Welcome back to my blog after a week off! This blog is all about the different styles of tattoos and while this post goes over some of the more common ones, there are plenty of more styles I don’t mention.
American Traditional/Old School
This is the classic, old school style of tattooing that a lot of people immediately think of
when they think of tattoos. The tattoo artist Sailor Jerry was known for doing this style during World War II when it became popular (Source). Now artist Oliver Peck is known for specializing in this style now. It’s one of the fundamental styles of tattooing. American traditional tattoos are 2D and known for having thick black outlines with bold, saturated colors that are typically reds and yellows (Source).
New School
New school tattoos are similar to old school tattoos because they both use thick black
outlines to keep the super saturated colors in place. They use bolder, brighter colors like blues, pinks, and greens. The designs are more cartoony and sometimes based off different characters like from Disney or cartoons. There are less rules on the types of designs that you can do in new school style unlike traditional (Source).
Neo Traditional
Neo traditional tattoos are like a combination of old and new school. The designs are
usually of animals, women, flowers, and other natural themes. This style also uses black outlines to help with the saturated color but, the line weight varies depending on the design and size. The colors are more earthy like browns, greens, and yellows. This style almost has a fall feel and aesthetic with the designs and colors. While this style isn’t as cartoony like new school, it doesn’t always meet the standards for a traditional tattoo. The proportions, faces, and other details may be more abstract or inaccurate.
Realism
Realism tattoos are what they sound like, realistic looking. This is also a very common
style and can be done in black and grey or color. This style is mostly done for portraits of people or animals but, also for other nature designs like flowers. Realism tattoos are usually larger in size to be able to fit in all the detail needed to make the tattoo look real. Typically, they are also 3D looking to get that realism effect (Source). If you are planning on getting a realism tattoo be sure to have at least one reference photo for your artist especially if the tattoo is of a loved one or your pet. Personally, this is one of my favorite styles because of how impressive the tattoos are and how detailed they have to be.
Black and Grey
Black and grey tattoos are just that, black and grey. They consist of a black outline with
shading for dimension. The lighter black shades are made from mixing black ink with white ink to make different shades of grey for shading. Similar to realism, these tattoos are usually on the larger side to fit all the shading in so it doesn’t blend all together into one big dark spot (Source). Realism is done in black and grey, too. Most styles can actually be done in black and grey since the style is really just the color the tattoo is done in. All of my tattoos that I have and want will be done in either black and grey or black work.
Black Work
This style is really just the outline of black and grey. They are solid black tattoos with no
shading and can be either just like the outlines of a tattoo or a solid black space of tattoo. You see this style used a lot in tribal tattoos with the thick solid black lines and designs. This style has a lot of historical and cultural significance. Originally, the style came from Polynesian tribal tattoos and has developed into today’s style. It also has ties to henna and Native American tattoos making it a much older style than the old school style (Source).
Japanese
Japanese tattoos are obviously from Japan and typically feature important symbols from
the Japanese culture like koi fish, dragons, and tigers. This style uses black outlines that are thinner than some styles and bold, bright colors like blues, reds, and yellows. The colors used in Japanese tattoos all have some kind of symbolism or meaning attached to them and more information on those meanings can be found here. One of the most well-known Japanese artists is Chris Nuñez who specializes in the style tattooing.
This is one of my favorite YouTuber's talking more about the different styles:
Thank you so much to my readers that came back after a week away! Thinking about getting your first tattoo soon? Be sure to come back next week for helpful advice on getting your first tattoo.
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