Traditional Tattoo Design Information

Traditional designs use heavy black outlines with minimal color and lots of black tones. Therefore, they tend to have a darker appearance and the choice of color is limited to simple colors such as blue, green, red and the average yellow. Colors are used in blocks with very little detail. Furthermore, they are styled so standard that everything they represent appears as a two-dimensional shape, without any three-dimensional depth.

Traditional designs tend to lack much complicity as they were done years ago with less advanced equipment and tattoos were done quickly at lower prices. Many traditional tattoo designs depict military and nautical motifs and themes, as navy and army men were the main tattoo customers. This traditional style has remained popular over the years, thanks to its historical significance, clearly legible simplicity, and traditional American roots.

In order to make truly traditional designs, tattoo artists have to work with a set of rules that will make their tattoos truly traditional. These rules mainly apply to certain motifs and themes and how they can be colored or drawn. As a base, traditional artists use the work of respected and well-known pioneers of this style, such as Sailor Jerry Collins, Don Ed Hardy, and Lyle Tuttle. That is why a large number of traditional designs are being taken directly or interpreted from the tattoo design sheets prepared for mass replication, widely known as “flash”.

Those collectors who wish to get a truly “traditional” custom tattoo should be aware of the strict guidelines that these tattoo designs entail. Therefore, it is advisable that you choose a tattoo artist who is familiar with these guidelines and can give you the traditional tattoo with a personal or artist’s touch. If they don’t pay attention to this aspect of traditional tattoo designs, a person can end up with a “fake” or “fake” traditional tattoo, which will be discerned by everyone knowledgeable in the art of tattooing. Of course, this may not be important to you at all.

One of the newer aspects of traditional tattoo designs is the neo-traditional design, a design that has become more popular in recent years. Neo-traditional tattooing is done by combining the rules of traditional tattooing and some modern techniques and tools. This usually results in an original but advanced tattoo. To give an example, a tattoo done in a neo-traditional style, may still have simplified shapes and thick black outlines characteristic of the traditional practice, while featuring a much broader color palette and some unusual and modern theme or motif. Neo-traditional tattoo designs are great for those who like traditional designs but would like something more original.