The artistry of tattooing is ever-evolving and a style that perfectly demonstrates these adaptations is neo-traditional tattoos. Neo traditionalism is a fairly new concept but one that’s inspired by design elements and artistic influences from centuries ago. With extensive leverage for creative freedom and a wide variety of potential designs, neo-traditional tattoos only continue to grow in popularity and hold a longstanding position among contemporary tattooing. As with other tattoo styles, getting a quality neo-traditional tattoo will highly depend on the artist’s capabilities to abide by the neo-traditional style.
Chapter One Tattoo is an industry leader in neo-traditional tattooing and the perfect place to get a tattoo you know you’ll love. Let’s explore the common features of neo-traditional tattoos, the history behind the neo-traditional styles, as well as some popular neo-traditional designs for those seeking one of these uniquely identifiable designs.
What Are Neo-Traditional Tattoos?
To provide the simplest definition, neo-traditional tattoos are the modern interpretation of traditional American designs. The style of neo-traditional tattooing takes design elements of traditional tattoos and adds modern uses of color, smaller line weights, increased details, varied line sizes, and dramatic highlights. Colors tend to be inspired by Europeans or East Coast hues to provide a more extravagant 2-D image. As with other tattoo styles, neo-traditional tattoos have a rich history that led to their distinctly unique look. Known for the illustrative style used, some popular imagery includes flowers, nature, and lady’s portraits.
Neo-Traditional tattoos, also known as “Neo trad tattoos” may be heavily defined by their use of bright and varied colors, but they can also be done in blackwork or black and gray inks. As with other tattoo styles, almost any idea can be turned into a neo-traditional design. Neo-traditional tattoos come in a variety of designs and styles but tend to share a few common traits. A tattoo might be considered neo-traditional if it includes:
- Bold outlines
- Clean and varying lines
- Use of black ink
- Details accentuated with minimal shading
- Colorful highlights and saturated color scheme
History of Neo-Traditional Tattoos
Heavily inspired by the Art Deco and Art Nouveau artistic movements, neo-traditional tattoos exist partially due to their significant historic influences. Traditional American tattooing was heavily inspired by traditional Japanese tattoo styles, mainly in their 2-D images and minimal yet vibrant uses of color to accentuate the main subject of a design. While traditional tattooing utilized stick-poke techniques (with an increased risk of infection), the invention of the electric machine and innovation in tattooing technology during the late 1970s paved the way for neo-traditional design.
There are many influences and tattoo artists that are considered pioneers of the neo-traditional style, but Alphonse Mucha is the most widely known inventor of the style, bringing neo-traditional to life. Today, neo-traditional tattoos are some of the most sought-after styles due to their artistic versatility and illustrious detailing.
Popular Neo-Traditional Design Options
One of the most beautiful parts of choosing to get a neo-traditional tattoo is that the design options are virtually limitless as long as the tattoo has the stylistic traits of neo-traditionalism. That said, many designs are commonplace within neo-traditional tattoos due to how well they lend themselves to the style. Some popular design choices for neo-traditional tattoos include but are not limited to these ideas:
Neo-Traditional Rose Tattoo
Heavily inspired by their popularity within American traditional style, rose and flower tattoo designs lend themselves perfectly to the neo-traditionalist style. The vibrant use of color combined with bold linework creates an eye-catching piece that’s great for those wishing to add a touch of nature to their bodies.
Neo-Traditional Animal Tattoo
As with other tattoo styles, animals are a common design choice among those who love the neo-traditionalist style. Many will get tattoos of animals they revere or wish to emulate, and the color scheme and intricacies of neo-traditionalism can lead to a unique yet captivating tattoo design, whether the image is as ferocious as a wolf or as subtle as a bird.
Neo-Traditional Geometric Tattoos
Geometric designs are an increasingly popular design choice and one that can be easily integrated into the neo-traditional tattoo style. It’s especially common for those to pair an image with a geometric background to create the detailed yet vibrant design that’s so synonymous with the neo-traditional style.
Neo-Traditional Portrait Tattoo
Portrait tattoos are a great design choice for those who love neo-traditionalism. The style’s use of color, specific shading features and 2-D imagery lends itself perfectly to portraits or images of famous figures, deities, or pop culture figures. These designs can become much more captivating in a neo-traditional style due to the increased use of detail, making the person all the more recognizable.
How to Choose the Best Neo-Traditional Tattoo?
Neo-traditionalism is a versatile tattooing style that caters well to a wide variety of images and designs. The artform’s adaptability means that if you have an idea for an image it can easily be transformed into a neo-traditional design by adding a few details and being mindful of color choices. Once an idea of a design has been chosen, consider where you’d like the piece. After you know where you’d like the design to be, begin to consider how large the design should be. Lastly, make sure to choose a tattoo artist that you can trust who understands the fundamentals of neo-traditional tattoos so that you can guarantee your design will be done successfully and properly represent the neo-trad tattoo style.
Book an Appointment with a Neo-Traditional Tattoo Artist at Chapter One Tattoo!
Neo-traditionalism is a happily welcomed style within modern-day tattooing and only continues to evolve with time. Tattoo artists all over the globe continue to make slight adjustments to the style, consistently reshaping the way we view traditionalism. Chapter One Tattoo prides itself on our vibrantly designed neo-traditional tattoos and trusted team of artists. Check out a few of our artists that specialize in the neo-traditional style and book an appointment today!
