2. History of Tattoos
The earliest recorded signs of tattoos are on bodies of Egyptian people from the period of which the Great Pyramids although tattoos had been around many years before.
Egypt expanded during its peak and therefore managed to spread the tattoo craze to many other civilizations such as Crete, Greece, Persia and Arabia. It wouldn’t be until
around 2000 BC that tattoos made their way to China.
Tattoos have had plenty of uses since they began to be used. In Greece, tattooing was used as a form of communication between spies. They would also use them to show
their rank and identify one another, much like a uniform nowadays. The Romans used tattoos as a way to mark criminals in prison and slaves which is still a well known
practice around the world today. In Western Asia, the Ainu people used tattooing as a way to show off social status. Once females came of age, they were to have a tattoo to
show this – also once a woman got married she would get another. The same people were responsible for bringing tattoos to Japan where they gained a religious and
ceremonial meaning.
Further in the West, Britons were using tattoos in ceremonies. Family crests, ranks and further forms of identification were used by the Danes, Norse and Saxons which is still
a tradition that is used today with some people. This kept going until 787AD when Pope Hadrian banned the art of tattooing. Despite this, it still thrived in Britain until the
Normans invaded in 1066 – a people who detested tattooing. From this moment on, tattooing seemed to ultimately disappear from western culture from the 12th to the 16th
century. Although the west had lost the art of tattooing, Japan was thriving on it. Tattoos began by being used to mark criminals with a three strikes kind of system. The
convict’s first crime would add a line across their forehead, a second crime added an arch over the line and a third added another line. Once these three strikes had been
reached, the tattoo formed the word “dog”. Over time, tattoos became more of an art form as opposed to a negative thing and therefore it began to spread faster. The famous
Japanese ‘bodysuit’ made its debut at this time, being worn as a reaction to strict laws that were being introduced at the time. This was a nearly complete cover up of the
main body, arms and legs leaving only the hands, feet, head and a line of skin down the body untouched. Any person with a ‘bodysuit’ wearing just a loin cloth was considered
well dressed (as long as they were at home of course).
Tattoos eventually made their way back into western culture with a sailor and explorer who sailed the South Seas named William Dampher. He brought back a heavily
tattooed Polynesian man named Prince Giolo – nicknamed ‘the Painted Prince’ in 1961. He was put straight on exhibition in London and became the newest craze. Before
then, it had been at least 600 years since any tattoos had been spotted around Europe however it would be another 100 years until the tattoo trend would stick around in the
West. America gained their own style of tattoos in New York, Chatham Square. It was an entertainment center attracting working class people with money. Artists like Charlie
Wagner moved down there to show off his new idea of transferring patterns from wallpapers to peoples bodies. He is known for redesigning a large portion of early flash
tattoo art. Flash art styles changed during different moments of history with more military and wartime icons becoming more popular during World War I. Tattoos also
became travel markers – you would be able to tell where a person had been in their life by looking at the tattoos they had. By the end of World War II, tattoos had mostly lost
their respect due to increasing numbers of people associating them with young criminals and biker gangs. Followed by an outbreak of hepatitis in 1961, tattoos were
becoming less and less desirable. Stories of blood poisoning and diseases spread and soon enough tattoos became illegal, they had a terrible reputation and the better shops
moved over to Philadelphia and New Jersey where it was still legal. This all changed in the late 60’s with a man named Lyle Tuttle who, using his charm, managed to use the
media to show that tattoos were not as bad as people were saying and soon enough magazines and television came to Lyle to get information about the art of tattooing.
Nowadays, tattoos have made a huge comeback. They are more accepted everywhere and more people are wanting them from every class of society. Thanks to this, tattooists
have now become named ‘fine artists’. New tattoo designs and styles are constantly being created with new factors coming into play such as 3d art, neon colours and even
white ink.
3. Realistic Tattoos
Realistic tattoos were inspired by an art movement in France around
1850. People were beginning to get bored of romanticized imagery such
as melodramatic poses and over-emotional scenes. Realists liked to focus
more on the truth as opposed to exaggerated hyperbole scenes.
Realistic tattoos are mostly created using a narrow pallet of colours or
sometimes even just black and grey. This helps lesser experienced artists
get as much detail in a portrait or scene as they can focus more on
shading and contrasts. More experienced tattoo artists are able to use
full colour pallets to the same level of detail but at their level of
professionalism will cost a great deal more to book.
