Creating Tattoo Flash That Sells

By Lou Bardach, Managing Partner
Flash2xs.com, LLC: www.flash2xs.com & www.tattoofinder.com

Copyright © 2008. Flash2xs.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

Introduction:

Tattoo flash artists oftentimes ask for suggestions on the types of artwork they should create. Over the years, Flash2xs.com / TattooFinder.com has tried to provide some general information to address these questions. Thankfully, we are now at the point where we are able to provide some VERY concrete data and recommendations. Each artist will still be required to make his/her own decisions on how to approach the design process, but the information we are providing should assist greatly in this task.

No One Answer for All Artists:

As noted above, it is ultimately up to each artist to decide what he/she is going to draw and how he/she is going to draw it. There is no single answer; no “sure shot” way for any artist to maximize his/her tattoo flash sales. All artists want to draw flash with “jackpot designs” that sell over and over again and make lots of money. But there is also no secret formula for creating jackpot designs. For example, the design by Edward Lee, “Angels Ass” is the top selling design on TattooFinder.com. It’s probably safe to say we can all look at this design and say it’s a great piece of artwork. But aside from the aesthetic quality of this design, there is no way any information can be provided here on what exactly makes this particular design sell over and over again. However, what we can do is to provide some information on various TRENDS that contribute to why this design sells so well.

Supply and Demand:

First, it makes sense to talk about designs in the context of basic “supply and demand.” In essence, TattooFinder.com is providing a forum so that customers who visit the site (providing “demand”) can be matched up with artwork created by top artists (supply). And the goal is essentially that each customer coming to the site “Find the Perfect Tattoo Design” (i.e., a supply and demand “match”). Obviously, the more customers there are (demand) and the more top quality artwork there is (supply), then the more of a chance that the “matches” occur. Matches of this type result both in happy customers because they find what they are looking for and happy tattoo flash artist because sales are being made!

It is REALLY important for artists to consider demand as they create supply (new artwork). Doing this increases the likelihood of artists creating tattoo flash that sells well. In summary, here are the outcomes an artist can expect when looking at supply and demand scenarios:

1. High Supply, High Demand = mixed results
2. High Supply, Low Demand = poor sales opportunities
3. Low Supply, High Demand = good sales opportunities
4. Low Supply, Low Demand = mixed results

NOTE: “Mixed Results” primarily means other factors play a larger role in outcome aside from primarily supply and demand factors.

SO, what can you as an artist do to facilitate supply and demand matches and make “mixed results” scenarios work in your favor? The answer: You can make smart business decisions in what tattoo flash you choose to create.

Average or Above Average Demand Where there is Generally Low Supply:

See more bull, Irish, and firefighter tattoo designs!
Check out Anti Bry's tattoo designs!

One such way to improve your chances for making sales is to work within the following supply and demand scenario: Low Supply, High Demand = good sales opportunities. Flash artists tend to gravitate towards popular design themes, but of course, there’s TONS of flash in the marketplace using these themes. However, there are also areas where the demand is still good, but not much flash has been created to meet this demand. Look at activities, hobbies, nationalities, religions, professions, etc. that are generally popular but where you don’t see much flash creation. Things that can be seen to tie into someone’s identity and have meaning for them are good areas for new tattoo flash candidacy.

Most Popular Tattoo Flash Themes:

Another option to create flash that sells is to simply target new design creation to the most traditionally popular themes, regardless of current levels of supply. Targeting your artwork development toward these areas would be working within the following supply and demand scenario: High Supply, High Demand = mixed results. The main determining factor here is that your designs, while targeting popular themes, would be competing with A LOT of other flash currently on the market. If an artist thinks he/she can compete with the flash currently available for these themes, then there is a lot of money to be made in this area.

Target Market - Overview:

A concept we have pushed over the years is one of artists having clear target markets in mind as they create the artwork they want to sell. An artist should have a focused idea of who it is that would want a tattoo for each piece of artwork he/she creates. This idea is essential because it requires DEMAND considerations by artists as the SUPPLY (artwork) is created.

Some flash artists just LOVE to draw weird, crazy, dark, abstract, Gothic style artwork, for example. Hey, that’s cool . . . being an artist means having a passion for drawing, and an artist should draw what he/she likes to draw, right? ABSOLUTELY! However, there is overall a very low demand for this style of artwork, AND there is actually a lot of it in the marketplace (because many flash artists just love to draw it). This case would therefore be the supply and demand scenario above, “High Supply, Low Demand = poor sales opportunities.” So sure, if you like to draw this stuff, go for it! But don’t expect to sell a lot of this type of flash.

