looking for a font-based collection of dingbat tattoo fonts, which can be used in personal projects, then True Man Tattoos is for you. Daggers through a skull? Sorted. Anchor? You bet. Horseshoe, shamrock, two dice and the number 13? You betcha!

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04. CM Tattoo Dragon

This movie-inspired font by Christopher Means is free for personal use, and was inspired by the poster for the US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

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05. Tattoo Ink

This Art Deco-style font was created by typography designer Ryan Splint. This particular font features lettering containing both a scratch fill and angle fill effect. And with nearly half a million downloads on dafont.com, it's clearly a popular choice. As with most of our tattoo fonts, it's free for personal use only.

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06. Delinquente

Delinquent by type designer Måns Grebäck is a beautiful script font, perfectly suited to designs featuring quotes and sayings. Available free-of-charge for personal use only, the full font and commercial license can be purchased on Grebäck's website Mawns. 

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07. Shit happens

Font designer Billy Argel has developed a number of typefaces that would be suitable for text tattoos. But this 'Shit happens' design, with over half a million downloads, is by far his most popular on Fontspace. It's free for personal use, with commercial licenses available at Argel's website.

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08. Canterbury

This old English-style font is one of many designs by Dieter Steffman. Created in 2003, the set includes both upper and lower case letters, special characters and numbers 0-9. This typeface is also free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. 

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09. Tribal

Tribal tattoos are still extremely popular, so if that's the design you're going for, check out this version of tribal type by Apostrophic Lab. The free font includes a full set of upper and lower case letters, numbers and a selection of special characters. It is also free for use in both commercial and non-commercial projects.

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10. Tattoo Lettering

If it's a cartoon-feel you're after in your tattoo design then this typeface by Gaut Fonts is a great starting point. The download includes two sets, one open (as shown above) and the other with a black fill, both of which include uppercase letters, numbers and special characters. Free for non-commercial use only.

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11. Drunk tattoo

This casual, handwritten typeface was designed by Xerographer fonts. We wonder if they created it after a heavy night out? The font set features a full set of upper and lower case letters, but no numbers. The download is free for non-commercial purposes. 

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12. VTC Nue Tattoo Script

This delicate script-style font was designed by Larry E. Yerkes of the Vigilante Typeface Corporation. Yerkes has created a number of typefaces and now has quite a collection in his dafont library, this VTC Nue Tattoo script font being one of his most popular designs. Free for non-commercial use only. 

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13. Lupus Blight

We know this is the second tribal-inspired font on the list but this typeface offers a somewhat delicate take on what is normally quite a bold and heavy design. The lettering was created by Graham Meade, who has a number of other tattoo-inspired font designs online. The typeface is available for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

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14. Ink In The Meat

Another from type designer Billy Argel, Ink in the Meat is one of his most popular downloads. The free version of this font is partial and doesn't contain any numbers. Ink in the Meat is free for personal use, with commercial licenses available at Argel's website.

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