About r/TattooDesigns
In its own words:
This sub is for sharing and discussing tattoo designs, whether it's your own tattoo, work you've done, or asking for opinions about a tattoo you want to get. All tattoos must be by a professional unless you're asking how to cover up a past mistake, scratching/unprofessional tattoos aren't welcome here.
Community guide
r/TattooDesigns (#585, about 1.9 million subscribers) — This sub is for sharing and discussing tattoo designs, whether it's your own tattoo, work you've done, or asking for opinions about a tattoo you want to get. All tattoos must be by a professional unless you're asking… A recent sample averaged 26 posts a day (~49% image, ~31% gallery, ~13% text). Its public rules include: Speak your mind, but be civil and not creepy; Add some commentary & focus on the design; Avoid price discussions; Don't encourage scratching; Credit the artist.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent fandoms or general off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and advertising are tightly limited—read those rules before linking your own channel, shop, or site. Civility and anti-harassment rules are explicit; personal attacks get you removed regardless of how right you think you are. Medical advice requests are out of scope; seek qualified help rather than crowd diagnoses.
How it differs from lookalikes
The length of the public rule list is itself a signal: skim all of them once before assuming defaults from similar communities.
Practical pointers
Read the current sidebar/rules on Reddit before posting; rules can change.
The community was created on Nov 26, 2011, which makes it 14 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 656 subscribers (+0.04%). Among the 11 communities on our tattoos list it is number 2 by size. It sits just behind r/KitchenConfidential (#585) and ahead of r/RocketLeague (#587) in our ranking.
What sets r/TattooDesigns apart
r/TattooDesigns is far more image-driven than most big subreddits: 49% of its recent posts are images, against a median of 22% across the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (03:00 UTC) sees about 13.0× as many posts as the quietest (08:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/TattooDesigns grew from 1,884,988 to 1,890,760 subscribers (+5.8K, +0.31%). That is about 113 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/TattooDesigns this week
What the community upvoted most over the last seven days, as ranked by Reddit (collected Nov 9, 2026).
- Rainbow of vegetables to go with my fruits!u/Pineapple__Princess_ · Nov 7 · gallery
- Lizardman by Gabriele Cardosi (guested at Tooth & Talon, Manchester)u/Doobles88 · Nov 4 · image
- The drawings vs the finished tattoos ✨ all done by me @a.diary.of.strange.occurrences in Germany!u/AnnaMensch · Nov 8 · gallery
- I want my first tattoo (20M)u/Significant_Watch599 · Nov 6 · image
- Work in progress yes themed Tattoo.u/GroundbreakingRush86 · Nov 4 · gallery
- Lucha goose 🪿u/bugaloubean · Nov 6 · gallery
- Dragon flow by Nikita from Seattle, WAu/el_niko_floating · Nov 3 · gallery
- leg sleeve in progress - new addition!u/Complete-Strategy177 · Nov 4 · gallery
- My first tattoo, the elbow was a bit spicy😂u/StrongPreparation542 · Nov 6 · gallery
- Sleeve is finishedu/Rare_Ganache9159 · Nov 9 · gallery
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/TattooDesigns, from 2024 to 2026, ranked by Reddit.
- What I asked for vs what I gotJun 9, 2024 · gallery
- what i asked for vs what i gotu/mastafreud · Apr 20, 2025 · gallery
- What I asked for vs. What I gotu/Chance-Character5408 · Jul 27, 2024 · gallery
- What I asked for VS What I gotu/Ecstatic-Crow-2502 · Oct 18, 2024 · gallery
- What I asked for vs What I gotu/stefisith · Aug 22, 2024 · gallery
- Could any competent tattoo artist pull this off?u/SmugAssPimp · Mar 29, 2025 · image
- What I asked for vs what I gotu/nature_n_tats · Jun 14, 2025 · gallery
- What I asked for vs what I gotu/duprect · Aug 18, 2024 · gallery
- what i asked for vs what i got -finished version-u/onyxia_x · Aug 16, 2024 · gallery
- What I asked for Vs what I gotu/yungmevo · Jan 28, 2025 · gallery
What r/TattooDesigns talks about
Across 163 recent posts (Oct 31–Nov 7), the words that come up most are “tattoo”, “ideas”, “design”, “sleeve” and “advice”. Other frequent themes are help, ink, arm, thoughts, good and traditional. Recurring phrases include “tattoo ideas”, “yellow ink”, “tattoo design” and “dark gothic”. By format, 49% are images, 30% are galleries and 15% are text posts.
Activity and best time to post
r/TattooDesigns gets about 25 new posts a day. The public archive holds 178,849 posts and 1,449,640 comments in total, about 8.1 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Monday (30 posts) and the quietest was Wednesday (18). Posting peaks around 03:00 UTC and is lowest around 08:00 UTC.
Rules of r/TattooDesigns
The moderators of r/TattooDesigns list 10 rules. In short:
- Speak your mind, but be civil and not creepy
- Add some commentary & focus on the design
- Avoid price discussions
- Don't encourage scratching
- Credit the artist
- Refrain from art theft & plagiarism
- Mind the automod - no brand new accounts
- Don't spam, no promoting other than sharing artist info
- NSFW must be tagged, including all scars. No fresh blood. No medical questions.
- No asking for art or clients, or offering to draw tattoos
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/TattooDesigns and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many subscribers does r/TattooDesigns have?
r/TattooDesigns has 1,890,760 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #586 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 5,772 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
How old is r/TattooDesigns?
r/TattooDesigns was created on Nov 26, 2011, so it has been around for 14 years. The oldest post in the public archive is from Jul 8, 2012.
How active is r/TattooDesigns?
Very active: r/TattooDesigns gets about 25 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 178,849 posts and 1,449,640 comments. In a sample of 163 recent posts we counted 139 different authors.
When is r/TattooDesigns most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 31, 2026 to Nov 6, 2026, the busiest day was Monday and the quietest Wednesday, and most posts arrive around 03:00 UTC, with the fewest around 08:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/TattooDesigns about?
The community describes itself as: “This sub is for sharing and discussing tattoo designs, whether it's your own tattoo, work you've done, or asking for opinions about a tattoo you want to get. All tattoos must be by a professional unless you're asking ho…” Recent post titles often mention tattoo, ideas, design, sleeve and advice. Most posts are images (49%).
Is r/TattooDesigns safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/TattooDesigns as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/TattooDesigns?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/TattooDesigns accepts both text and link posts, with images, videos and galleries enabled. It has 10 posted rules, starting with: “Speak your mind, but be civil and not creepy”; “Add some commentary & focus on the design”; “Avoid price discussions”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/TattooDesigns?
Communities with similar topics include r/tattooadvice (1.7M), r/tattoos (10.4M), r/Design (4.5M) and r/interiordecorating (1.1M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 9, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/TattooDesigns.