Tattoo Magazine

What makes a good tattoo magazine? According to critics and readers, that’s partly a function of the various aspects of the subculture you affiliate yourself with, but what it really comes down to is the quality of images and information. A tattoo magazine should be able to give you both.

 Tattoo magazines were few and far between before the year 1983, when the industry was beginning to really take flight.  Before then, people sought out information and entertaining articles on tattoos from biker magazines.  Today, newsstands, bookstores, and mail order catalogs are filled with tattoo magazines, where you can find endless pictures of flash, interesting facts about tattoos, and personal stories and experiences. 

Tattoo Magazine is today one of the most popular magazines published on the subject.  It features interviews with various tattoo artists and enthusiasts, and more than half of the magazine is devoted to pictures, photography, and flash.  Most people who read the various types of tattoo magazines say that there are often too many pictures or too much type.  Tattoo Magazines offers a balance of both worlds. 

The best way to buy Tattoo Magazine is through a subscription.  Unfortunately, buying one copy runs you about five dollars, while when you buy a subscription you get the magazine almost half off.  Your best bet is to visit a bookstore, flip through a copy of Tattoo Magazine, and decide if you like it.  From there, order a subscription. 

Most subscribers to Tattoo Magazine do not read it for the advertisements, which include phone sex ads and other services that have little or nothing to do with the body art industry.  However, the content and pictures override the advertisements for questionable products and services.  So the subscribers keep coming.  If you are a tattoo enthusiast and/or enjoy reading about new and exciting body art, Tattoo Magazine goes highly recommended. 

Top Tattoo Magazines

Here are some of the top-rated tattoo magazines. Skin and Ink and Tattoo Flash are general interest, with some tattooing articles geared for people who already have few tattoos – they’re not geared for novices, particularly. For the most part these magazines (as well as Tattoo Revue) are about the tattoo art. You might be able to pick up a wealth of free tattoo designs from these magazines, which are glossy and feature high quality images.

 Click the magazine covers for more information:

Tattoo Savage and International Tattoo Art both have a more global scope – the latter in particular. The tattoo articles and photos in these magazines show tribal and ethnic tattoos; again, this is a fabulous place to get ideas and information, not to mention free images.

Some people read tattoo magazines for a while before getting their first tattoo. For others, it’s something they pick up later. After you get a tattoo, you might find that your are so excited about it, you can’t help reading and looking at whatever you can find.

 Click the magazine covers for more information:

Women’s Only

There is at least one prominent tattoo magazine that is geared primarily toward women – it’s called, appropriately enough, Tattoos for Women, and though it has fewer glossy images, it offers solid advice.

Click the image to subscribe to Tattoos for Women:

Men's Only

Luckily men are not left out in the cold, there's a tattoo magazine geared towards men as well and guess how it is called... You're right, Tattoo for Men, filled to the brim with testosterone.

Click the image to subscribe to Tattoos for Men:

Finding a tattoo magazine on your newsstand or magazine ship may or may not be a challenge. All too often newsstands tend to carry only mainstream publications, but then again what is considered ‘mainstream’ may vary according to the community you’re in!

So by all means, check for tattoo magazines wherever you regularly buy magazines, but don’t be discouraged it you don’t find them there. Most major cities have magazine stores that carry a much greater variety, the whole shop being devoted to magazines – you are more likely to find a tattoo magazine (or several different ones) in store like that.

Also, keep in mind that most magazines have online subscriptions now, so that’s an option you can check out if you can’t find the tattoo magazine you’re looking for at a store or newsstand.