Styles for tattoos have an intriguing history from all corners of the world. With modernity and the constant mixing of styles, new innovations in equipment and inks, artists’ visual creativity, and clients wanting to push the boundaries of what is possible, new styles have emerged on the horizons of the tattoo world. So, we thought it would be helpful to give you our insider perspective on the most prominent tattoo styles out there today. With this article, you’ll be better informed and maybe grow a deeper appreciation for traditional pieces, Japanese (Irezumi), neo-traditional, tribal, new school, and everything in-between.
AMERICAN TRADITIONAL STYLES FOR TATTOOS
The American traditional styles for tattoos is one of the most fundamental and iconic tattoos out there! This style became popular in the United States during the mid-1900s, following World War II. Sailors would return home from the Pacific and hunger for tattoos to show pride for their country. Roses, eagles, pin-up girls, anchors, skulls, and animals were/are common motifs for American traditional tattoos! During this time, 3 tattoo artists really pioneered the style, and their artistry has lived on for decades:
Norman Sailor Jerry Collins, Bert Grimm, and Don Ed Hardy. In terms of technical application, American tradition is defined by bold, black lines and bright colours. Rather than using several shades to create dimension, a traditional tattoo is typically 2D or flat to give it the appearance of a drawing on skin. There may be some shading on certain details, but it is minimal. The shading is usually accomplished with dots or lines and not with gradation. These tattoo designs are basic and strictly involve the motifs listed above.
NEO-TRADITIONAL
Neo-traditional takes the classic American traditional styles for tattoos to a new level! Compared to American traditional tattoos, this tattoo style showcases a wider colour palette and a wider variety of motifs. Neo-traditional pieces hold notoriety for their lush and decorative details and, of course, their bright, eye-catching colouring. Popular subjects for these tattoos range from nature imagery (florals, animals) to everyday objects.
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL TATTOO FOR STYLES
Japanese styles for tattoos, also called Yakuza style or Irezumi, are equally as storied and popular in today’s tattoo culture as the American Traditional style. American bikers, celebrities like David Beckham, investment bankers, and doctors all have an affinity for the Japanese style because of the intricacy and skill it requires from the artist. The motifs that define modern Japanese-style tattoos, such as samurai, water themes like koi and the ocean, and mythical creatures like dragons, snakes, clouds, and tigers, date back to tattoos of the Edo Period (1603-1868). They all carry historical, traditional meanings that stem from myths, legends, and traditional stories.
All of the Japanese traditional tattoos need to be designed by experienced tattoo artists and done by hand. Tattoos became socially taboo in later modern Japanese history, so criminal gangs used them as a mark of being a part of the underbelly of Japanese society, covering their entire bodies in elaborate tattoos. Some of these beliefs are still prevalent today in modern-day Japan.
REALISM-STYLE TATTOOS
Realism, also known as photo-realism tattoos, are precisely what the name suggests: These styles for tattoos depict realistic images on the skin! Realism in art has been around since the Renaissance period; however, realism in tattooing became popular in the industry only recently. Similar to many other styles of tattoos, realism became a favoured style due to the evolution of extreme artistic talent of tattoo artists.
Now, photorealism tattoos are so accurate and advanced in their application, it feels like you could reach out and touch the subject on skin! Speaking of subject matter, realism tattoos can be based on anything you take a picture of: people, animals, landscapes. You name it, a photorealism tattoo can be created! Furthermore, realism tattoos can be broken down into two categories: colour and black and grey. Some artists specialise solely in one colour palette, but there are some extremely flexible artists out there who can conquer both!
PORTRAIT-STYLE TATTOOS
Portrait tattoos are a subgenre of the realism style for tattoos, which takes physical images of living beings and focuses solely on their head/face as subject matter for the tattoo. Facial features and other details are meticulously recreated on skin to compose a lifelike illusion for the tattoo. As you could probably gather, portrait tattoos rely heavily on accuracy and artistic skill from the artist tattooing them; hence, a perfect photo reference of the subject is a must! Popular subject matters for portrait tattoos include celebrities, TV/movie characters, loved ones, and pets.
BIOMECHANICAL STYLE TATTOOS
Without a doubt, biomechanical styles for tattoos are the ultimate transformation for your skin! Biomechanical technology combines the use of ink and empty skin to create the illusion of robotic or machine parts within the body. These tattoos are often strategically placed based on the form of the client’s body part being tattooed to help push this illusion even further. Biomechanical tattoos mix realism and anatomical elements together to morph the human body into a robotic masterpiece.