The concept of a target market requires an understanding that when you are creating tattoo flash, you are in general creating artwork for people that who cannot create it for themselves (as opposed to drawing simply what you most like to draw). It also requires you to understand that what you are creating is essentially “commercial” artwork, meaning it has appeal for more than one or even more than just a very few people.

For example, you have a friend or customer who wants you to draw a design for him. His sign is a Taurus, he’s a firefighter and he’s Irish with 3 kids. So, you create a design of a bull (Taurus) wearing a fireman’s hat jumping over three shamrocks. For this particular person, this is probably the perfect tattoo design. However, how many other people are there whose sign is Taurus, who is a firefighter and who is Irish with three kids? This design therefore is aimed at a very small size target market (one person, perhaps a few more).

They key to designing for a target market is to insure the design is general enough to have appeal to multiple people, but specific enough that it feels personalized and has meaning, and thus appeal for some larger sized group of people.

Target Market – Tips for Designing with a Specific Market in Mind:

1. Look at Demographics

   Target Markets are based on generalizations, and oftentimes assumptions. These generalizations and assumptions, if based on some level of knowledge and not mere stereotypes can be beneficial to artists as they define target markets. For example, who is more likely to get a tattoo on one’s lower back area, a male or a female? The answer of course is a female. We know this because we see many more women than men with lower back tattoos all around us. TattooFinder.com also knows this because we look at sales trends. But your observation for something like this can generally point you in the right direction. So, when looking at creating a lower back design, ask yourself what are design trends that women seem to like more than men? Say you are going to include tribal in your lower back design. Do women prefer thick heavy tribal or thin wispy tribal? The answer is generally thin and wispy. Consider adding some other elements into this design. Do women generally prefer elements such as roses, butterflies, and hearts, or do they prefer skulls, panther claws and demons? When considering creating this design in color or black and gray, ask yourself, which style do women generally prefer?

   Also keep in mind that it sometimes makes sense to take an alternative route based on generalizations. In the above example, say you do this lower back design in black and gray even though you know most women prefer color. Well, there is some percentage of females who prefer black and gray over color. And if everyone is designing based on traditionally generalized demographic trends, your black and gray design may stand out as exactly what someone wants amidst all the other color lower back designs, and you find you just hit a niche market to target.

   Other demographics you might consider when designing for a target market might be age, religion, sexual orientation, urban or rural, educational background, etc. These are generalizations that can be made to help us reduce or enlarge the specific market we want to target. And making these generalizations allows artists to make more educated decisions about not only WHAT they choose to design, but HOW they choose to design.

2. Target Market Size

   This has already been discussed in part above, but it is an important consideration when selecting a target market. Do you want to target a large market generally where there is already a high supply of designs, or do you want to try to target your market more specifically and hit niche markets? The impulse of course is to go for the high demand areas despite the high corresponding supply. However, targeting smaller niche markets can also be lucrative.

   There is a business concept gaining notoriety particularly in the context of web-based businesses called the “Long Tail”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail) The essence of this theory is that while brick and mortar companies have limited shelf space and therefore have to carry only products with higher demand, online business (like TattooFinder.com) have “virtual shelf space”, meaning we can carry many more products (designs) without much added overhead cost. The benefit is the ability to increase sales to smaller, niche markets. In some cases, sales to these smaller niche markets, when added up on the whole can equal or even exceed sales to the larger, dominant market areas.

3. Look at Narrowing Markets by Combining Popular Search Terms

   While “tribal” is a very popular design theme right now, oftentimes people are looking for specific types of tribal. Sometimes it’s for a specific area on the body, such as a tribal armband or tribal lowerback piece. Sometimes it’s a popular design (such as a cross, heart, or rose) created in stylized tribal. Sometimes it’s a traditional design with tribal accents or tribal background behind it. The point is that target markets can be narrowed by combining popular search terms.

   This also helps the tattoo flash artist, because he/she can focus on combining popular keywords and hitting hot niche markets where there are actually few designs available. For example, while “tribal” currently results in MANY designs on TattooFinder.com, “tribal lower back” results in much fewer designs. And typing in “tribal lower back rose” results in less even less. The point is that abstract tribal flash targets too large a market and there is TONS of basic tribal flash on the market. By combining tribal (in this example) with other popular design themes, you start to narrow your market and your flash stands out and becomes more sellable.

