Tattoo Styles

Choosing the tattoo you want can be much harder than it looks. In those moments, finding the style that suits you best and building on it makes things much easier. Each tattoo may age differently over the years. If you want to know every detail about choosing a tattoo, here is our list of styles!

1. Gradient

Gradient tattoos, with a soft flow from one colour to another, look very beautiful, but they can be just as hard to make. From light to dark, blue to red, day to night… It’s up to you!

2. Traditional (Old School)

The traditional style is known for its iconic designs: bold outlines, bright colours, roses, anchors and beautiful women’s portraits.

3. Realistic

Classical realism goes back to Renaissance works. Since then it has strongly influenced tattooing. Realistic tattoos are made to look like a photograph or a painting on the skin.

4. Watercolour

Watercolour tattoos are now very popular, but their appearance can be misleading. Remember that these tattoos are placed on paper-like skin and their colours spread differently over time.

5. Tribal and Maori

Tribal tattoos have a history going back thousands of years. Although they all look similar, each culture has its own meaning and patterns.

6. New School

The name New School may mislead you; the style is not really that new. It was most popular in the 90s, and today it is less common, but it is still loved by many.

7. Neo-Traditional

Neo-traditional is an evolved form of the traditional style. Its most distinctive features are clear lines and bright colours.

8. Japanese Style

The traditional Japanese style (also called irezumi) is based on old Japanese culture, and each tattoo designed this way carries a part of that deep culture.

9. Illustrative

Illustrative tattoos have a very wide meaning, so it is hard to draw a clear line between them and other styles.

10. Chicano Style

Chicano tattoos come from many ethnic backgrounds. They started with Mexican immigrants who made tattoos in American prisons with very limited materials.

11. Geometric

Geometric style has existed in many cultural tattoo forms for a long time, and it is becoming more and more popular. Tattoo lovers enjoy geometric shapes.

12. Dotwork

Only the most patient and disciplined artists can do dotwork. These tattoos can be quite painful, since each dot is placed one by one.

13. White Ink (White on Black)

Depending on your natural skin colour, white ink can be almost invisible. For stronger results it is often mixed with other inks and used on dark skin with striking contrast.

14. Sketch

Just like watercolour tattoos, sketch tattoos try to transfer the image on paper onto the skin. These designs look as if they were roughly drawn on your body.

15. Biomechanical

Biomechanical style lets you capture the perfect mix of reality and fantasy. After the film Alien was released in 1979, people became fascinated by a style they had never known before.

16. Trash Polka

Trash polka is a fairly new trend and hard to describe fully. It uses blocks of dark red and black ink, often with collage-like compositions.

17. Blackwork

Blackwork is a broad term: it means any body art made using only black ink. But blackwork tattoos are not just black; they can use a wide range of patterns and shading.

18. Ambigram

Ambigram tattoos can be read as they are, and also when turned upside down. Their popularity has started to decline today.

19. Glitch

The aim of glitch tattoos is to make us question reality. From a distance they look like a crackling image, with offset lines and zigzags.

20. UV

UV tattoos are made with ultraviolet ink. They absorb light during the day and glow in the dark. They can add movement to your existing tattoos, or simply be a playful surprise in the dark.

21. Minimalist

Minimalist tattoos are usually small and simple designs that carry a symbolic meaning for the person who wears them, so you can express yourself without drawing much attention.

22. Outline

Outline tattoos stand out for their simplicity. They can give a feeling of an unfinished tattoo, but do not be misled: you can choose them as a finished design.