Have you figured out what tattoo art style you would like your new ink to be? With so many options to choose from, it can be hard to decide. Different tattoo designs lend themselves to certain tattoo styles, so it’s helpful to research the different styles of tattoos out there if you’re looking at getting a tattoo. 

There’s a tattoo art style for almost every design and every person out there—narrowing down your options is where the process can become difficult! If you’re not familiar with all the different tattoo styles and their characteristics, read on to find out all the details so you can choose the style that’s right for you and your art.

Portraits and Realism

Portrait tattoos are, at their core, exactly what they sound like—a tattoo of a person displayed somewhere on the wearer’s skin. This type of tattoo is often immensely personal to the person with the tattoo, especially if the tattoo is of a real-life person who is important to the person sporting the tattoo. If there’s a specific person, real or fictional, you’d like to represent via a tattoo on your skin, a portrait tattoo is perfect for you. 

Realism tattoos focus on portraying an image or concept in an incredibly realistic way. Even more so than portraits, realism tattoos focus on shading, subtleties, and extraordinarily detailed imagery to produce scenes that look almost like you could walk into them. Like portrait tattoos, realism tattoos require an intense amount of skill and knowledge of advanced techniques on behalf of the tattoo artist. Realism tattoos utilize portraiture techniques when there are people or animals in the tattooed scene, and subtle shading to create vivid imagery and scenes. 

Watercolor and Color

Watercolor tattoos tend to ignore the lines, boundaries, and borders of more traditional tattoo styles, instead favoring blurred edges and bright colors that fade into one another in a tie-dye type effect. If you’ve ever seen an awe-inducing work of watercolor art on canvas or in a museum, you know the type of effect we’re talking about! Transferring this amazing type of artwork onto the skin via a tattoo takes a high level of skill and expertise, and our artists who specialize in this style have honed their craft for years to become the best in the business.

Color tattoos are just like they sound—tattoos that focus on the vibrancy of all the colors of the rainbow! Color tattoos can be in almost any style, including watercolor, and focus on richly-hued pigments to create eye-catching works of art on the skin. If you want your tattoo to pop, color tattoos work beautifully for portraits, nature scenes, florals, geometric art, or almost any design you can think up.

Black and Grey

While black and grey tattoos don’t rely on color to make the tattoo pop, that doesn’t mean they’re simple or ordinary by any means! This particular style of tattoo is one that dates back to the beginning of tattooing. For a long time, tattoos were primarily done with only black ink rather than colored ink. Black ink is often associated with more bold edges and classic, dark outlines, but this style can be so much more than that!

Artists who are experienced in black and grey tattoos use different amounts of black ink to create ever-so-slight variations in the way the ink shows on the skin. When done well, this leaves a soft and faded effect that doesn’t come across as too jarring to the naked eye. The contrast and variation between the many different shades of black and grey that are used in a tattoo are what give an exquisite amount of detail to the art, creating a unique and visually striking design.

Geometric and Ornamental

Geometric and ornamental tattoos are styles of tattoo that are rooted in mystery, religious symbolism, and ancient patterns. These styles focus heavily on lines and patterns to create mesmerizing tattoos that can have a hypnotic quality on viewers as they examine the patterns your tattoo creates. This tattoo art style takes an immense amount of attention to detail and skill due to the nature of the straight lines and detailed patterns. 

With swirling lines and interlacing geometric patterns, ornamental and geometrictattoos often align with the body depending on placement. Some of the more common images associated with ornamental tattoos are of the sun, moon, flowers, or ocean. Many ornamental tattoos have different meanings as well, reflecting mandalas or amulets which might offer protection or could have various meanings such as power, beauty, or wisdom. 

Lettering and Script

Lettering and script tattoos are some of the most popular tattoo styles today. These styles have been around for almost all of the time tattooing has been around. Historians have found evidence of tattoos in ancient Egypt, for example, written in hieroglyphics on human skin. Additionally, lettering and script tattoos have been inked in almost every written language under the sun!

Unlike tattoos that depict images, lettering tattoos focus on the beauty of the letters and words themselves rather than a particular scene or image. With a lettering tattoo, the focus of the art comes down to the particular script or font used, as well as the meaning of the words.

Traditional

Traditional style tattoos first rose to prominence amongst the captains and crews of sailing ships. Much of the symbolism used in traditional style tattoos can be traced back to imagery believed to provide protection for sailors while they were out on the treacherous seas. Because of the transcontinental nature of a sailor’s job, this style of tattoo spread in popularity around the world and is one of the most easily recognizable tattoo styles out there.

Traditional tattoo designs are characterized by bold graphics, excellent line work, and vivid colors. Despite being one of the oldest tattoo styles, traditional tattoos continue to remain very popular, and for a reason—these tattoos are timeless and beautiful. These tattoos age beautifully and are filled with so much history since there is a long line of iconic tattoo artists who tattooed in this style. Traditional tattoos are known for featuring elements like roses, anchors, skulls, crosses, and beautiful lady figureheads. 

Now that you know all about the many styles of tattoos out there, you can decide which option will work the best for you and your art. If you’re still not sure about which style might suit your design best, or if you have questions about the tattoo process in general, contact us today and we’ll be happy to help you get started.