4. Take a New Angle on a Popular Design Type

   Taking a new angle can sometimes be done through artistic style. In fact, every artist should be defining and refining his/her unique artistic style through his/her creative lifespan. Of course, artists “borrow” ideas from each other, but this should be done not as emulation, rather in exploration of new style development. Why would an artist want to try to create a skull in the style of Edward Lee? Isn’t Ed already doing this, and doing such a skilled job at it that his skulls have become a recognizably defined style today? Do you think you can do an Edward Lee styled skull better than Edward Lee? The best option for you is to find a NEW style if you want to create traditionally popular designs. Who knows, you may set the next hot trend!

   Another example might be to hone in on a “submarket” (or niche) of a popular design like a skull. We all know there are TONS of skulls out there already for people to choose from. So you create more basic skull tattoo flash and throw it into the mix? This isn’t probably a scenario for success. However, you might try to narrow your target market by designing skulls that appeal to specific, smaller groups of people similar to the idea of “Combining Popular Search Terms” above. Perhaps you create designs where all your skulls represent various professions, such as a skull with a firefighter hat, a skull with police cap, a skull with a stethoscope around the neck. Here, you are taking a popular design theme and making it unique for a more specific market, and increasing the likelihood of making sales on those designs.

5. Look at Mixing the Way You Select Your Target Markets

   Everyone wants to create tattoo flash consisting of all “jackpot designs” . . . the designs that are OH so very hot and that sell over and over again. Sometimes the magic happens, but unless you know something that most of us don’t, creating jackpot designs isn’t easy to do. It generally involves creating highly generalized designs using popular, high demand design themes where there is very high supply already. So as the adage goes, you may not want to put all your eggs in one basket. It’s generally a good idea to diversify your design portfolio. We recommend varying the SIZE of the target markets you design for. Sure, go for those big time jackpot designs in larger markets, but also try to hit some smaller niche markets as your bread and butter.

   It’s also important to diversify the market areas you design for. While hitting a similar market over and over again can in some instances bring notoriety and lead an artist to domination in a particular market, the usual result is the artist simply putting out a lot of artwork that looks very much the same. By creating designs for diverse market groups, you generally increase the likelihood of making more overall sales.

General Tips & Guidelines for Creating Tattoo Flash that Sells:

1. Quality of Artwork - Aesthetics & Composition:
   • Color: Use of color such as Complementary, Analogous, Triads, Split Complements, Shades and Tints in Monochromatic Color Schemes, Warm and Cool colors. Feelings evoked by color, energy levels produced by color choices, emphasis and focus produced by color usage.
   • Texture: Visual Texture is the illusion of a three-dimensional surface (simulated in tattoo flash). Texture inherently includes the concept of depth.
   • Shape: Use and execution of Geometric shapes (usually angular and appear in man-made objects) and Organic shapes (usually more rounded and appear in nature).
   • Line (artistic use, NOT line drawings / stencils here): Use of lines in organizational / creation process. Weight of lines and communication of ideas and/or feelings. Use in defining objects within and throughout artwork.
   • Value: Lightness or darkness of a color; light effects. Generally used to produce illusions of texture, form and space.
   • Proportion and Scale: Proportion meaning one part of an object in relation to another part of that object. Scale meaning one object in relation to another object. Accurate, realistic use and/or purposefully distorted, exaggerated use. Use of Hierarchical Proportion to produce focus and/or emphasis.
   • Form: Refers to 3 dimensional shapes. In tattoo flash, the illusion of 3 dimensions to create a sense of depth in the artwork (using color, shades and tints, value, proportion, etc).
   • Space: Use of Positive and Negative space in emphasis and focus, both actual and metaphorical uses. Use of space to evoke mood and/or feeling. Use of perspective to create and define illusions of space.
   • Balance: Formal balance generally produced through symmetrical organization; Informal balance generally produced through asymmetrical organization and/or visual equality; Radial balance through use of a central focal point (center of interest).
   • Rhythm & Movement: Repetitious use of various design elements or patterns to “encourage” a viewer’s eye to move around the artwork. “Freeze Frame” effects of known objects in environments producing motion (i.e., a Koi in a wave or a bird in the wind).
   • Variety & Emphasis: Purposeful use of contrasting or different artistic elements to draw a viewer’s eye to a particular area of the artwork.
   • Harmony & Unity: Effective use evokes the feeling that the artwork produced is complete. In particular with tattoo flash, that the individual designs on the sheet produce a “whole” image, and perhaps even that all sheets within a set produce a cohesive collection of artwork. Consistency in color palette, shapes, lines, values, etc. produce harmonious works. A common theme or themes, also work to produce unified results.





2. Line Drawings - All artwork is sold with accompanying line drawings (i.e., line drawings are required). The QUALITY of line drawings is paramount. After all, line drawings are how flash artists communicate the design to the tattoo artist. Accuracy and high levels of details (boldness/thickness of lines, “soft” lines, etc.) are essential.





