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Cool Movie Tattoos

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By relache


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Jim Carrey as Fingerling from NUMBER 23
Jim Carrey as Fingerling from NUMBER 23

The Best Fake Tattoos In The World

Just like Hollywood has really made a skill out of doing old age makeup, they've also finally gotten down the art of making the fake tattoo. Since actors need to change their appearances a lot from role to role, it's often a good idea to have fake tattoos instead of real ones.

Once limited to just the bad guys, the theatrical or makeup tattoo is now a staple of whatever character the screenwriter or director wishes. Sure you'll still see plenty of gang and prison tattoos, but the good guy can also literally wear his heart on his sleeve or extend his cool to some badass tribal tattoos.

Here are some pictures and recommended DVDs for those of you who love movie tattoos.


tribal style tattoos in movies

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George Clooney in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, modern tribal
George Clooney in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, modern tribal


Watch Some Movie Tattoos

American History X American History X
Price: $4.88
List Price: $12.98
Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition) Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition)
Price: $4.49
List Price: $12.98
Snatch (Special Edition) Snatch (Special Edition)
Price: $6.25
List Price: $19.94
The Salton Sea The Salton Sea
Price: $5.98
List Price: $14.97
XXX (Widescreen Special Edition) XXX (Widescreen Special Edition)
Price: $2.28
List Price: $14.94
From Dusk Till Dawn (Dimension Collector's Series) From Dusk Till Dawn (Dimension Collector's Series)
Price: $4.95
List Price: $14.99
Ocean's Trilogy (Ocean's Eleven / Ocean's Twelve / Ocean's Thirteen) Ocean's Trilogy (Ocean's Eleven / Ocean's Twelve / Ocean's Thirteen)
Price: $21.97
List Price: $39.98

How Are Fake Tattoos Created?

The first fake movie tattoos were just painted on with stage makeup. Although you can get elaborate designs with this method, it's prone to running or smearing if the actor sweats or rubs up against anything.

In the 1970s, a company called Temptu invented an alcohol-based skin paint. This had to be painted on by hand, but the effects were really realistic and the tattoo designs would stay on in water or if the actor sweated. After a day they could be a bit thrashed so they needed a good amount of touchups and had to be redone daily. To cover an actor with heavy tattoos would take multiple artists many hours of non-stop work to create.

In the late 1990s, a Hollwood makeup artist named Christian Tinsley was hired to do special effects for the movie PEARL HARBOR. They had to do wounds on tons of extras and he was trying to think of a faster way to do the makeup, and could they come up with something that didn't require so much maintainence. He invented a way of doing the wounds using a skin transfer, sort of a very fancy and technologically-modern Cracker Jack tattoo. What he came up with worked, and once he did the tattoos on Vin Diesel for the movie XXX, all of Hollywood wanted his product. Now using these special plastic skin transfers, extremely complex and contemporary tattoos can be applied all over an actor in just a couple of hours and they will last for up to a week.

tattooed men of action

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Viggo Mortensen in EASTERN PROMISES
Viggo Mortensen in EASTERN PROMISES


tattooed bad boys

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Robert DeNiro in CAPE FEAR
Robert DeNiro in CAPE FEAR

About Fake Tattoos

Movie & Tattoo Fans, Shout Out!

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Maddie Ruud profile image

Maddie Ruud  says:
18 months ago

Interesting. Do you know if they do henna injection for these tattoos to make them last a few months, or do they paint them on every single day of shooting?

relache profile image

relache  says:
18 months ago

Henna is a painted on method that is organic, it's never injected! (yikes, there's some bad body art info out there) Modern movie tattoos are now most often decals that will actually last for an entire week with minimal fix-its done by hand. What used to be an 8-hour, hand-painted makeup session is now often a 60-90 minute makeup session that's all stick-on.

Whitney05 profile image

Whitney05  says:
17 months ago

I used to wonder that as well- whether they painted the tattoos on daily, that is. So are they more like stickers or an iron-on, type deal. Or is it like paint that is semi-permanent?

Mark Knowles profile image

Mark Knowles  says:
17 months ago

George Clooney's tattoo in from dusk till dawn is my favorite. When I summon up the courage, that's the one for me :)

emmabalmer profile image

emmabalmer  says:
17 months ago

Very cool. I wish I could get my real tattoos to look as bold as some of the fake ones!

relache profile image

relache  says:
17 months ago

It's all a matter of design....

tattooseeker  says:
6 months ago

does anyone know where you can find the design that is on in diesels shoulder in the move triple x? i believe it is a sun but i cant find a good picture of it

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