What do you think of when you hear “Old School Tattoo?” Most people might think of images with a heart and a banner with the saying “Mom” on it. There are actually many great old school tattoo designs but first what is an old school tattoo design? When you think of old school its something thats, well old. Something that might have been popular in the past and is not so much today. Old school tattoos usually refer to the 80’s and 90’s. What was popular then does not mean it won’t be popular today. Many people like biker gangs and sailors where the ones who were getting tattoos, but as time went by, just about anyone and everyone started getting them. Back in the 80’s mainly men where the ones getting tattoos as it was not as socially acceptable for women to get them.

It was the beginning of an era when the bikers and sailors started getting large forearm tattoo designs. Even my father who was in a biker gang as early as the 1970’s has a few tattoos. These ‘Old School Tattoo Designs’ where a way to tag their members. It was an honor and something earned back in those days because not just anyone got a tattoo. In fact if you got a tattoo and belonged to a biker gang and did not earn it, you would suffer huge consequences.

Just like with fashion cycles, what used to be out of style can come back into style and be more popular than before. This is the case with old school tattoos. With the most recent and major growth of the tattoo industry, there has been a rebirth of the old school tattoo design.

Today, these tattoos have been combined with new colors and bolder styles to make them a hot looking tattoo. If you search for the old school tattoo designs you can find what you like and then add your own flavor to it or make it more modern and yet old school at the same time. With tattoos there are no wrongs, just different styles.

Here’s a Look at Some Old School Tattoo Designs

Sailor Jerry Tattoos where some of the most famous of the old school tattoo artist. There is a lot of history on Sailor Jerry, but where he did most of his work was from a small tattoo shop in Hawaii where many sailors where stationed. Sailor Jerry had many unique and original tattoo designs that people would really fall in love with getting his style of tattoo. People still get his style of tattoos so searching the internet for his old school tattoo designs will give you tons of different results with different unique tattoos.

Gambling – Old School Tattoo Design

Gambling was one of the more popular tattoos back in the day and have become one of the old school designs. Many sailors would spend their time gambling as a way to pass time and this translated into them getting cards and dice as part of their tattoos. Gambling back then was illegal, but that did not stop them from getting these tattoos.

Pin Up Girls – Old School Tattoos

Being a sailor out at sea for long periods of times would be difficult for the entire boat full of men. This is where the Pin Up Girl tattoo became popular. Many men back then would get pin up girl tattoos and still today this is a popular old school tattoo design.

Sailing Anchors and Ship – Old School Tattoo Designs

Since sailors where the main people getting tattoos, anything to do with sailing, anchors and ships where popular. These became old school tattoos that are not as popular right now as they were in the past. These tattoo ideas could be big elaborate ship designs on their chest or forearms. Sailors would get the ship they were stationed on, tattooed on their body, or better yet pirate ships where popular too.

Of course there are many other old school tattoo designs, such as the swallow, certain stars like the nautical star and many others that were popular back in an age where tattoos were not nearly as popular as they are today. The options for getting an old school tattoo design is endless as you can always add some modern style to it as even with fashion, styles change over time and don’t necessarily go back to the exact same fashion as before.