How Is New School Tattooing Different?

New school tattooing is fascinating because it's seemingly more expressive than traditional tattoos, and it's perfect for covering up common tattoo mistakes as well — just because it's so grand. According to Tattoodo, new school tattoos are characterized by their vivid colors, rounder shapes, and cartoon-y designs. New school tattoos often include actual animated characters, too. According to Tattoodo, new school tattoos often include characteristics of Japanese design, like anime and manga characters, as the design of new school ink adapts these art styles well. Plus, these pieces of art are also more three-dimensional than their neo-traditional counterparts, per Custom Tattoo Design.

Where traditional tattoos often remain black and white and include in their designs a single object or written text, new school designs both offer unique, fresh designs and elevate traditional concepts into colorful, fuller tattoos that have a clear perspective, per Tatt Mag. Because of this, Tatt Mag recommends not getting a new school tattoo if you don't want a design that's bold and colorful, as these are their signature aesthetics.

New school tattoos should be done by artists that specialize in them because they're so intricate. However, bear in mind that these tattoos may cost more than what you're used to due to their intricacies (and because they're typically bigger than traditional tattoos).