A Complete List of Tattoo Styles (And Their Rules) | Tattooing 101 (2024)

As tattoo designs have evolved over time, different styles of tattoos have become popular in the industry.

A tattoo’s style is determined by which aesthetic it falls under, and each style has guidelines artists can use to make sure their design works within their chosen style.

Understanding these guidelines not only makes it easier to create new tattoo designs from scratch, but it also helps you get a good idea of how a client wants their tattoo to look and find the right reference photos.

By the end of this article, you’ll know all the different styles and the “rules” of the most popular tattoo styles so you can do them yourself.

1. 1

   Use thick, bold lines. We like using a 11 or 14 round liner, standard taper (1211RL) with Dynamic Lining Black.

2. 2

   Use only one line weight. (Only use one liner and stick to that size for all your line work.)

3. 3

   Stick to the old-school color palette: yellow, red, green, and black.

Neo traditional tattoos can be considered a more modern version of American Traditional.

While Neo Traditional style tattoos are still 2-D and very technical, they use different line weights, more subtle gradients, additional colors, and more intricate details.

Neo Traditional pulls from the “Art Nouveau” style by featuring strong curves, as well as detailed “Art Deco” elements like filigree.

On top of the designs normally seen in Traditional tattoos, Neo Traditional imagery also includes:

• Native American portraits
• Animals
• Flowers
• Birds

1. 1

   Keep colors to a more muted palette and make sure your blends are ultra-smooth.

2. 2

   Focus on clean line work and use 2-3 different line weights. Thinner line work should be used for details and bold lines can be used for the outline and main elements.

3. 3

   Imagery should have realistic proportions.

Unlike the Neo Traditional style, New School tattoos push the limits of believability and color palette.

It often has a “cartoon” look to it, with exaggerated facial features, almost like a caricature.

• Animals
• Skulls
• Cartoon characters
• Food

1. 1

   Use bright colors

2. 2

   Go for a 3-D “graffiti” effect

3. 3

   If you’re doing a design with a face, make the features much bigger than they would be in real life (big eyes, big teeth, and/or big nose).

One of the most popular styles, black and grey tattoos can cover just about any subject matter.

The only rule is: no color is allowed. Any difference in “color” you see is made from grey gradients.

1. 1

   Black and grey wash only; no color

2. 2

   Grey wash tends to heal 30% lighter than when it’s fresh, so you’ll want to go a little darker while tattooing so the healed tattoo has the right values.

3. 3

   Use 10-gauge curved mags for smoother blends

The images in realistic tattoos look exactly like they would in real life. You are essentially recreating a photo on the skin. Realism is a great style to learn because it’s in higher demand than other styles, but it can take a long time to learn.

Realism tattoos are also the most expensive style to get tattooed.

• Skulls
• Statues
• Faces/portraits
• Animals
• Plants

1. 1

   Don’t use hard outlines. Realism usually asks for you to create a 3-D image, which means it doesn’t actually end, it just curves. On a 2-D surface, that will look like a soft, undefined edge.

2. 2

   We recommend using curved mags, especially if you’re doing a portrait tattoo. They’ll help you get smoother shades while causing less trauma to the skin since they work with the skin instead of against it like a flat needle.

1. 1

   Use bold red, green, yellow, and brown in your designs, as well as plenty of black in the background to make the brighter colors pop.

2. 2

   When making a design, pull inspiration from traditional mythology. The Japanese tattoo style traditionally told stories through symbols that the wearer connected with (even though the stories were not actually about them).

• Triangle designs (shark’s teeth protecting against danger)
• Shaded triangles (arrowheads symbolizing strength and power)
• Lizards (good luck charm)
• Sea turtles (protection/shield)

1. 1

   It’s recommended you change the reference design at least a little. Tribal tattoos are still used as a means of identification for some families and cultures. Changing a design to better fit you or the client makes sure you’re not “stealing” someone’s identity.

2. 2

   Use the biggest 12-gauge mags you can for the design’s size. Tribal requires you to pack a lot of black ink into the skin. Using large mags not only will make the process go faster, but you won’t have to go back over the skin as much and cause lots of trauma.

