The tattooist who inked the image of a woman's face onto Chris Brown's neck has spoken out about the controversy that followed the artwork's public unveiling.

Brown made headlines earlier this week when he debuted a new tattoo of what was originally thought to be a woman's battered face and it drew a lot of attention for its likeness to the photograph of Rihanna after his 2009 assault on her.

He soon cleared up the rumours and confirmed that the ink was, in fact, of a Mexican sugar skull and now Peter Koskela, the artist responsible, has talked about the design:

"It was really a blow to me to think that people would think so little of a person that I would actually put a picture of a beaten woman on his neck. That was crazy to me, that he would come to me and say, 'Hey, I want Rihanna's face on me.'"

"I would never promote any kind of domestic violence like that. Even if he asked me to do it, I would have bounced (left) right there. I don't do racist tattoos, I don't do gang-related tattoos and I don't do anything hurtful. That is just the motto I live by. The other tattoo artists might, but I just don't."