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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Back in the early '90s, tribal tattoos became huge when metal bands donned their arms with tribal wrap-around designs. Today, it's not just tribal armbands- it's back tattoos, stomach and chest tattoos and even tribal ankle tattoos that are big news in the tattoo world. Each carries it own significance that can be very personal to the tattoo wearer.
What do you think of when you hear "tribal" tattoo? Most people think of the classic jagged wavy tribal design that heralded the 1990s tattoo craze. Contrary to popular belief, there are many different tribal designs available. Many ill-informed tattoo "beginners" simply aren't aware of the various designs. As a result, many settle with the tribal armband. With a little exploration, you can find a diverse collection of tribal tattoos that use the curves of the human body as its canvas.
Tribal tattoos all have the several things in common: predominance of dark ink throughout entire design, gratuitous use of wavy lines and circles, and the use of non-solid design for pictures. All of these elements give tribal tattoos a very unique identity. Where traditional tattoos are prided on strong detail and color, tribal tattoos seek the ultimate simplicity and ambiguity.
Tribal tattoos can be further split into two categories: pictorial and abstract tribal art. Pictorial tribal tattoos use the wavy and circular lines to show a picture. Pictorial tribal tattoos usually depict an animal or fish, the most common being birds, snakes, cats and dolphins. Pictorial tribal tattoos are great because it can take a while to truly see the animal under the tribal design. Abstract tribal tattoos are completely ambiguous- they do not form a specific animal or picture. Abstract tribal tattoos have the advantage of mystery and can be easily changed if you want something different later on.
