Tattoo 101 – Different Styles of Tattoo
In this course, you’ll have the opportunity to delve into various tattooing styles. I’ll guide you through the essential theories and techniques that underlie the skill of tattooing, and you can discover a style that suits you best. Just because I’ll give you all the skills to create beautiful portraits, doesn’t mean that you’ll end up as a portrait artist. You can choose a style of your own.
I have put together a list of examples of some of the more popular tattooing styles. Take your time to look through and see if any align with the sort of art you want to create. In my full course I’all cover everything you’ll need to create any of these. You don’t need to choose now (or ever, if you wanted to be an all rounder), but it’s always good to have this knowledge in the back of your mind. Every single one of these example images, is from a lesson on my course AND by one of my students.
Dotwork
Dotwork style tattoos are an innovative design concept whereby an entire image, or shading within an image, is composed utilizing many dots. Inspired by the pointillism art style, these dots seamlessly blend together from a distance, providing a desirable appearance without the underlying individual dot element being overtly apparent. This design technique holds extensive notoriety in the fine art world, with artists like George Seurat, taking advantage of this evolving technique. Now adopted by tattoo artists worldwide, this technique is adapted and presented in innovative new ways. Often completed one stipple at a time to maintain precision and control over the area(s), shaded dotwork pieces are associated with the stick and poke tattoo technique. Dotwork design principles lend themselves well to many other tattoo styles, including realism, black and grey, minimalist and ornamental, allowing for unique and creative pieces that can be kept deliberately simple or incredibly intricate according to personal preference.
Fine Line
The fine-line style of tattooing offers a simple and elegant way to showcase the beauty of any subject. This art form emphasizes forms and outlines over shading, texture, and color, with distinct and precise lines that may curve or remain straight depending on the design.
Mandala
Based in Hindu & Buddhist philosophy, this style of tattoo revolves around symmetrical linework. Often mimicking flowers or petals they fan out from a central axis and can be found both as stand-alone pieces or a way of filling gaps between other designs. They are often used as symbols of inner peace, balance and harmony.
Blackwork
Blackwork tattoos are a highly recognizable tattoo style known for their intense boldness and sole use of black ink. They rely on the skin to create depth and contrast in a composition rather than using shading. These tattoos can portray almost any subject matter and appear in 2D or 3D depending on the composition of the tattoo.
Script
A script tattoo is a style that’s easy to spot as it comprises solely of words! Similar to font selection in Microsoft Word, the options for script tattoo fonts are endless, varying from elaborate to minimalistic. Script tattoos are a widely popular choice for commemorating loved ones, where the handwriting of the person is typically incorporated.
Ornamental
Ornamental tattoos are a popular form of elegant and tasteful decoration. These tattoos incorporate heavy outlines and shading, often in black and grey, with intricate shapes and patterns to produce stunning and decorative designs.
Japanese
Japanese-style tattoos, also commonly known as Yakuza style or Irezumi, have been prevalent in today’s tattoo culture as much as American Traditional style. From American bikers to celebrities like David Beckham, investment bankers, and doctors, everyone loves the Japanese style due to its intricate detail and high skill requirement from the artist. With motifs that define modern Japanese style tattoos like samurai, water themes, and mythical creatures like dragons, snakes, and tigers, all of which date back to the Edo Period carrying historical and traditional meanings from legends and traditional stories. Experienced tattoo artists design all Japanese traditional tattoos, and they must be done by hand. In later modern Japanese history, tattoos became socially taboo, leading to criminal gangs using them to mark their membership in the underbelly of Japanese society, covering their entire bodies in elaborate tattoos. Some of these beliefs are still prevalent in Japan today.
Trash Polka
Trash polka is anything but trashy! This German originating style combines realism, script, and surrealism, creating funky, collage-like designs using black and red ink. These tattoos are packed with vibrant chaos, each telling its own unique story.
Realism
Realism tattoos, also known as photo-realism tattoos, are exactly what the name suggests: Realistic images on skin! They’ve been around since the Renaissance period as realism in art, but realism in tattooing only recently became popular. Tattoo artists had evolved their skills, making realistic tattoos possible, among other preferred styles. Nowadays, photo-realism tattoos are so advanced in their application that they feel real. They can be anything, from people to animals or landscapes — you name it! These tattoos can also be divided into 2 categories: color and black and gray, which some artists specialize in. However, some incredibly flexible artists conquer both!
Traditional
The American traditional tattoo style is hands down one of the coolest and most timeless tattoo styles out there! It gained huge popularity in the US during the mid-1900s after WWII, when patriotic sailors came home from the Pacific and wanted to show love for their country through badass tattoos. And let’s be real, who wouldn’t want an eagle, skull, or animal permanently inked on their skin? Legendary tattoo artists like Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins, Bert Grimm, and Don Ed Hardy made this style what it is today. In terms of the actual tattoo, American traditional is all about bold lines and bright colors. It’s 2D, so it looks like a drawing on your skin, and the shading is usually just dots or lines. It’s simple, yet incredibly powerful. If you’re thinking about getting a traditional tattoo, you can’t go wrong with one of these classic designs!
Horror
Horror tattoos can be a creative way to celebrate macabre-inspired artwork. These tattoos often feature nightmarish subject matters and can be done in various styles, including realism. While clients can choose any horror-inspired subject, many prefer famous horror icons to be featured.
Portrait
Portrait tattoos are a sub-genre of realism tattoos that captures the living being’s essence and focuses solely on their head/face as a subject matter for the tattoo. Facial features and other details are meticulously engraved on the skin to give a lifelike illusion. As the name suggests, portrait tattoos require a highly skilled tattoo artist for accuracy; which means that a perfect photo reference of the subject is a must! Popular subject matter for portrait tattoos includes beloved pets, loved ones, celebs, and TV/film characters.
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Inspired? Why not start your own journey with Tattoo Method Pro and become a professional tattoo artist. You can either start with our 30 Day Free Course, or get every technique you’ll ever need with the Tattoo Method Pro Full Course.
