The 12th annual Salt Lake City International Tattoo convention is taking place this weekend in the 801. Now, There are as many reasons to get a tattoo as there are people. For instance, in the 5th century BC, they were used to transmit secret messages across enemy lines. A few thousand years later, sailors would tattoo a pig on one foot and a rooster on the other to protect them from drowning. Tattooing has come a long way. Much like geek culture, tattoo culture has reached a state of acceptance and I believe that the two have also met at a precipice.
It makes complete sense. Geeks are proud and want to show what they are crazy about. If they love Marvel, they are not going to secretly read a comic book — they will have a sleeve (a whole-arm tattoo) of Marvel heroes. Where others find comfort in printed t-shirts, geeks with tattoos mark their bodies with what they are passionate about.
I have several tattoos. The Fall of Icarus, Sword in the Stone, Prometheus as a Xenomorph, Nazgul gauntlet and two Ravens on my chest. I’m still planning on getting more. Tattooing is an art form to express our personalities and tell our stories. For geeks, this is an opportunity to share our passions, our beliefs and inner desires.
Some of my favorite tattoo styles that I think compliment this geeks taste on ink are as follows.
New School
New school is one of those tattoo styles that have had a huge surge in popularity in the latest years, especially thanks to the progresses in the tattooing industry. New school tattoos most prominent feature is the use of very bright colors: this has only been possible thanks to technology that made the use of colors almost limitless to artists. Bright saturated inks, large “strokes”, vivid pop of colors and cartoon-like shapes and volumes are what is today called New School: there isn’t one defined style, or most common subjects but you’ll definitely know a new school tattoo when you see it. You’ll know old school tattoos from the use of a limited color palette (mostly primary colors) and 2D shading; new school is all about colors you can’t find in nature and extreme 3D, almost graffiti-like shading. The outlines are also heavy, like cartoons and graffitis. New school tattoos can have old school subjects like nautical, owls, gypsies or animals, but they also often feature horror themes like zombies (always cartoon-like though), bubble lettering and even hip-hop themes.
American Traditional
Old school, or old skool, or traditional refers to a Western (especially American) tattoo style. Traditional tattoos are characterized by thick black or blue outlines and solid bright colors (red, yellow, green, blue). The result is a bold, big design that can sometimes look “rude” if compared with more advanced tattoo styles. Traditional tattoo style was done by sailors, inmates and people without a tattoo artist diploma, and with a primitive tattoo equipment. Today we have materials and tools, but the old school style is inspired by this traditional tattoos so it “traces” the same features. Some of the motifs are nautical: anchors, sailors, mermaids, nautical stars, boats, water, daggers, swallows, dices and also pinups and beautiful women. The American Traditional style has become a time-honored one, and is still celebrated and referenced in countless studios across the country.
Neo Traditional
Sometimes it can be as simple as the color palette, other times it is the treatment of the subject matter. Neo Traditional Tattoos draw on the inspirational designs of the early American type of tattoo. They then add a modern flavor. This means artists are adding more modern colors or using more of a cartoon type treatment incorporated in the tattoo. Some people describe neo-traditional tattoos as a combination of old school and new school tattooing. Others simply deem them old school tattoos with a new twist. These pieces do though take ideas from both new and old school concepts. You, then have a variety of design choices that are only limited by your imagination. The popular anchors,owls, strong men, and sailboats often get the “Neo” treatment and can be strung together to create colorful sleeves that tell the tales of a tattoo journey.
Do you have any geeky tattoos that you are proud of? Hit me up in the comments.
-Dagobot
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