Extra fingers and too much detail: Rise in AI-generated tattoo requests

Tattoo artists report rise of AI-generated images in customer design requests Thu 6 Aug 2026 at 12:28pm In short: Some tattoo artists say people are increasingly using artificial intelligence to generate designs. The industry body says while AI could be useful for tattoo artists, customers may not realised what is practical. What's next? Artists are encouraging people to trust their skill and expertise to create tattoos that stand the test of time. Tattoo artists are concerned about customers increasingly requesting designs based on AI-generated images, which they say often contain errors and set "unrealistic expectations". Adelaide tattoo artist Courtnii Shaw said about one in four enquiries her studio received included AI imagery. She said sometimes the enquiries themselves appeared AI-generated. "We're getting entirely [AI-]generated enquiries of people telling ChatGPT what they want and then they're copying that to us," she said. "It's really, really common now. People seem to really trust what AI gives them and tells them, so I find that it's just setting some unrealistic expectations." At Phil Pagdin's studio, the number of enquiries containing AI-generated tattoos was closer to three in four. He said the imagery tended to look repetitive, highly detailed and often contained errors — which some clients were not aware about. "There's some obvious ones where it'll spell something wrong," he said. "When we talk to the client about their design, we're like, 'Oh, what is this part here?' and they don't even know. "You're going to come up with a weird tattoo that you can't really read." Brenton Eldridge, vice president of the Professional Tattooing Association of Australia, said AI-generated imagery was "pressuring" young artists to perform. "A person will come to the studio, present that [AI image] and want a quote on it … they're not really in a good mindset to be told it's not practical, or it's going to take a hundred hours when AI is generated in one minute," he said. "It's creating a bit of conflict." AI a good tool with limitations But Mr Eldridge said AI could be useful for artists in the development phase of a design. "AI itself can be a fantastic tool for artists to use to prototype things, look at different effects, and quickly throw something together," he said. "But in the way of a tattoo client, it's very difficult because clients are not aware of what can be done in the skin, how the designs will heal over time and grow and colour change. "AI cannot take that into account." Tattoo artist and studio owner Paul Briske said careful consideration was given to where designs could be placed on the body — something AI could not take into account. "Tattoos have to be done at a certain size for the details to hold over time," he said. "There are tiny, intricate little details that people want to see on a hand or a leg, and they just cannot physically be done to that level." Mr Briske encouraged people to embrace their creativity, and not rely too heavily on AI. "The biggest shame out of all of this computer stuff, it was supposed to take away all the menial jobs so that we had time to enjoy art and express ourselves,"he said. "Unfortunately, it's done the opposite and it's doing the art for us." The artists urged people wanting to get a tattoo to slow down and embrace the collaborative process. "We understand that being able to visualise your tattoo idea on your own and having it immediately available feels like a really cool thing," Ms Shaw said. "But it is also the best part of our job, which is creating the design." [Image text:] AIGENERATED