Style combination · Pairs well

American Traditional Tattoo Flash × Skateboard Deck Graphics

Both use bold outline and flat limited colour on a single emblem; borrow the flash sheet's emblematic symmetry, but keep the deck's comic humour.

From the research on Skateboard Deck Graphics

Mix them and make something American Traditional Tattoo Flash Skateboard Deck Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from American Traditional Tattoo Flash, their arrangement from Skateboard Deck Graphics, the finish from American Traditional Tattoo Flash. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

American Traditional Tattoo Flash Skateboard Deck Graphics

Type from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Hand-lettering
Script
Colour from Skateboard Deck Graphics: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Stylised figuration
Emblems & badges
Composition from Skateboard Deck Graphics: Isolated object
Single focal point
Surface from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · American Traditional Tattoo Flash

Loud

Bungee Shade, standing in for Shaded and drop-shadowed block capitals in the sign writer's manner

Text · Skateboard Deck Graphics

The graphics printed on the underside of skateboard decks, developed by Californian skate companies in the 1970s and 80s (the scope here; later photographic and parody decks are not covered). An artist-drawn image, usually a monster, skull, hand or cartoon figure in heavy ink outline, fills a tall vertical board in a few flat screenprinted colours, with a brand logo that repeats across a collectible series of models.

Archivo; Skateboard Deck Graphics used Santa Cruz logotype, hand-drawn by Jim Phillips and Hand-lettered brand logos in thick outline

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Skateboard Deck Graphics, with a counter-accent from American Traditional Tattoo Flash. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

American Traditional Tattoo Flash Skateboard Deck Graphics

#f2ede0 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#f5d312 accent · 18%
#e8202a accent · 14%
#1e7fcb accent · 10%
#1f7a3a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2ede0;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #f5d312;
  --accent-2: #e8202a;
  --accent-3: #1e7fcb;
  --accent-4: #1f7a3a;
  --font-display: "Bungee Shade", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Archivo", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Tattoo flash is the working craft of a living community of tattooers, who still trade, copy and repaint the old sheets by their own customs, and Sailor Jerry Ltd holds the commercial rights to Collins's letters, art and flash: draw new designs in the idiom rather than lifting a named artist's flash for branding or merchandise. Period sheets also include caricatures of other peoples, exoticised hula girls and geishas, and wartime jingoism; leave those out when quoting the style.

The two styles

A boldly outlined eagle with raised wings, an open yellow beak and red, yellow, green, black and cream feathers grips a curling banner reading “BRAVE.” A red flower and green leaves sit beneath the banner on a pale, textured background.

1900–present · North America, Global / networked American Traditional Tattoo Flash The stock designs of twentieth-century American tattoo shops: eagles, anchors, swallows, roses, hearts, daggers, panthers, skulls, ships, pin-ups and nautical stars, each drawn as an isolated emblem with a bold black outline, black shading and a few saturated flat colours (mainly red, yellow and green) chosen to stay legible on skin for a lifetime. Painted or printed on sheets and hung on shop walls, the designs carry vows, luck and service memories, and the look now travels far beyond the tattoo shop.

A blue, skeletal cartoon monster rides a yellow skateboard against a bright red background, with bulging eyeballs, long pointed teeth and a red tongue hanging from its enormous mouth. Large dripping yellow letters above it read “GRIND IT.”

1973–1989 · North America, Global / networked Skateboard Deck Graphics The graphics printed on the underside of skateboard decks, developed by Californian skate companies in the 1970s and 80s (the scope here; later photographic and parody decks are not covered). An artist-drawn image, usually a monster, skull, hand or cartoon figure in heavy ink outline, fills a tall vertical board in a few flat screenprinted colours, with a brand logo that repeats across a collectible series of models.

More combinations

With American Traditional Tattoo Flash

With Skateboard Deck Graphics

Every style combination