Just like in fashion, movies and music, tattoos also have styles to suit all tastes. The universe of tattooing is very broad and is always showing new artists, experimenting with ever more impressive forms of representation and creating styles of drawing. Tattoo artist Caio Garcia talks about the differences between each one of them.
old school
This is one of the first styles of tattoo created in the world. The drawings are made in pin ups style. The most used ones are mermaids, hearts, ribbons, anchors, roses, nautical stars and other classic designs. The outline tends to be thicker and simpler, and the colors are very vivid, with slight shading at times.
New School
This style is an improvement on the Old School, also made up of bright colors. One of the differences found between them is that New School has a more urban style, referring to graffiti and street art. The strokes are thicker, and the designs remind cartoons.
Watercolor
“I work with colors that are generally very watery, giving the impression that they are oozing from the drawing”, illustrates Caio. This style is quite recent and completely different from any other. They are drawings made with shapes and techniques that resemble watercolor and painting. The use of colors on the skin is totally different. However, some tattoo artists claim that, normally, works with little or no black and no contour lines end up fading more easily.
Tribal
Tribal is one of the most popular styles and, as its name already indicates, it originates from indigenous tribes and brings symbols that represent North American, Mayan, Inca, Aztec, geometric or abstract cultures, among others. It is made with black or colored drawings, with strong and delineated shapes.
Realism
“Works that really come close to reality, such as the reproduction of images of faces”, explains the tattoo artist from the Santa Rosa studio. This kind of tattoo it has a lot of shading and complex strokes. Realism is used a lot by those who want to tattoo photos, human figures or animals exactly. That is, it is the most faithful reproduction of a photo or image.
Eastern
“I work with a background usually in black and shadow and main elements in color”, he points out. Oriental-style designs are often exuberant, with many colors and meanings from Japanese or Chinese culture. The most popular designs in the oriental style are dragons, carp, geisha, phoenix, flowers and kanji – Japanese ideograms.
Maori
“Indigenous shapes and symbols, with different meanings”, sums up Caio. This style originates from a New Zealand tribe that has the same name. There are many types of designs of Maori tattooing, each represents a different feeling or characteristic. Usually, tattoos are large, occupying a good part of the chosen body area.
dots to line
“Work normally done with dots and dashes”, according to Caio. The strokes are very geometric, with straight shapes and firm lines forming the images.
pointillism
“Work made from dots, forming a drawing or a mandala”, points out the professional. The style is considered to be very modern. Also inspired by a canvas painting technique, the pointillism tattoo is usually done in geometric shapes, symmetry and black ink. It has abstract strokes, with shading and depth.
Source: Maxima
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