More tattooing! #8

    If you couldn't already tell, I absolutely love the art of tattooing. In my previous post about the art of tattooing, I said there were about 15 styles of tattoos. Well, in fact, there are more than 50 different styles to choose from. In this post, I will discuss the few styles I absolutely adore. 

    So, first on my chart is the beautiful "American Traditional Tattoo Style/ Old School Tattoo Style." This style uses bold lines and a minimal color pallet. (tattooing101). Tattoo artist Norman Keith Collins, also known as "Sailor Jerry," was why we have the old-school style/sailor tattoos. He is the artist who paved the way for the lady head tattoos, the beautiful swallow tattoos, the anchor tattoos, and more! You can view some of his artwork on sailorjerry.com. When it comes to these types of tattoos, the "rules" to achieve such a tattoo are that an artist must use thick, bold lines and must stick to that exact size liner to keep the lines the same size. Also, as an artist, you can stick to the old-school palette: red, yellow, green, and black. (tattooing101). 

    Next in my favorite style is the colorful "Japanese tattoo Style." The Japanese style tattoos tend to be big and bright and focus on the cultural symbols (tattooing101). A little fun fact about these tattoos, when they were being done, they were done without a machine and were done using the "arborist." This was a "method of hand tattooing using a slender bamboo or metal tool with a needle grouping attached to the tip" (authentink). Many tattoos include Koppi fish, dragons, Japanese Samurai, and cultural symbols. The "rules" for the Japanese-style tattoo include the artist using bold red, green, yellow, brown, and plenty of black to make the colors pop. When an artist makes the design, they are told to use inspiration from the traditional mythology of the Japanese culture. Japanese tattoos are also great for cover-ups since they are such large-scale tattoos. 

    The final style I'll speak about is my top #1. The cartoon/anime-style tattoos. It is literally just cartoons and anime tattoos. There is a particular artist on Instagram I absolutely love. Her art is fantastic. She is an artist based in Osaka, Japan. Her Instagram is @lauraanunnaki. She uses such bold colors, and her line work is immaculate before the color. In anime, tattoo artists use bold, rich shapes and exaggerated features (rib tattoos). This style doesn't go away from deep colors, mythological characters, and very dramatic perspectives. 

There are so many more styles I would love to go on and on about, but these are a few of my top tattoo styles. There are still styles being created daily that are significant for different generations. As of right now, micro-realism is a very popular tattoo style. So, in the next post, I may or may not rant about some more lore of tattooing.