The face etched on his skin has a black eye, bulging lips, cuts and scratches - much like the damage he caused to Rihanna's face during a brutal attack in 2009.

The shocking choice of tattoo has made headlines on gossip sites around the world after he was photographed at a Las Vegas event earlier this month.

But Brown's publicist has told Entertainment Weekly it's not Rihanna, rather a picture based on a MAC cosmetics design inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead.

This morning he tweeted: "I'm an artist and this is art. Dia de los Muertos".

The Spanish words mean "Day of the Dead".

The Women's Blog, published on The Guardian website, said the tattoo was "sickening".

Writer Kira Cochrane said if the tattoo was not meant to be Rihanna, then Brown should find a new tattoo artist.

"Because there's no doubt the image calls to mind the biggest scandal of his career, looks absolutely like a pummeled woman, and is in those terms completely sickening," Cochrane wrote.

"What's also depressing is that if this is, in fact, the intention, it would actually mark a natural next step in Brown's career path.

"While he might have been expected to be contrite in the wake of the 2009 attack, he has actually built a strong and burgeoning profile by embracing a bad boy image."

In June 2009 Brown pleaded guilty to a felony and accepted a plea deal of probation, community service and domestic violence counselling.

smh.com.au