Picking the right tattoo font is a big deal – 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 it strikes the right note as there are so many different takes on tattoo typography. The good news is there are designers and typographers around the world creating fantastic tattoo fonts, and there are lots that are totally free.
But how do you find tattoo fonts in a style you love? Where do you start? We've taken the hard work out of it and scoured the web to find you the top free tattoo fonts for designers. If you need some inspiration on your overall design, be sure to take a look at our selection of the best tattoo designs and tattoo art. Or maybe it's some free graffiti fonts that will inspire you.
- The best free fonts for designers
01. Lime Blossom Caps Font
- Format: TTF
- Download here
The embellishment on this font is intricate and a delicate take on a tattoo-style font. It's hard to read but draws the eye, and would be great for projects in which you need the vibe of a tattoo, as well being an interesting choice for inking your skin.
02. Xanax
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
03. Rustic Love Tattoo
- Format: OTF
- Download here
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.
04. Ginga
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
05. Tuamotu
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: OTF
- Download here
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.
07. Lemon Jelly
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: OTF
- Download here
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.
13. MOM
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
14. Reditum
- Format: OTF & TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: OTF & TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: OTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
A playful upper-case tattoo font, Tribal Dragon was created by prolific font designer Jonathan Harris and is free for personal use.
18. Blackletter
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
19. Crux
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
21. Pentagon
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
22. Little Lord Fontleroy
- Format: OTF & TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
24. Rose Tattoo
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
26. Cute Tattoo
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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.
27. Extra Ornamental No. 2
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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
- Format: TTF
- Download here
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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