Tattoo Styles I

From Polynesian to Japanese to Black and Grey Realism there’s a lot of different tattoo styles you can chose from if you want to get a tattoo. There are fundamental similarities and significant differences between these styles. Understanding the different styles can give you a good upper hand in selecting the best tattoo for you.

If you are even slightly interested in the Tattoo Culture I suggest you look into different tattoo styles of the world. It will give you a better understanding of Tattooing as an Art form and help you make a more informed decision when starting your tattoo journey. Tattooing is an evolved art form at the moment with depth beyond the trends you see on the surface.

Here I’ll try my best to include most of the popular tattoo styles in the world. Tattoos are becoming more and more mainstream and artists are being very bold with their work. This has created many unique tattoo styles. It’s almost impossible to list them all but once you understand the fundamental tattoo styles you can analyze how modern tattoo styles have been inspired by and evolved from the traditional styles.

I’ll list the tattoo styles according to their historical presence, popularity, establishment as an art form. Tattoos have been existing as far before as 40,000 BCE but here the primary focus will be on widespread tattoo styles that are present today.

Polynesian Tattoos

The popularity of Polynesian style tattoos is a No Brainer. Polynesian tattoos are not a single style but rather a collection of styles popularized in different islands of the oceanic countries enclosed by the Polynesian triangle. However all these styles have common elements and application processes.

Polynesian tattoos consist of bold geometric lines and shapes along with other elements and covers up significant portions of the body. They are traditionally applied by tools made out of wood and fish or animal bones.

Polynesian people have a lot of cultural and spiritual connection with their tattoos. They use them to identify their community and values. So if you are going to get a Polynesian Tattoo make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

I highly recommend you get a Polynesian tattoo only from an artist with Polynesian ancestry so they  know how to share their ancestors’ art form with you. Think twice about getting a big Polynesian piece done by your local tattoo artist who has no idea when it comes to this style and the meaning behind it.

Traditional Japanese

Japanese is another significant tattoo style in the world. Japanese Tattoos are visually stunning work of art comprised of thick bold outlines, highly saturated colors and mythical imagery. Traditional Japanese tattoos are designed to cover the entire body from legs to the neck. However in recent times Japanese tattoos can be seen only in certain parts of the body like only a full back tattoo or a single sleeve.

Below is a stunning tattoo done by Yoshihito Nakano also know as Horiyoshi III (Probably the most famous Japanese artist of our time)

 

There’s also a variation of the Traditional Japanese style where there are no saturated colors and the tattoo is done by bold blacks which incorporates some shading along with negative space.

Japanese tattoos are designed to look good on light skin and will not suit most darker skin tones.

Japanese tattoos are famous for their uncanny imagery. So in recent years styles have emerged which are not Traditional Japanese but an evolved version of the Japanese Traditional Imagery. This can be a something like a Hanya mask or a Dragon image which is isolated unlike a Traditional Japanese body suit.

Japanese tattoos are also a very culturally unique style of tattoos with rich heritage. So if you want to get a big Traditional Japanese tattoo please go to a proper Japanese Traditional tattoo artist or someone who has extensively studied Traditional Japanese style.

American Traditional

American Traditional is the most prominent western adaptation of tattooing. This style emerged during the early 20th century when American soldiers were deployed to the Asian region. American Traditional tattooing was evolved mainly in Hong Kong and Japan during the world war times.

They have the most resemblance with Japanese Traditional Tattoos. That includes bold black outlines, saturated colors and black shading. However the imagery was done to suit the western culture; specifically the lifestyle of sailors, so the earliest American Traditional tattoos have images of ships, anchors, eagles, hearts, daggers and mermaids.

The style traveled from Asia to America when these sailors returned home and with it grew popularity with the general population. With that the images started to incorporate more aspects more relatable to the general public. After that the style skyrocketed and has influenced many tattoo styles and artists all over the world.

American Traditional is still one of the most popular if not the most popular tattoo style in the world. There are many artists who specialize in this style all over the world so if you feel like this style resonates with you, you have options to get it from a local artist who does this style.

Black and Grey

Black and Grey tattoos are done by different shades of the black color ink. There’s no specific origin when it comes to Black and Grey tattoos. Once tattoos became widespread in the world and the equipment improved along with it, artists tried to give more depth to their tattoos by incorporating levels of shading to the existing images. This resulted more three dimensional images done as tattoos. With that the scope of imagery increased exponentially because more and more images were able to be tattooed with a realistic look.

You can find a good black and grey tattoo artist in any country of the world. So if you want a black and grey tattoo you can get it done with less effort to find an artist who does the style.

Realism

Realism tattoos as the name suggests are done by tattooing real life imagery with precise details. These have higher depths and attention to minor details. Realism tattoos are done in both Color and Black and Grey. Realism tattoos can be priceless if executed perfectly. On the contrary if done poorly you’ll end up with a huge life regret.

So if you want to get a Realism piece make sure you don’t go cheap when selecting your artist. Find the best artist possible for a Realism tattoo.

Many More….

There are many other popular tattoo styles out there but the styles I’ve presented here gives you a good idea about the scope of tattoo styles. In a future article I’ll write more on styles like Sak Yant, Geometric, Script, Neo Traditional etc.

Check out Tattoo Styles II here.