Straight answers to the things that stop people booking a tattoo — from the first idea to a healed tattoo. Each guide points you at real, credited work in the catalogue, and health guides quote dermatologists who specialise in tattoos.
Section: Check hygiene with your own eyes →
What does an Old School (American Traditional) tattoo actually look like?
How to spot good neo-traditional work
Neo-Traditional also updates Old School, but keeps things more illustrative and elegant; New School goes for cartoon energy.
Section: Red flags →
Strong contrast — solid black, bold outlines, blackwork, traditional styles — tends to show best.
Can I get a tattoo while pregnant or breastfeeding, on blood thinners or Accutane, with diabetes, psoriasis, eczema, keloids or moles? What tattoo dermatologists say, plus blood donation, MRI and age rules.
Almost any style can be executed as dotwork instead of traditional shading.
Where a traditional tattoo is built from a bold line first and color second, watercolor often inverts that: the color is the drawing, splashed and layered the way…
Nine stages from a vague idea to a healed tattoo. Every guide ends with a link to the next step, so you can read them in order — or jump straight to where you are.
The worries people mention most — and where the honest answer is.
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1 guide
Health guides quote dermatologists who specialise in tattoos word for word. New to the words? See the tattoo glossary. How guides are written and corrected: editorial policy.