Tattoo Styles
Styles aren’t fixed entities but just concepts that are categorized through visual cues and techniques. There are probably thousands of styles out there and more constantly being created by artists. Here’s a list of some of the popular ones that you should be aware of if you’re trying to decide on which style you want to go with for your next tattoo!
Old School
Also called American Traditional are defined by bold lines and bright colours. This style encompasses the sailor’s traditions but isn't defined by it. Some common motifs are daggers, hearts, swallows, and ships. Pinups are also part of this style. These tattoos have strict rules in design, minimal shading and limited colour palette but are visually striking and classically timeless.
New School
New school takes elements from Traditional like the bold lines but adds a ton of more colour and is no longer bound by limitations. There’s an animated aspect to their design with over-blown proportions inspired by graffiti art, cartoons, hip hop, and pop art.
Irezumi/Japanese traditional
Japanese styles of tattooing usually feature very large and detailed pieces rich with colour and design elements. They incorporate the whole canvas with flowy aspects like wind and water within the background. The subjects in these tattoos tell tales of Japan’s past and include motifs such as dragons, koi fish, samurais and more.
Black and grey/Realism
Black, grey and white inks are used for shading to bring out depth and density without any colour. A lot of realism such as portraits are done in grey wash.
Blackwork / Polynesian / Tribal
Referring to only using black ink. Derived from historic styles of the shapely tribal and Polynesian kind, now blackwork can use more complex shapes and create an overall aesthetic look with just blocks of black and negative spacing. These types of tattoos take specialized skill and experience.
Geometric
Clean lines and faultless design are crucial to creating geometric tattoos. You can have repeating patterns, symmetry and can be any object or overall shape. Mandalas are a great example of this. Many optical illusions are also formed in this style.
Trash Polka
An emerging trend, trash-polka combines traditional art and realism with abstract imagery and ‘trash’, or smudges and smears, and further adds to the chaotic look with a script and brushstrokes. Usually done in black and red, they pay homage to the tattoos of ancient Egyptians as well as modern punk subcultures, though many artists experiment with various colours, elements, and designs within this style.
Dotwork/Pointillism
Using only dots, images are created with depth and shading. Usually combined with other techniques, beautiful pieces can be created.
Watercolour
Classically done on paper as paintings using ink and water. This modern style of inking uses different intensities and blending to create the softness of paintbrush strokes. Usually used as a spilled background and some defined lines but this technique is also used to recreate paintings.
Illustrative/Neo-traditional
A modern take on the traditional style. Thick lines, variety of colour and limitless subject matter. Inspired by Art Nouveau and Art deco movements however artists apply their own unique styles. Although the modern progression from Traditional, this style can be works of anything but focuses on floral, animal and decorative pieces.
Lettering
Encapsulates many forms of tattoos referring to the written content. Whether using Latin letters, Arabic alphabet, Cyrillic or Kanji, this style is characterized by the communication of written meaning. For professionals, the challenge centers around typography - originality of the font, consistency of the lettering and composition.
Some other styles that you can look up for further reading are:
Stick and Poke
Biomechanical
Chicano
Minimalism
Glitch