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A tattoo flash is a design of a tattoo printed
or drawn on a sheet of paper or cardboard. Tattoo flashes
are usually displayed on the walls of tattoo shops in order
to give customers ideas for designs.
Traditionally, tattoo flashes were designed by a tattooist
for display in his own shop. Tattooists sometimes traded or
sold flash sheets among themselves.
Today, these hand-drawn, local tattoo flashes are rare. Many
tattooists make multiple color photocopies of flashes and
sell them at tattoo conventions or on the internet. Newcomers
to the tattoo industry wishing to publicise their designs
often freely distribute flashes on their web pages. As a result,
contemporary tattoo shops display flashes from many artists.
While there is no standard size for tattoo flash sheets, the
most common are 11x14 inches in the US and A3 in Europe. Also
the letter and A4 formats are getting more popular in recent
years, since more color printers print these formats.
A set of tattoo flash may or may not come with an "outline".
The outline is typically printed on a separate sheet, one
for each sheet of tattoo flash. This is convenient for the
tattooist, who otherwise would have to draw an outline himself
in order to make the stencil for the linework of the tattoo.
Today's customers rarely pick a design from the wall and have
it done in exactly the same size and color. Most tattoos are
custom-designed. Nevertheless, tattoo flashes are an excellent
departure point for design and style ideas. More on Tattoo
Flash at Wikipedia.org
One of the best tattoo flash sites online is
Tattooflash.com. It
is great place to start when looking for free flash.
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