Skin try-on
Realistic tattoo mockups on your own skin
You can look at a design on a white page for weeks and still not know how it'll sit on your forearm. A try-on settles that in a minute. Upload a photo of the spot, choose a design, and TattooBuild places it on your skin, working with the curve of the body part and the light in your photo.
- Try-ons stay private and never appear in Explore. Your photos
- Daylight, bare skin and the whole area in frame work best. Photo tips
Three steps
How the try-on works
- Add a photo of the spot.Take one now or upload one you already have.
- Pick a design.Use one from your gallery, or make a new one first. Placement-aware designs fit best, so a forearm design for a forearm photo.
- See it on your skin.Not quite right? Describe the change, something like “smaller, and higher up toward the elbow”, and run it again.
- Upload a photo01 · Your photo
- 02 · Your design
- Your try-on appears here03 · See it
Before you upload
Photo tips for a better mockup
Even light. Daylight from a window is ideal. Harsh overhead light throws shadows that fight the design.
The whole area in frame, with a little space around it. For a forearm, wrist to elbow.
Bare skin. Roll the sleeve all the way up. If you have tattoos nearby, include them so you can see how the pieces sit together.
Straight on. Hold the camera square to the body part, not at a steep angle.
Just you. One person in the photo, and keep your face out of it unless the tattoo is going on your neck.
Format: JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 20 MB.
Honest limits
What a mockup can and can't tell you
It can show you the size against your body, the position, how the design follows the shape of the limb, and roughly whether black and grey or colour suits you.
It can't show you how the tattoo will look once it's healed (softer, with lines that settle and spread a touch over the years), exactly how a colour will heal on your skin, or how the design moves when you do.
Your artist will put the stencil on you in person before a needle comes near you. That's the real test, and the mockup gets you to it with fewer surprises.
Your photos stay private
We don't keep the photo you upload: it's only sent to our image model provider to make your mockup. The mockup itself is private to your account and can never appear in Explore.
Questions
Try-on questions
Does it work on every skin tone?
Yes. Colour is the hardest thing to preview on any skin, and on deeper skin tones healed colour can differ a lot from what a screen shows. Ask your artist which colours will hold up on you, because that's a question of ink and technique that no mockup can answer.