A tattoo flash is a tattoo design printed or drawn on paper or cardboard, and may be regarded as a species of industrial design. It is typically displayed on the walls of tattoo parlors and in binders to give walk-in customers ideas for tattoos. Much if not most traditional tattoo flash was designed for rapid tattooing, and was either drawn by the individual artist for display and use in his own shop, or traded and sold among artists. Hand-drawn, local tattoo flash has largely been replaced by professional "flash artists" who produce prints of copyrighted flash and sell them at conventions or through the Internet. There is no standard size for tattoo flash, but it is commonly found on 11x14 inch prints. Tattoo flash may or may not come with an outline, also known as a stencil. This outline is typically printed on a separate sheet. This is convenient for the tattoo artist, who would otherwise have to draw the linework for themselves. Most flash today is found on the Internet, which customers can print out and bring to their own artist to have tattooed. Although this method is becoming commonplace, it can be a form of copyright violation, inasmuch as artwork found in books, magazines, or on websites is the property of the original artist and not in the public domain. In most countries, the original copyright holder can take action against the tattoo artist, or the person who illegally supplied the tattoo flash. For this reason, many of the top tattoo flash sites are now offering legal downloads of individual designs.
