Monday, November 9, 2009

Tribal Tattoo Designs - Popular Look and Popular Style

Tribal Tattoo Designs - Popular Look and Popular Style

For hundreds and hundreds of years, cultures across the globe have used special tribal tattoo designs for individual decoration and communal identification. In recent years, the use of tribal designs by modern skin artists has grown exponentially to meet the demand from people of all ages seeking tattoos of this very nature.

Historically, traditional tribal tattoos have been utilized by cultures all over the world for everything from signifying rites of passage and defining social status to augmenting personal beauty and identifying persons of importance. And in fact, the designs of tribal tattoos vary as greatly as the cultures from which they come.

Some tribal art has been traced back to as early as 2000 B.C., and it continues to be used for cultural and social purposes today. Nearly every continent has contributed some form of recognizable tribal tattoo art to the modern-day repertoire.

Tribal tattoo artists may draw from elements originally created by the ancient Egyptians, the North American Indians, West African tribal elders, and many, many more. Although most tattoo seekers today request tribal tattoos based on their visual appeal rather than their social affiliation, the significance of such art cannot be underrated.

Tribal art has become one of the most requested types of tattoo designs by men and women alike. Many men get these tattoos as armbands or as large images on the shoulder; most women request them as an ankle band or as artwork on their lower backs.

Although most modern-day tribal designs do not have a particular significance to a tribe or clan, the amalgamations that have emerged from the many influences belong more to the person creating the art or the individual wearing it. Many people find their tribal art tattoos to be a statement of their individuality.

Many tribal art designs are comprised of strong, bold images that are appealing to the eye. They are usually characterized by intertwining, thick lines and are often symmetrical in shape. They are frequently filled in black and feature distinctive, repetitive patterns that are often unique to the artist who has developed the design.

As more and more men and women seek tribal tattoo designs, the popularity and significance of this art will continue to grow. Some people get tribal art tattoos to pay homage to their ancestors or family roots; others choose a tribal design based on what it represents to them. Still others select a tribal design based only on the way it looks. But regardless of the reason why it is selected, tribal art offers the wearer the opportunity to be part of something larger than themselves.