How is neo traditional different from old school?

It keeps a confident outline and then adds illustration: more colour, more detail, decorative frames and subjects that traditional flash never carried.

Does it use more colour?

Yes. Jewel tones, soft gradients inside the line, and sometimes a thread of gold or a deep plum that old school would have left out.

Where does a neo traditional piece sit well?

Thigh, chest, upper arm and calf give the composition room. The style likes a frame, so a placement with a natural edge helps.

Can the line be thin?

The main contour stays strong. Finer lines are used inside, for hair, petals and ornament, not as the only thing holding the design.

How many sessions does a large piece take?

A portrait with flowers and a frame is rarely one sitting. The drawing is approved first, then the tattoo is built in passes the skin can heal between.

Neo Traditional tattoo

Neo traditional kept the bold contour of American traditional and then opened the drawing. From the late twentieth century onward, artists trained in illustration started putting Art Nouveau frames, jewel colours and painterly faces inside a line that still behaved like a tattoo. The style is decorative on purpose. A flower is not a sailor's mark. It is a composition.

The sketch matters as much as the session. Line weight changes: a heavy edge around the whole design, a lighter line inside a petal or a lock of hair. Colour is allowed to grade, but it stays inside the drawing so the piece does not dissolve. Ornament, filigree and a limited cast of animals and portraits give the style its family resemblance.

An ornate neo traditional tattoo is built like a frame around a subject, not like a sticker. Modern neo traditional tattoo art borrows from posters and botanical plates as often as from old flash. A custom illustrative neo traditional tattoo is redrawn for the body that will wear it. A master artist neo traditional tattoo shows control of both the heavy line and the small interior drawing. Inspirational neo traditional tattoo ideas often start with a woman, a creature or a flower and then grow a border. An elegant neo traditional tattoo studio leaves room in the schedule for that drawing. A detailed sketch for neo traditional tattoo work is what you approve before any ink is mixed. A jewel tone neo traditional tattoo palette is emerald, ruby, amber and ink black, not a wash of pastel. Exclusive neo traditional tattoo designs should not be copied from a feed onto the next client. Session cost for neo traditional tattoo work follows the hours of drawing and the hours of packing colour.

Neo traditional tattoo female portraits use stylised faces, strong eyes and hair that becomes part of the ornament. Neo traditional tattoo botanical and floral work treats leaves as architecture. Neo traditional tattoo mystical animals —foxes, moths, snakes, big cats— keep a readable silhouette. Neo traditional tattoo thigh placement gives a vertical canvas with a natural frame. Neo traditional tattoo rich color gradients live inside the line, not instead of it. Neo traditional tattoo gold filigree details are used as jewellery in the drawing, sparingly. Neo traditional tattoo sternum and chest pieces follow the bone. Neo traditional tattoo fine line variation is the thin interior line, never the only line. A neo traditional tattoo large scale composition is planned as one picture, even if it is tattooed over months. A neo traditional tattoo healed gallery is the only honest way to judge the colour.

Questions about this style