3. 3

   Use a 4-stroke machine for packing in the ink.

4. 4

   Use shading black instead of lining black. Shading black is thicker and will expand over time, covering up small gaps in shading.

There are as many tattoo lettering styles as there are fonts on a computer, so tattoo artists have a lot of freedom when it comes to creating custom pieces for their clients.

And while creating that lettering is pretty straightforward, most artists will add some sort of filigree around cursive lettering.

1. 1

   Keep your lines clean. We recommend using long-tapered needles for script. They take a little longer to put ink into the skin, but the extra precision is worth the time, especially on hard-to-tattoo areas like the ribs.

2. 2

   Have someone else read the tattoo first. Sometimes, certain fonts can make one word look like another.

3. 3

   Make sure the letters are spaced apart enough. The ink will spread a little over time. If the letters are too small or too close together, it’ll be impossible to read and look like a black blur.

4. 4

   If the script is in a different language, try to get a native speaker to check it for accurate translation.

5. 5

   Triple-check the spelling using Google; tattoos are permanent and you don’t want to misspell something on a client.

6. 6

   We recommend “floating the needle” while tattooing script, since it gives you more accuracy.

• Animals and birds
• Characters
• Flowers

1. 1

   To “fade out” your colors, you can mix your ink color with something like Foundation Flesh (by Fusion Ink) or similar to your client’s skin tone. This will help the color appear lighter without looking washed out.

2. 2

   Include some line work so the design is still easy to read over time as the ink fades and spreads.

3. 3

   Using whip shading and pendulum shading will help you create gradual feathered edges.

Geometrical Heart Tattoo Tutorial inside Tattooing 101’s 10-Day Beginners Tattooing Seminar

• Animals
• Shapes
• Mandala-style designs

1. 1

   In the geometric tattoo style, shading shows where the light is coming from. Make sure all the planes facing the light source head-on are lighter than the planes next to it. The further a plane is facing away from the light source, the darker it is.

As a tattoo artist, you will create your own tattoo style over time.

To do this, we recommend picking one of the different tattoo styles that is already popular (classic tattoo style, geometric tattoo style, blackwork tattoo style, etc.) and then finding a way to put your own spin on it.

To find the perfect tattoo style for you to specialize in, take a look at what you draw the best. Do you naturally draw from real life? Then the realism tattoo style might fit best with your skillset. If you like to draw designs that push the boundaries of reality, then the surrealism tattoo style or new school tattoo style might be for you.

Just like styles and trends in fashion, tattoo styles change and evolve over time. The styles in this list have been staples in the tattoo industry for a while, like black and grey and old school style tattoos.

However, each of these tattoo styles have branched off to form other tattoo styles that appeal to an even more specific audience. For example, glitter tattoos and “patch” tattoos have branched off from the new school tattoo style. Line art tattoos are a subset of what we would call “minimalist tattoos.” Surrealism style tattoos take realism tattoos to the next level, and the trash polka tattoo style combines black and grey portrait tattoo with the brush-like marks of watercolor.

Learning all the different tattoo styles is an important step in your journey, but it can also be pretty eye-opening to how difficult tattooing can be. Without the right knowledge, it’s impossible to level up your skills and become a professional tattoo artist.

However, finding the straight-forward information you need to progress is difficult. And with so much out there online, it’s hard to avoid picking up bad habits from incorrect and outdated resources.

This is one of the biggest struggles new tattooers face, and too many talented artists have given up their goal of getting into tattooing because of the years it would take to unlearn their bad habits.

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With the Artist Accelerator, you can stop wasting time searching through incorrect information. You just get the clear, easy-to-understand lessons you need to start improving fast… along with support and personalized feedback from professional artists in our online Mastermind group.

Over 2500 students have already gone through the course, with many of them opening up their own studios. If you want to join them and learn the skills you need to start tattooing full time faster…

Click here to learn more about the Artist Accelerator Program.