TRASH POLKA STYLE TATTOOS
Don’t let the name fool you. Trash polka is far from something that belongs in the garbage! Originating in Germany, trash polka pulls from realism, script, and surrealism to create captivating, collage-like compositions, using mainly black and red ink. These tattoos are often chaotic in appearance and strive to tell a story of some kind.
BLACK AND GREY STYLE TATTOOS
Black and grey styles for tattoos take all colours out of the equation, but that doesn’t make them any less fun! These tattoos solely rely on black ink and water to create various shades and dimensions in a piece. Black and grey tattoos are typically done with a single needle and can be transferred into an array of tattoo styles, including realism, ornamental, chicano, illustrative, and floral! This tattoo style is often confused with linework and blackwork due to the presence of black on the skin. You can always differentiate them by noting the significant presence of grey and the use of gradient shading!
CHICANO STYLE TATTOO
One could argue that American traditional tattoos also include Chicano styles. The Chicano tattooing style was created in the mid-1900s by Mexican and Mexican-American artists in the Southwest United States and Southern California. The Chicano style is traditionally characterised by smooth black and grey tones, which create highly illustrative designs that often feature religious, political, and historical imagery along with themes of familia that reflect the Chicano culture’s emphasis on strong family bonds.
Chicano tattoos are also infamous for gang symbols and lettering made famous in LA by Chicano street culture. Chicano designs also have roots in prison culture. Religious Chicano tattoos feature Jesus, the Virgin Mary, crosses, praying hands and the Pachuco cross.
Portraits and realism Chicano tattoos include family, lost loved ones, girls or pinups, cars, lowriders, guns, masks, iconic Hollywood celebrities from the 1950s, and historic figures from the Mexican Revolution. Clowns are a prominent theme as well in Chicano tattoo art. The mantra, Laugh now, cry later, represents strength and toughness with the duality of the human pain and suffering that’s behind the hard exterior.
ORNAMENTAL STYLE FOR TATTOOS
Ornamental styles for tattoos are the height of elegance and tasteful decoration. These tattoos use heavy outlines and shading, typically in black and grey, with intense shapes and patterns to create stunning, decorative designs!
SCRIPT STYLE TATTOOS
A script tattoo is, without a doubt, the easiest tattoo style to recognise, as it’s only composed of words! Much like Microsoft Word, the font options for script tattoos are endless and can be as crazy or simple as you desire. Script tattoos are an extremely popular style for those getting a tattoo to remember a loved one, usually consisting of the handwriting of said person.
BLACKWORK-STYLE TATTOOS
Blackwork tattoos are one of the easiest styles to recognise due to their intense boldness and sole use of black ink. These tattoos rely on the skin to create depth and contrast within a composition, rather than shading. The subject matter for these tattoos can include a wide range of themes and can appear either 2D or 3D, depending on the tattoo’s composition.
TRIBAL STYLE TATTOOS
Tribal tattoos can hold different meanings for different people. It has recently fallen out of favour, maybe due to the trending popularity of the tribal, Viking-inspired style in the late 90s to early 2000s. However, traditional tribal tattoos are an integral part of tattoo culture, if not the foundation of all tattoos.
Tribal tattoos are the works of culture and tribes originating from hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. From Polynesian, African, Arabic, and Indigenous people of the Americas, ‘tribal’ has become an all-encompassing term used to describe the geometric and minimalist styles that are more reminiscent of the dawn of civilisation or pre-society.
STICK-AND-POKE-STYLE TATTOOS
Stick-and-poke tattoos eliminate the need for electric tattoo machines to apply ink to the skin. As the name suggests, stick and poke tattoos are done with a single needle, which is repeatedly placed into the skin by hand to create a permanent image. Stick and poke tattoos are famously referred to as DIY tattoos due to their accessibility for the average person in terms of materials. Although it is not recommended, many people possess the tools to create a stick and poke tattoo at home without realizing it. (Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, though…)
DOTWORK-STYLE TATTOOS
Dotwork-style tattoos use a multitude of dots to create a complete image and provide shading for that image. Derived from the pointillism art style, these dots are designed to blend together when viewed from a distance, making it difficult to discern that the image is composed solely of dots. Pointillism holds deep notoriety in fine art, with artists like George Seurat bringing longevity to the technique.
Now, the technique is in the hands of tattoo artists around the world, constantly bringing new ways to interpret and apply the style. Similar to stick and poke tattoos, shaded dotwork pieces are often completed one stipple at a time to maintain accuracy and control over the area(s). Dotwork tattoos appear in a multitude of other styles, including realism, black and grey, minimalist, and ornamental. The beauty of dotwork is that it can be as simple or complex as your heart desires.
