Different tattoo styles that rock the world of ink at Black Dagger Tattoo Norwich
At Black Dagger, our artists are an open minded bunch of creatives who have taken the art of diversifying their work to suit the exact needs of their individual clients to the highest levels. The tattoo industry is thriving and as more and more people are choosing to be inked, client expectations have raised the bar to levels never seen. Poor tattoos simply aren’t acceptable anymore. Technological developments in ink pigment, needle production and professional tattoo machines, allow artists to produce stunning work that simply could not be produced only a few years ago. The passion for tattoos has become a way of life as men and women continue to pay homage to traditional tattoos, some for the sake of pure pleasure and many as a simple rite of passage into adulthood. It would be pretty difficult to come up with a definitive list of tattoo styles that are available in 2021 as previously unheard of genres surface, but hidden amongst the Glitches, Blast Overs, surrealism and Pointillism, sit 10 styles that have impacted hugely across the whole of the industry. Determining what style of tattoo you want can help you narrow down your potential options. We’ve put together a brief guide on the different styles of tattoo art. Let’s explore what you should know.
1. Realism
As it suggests, realism refers to photorealism and the creative ability to accurately present real-life imagery on the skin. The history of realism stems back to 1850’s France. Photorealism was actually not that popular simply because the best artists of the day did not want to be perceived as ‘just’ imitators of real life. The realism style focuses portraiture, animals and objects and is a precise style that takes a huge amount of experience to master. Realism requires extreme patience but the results of the best artist, such as Simon Blackdagger or Owen Peat of Black Dagger Tattoo Norwich are truly breathtaking. A realism tattoo produced by inexperienced tattooist has the potential to be catastrophic, so choose wisely! What are the basic types of realism tattoos? There are two main styles of realism tattoos which are black & grey and colour, with colour images being much more complex to create, often requiring multiple detailed layers to achieve a satisfactory result. Pre much anything that can be seen or captured on film can be turned into the perfect tattoo by an experienced artist. One of the biggest trends of different tattoo styles 2021 are realism portraits.
We’ve selected just a few recent images created at the Black Dagger Tattoo Studio in Norwich.
2. Cartoon
It is exactly what it is. Cartoon style tattooing is more popular than ever and has been around for ever. Cartoon tattoos are renowned for incorporating an abundance of vibrant colours and a specific breakaway under the banner of ‘Anime’ Cartoon based around Japanese Graphic Novels have an almost cult like following. Our resident artist at Black Dagger, Chris Martin is the master of Cartoon Tattoos and Cartoon mash-ups with images literally jumping off the skin with so much clarity and depth. Here’s a few designs based around famous celebrities and on-screen characters.
3. Sketchy
As tattoos become more and more acceptable in mainstream culture, the customers who visit Black Dagger Tattoo Norwich are becoming more diverse, requesting increasingly artistic and ingenious pieces. We strive to not only meet but exceed expectations with innovative, custom tattoo designs. Sketchy style tattoos resemble unfinished artwork that could have literally just been ripped from the pages of a sketchbook. There’s a very pleasing Raw quality about Sketchy work and the unpolished look is extremely appealing as Sketchy emerges as a big look for 2021. While it’s totally possible to use a have this style of artwork done using only black and grey, sketchy styled art often emphasis splashes of colour falling outside of the lines or paint splashes. Sketchy has a few sub genres including Graphic Sketchy that mixes abstract designs with geometric shapes and street styled art and Abstract sketchy that basically redefines how something likes to make it somewhat unrealistic. Our resident artist Iggy from Black Dagger Tattoo Norwich is a big fan of Sketchy and has been creating a huge mix of fabulous work lately.
3. Old-School or Traditional. The choice of different tattoo styles is completely yours.
Whilst it originated back in the United States over 300 years ago, old school really struck gold back in the 1950’s. Old-school tattoos are part and parcel of American serviceman’s traditions. Tattoo ‘Flash’ derive from old school where every tattoo reflected individuals personal story but also held common meanings. A characteristic shared of old school is vibrant colour, combined with often oversized proportions and an almost cartoon feel. To find out more about the different tattoo styles of the Old school style, there’s a fantastic website that gives an awesome detailed description about every type of old school tattoo and their traditional meaning. You’ll find it here at Sailor Jerry but in the mean time, here’s a few awesome flash based Old school pierces created by Black Dagger co-owner Steven Gigli.
5. Dotwork
Dotwork is a tattooing technique where the artist tattoo numerous dots to form artwork.These dots will eventually create either the entire tattoo design or can be used as a background to traditional tattoo designs. Dotwork tattoos are extremely popular at our Norwich Black Dagger studio. Generally, dotwork artists create their artr with typically use black and grey inks. But, this doesn’t mean that colours can’t be incorporate into our bespoke designs but brighter colours are less common. Historically, dotwork tattoos have been commonplace for thousands of years influenced primarily across Asia and Europe, with mandalas and spiritual tattoos being commonplace in dotwork althpouh animal designs and decorative patterns are also now extremely popular. We have a number of artrists who excel in dotwork including Owen Peat, one of
For further information about all of our awesome tattooists, body piercing and laser tattoo removal services, why not head over to our Contact page and reach out to our front of house team today. Alternatively, you can call the studio directly on Tel: 01603 436883 or email [email protected]
Black Dagger Blog posts are brought to you by Lee Blanchflower