3. Number of Designs Per Sheet for Flash Sets – Those who purchase sets of flash want the biggest bang for their buck. Tattoo flash sheets should include at least 6-10 tattoo-friendly and unique designs per sheet. Filling blank areas on sheets with fluff that can’t be tattooed, using the same or similar stencils and coloring designs differently, flipping designs, etc. are all big “No-No’s”. Designs should be created on the sheet at the SMALLEST size possible that they can be tattooed. Enlarging designs to fill space also doesn’t cut it.





4. Backgrounds – In general, backgrounds should not be used on tattoo flash sheets. If backgrounds are used, they should be very light and only used to enhance the artwork on the sheet. Backgrounds on sheets also makes pulling out the single designs for sale more difficult, unless a "non-background" version of a sheet is also produced.





5. Types of Designs – See “Target Market” information above. Note: Flash2xs.com, LLC does not accept any artwork for sale that can be deemed as “hateful” or “degrading” towards any individual or group of people. Read the Flash2xs.com, LLC Company Policies for more information about what designs we do and do not accept.





6. Themes – Flash Sets that have a consistent theme throughout generally sell best. At the very least, each sheet of flash within a set should have a cohesive theme. Themes show purpose in the artwork, as well as make the design selection process easier for a customer when viewing flash on a wall in a shop.





7. Color OR Black & Gray – A set of flash should be EITHER color OR black & gray, not contain some sheets that are color and others that are black & gray.





8. Set & Sheet Specifications:
   
   • Flash sets generally consists of 5 – 10 sheets
   • Flash sheets are on 11 x 14 inch paper, laid out in horizontal / landscape format (U.S. standard)
   • Flash sheets should have a ½ inch border from the edge of the paper to accommodate printing

   
   
   

9. All artwork should be tattoo-friendly:
• Lines in the artwork should not be too “tight”. No black line should have less that 2 mm space between it and any other line. No lightly colored or blank space within a darker colored area should be less than 2 mm in diameter.
• Do not use colors in flash that are not commonly used in tattooing. “White” areas in flash are generally going to be skin tone. White should be used in flash SPARINGLY if at all as some tattooists won’t even use pure white. Fluorescent colors should not be used in flash, nor metallic colors.
• Tattoo flash in general should have clean, clear distinct lines within the design. You can’t “sketch” a tattoo on the skin and tattoo flash is not sketched artwork. The popularity of “lineless” tattoo artwork is growing, but not commonplace at this time.
• Keep the price of creating the actual tattoo (based on time required to tattoo it) in mind when designing the flash. Using 20 different colors in a 2 inch tattoo is going to really piss off any tattooist. In general, the larger the design the more colors and complexity the design can appropriately contain.
Common Mistakes that Make Flash LESS Tattoo-Friendly:
• The line work is too tight. Ink spreads on skin over time, and if the design is too detailed for its size, the tattoo will bleed into a messy ink blob.
• Blank areas in designs are not white. Skin comes in all colors, and pure white tends NOT to hold in skin (many tattooists won’t even use pure white). An area in your design that is left blank is not white, it is skin color.
• Tattoo ink only comes in certain colors. Don’t use fluorescents or metalics in your flash.
• Flash artwork in general should have clean, clear, distinct outlines. You can’t use a tattoo machine to “sketch” on someone’s skin. A “sketched look” can be created by an experienced tattoo artist, but this should be an intentional design choice by the tattoo artist, not as a standard for tattoo flash.
• Marketability of designs. Just because you think a design is “cool”, doesn’t mean that anyone else wants to put it on his/her skin. When creating flash, you are not creating custom artwork. We support our artists’ creative efforts to come up with designs that are new and fresh. We want Flash2xs.com and TattooFinder.com to be the best places to find artwork that sets new standards in the industry. HOWEVER, if you are planning on actually making SALES on your artwork, it would be nice if it happened BEFORE you died, in your own time. Most people get a tattoo because it has some type of meaning for them. If all people could create their own designs, then there would be no reason to sell tattoo flash. Tattoo flash should be created in an attempt to put out designs that people would create for themselves if they had the creative capabilities. Our customers will sometimes purchase flash because it is very different, creative and just “cool”, or because they think it will be fun and/or challenging to tattoo. But most of the time, flash is purchased with the purpose of being able to resell the designs to people in the form of tattoos. No one design will be right for all people, but each design that is created should be targeted for some particular type of person or group of people.





10. Make Each Design Count – Sometimes the little designs used to simply fill space on a sheet are the designs that get tattooed over and over again. Everything you put on your sheet of flash and/or every design you create, should be purposeful.