New School tattoo style began in the 80s, when the romantic moods of dreamers and travelers were replaced by rebelliousness, a desire to stand out, and move away from the usual ways of life. Phenomena such as raves, computer games, neon, and comics influenced the popularization of the new school tattoo.
Today, the new school tattoo is the choice of young, energetic people who do not stand still and despise boredom. Even if you are not one, you should still pay attention to this style and we will help you with the choice of ideas.
In this article, we collected 50+ new school tattoo ideas, told you what they are and what their distinctive features are, listed the best tattoo artists who work in this style, and pointed out the differences from neo-traditional ones.
What is the New School Tattoo?
The new school tattoo is a response to the old-school style. Both styles use the entire palette of colors but have completely different subjects and drawing techniques.
In 2004, designer E. Harley developed and patented the new school’s tattoo style trademarks. Below we will list the main ones.
🔴 Colors. New School tattoos use a full palette of colors. New technologies allow you to apply a drawing using bright and deep colors. You can also often find neon and acid ones.
📖 Plots. Tattoo ideas often include non-existent characters and animals that border on hallucination. Also, new school tattoos often have humorous plots that mock the usual foundations or convey a comical situation.
✏️ Drawing technique. Tattoos combine cartoonishness and realism. The presence of outline and volume borders are combined with something artificial that does not exist in nature. It makes these drawings look like graffiti. Also, tattoos often have many voids without any color used.
〰 Thick outline. The contour lines can be either straight or broken. Its thickness makes your tattoo visible from afar.
The Styles of New School Tattooing
The tattoo styles of the new school were influenced by Japanese culture. It can be seen in the brightness of the colors and the contrast of the designs. Also, anime, manga, and computer games left their mark. The main directions of the new school tattoo are cyberpunk, a wild new school, and a new tradition.
📌 Cyberpunk. The name of this style includes not only the same name subjects but drawings related to video games, anime, and manga. Most often they are made by admirers of these cultures.
📌 Wild new school. Obligatory elements of this style are drawings in the form of graffiti and the use of inscriptions with appropriate fonts.
📌 New tradition. These are classic new school tattoos, whose main subjects are cartoons and other characters. They are performed in a cartoon style.
📌 Acid. A characteristic feature of such tattoos is the use of acid colors.
New School Tattoo Artists
What’s the point of looking for new school tattoo ideas if they can’t be done by a professional tattoo artist? That’s right, no point. So that you can get any of the tattoo ideas done we have chosen for you 5 of the best-qualified tattoo artists who work in this style.
| Artist | Styles | Examples of work | |
 Alex Gonzalez Location Palmyra | New school Black and Grey |    See more examples of works |
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 Mondo Arroyo Location Berkeley | New school Realism Traditional Illustrative |    See more examples of works |
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 Bobby Trefz Location Philadelphia | New School Realism |    See more examples of works |
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 Hayden Combs Location Nashville | New school Bold color American traditional |    See more examples of works |
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 Zac Thomas Location Kansas City | New School Neo-Traditional Water-Color |    See more examples of works |
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New School Tattoo Designs
New school tattoo plots can be different: primitive or detailed, funny or philosophical. It allows you to implement any, even the most daring ideas. Below we have prepared for you 50 new school tattoo designs with meanings.
Animals
Animals can be made in any direction of the new school, but the most popular is a new tradition.
Below we give the meanings of the above tattoo designs.
Fox 🦊
| Chameleon 🐸
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Tiger 🐯
| Deer 🦌
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Cat 🐱
| Crocodile 🐊
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Birds
The meanings of bird tattoo designs are given below.
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Films, Cartoons
The cartoon series and new school tattoos seem to be made for each other. This style of drawing uses cartoon-style drawing techniques, so most often you can find a tattoo with a cartoon character – from cute Disney characters to crazy ones like Rick and Morty.
It’s also not uncommon to see movie characters embodied in tattoos. One of the most notable is Jim Carrey’s character in the movie “The Mask.” He is great for a new school-style incarnation because of the bright colors and of emotion.
Japanese-Themed
Tattoos of the new school were inspired by Japanese culture, so often you can find exactly such plots (like koi fish, tengu masks, samurai in armor, and so on).
Anime
The new school tattoo style was inspired by Japanese culture, including manga and anime. Not surprisingly, one of the most popular subjects is anime. Of course, the choice of a character depends entirely on what kind of story you like.
Below we have listed some of the most popular anime characters that are depicted in the designs.
👺 Akira – Sotaro Kaneda;
👺 Dragon Ball – Goku;
👺 Cowboy Bebop – Ein (corgi);
👺 Tokyo Ghoul – Kaneki Ken;
👺 Magic Battle – Satoru Gojo;
👺 Pokémon – Jigglypuff.
Video Games
Characters in video games are not only made in cyberpunk style. A mixture of this and new-tradition styles is used to create them. Because of this, the tattoos look very catchy and vivid.
Below we list the names of video games and characters that are used in new school tattoo designs.
🎮 Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne – Sylvana;
🎮 Dota 2 – Templar Assassin;
🎮 Pokemon – Digimon;
🎮 The Witcher 3 – The Witchers Amulet;
🎮 Crash Bandicoot – Aku Aku Mask;
🎮 Fallout – Vault-boy.
Nautical Inspired
The nautical theme became popular thanks to the old-school tattoo and is reflected in the new one. The most popular ideas are also ships, sea creatures (octopus, starfish), and the compass.
Below we will list the meanings of these designs.
Ship 🚢
| Starfish ⭐
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Octopus 🐙
| Compass 🧭
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Skulls
New school style skulls are made with bright, sometimes acidic colors. They are similar to Mexican-style skulls.
Below we list the meaning of skull tattoos.
💀 Power;
💀 Protection;
💀 Power;
💀 Rebirth.
Flowers
Flower tattoos are most often performed in the new-tradition style with a more restrained color scheme. In this way, they look very natural.
Below you can find out the meanings of flower tattoos:
💮 Love;
💮 Joy;
💮 Freshness;
💮 Unity;
💮 Vitality.
New School Tattoo vs Old School
New and old-school tattoos have some similarities. Both styles use contours that are visible from a distance and have different colors. However, in other aspects, they are strikingly different, which can be seen with the naked eye. Below we will list the main features of each style of tattooing.
| Old school tattoo | New school tattoo |
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Summary
New School tattoos are a product of the ’80s, which directly influenced the main features of this style. Bright colors and eye-catching subjects on the brink of a foul are still relevant and in-demand among people of all ages.
The new school tattoo always attracts attention and looks very stylish, however it is difficult to choose one idea among a million. That’s why in this article we collected 50+ new school tattoo designs, described their distinctive features, listed the best tattoo artists who work in this style, and described the difference between new and old school tattoos.
FAQ
🖋 What Are the Rules of New School Tattoos?
Distinctive features of the new school tattoo are bright colors (sometimes acidic), three-dimensional effects, graffiti style, and unrealistic subjects.
📈 Are New School Tattoos Still Popular?
New school tattoos remain popular nowadays because many of their plots are based on video games, manga, anime, and cartoon phenomena.
🆚 What’s the Difference Between New School and Neo-Traditional Tattoos?
Non-traditional tattoos look two-dimensional, while new-school tattoos have a ton of shading to create a new level of depth to the design and 3D effect.