The main thing about realistic tattoos that gives them their own
individuality is the lack of bold outlines like in a traditional or tribal tattoo
and the emphasis on shading and contrasts.
There is no limit to what can be tattooed with realistic qualities. Bugs,
insects, famous musicians and even pets are just a few of the most
commonly seen. They can often look so real that you’d expect them to
feel like the actual object rather than just skin, while others simply look
odd and eerie.
Tribal Tattoos
Tribal tattoos are the oldest style of tattoo around dating back to at least
2000 BC. Most designs are directly inspired by native African tribes who
used to use it to show off significant events in people’s lives. They would
also often be used to ward off evil spirits and protect the wearer from
illnesses and disease. Hardly useful nowadays with the medical
technology we now have but at least it still looks cool! The Polynesian
style of tribal tattoos is thought to be the base of modern day tribal
designs, brought back by James Cook in the 1970’s after getting tattooed
on his upper arms and chest.
Further on down the line, artists began to fuse the traditional tribal style
and their own designs together which ended up creating neo-tribal
tattoos. These tattoos were heavily pattern based with symbols and 3d
effects all mashed into one. While these designs look good and have a
‘wow’ factor, they also completely lost the original meaning of a
traditional tribal tattoo.
4. Traditional Style Tattoos
Traditional styled tattoos first came around exclusively for American sailors
who had been out on adventures and who had dedicated their lives to the
seas. Designs such as ships, anchors, fellow sailors, mermaids, daggers and
much more sea based things. These same sailors brought the word for
tattoos to the west with them too. Before, tattoos were named ‘prics’ or
‘marks’ but the word derived from the Polynesian tribes who called them
tataus. Much like the first tribal tattoos, traditional styled tattoos originally
had a meaning to each design. Sailors often used certain designs to defend
themselves from the various monsters they had heard about creeping
through the seas. The most famous traditional tattooist goes by the name of
Sailor Jerry. He spent most his life as a sailor and even tattooed fellow sailors
on his travels, slowly building his own style. Later on in his life, he began
living in Hawaii and opened a tattoo shop where his traditional style of
tattoo spread like wildfire. Traditional tattoos are easily identified by the
thick black and sometimes blue outlines with a host of solid bright colours
mostly consisting of red, yellow, green and blue.
Neo-Traditional Style Tattoos
Neo-traditional tattoos are a much more modern take on the classic
traditional design. The outlines of the designs are much thicker and the
subjects and objects of each design are a lot more better drawn – this
is because traditional tattoos were designed and tattooed on by other
sailors as opposed to professionals and also because of the sailors’
primitive tattoo equipment. Neo-traditional designs are different to
classic traditional tattoos with the subjects that are used and the styles
in which the designs are drawn. As opposed to simply featuring sea
based subjects, they focus on a much more broad range of things from
sea based to hula girls to grim reapers and more. Along with this, the
designs are often tattooed in a 3d style and perhaps more commonly
cartoony designs. As newer generations of artists appear, fresh ideas
and styles are incorporated into the traditional art style such as neon
colours and white ink. Although this may seem very different to the
classic style, the traditional spirit is preserved as factors such as the
bold outlines and stand out colour scheme are still present.
5. BlackWork Style Tattoos
Blackwork tattoos are the result of the evolution of tribal style tattoos. They
stemmed off from traditional tribal tattoos and split off from neo-tribal styles
which were known to take the original tribal designs and add 3d effects to
them. Blackwork is more based upon big amounts of skin being almost
completely covered by black ink, sometimes in an aesthetically pleasing
patterns that are influenced by Polynesian designs. Much like neo-traditional
tattoos, blackwork designs rarely if at all have any meaning behind them and
focus more on being visibly appealing. Not all blackwork tattoos are just huge
areas coloured in black, there are plenty of designs using dot work and also
white ink to soften the black tint. The most common reason for this type of
tattoo is for a cover up. The only downside being to this is that you will be
unable to laser off any of the tattoo properly. There are many people
opposed to this style of tattoo and they uphold a rather strong argument to
support their belief. The amount of ink that gets injected during a tattooing
session is potentially dangerous to the wearer as the ink could possibly seep
into the blood stream causing allergic reactions, skin rashes and
inflammation to the tissue. Also, if not cared for properly like every other
type of tattoo should be, the wearer could be left with a streaky tattoo as
some of the ink may be lifted back out after drying up and cracking.
