Here you'll find the most complete guide to understanding tattoo styles, their origins as well as random curiosities. And to help you better understand how they differ for each other, there will be an hand-drawn Alpaca so you can spot what changes from style to style!
Also known as Traditional American, it derives from the sailors’ tattooing tradition which marked achievements at sea. For instance, tattooing a King Neptune meant you crossed the Equator. Another example is the Sparrow, which was earned for every 5, 000 nautical miles traveled (which is roughly a quarter of the earth's circumference).
This style encompasses the sailor’s traditions but isn't defined by it. These tattoos mostly sought to preserve memories and mark achievements, resembling the Tribal styles in its genesis and purpose.
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These tattoos became popular during the early 20th century alongside the development of the electric tattooing machines and flash walls (template drawings exposed on the walls of each parlor for clients to choose the design from).
The technological development allowed the wider public to access the tattooing tradition (mostly associated with sailors, circus freaks and indigenous tribes). With time, the general american audience started shaping this style with elements that were meaningful to the culture and, for this reason, the following elements repeated over and over again:
Because there were limited amounts of tattoo options on flash walls (custom tattoos were not frequent back then)you probably have seen most of them.
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With the development of parlors and techniques, the complexity of the images and the public perception of tattooing started evolving, giving birth to other styles such as New School, Neo traditional, Realism, amongst others.
These tattoos originally had bold black outlines, 2D images, simple shading work and were limited to the colors available.Today, artists dedicated to Old School preserve the characteristics of this style including the original motifs, symbols, and color palettes.
This style is like the rebel son of the Old School style. No longer bound by its limitations. No longer restricted by flash walls. By color palettes. By fear of experimenting.
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It came about in the ’70s in a time when tattooers became more prone to sharing techniques and abandon the secrecy behind the art. Clients also wanted to be more involved in the process and influence the design. For these reasons, elements like shading, depth and 3D effects, not present in Old School, started to emerge.
The tattoos are easily recognized by their vibrant colors, degradês, irreverent themes, and intentional disproportions. Generally, a cartoonish look is present, the customization is abundant and the theme is somewhat wild and creative.
Also known as New Traditional, this style generally avoids bright and vibrant colors (present in New School) and focuses on more natural shapes and gradients. It recuperates some of the Old School imagery while incorporating new patriotic imaginarium, such as Native Americans, portraits and skulls.
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The symbolism behind each tattoo has eroded and the focus is now on final aesthetics as well as the art of tattooing.
If Old School was the infant years of western tattoo tradition, then New School was the teenage years for the western tradition. So...where does the Neo Traditional fit in? We’ll, this style is like the grown-up version of New School. It abandoned its cartoonish looks for a more serious one. Dropped it’s disproportionate ways and adopted a more accurate depiction of the themes.
Neo Traditional started developing as a style of its own popular during the 80’s and 90’s and has only been increasing in popularity.
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Neo Traditional respects Old School’s technical ways. Back to the dark outlines, but cleaner. Back to using a limited range of colors, but using them more precisely. Back to 2D visuals, but with improved techniques.
What distinguishes this style from Illustrative is the inspiration behind it. Neo Traditional is strongly influenced by artistic movements of the early 20th century, such as Art Nouveau (strong curves, romanticized scenarios, and Japanese elements) and Art Deco (luxurious and filled with detail).
Far from being boring, this style resulted in a wider range of themes and symbols being used, imagery that’s loyal to the real world, smooth color transitions, beautiful compositions, and intricate details.
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Indigenous tribes would use symbols as a way to engrave the passing of rituals, to mark social status, to signal group belonging, wartime achievement and for spiritual and ceremonial reasons.
Humans have been getting inked since the dawn of civilization. Mummies, bones, tools and other vestiges of elements related to tattooing tradition have been found in places like Egypt, Tibet, Chile, Italy, Polynesia, India, Japan, North America, North Africa, Sub-saharan Africa and many other places. So, basically, the whole world. And most of these traditions of body modification developed isolated and independentl
Due to the simplicity of the techniques and instruments (bone fragments or thorns), indigenous tribes followed simple patterns, geometric shapes, and repetitive figures. Most commonly, they draw symbols significant to the population, like the fauna and flora available in the region and natural elements such as mountains and rivers or the moon and the sun.
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Today you can find many tattoos imitating ancient tribal art by reproducing the shapes, lines, and patterns. You know, the kind of tattoo that was popular in the 90’s, especially with gym dudes. Well, those are actually called New Tribal because they do not come from an indigenous tradition. That is, they do not hold and transmit meaning common to a group. Most people will still call them Tribal though. New Tribal mixes elements from several independent traditions and experiment with new patterns and shapes.
Blackwork derives from the Tribal tradition. It’s characterised by the sole use of black ink and is one of the most common styles around.
The transition from Tribal to Blackwork happened when tattoos become widespread in the west and were dissociated fromt their Tribal roots. The tattoos no longer needed to follow a specific tradition (like Polynesian or Maori), nor marked transitions and achievements. The spiritual side of the process was abandoned in favor of aesthetics and design.
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This was a natural process and the lack of attachment to the traditions allowed individuals to determine their own designs and draw their own meanings. With this, tattooing wasn’t anymore a form of communicating with others but a tool for self-expression.
This style has been constantly morphing. It evolved from simpler patterns (what most people associate with Tribal tattoos) to unique and complex tattoo designs (what people associate to geometric blackworks).Nowadays, Blackworks, define all tattoos that make use of only black ink (no shades of grey). You can find it to express anything, from geometric shapes mixed with animals, to full body parts painted black.
It’s important to understand the distinction between Blackwork and Black & Grey tattoos: blackworks are made using solely the color black and empty space (much like you’d see on a Tribal tattoo), while the black & grey is created using black ink and several shades of grey made via grey washing (diluting black ink in a fluid such as distilled water).
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You’ll frequently find Blackworks mixed with other styles, such as Dotwork or Geometric, as this helps creating a more complex and pleasing aesthetic experience.
In practical terms, all tattoos are a set of dots, inked with pigments that, together, create a bigger picture.So what makes Dotwork a style of its own? Simple: the artist’s ability to harmoniously use dots of different sizes to create sensations of depth, contrast, and continuity.
This is done by coordinating quantity, distance, position and the size of the dots per opposition to the traditional needle strokes (used to create solid areas or lines).
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Focusing solely on the use of black and grey ink, this style became popular during the ’90s and was inspired by post-impressionist techniques such as Pointillism.
This style should not be confused with handpoke, which refers to the technique used to create the tattoo. A dotwork can be made using electric tattooing machines as well as handpoke technique.
The most common features of this style are symmetric patterns, 3D effects and the use of negative space (through the absence of dots). In any dotwork, a random dot’s presence is irrelevant per se, but all the small contributions produce the essence of this artwork.
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Virtually any style can be used alongside dotwork, thought illustrations and blackwork are the most common ones. Almost all dotwork is made using solely the color black.
Think of this style as tribal on math….And I really mean math, from mathematics. This is the power of geometry being used to create a visually appealing whole. You can have rectangles, lines, fractals, small crosses... anything goes as long as they contribute to the creation of something bigger.
Geometry can also be used to depict sacred motifs or to represent philosophical concepts. This connection to the transcendental, as well as the ordinary, make this style a primordial choice for those who seek to connect with the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of the tattooing experience.
A Beginner's Guide: Popular Tattoo Styles Briefly Explained • Tattoodo
Although you can see examples of depictions of geometric patterns in tribal traditions, Geometric, as a style of its own, is very recent, becoming popular in the 21st century.
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For a long time Geometry was an element of tattoos and as it evolved, artists
