Tattoo Sleeves

What are the different styles of sleeves if I can’t decide on one big tattoo?

Hi anon! I’m super pumped about this question and I totally understand why you’re asking it. Though I do write from my own knowledge I also do research to fact check myself and make sure I’m not missing anything; and this a difficult question to find resources on! Luckily I’ve got you, let’s get into some different variables that go into sleeve planning and then some different types of sleeves.

 I might be going a little above and beyond your question but I really focused on where you said you can’t decide on a big tattoo. So I’ve included a section about different ways that you can start to plan a sleeve without knowing what you want yet. I hope this helps everyone who would like to start planning a sleeve without a huge idea. 

Variables to build a sleeve

Here are a few of the variables you might consider if you’re looking to build a sleeve without much direction. One thing that may help you plan a sleeve if you’re not sure what to get are focal points. The body, and the arm have many different possible panels that frame an image nicely. If you can pick which panels you’d like to highlight that is a great starting point, and the shapes of these panels may even help you choose what image to start your sleeve with. Some focal points for a sleeve would be the outer bicep, above the elbow on either side, and the different side/angles of the forearm. By picking panels you can center your most important design elements there and then do filler or background in those other sections to really make the focus points pop. These panels have very different shapes so they can influence how you build the sleeve and the shape of the images you pick so that they best fit the area. 

Another thing you may look at are different styles of tattooing. There are tons and tons of styles out there and you can definitely mix and match to your preference, especially with a stacked sleeve (a patchwork sleeve explained in the next section). If you’re drawn to a certain style you may be able to start planning a sleeve within that style. