175+ American Traditional Tattoos Designs With Meanings (2022)
Most traditional tattoos are inspired by the traditional American culture but you can also opt for traditional European tattoos or British tattoos. Traditional designs were in trend during the early tattooing days when people used different ink for tattoos.
The tattoo designing art has evolved a lot over the years but many people still admire the tradition of the early 1900s. Here we picked up 180 amazing traditional tattoo ideas for men and women.
Table of Contents
Neo-traditional tattoos
Neo traditional tattoo designs use bold outlines with bright colors and less shading. It’s similar to traditional American designs but with less restriction and greater depth and options.
2. Weird girl portrait tattoos were a norm during the 1900s. Here is an odd girl portrait tattoo on the inner bicep of this guy.
American traditional tattoo sleeve ideas
3. Skull tattoos are in tradition ever since the late 1800s but they got insanely popular during the world war era.
4. If you wish to have traditional sleeve tattoos then you should try snake tattoos because they are the perfect choice for it.
Old School American Tattoo
5. Another popular combination of skull tattoos was a skull and devil tattoo design like this. The artist added devil wings to this skull tattoo.
Traditional Navy tattoo design
6. The 1900s saw two world wars and over half of the world population were employed in the army so it is obvious that there were lots of navy-related tattoos in tradition such as this.
American Classic Tattoos for Men
7. Religious tattoos were also very popular in old days. You can try a traditional Mary Magdalene tattoo design as shown here.
American half-sleeve tattoo
8. People were very sensitive on subjects like nationalism so therefore many people wore traditional patriotic tattoos such as bald eagle tattoos.
American traditional sleeve filler
9. Even though cross tattoos are in existence since the medieval era yet they got a unique makeover and popularity in the 20th century.
Old School tattoo sleeves
10. If you wish to have a traditional snake tattoo design then better make it aggressive because a cute and girly snake tattoo design was not acceptable in those times. If you want to learn more about traditional art then you can read it here.
Traditional American tattoos
11. A good tattoo idea is to opt for any design and give a traditional tribal background in your favorite color just like this amazing elephant tattoo.
12. Traditional designs were inspired by the real feelings of the heart. They were in trend during the war era so a lot of tattoos were aggressive like this.
13. Here is another beautiful tattoo design that shows a ship inside a broken vase and is really meant for people who lost relatives and friends in the war.
14. Is that a rabbit or a rat? If you opt for a large-size tattoo then please have it on the chest or back.
15. This impressive tattoo design is inspired by a bunny and a stag (deer). I would recommend it to people who believe in wildlife conservation.
16. Middle east has attracted Americans the most, so it will be a nice tattoo idea to try a middle eastern girl portrait tattoo.
17. You will never ever have such an interesting bug or insect tattoo design. This beetle tattoo wouldn’t have looked interesting if it was not given a traditional look.
18. Adding a quote to the tattoo design was not much in trend during that era but you can restyle your traditional tattoo by adding a quote to it.
19. You can have a native American traditional sleeve tattoo design and it will look even more amazing if you have thick biceps and forearms.
20. As traditional tattoos are colorful therefore it is a must that the color you choose complements each other otherwise the tattoo would be a huge fail.
Small Traditional tattoos
21. You can also opt for a traditional clown tattoo design and it doesn’t need to have a funny look. It can be scary too.
22. Among all the animal tattoos, wolf tattoos were most popular because they were considered to be sacred and fierce by many tribal cultures.
23. Here is another attractive take on skull tattoo design where the skull is shown in a soldier’s uniform.
24. A traditional flower tattoo design will look incomplete without a dagger tattoo so make sure you add it too.
25. You can also opt for a monster tattoo design in traditional tattoos and it doesn’t have to be big. In fact, a small design will look fine.
26. This is a traditional Chinese dragon tattoo design that looks more like the monster from the hit film Tremors.
27. You can have a tattoo design that has all major traditional tattoos. Here is a native Indian girl tattooed with a bird on her shoulder and a skull on her hat.
28. Even though this traditional black and grey tiger tattoo design is amazing but it can be improved by giving it a broader and more detailed look.
29. Traditional bald eagle tattoos are probably the most attractive and heart-touching tattoo designs. What do you think about this one?
30. An interesting traditional tattoo idea is to try a simple mirror tattoo design with beautiful scenery or any other design inside it just like this.
Traditional Style tattoos
31. You can opt for small traditional tattoos too and a skull is probably the best design for it.
32. If you want a skull tattoo design but are too confused then I would recommend you to try a traditional grim reaper tattoo design like this.
33. You can opt for a traditional tattoo design of your favorite sport. Here is a traditional hoverboard tattoo design on the forearm of this guy.
34. I personally love traditional flame tattoo designs because they look nothing like regular tattoos, see it yourself.
35. If you love traveling then you should opt for a traditional globe tattoo design in a large size just like this.
Traditional Hawaiian tattoos
36. You can try a portrait tattoo of your parents in traditional style. Here is what such tattoos would look like.
37. Traditional tattoos are usually advised on the upper part of the body but if you pick up designs like the one shown in the picture then you better have them on the thighs or calves.
38. A perfect combination of colors can make your traditional design look amazing. I would advise you to use colors like yellow, black and red.
