American Traditional Tattoo Flash × Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Japanese prints and tattoo art fed Collins and Hardy; borrow waves and dragons but keep the bold American outline.

From the research on American Traditional Tattoo Flash

Mix them and make something American Traditional Tattoo Flash Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from American Traditional Tattoo Flash, their arrangement from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints, the finish from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. 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 Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Type from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Hand-lettering
Script
Colour from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Flat fields
Limited spot colours
Form from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Stylised figuration
Emblems & badges
Composition from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints: Dynamic asymmetry
Diagonal axis
Surface from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints: Carved line
Paper & letterpress bite

The type

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

Display · American Traditional Tattoo Flash

Reverie

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

Text · Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Mass-produced Edo-period woodblock prints of actors, courtesans, legends and landscapes, designed by an artist, cut and printed by specialist craftsmen and sold cheaply by commercial publishers. Flat colour blocks inside a carved keyline, bold cropping, high or oblique viewpoints and diagonal compositions, with titles in small cartouches, later handed Europe a new model for the poster.

Shippori Mincho; Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints used Brush-written kana and kanji titles and Kantei-ryū kabuki lettering

The colours

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

American Traditional Tattoo Flash Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

#f1e4c8 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#f2c12e accent · 18%
#c64a2d accent · 14%
#c8102e accent · 10%
#d4a64a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1e4c8;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #f2c12e;
  --accent-2: #c64a2d;
  --accent-3: #c8102e;
  --accent-4: #d4a64a;
  --font-display: "Bungee Shade", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Shippori Mincho", 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.