Is tattoo lettering called fonts plus#

Tattooers have to take the rules already established and further specify them to withhold the wear and tear the human body goes through. The renaissance of handmade type (sorry, Paul Shaw et al.) has only further catapulted tattoo artists into the typographic world. In this case, it’s arranging letterforms for skin. The internet and Instagram have transformed typography to be about much more than just arranging type for print. Above all else, these minute dividing details that put type a few ranks above every other letter-based artform are dated and the result of the baby boomer generation’s unwillingness to adapt to the digital and DIY world. Tattoo artists themselves seem to be excluded from the typographic world not because they lack qualifications or because major differences in definition exist, but because it’s largely a boy’s club that’s averse to change. Tattoos, while they’ve become less taboo in recent years, were once deemed tasteless and for uneducated, impulsive degenerates. For centuries, graffiti has given a voice to the disenfranchised throughout the world. Perhaps the design world is scared to incorporate lettering into the standard realm of typography because that would allow stereotypical lower-class artists to participate in a historically white-male–dominated industry. Perhaps many in the design world turn their noses up at graffiti-a background the majority of tattoo artists specializing in lettering come from-because it’s an art comprised of diversity. If typography isn’t intended to convey emotional expression and is strictly for communicating, why don’t wedding planners design invitations with Comic Sans? Why are text-based tribute tattoos to Ernest Hemingway designed to resemble Courier? Heinrich Wieynck’s comment on his former student’s style applies as much to tattoo artists today as it did the Bauhaus movement in the 1930s: “The secret to good typography does not lie in obeying a one-sided school of thought instead it will always remain bound up with personal creativity capacity.” These men are now regarded as inspirational innovators in an industry that has clearly had a hard time adapting to change throughout history.Įxcluding calligraphic-based styles from typography is an elitist result of Jan Tschichold’s claim that clarity triumphs intention. Alleging they aren’t is like condemning Johannes Gutenberg as artificial and Alfred Roller as an amateur.

Tattoo artists are typographers in their own right. There are those who very aggressively believe that lettering and calligraphy are not-and will never be-typographic. I found myself wondering: Can tattoo artists be considered typographers? Are tattoo artists typographers? Tattoo Artist As Typographer? Words by: Alex HarrellĪfter experiencing firsthand the eternal embarrassment of a poorly executed type-based tattoo, I started looking for artists who specialized in custom lettering to revive my illegible ink.

Is tattoo lettering called fonts plus#

Grab your copy featuring Jessica Hische and 9 other brilliant women ruling type and lettering today, PLUS the top 25 American type masters. Editor’s note: The following article was originally featured in the Print Special Typography Summer 2017 issue.