Style · style_illustrative
Illustrative
0 attested · 8 promoted2 sources · T2
What the research says
styles_seed- Family
- illustrative
- Common motifs
- skull; animal; face
- Common themes
- macabre
- Line behavior
- bold or fine line used to bring out the salient features of the subject
- Visual traits
- black line and empty space; realistic subjects stripped down to basic outlines; negative space as a positive element
- Shading behavior
- outline definition and negative space in place of dimensional tonal rendering
Provenance
2 resolvedTattoo Life Crew, Tattoo Life
Describes the style as black line and empty space combining to create skulls, animals and faces ranging from the macabre to ethereal maidens; artists use bold or fine line to bring out the salient features of a subject, taking realistic subjects stripped down to basic outlines, prioritising negative space and outline definition over dimensional tonal rendering.
professional tattoo source · published 2022-11-01 · retrieved 2026-08-28
Tattooing 101
A tattoo-education platform's style reference. Gives per-style rules for ten styles. American Traditional/Old School: thick bold lines, one line weight, yellow/red/green/black, 2-D. Neo Traditional: 2-3 line weights, thinner for detail, muted palette, ultra-smooth blends, realistic proportions, Art Nouveau/Deco elements. New School: bright colours, 3-D graffiti effect, exaggerated features such as big eyes and big teeth. Black and Grey: black and grey wash only, grey from gradients, grey wash heals about 30 percent lighter than fresh. Realism: no hard outlines, soft undefined edges, 3-D image, recreates photos, shading marked on stencils. Watercolor: keep some line work so the design stays readable, soft-looking edges, whip and pendulum shading. Geometric: break designs into basic shapes, shade by light direction. Blackwork: black ink only, brush shading for lighter areas. It also lists Japanese and Tribal as styles with rules - a treatment this corpus deliberately does not follow (see T11.10).
professional tattoo source · retrieved 2026-08-28
Related concepts
8 linksFrequently used in · 7
- strength 0.75promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_animal ('illustrative'); styles_seed.common_motifs of style_illustrative ('animal'). Asserted independently from both ends of the relation; deduped to one edge. Confidence is the LOWER of the contributing rows, not the higher. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_tattoolife_mors_traditional; source_tattoolife_japanese_animals; source_repo_style_preview_data; source_tattoolife_illustrative_dark; source_tattooing101_styles_list; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.75 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by TWO parent rows, one from each endpoint's own association column; the pack's scale reads 0.75 as 'frequent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_fox ('illustrative'). No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.75promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_skull ('illustrative'); styles_seed.common_motifs of style_illustrative ('skull'). Asserted independently from both ends of the relation; deduped to one edge. Confidence is the LOWER of the contributing rows, not the higher. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_inkppl_skull_meaning; source_tattoolife_traditional_subjects; source_tattoolife_mors_traditional; source_tattooing101_rose_stencils; source_tate_memento_mori; source_htdio_pack_doc_04; source_repo_style_preview_data; source_tattoolife_illustrative_dark; source_tattooing101_styles_list; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.75 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by TWO parent rows, one from each endpoint's own association column; the pack's scale reads 0.75 as 'frequent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.75promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_face ('illustrative'); styles_seed.common_motifs of style_illustrative ('face'). Asserted independently from both ends of the relation; deduped to one edge. Confidence is the LOWER of the contributing rows, not the higher. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_tattoolife_eye; source_repo_style_preview_data; source_tattoolife_illustrative_dark; source_tattooing101_styles_list; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.75 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by TWO parent rows, one from each endpoint's own association column; the pack's scale reads 0.75 as 'frequent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_demon ('illustrative'). Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_tattoolife_dark_horror; source_tattoolife_macabre_grotesque; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_zombie ('illustrative'). No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
- strength 0.50promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from motifs_seed.common_styles of motif_extinguished_candle ('illustrative'). Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_tate_vanitas; source_tate_memento_mori; source_inkppl_skull_meaning; the first is carried in source_id. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.5 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by ONE parent row's association column and by no second row; the pack's scale reads 0.5 as 'context-dependent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.
Compatible with · 1
- strength 0.75promoted · not an independent attestationresearched
Promoted from themes_seed.compatible_styles of theme_macabre ('illustrative'); styles_seed.common_themes of style_illustrative ('macabre'). Asserted independently from both ends of the relation; deduped to one edge. Confidence is the LOWER of the contributing rows, not the higher. Provenance inherited from the parent row(s): source_tattoolife_macabre_grotesque; source_tattoolife_illustrative_dark; source_tattooing101_styles_list; the first is carried in source_id. compatible_with is symmetric; recorded once, traversable from either endpoint. No new fact: this edge restates a value already present in the corpus. STRENGTH 0.75 set by the T11.11c rule: this pairing is asserted by TWO parent rows, one from each endpoint's own association column; the pack's scale reads 0.75 as 'frequent'. Inputs are corpus counts only - no source count, tier or confidence is used.