Glossary15 January 2026 · 1 min read

Watercolor

Watercolor imitates the effect of watercolour painting: transparent colours, soft gradients, splashes and bleeds, often with light or no outlines. It is a visual imitation, not a technique with fixed rules.

Why it matters: For this style the transparency and gradients of colours matter, as indicated by manufacturers in ink descriptions.

Related: Illustrative, Saturation, Mixing, Shading.

Guide4 min readReading a style: six elements for looking at a tattooStyle labels help find one's way around, but they say little on their own: two tattoos called the same thing can be very different, and a work can sit between two styles. This guide proposes a method for looking at a tattoo by observing six concrete elements: line, colour, contrast, composition, depth and subject. With these elements the families of styles can be recognised, what is seen can be described, and one can understand from which traditions and influences they come. The styles mentioned have a glossary entry; here the interest is in how to look at them.

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Watercolor

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