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Style Guides: Fine Line Tattoos

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Style Guides: Fine Line Tattoos

Learn more about this subtle linework style that is currently trending in tattoos.

Conclusion
  • The Fine Line genre relies more on performance and application than artistic style, as there are virtually no boundaries in its subject matter.
  • There are many tattoo styles that can be done with thin lines.
  • Chicano style, illustrative, minimalism and microrealism are some of the most popular tattoo styles that use the fine line technique.
  1. chicano style
  2. illustrative
  3. Minimalism
  4. microrealism

A lot of people these days are looking for "Fine Line" tattoos for a number of reasons - they're thin and delicate, allowing you to get into tattoo culture without getting attached to the heavier aesthetic of more traditional tattoos. They can also offer more flexibility in sizing because, as a general rule, the thinner the line, the smaller the tattoo can be. They are less stressful on the skin than bolder tattoos, so they heal faster.

The Fine Line genre relies more on performance and application rather than artistic style, as there are virtually no boundaries in its subject matter, unlike, for example, a Japanese tattoo.

The only thing that really makes a tattoo a "thin line" is the gauge of the needle the artist uses to create the main lines of the tattoo. Artists who specialize in this technique tend to use round needles, and sometimes a single needle, which creates the aesthetic of fine hair.

Most often, these tattoos are done in black and gray ink, although not always.

There are many tattoo styles that can be done with fine lines, read on to find out about the most common ones.

chicano style

It is impossible to discuss Fine Line tattoos without mentioning the Chicano tattoo, a style that is traditionally based on single needle execution. While we have already created a Chicano tattoo style guide, let's quickly recap…

The Chicano tattoo was born from Mexican culture in California and Mexican artists in the prison system. The prisoners used sheer ingenuity to assemble a homemade tattoo machine and use what little they had to depict what they knew best. Common iconography in this style includes beautiful women, heina, payasa, roses, intricate inscriptions, scenes of neighborhoods, and religious imagery. Some artists at the forefront of this style include Chuco Moreno, Tamara Santibanez, and Spider Sinclair among many others.

illustrative

If you're looking for a tattoo that reimagines a more traditional art form, like a sketch of an old masterpiece, an illustration from a book, or any type of abstract expressionism, the Fine Line Illustrative style might be right for you. This is because, as we mentioned earlier, a thin line allows for more flexibility for design details than the more simplistic options typically found in a bolder traditional tattoo. Techniques such as hatching, dotwork, hatching and crosshatching allow the artist to recreate a piece of art that exists in a more traditional medium - in other words, on paper - in such a way that a clear, clean tattoo is obtained that will not leave anyone indifferent. maintain its integrity over time.

Minimalism

Fine Line may be the best technique for one of the most popular tattoo styles these days, minimalism. These are tattoos that recreate whatever iconography you're looking for - flowers, fauna, and astrological images are common designs - and simplify them a lot to create a very small, very subtle tattoo. You'll see how these pieces adorn the skin of celebrities like Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus, probably because they allow them to imprint images that mean to them on their bodies without resorting to a heavily tattooed aesthetic. And that might just be what you're looking for, especially if you're more interested in getting a tattoo just for yourself rather than something that everyone else will notice. Perhaps the greatest pioneer in this tattoo style is Dr. Wu, who has worked with celebrities like Drake and Bean Cobain, but more and more of these artists are popping up all the time.

microrealism

While realism and photorealism tattoos tend to be on a larger scale to accommodate intricate detail, there is a new trend for these tattoos to be made impossibly small. Some microrealist tattoo artists use a thin line for both base and texture.

This kind of work appears in both color and black and gray and can be easily classified by its tiny size and realistic details.

If you'd like to assemble a Fine Line tattoo for your next job, we can help!

Submit your idea here and we'll start looking for the right artist for you.

Cover image via Tritoan Ly.