Disclosure: This post introduces Stencil My Tattoo, a project I work on. It describes the current product workflow rather than an independent review or a benchmark.
A photo can be a useful design reference without being a useful outline. Shadows, background objects, and color gradients may help a person recognize the subject, but they can also make the important edges harder to isolate.
Stencil My Tattoo is a tattoo stencil maker that turns existing tattoo artwork, sketches, and reference photos into design drafts. The interesting product problem is defining what the user wants to preserve before generating anything.
A reference and stencil example
| Reference artwork | Stencil linework |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Existing sample images from the Stencil My Tattoo homepage, shown to illustrate the workflow. They are not a new test run or a guarantee of output quality. Compare the wing shapes, smaller decorative lines, and separation between details.
Start with the output, not a vague "make it better"
The main tool offers three modes:
- Stencil Outline: extract black-and-white linework.
- Original Tattoo: keep a color reference.
- AI Design Upgrade: refine a rough or unfinished design while keeping its core idea recognizable.
Those are different tasks. Someone who needs an outline should not have to describe a complete redesign, while someone exploring an unfinished concept may want more than edge extraction. Naming the modes makes that distinction visible before the user spends credits.
For developers building image tools, this is a useful interface pattern: turn an ambiguous request into a small set of concrete output contracts. Explain each contract beside the control that selects it.
Make the input and export rules explicit
The current workflow accepts JPG, PNG, and WebP images up to 10 MB. A typical sequence is:
- Choose an image you own or have permission to use.
- Crop distracting objects and keep the full design visible.
- Select the output mode for the next step.
- Check the displayed credit cost, then generate.
- Compare the result with the source before downloading.
Each mode includes white-background and transparent PNG downloads without another download charge. The white-background version is convenient for reviewing the outline; the transparent version can be useful when continuing work in an image editor.
These details belong in the interface, not only in documentation. File limits, output format, and the cost of the next action affect whether a user can finish the task.
Treat review as part of the workflow
An attractive preview is not enough to establish that a draft is suitable for tattooing. A practical review checklist is:
- Did important edges disappear?
- Did separate shapes merge?
- Did glare or shadows become unwanted lines?
- Did small details become too dense at the intended size?
- Does the result still preserve the idea in the source image?
A qualified tattoo artist should review the final size, placement, orientation, and line weight. The tool provides a starting reference; it does not make that professional decision.
This is also a broader lesson for AI interfaces: make the comparison step easy, and describe the output as a draft when human review is still necessary.
Keep privacy claims specific
The product does not share uploads as public gallery content, but AI generation sends uploaded images to model providers to create the requested result. Those are separate facts. An interface should not use "private" as shorthand for "nothing leaves the browser."
Stencil My Tattoo also has Image to Tattoo for exploring styles from a reference and a 2D Tattoo Simulator for previewing placement. Keeping generation, refinement, and placement separate helps explain what each tool can actually answer.
If you build image-based tools, how do you help users compare an AI result with the original before they use it?
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