HORROR-STYLE TATTOOS
Horror tattoos prove that there’s no better time to celebrate the macabre than all the time! These tattoos can be done in any style, but realism is the most popular. They cover anything that nightmares are made of. While anything scary can be converted into a horror tattoo, most clients gravitate towards having the subject be a famous horror icon!
OTAKU-STYLE TATTOOS
Are you an anime fan? Then, the otaku tattoo style is perfect for you! Otaku tattoos are entirely composed of anime-style art, derived from Japanese culture. These tattoos feature exact depictions of anime characters or scenes from manga (Japanese graphic novels) to pay homage to the wonderful world of anime! Much like many other tattoo styles, otaku tattoos can be done in black, grey, or another colour! Popular subjects for otaku tattoos include characters from Pokémon, Naruto, and Spirited Away!
NEW SCHOOL-STYLE TATTOOS
The new school style is every cartoon fan’s dream for a perfect tattoo! New school tattoos feature highly exaggerated aspects of the subject, along with heavy outlines and vivid colour palettes. The subjects of new school tattoos are often pop culture figures from cartoons, TV shows, or video games. However, almost anything can be made into a new school tattoo!
ILLUSTRATIVE-STYLE TATTOOS
Much like traditional American styles for tattoos, illustrative tattoos use solid black outlines to shape the subject on skin. These tattoos keep a very drawn, animated feel to them, rather than a more realistic appearance. Characters from various animations are often tattooed in this style to maintain an exact interpretation of their appearance. With these tattoos, attention to detail is crucial to accentuate the animation art style and maintain accuracy regarding the subject.
SKETCH WORK STYLE TATTOOS
Like many tattoo styles, the term “sketch work” conveys its meaning directly! This tattoo style gives the perfect balance of messy and artistic, displaying its subjects as if you were looking at a rough sketch of the drawing.
WATERCOLOUR-STYLE TATTOOS
Watercolour tattoos need no introduction; the name says it all! This tattoo style takes the brightness and vividness of watercolour, which we all know and love, and transforms it into a tattoo! Watercolour tattoos are made up of a number of subtle colour gradients, along with fading techniques to replicate the appearance that watercolour has on paper.
ABSTRACT STYLE TATTOOS
watercolor Abstract tattoos are the epitome of creativity and imagination, taking the idea of an object, place, or person and morphing it into a visual representation entirely different from reality. This tattoo style heavily employs shapes, lines, and brushwork techniques to create a unique composition that is unlike any other.
SURREALISM-STYLE TATTOOS
Similar to abstract styles for tattoos, surrealism tattoos are also about creativity and imagination; however, surrealism focuses mainly on taking realism and adding hyper-realistic elements to the piece. These hyper-realistic elements typically lean into a more abstract style; however, they can really be anything, so long as they are not an original part of the subject being tattooed! Surrealism tattoos are heavily influenced by the surrealist art style, which is categorised as displaying both unnerving and illogical imagery to provoke the mind.
FINE-LINE STYLE TATTOOS
The fine-line styles for tattoos take a more simplistic route to representing the beauty of a subject. These tattoos prioritise their forms and outlines over colour, shading, and texture. Lines in fine-line tattoos are very distinct and can be straight or curved based on the subject.
CONTINUOUS LINE STYLE TATTOOS
Continuous line tattoos are very similar to fine-line tattoos regarding composition; only the subject is tattooed with a single, ongoing line!
MINIMALIST STYLE TATTOOS
Want a tattoo but nothing too crazy? Then minimalist tattoos might be the perfect fit for you! This tattoo style uses crisp, black lines, a limited colour palette, and negative space to create a composition that is clean and simple. It’s precisely what the name suggests: minimal!
GEOMETRIC STYLE TATTOOS
Geometric styles for tattoos are composed solely of geometric shapes that often come together to build an image or form an even larger shape. This tattoo style uses lines of multiple weights, along with black ink, to create its composition. Aside from standard shapes, popular subjects for geometric tattoos include animals, landscapes, and stars/galaxies.
VICTORIAN-STYLE TATTOOS
Tattooing became a major cultural and artistic expression in England during Victorian times. Both the working classes and the aristocracy saw tattoo styles as being connected to dangerous or adventurous spirits related to the criminal world or travellers to exotic, little-known locales.
Victorian-style tattoos aim to recreate the relatively simple style used by Europe’s early modern tattoo artists, whose most popular designs included naval and religious images, hearts and expressions of love, and simple portraits.
