Best Tattoo Books for Beginners 2024 (2024)

For anyone starting out in the wonderful world of tattooing, inspiration and guidance is essential!

No matter your style, technique, studio or master, your art and mindset will both benefit from taking in as much as you can about the industry’s history and technical skills. You are becoming a part of an old, important, and culturally-significant world - make the most of it!

Here are our top picks for books about the art of tattooing, books with collections of tattoo designs, and books that tell you more about the industry’s rich culture and history.

Books About Tattooing

Need to learn as much as you can about the techniques and tools you’ll be using in your daily life?

The Body Sketch Book is an invaluable tool for artists who are getting to grip with the complexities of the human body! Featuring studies of anatomy, compositions and templates upon which to work, this book is designed to be drawn on with pencils or other dry media.

Expressive Skulls References covers one of the most popular tattoo subjects - skulls! Featuring 170 images of skulls from different angles and with different lighting, you can use this book as reference for drawing practice, or as inspiration for putting together your own skull-themed tattoos!

is a collection of three large hardcover books with over 1000 pages of inspiration and advice covering Chicano, horror, and portrait/photorealism tattoo styles.

Tatau - Marks of Polynesia was made to accompany an exhibition on Polynesian tattoos hosted in the Japanese American National Museum, curated by Takahiro Kitamura. Showcasing work from traditional Samoan tattoo artists and discussing the roles tattoo take in preserving and promoting Samoan culture.

Tattoo Inspiration Books

Looking for tattoo design books that will give you ideas, inspiration and direction for your own art?

Tattoo Masters Flash Book Collection Part 1 is a fantastic selection of flash designs from industry legends like Don Ed Hardy, Tim Hendricks, Horioshi III, “Sailor” Jerry Collins and El Whyner. It features a detailed interview with Don Ed Hardy, a foreword about tattoo flash, and then plenty of tattoo examples!

Maori Volume 1 Book is an essential purchase for anyone who wants to create Maori pieces or just get a better idea of this particular area of tattoo history and culture. It contains both a written explanation of Maori tattoo culture as well as a huge selection of original flash.

The Traditional Folder is a collection of huge tattoo flash sheets, equally as good to flip through and to use as art for your walls! Including work from Ed Hardy, Filip Leu and Chris Garver - among many more - in a large black cloth folder.

Dragons - The Collection is a combined collection of reference images from the incredible Filip Leu. This tattoo book of designs is entirely focused on his favourite subject: dragons!

Books About Tattoo History and Culture

Want to know more about the origins and history of tattooing than Wikipedia can tell you? These books will give you a greater appreciation of our industry, and hopefully inspire your work too!

Magical Tattoos and Scarification is a fascinating full-colour hardback book, based on the work of a tattoo anthropologist. If your interest in tattooing goes beyond the surface level, you’ll love reading about how cultures around the world have used body modifications to access and engage with the spiritual world, with text in both German and English.

Chris 51 - Alpha Geek is more of an autobiography than anything else, detailing the life of this tattoo artist, geek, author, TV star and heavy metal convention founder! A must-read for anyone who wants to know what it’s really like to work - and succeed - within the industry.

Black Tattoo Art II: Modern Expressions of Tribal is second in the series dubbed “the bibles of blackwork tattoos.” A photographic journey across time and space, showcasing the best of contemporary tribal pieces - if you’re planning on working with black ink alone, this is the book for you!

Tattoo Colouring Books

If your head is full of tattoo history, facts and information, why not wind down with a nice colouring book? Pick up Mike De Vries’ Coloring Book and you can enjoy the simple pleasure of adult colouring while working on your tattoo design skills!

These are just some of the best books about tattoos that we’d recommend to apprentices, and really anyone who wants to know more about the tattoo world!