What will it look like?

Photorealist

Thanks to modern inks and techniques, portraits and images get far closer to the ideal of "realism" than one from decades past.

Biomechanical

Credit the "Alien" movies with inspiring this branch of surrealism, which depicts a combination of human and robot-like parts.

Surrealist

Just like the 20th century arts movement, this style covers everything from Salvador Dali to fantasy monsters and incoherent nightmares.

Fine line black and gray

This technique, pioneered in the mid-1970s in Los Angeles, involves subtly shaded, intricate designs and portraits rendered without color.

Tribal

A modern U.S. trend sprang up in the mid-1980s, imitating the bold, dark, geometric tattoos common in many ancient tribal cultures.

Asian

Large symbolic designs, particularly Japanese, are considered timeless. Japanese koi morphing into dragons are a popular theme for arm “sleeves.”

Traditional American

Think Betty Boop, an anchor, or "Mom" in a heart. Before the 1970s, this was the only true style in the United States, when people collected tattoos like stamps. Designs were usually small with crisp lines, few colors and little subtlety. The style is enjoying a revival.

Flash

Not a style, but a name given to the printed designs on the walls of a tattoo shop. Beware as flash designs are subject to trends. Remember Tasmanian Devils in the 1980s?

Ancient

This design was found on a 2,500-year-old mummy in Siberia. The oldest known tattoos were black tribal designs found on the "Iceman," a European mummy estimated to be 5,200 years old.