Old School Tattoo Ideas

Old school (or also old style) tattoos that are traditional in America and Europe appeared in the last century as a cornerstone of the tattoo art. They look a bit rude being very colorful with bold black outlines and a little or no shadowing.

Old school American tattoos were firstly created by sailors who adapted Polynesian and South-West Asian tattoo art to American culture. The life of sailors depends on luck and fortune and no surprise they do have a lot of superstitions.

Traditional tattoo ideas come from the specific sailors’ culture: special protective symbols or things connected to their beloved women like their portraits. All the most popular designs of the old school traditional flashes like swallows, anchors, mermaids, beautiful girls, hearts, roses, water, fishes, nautical stars roots exactly in the sailor’s way of life.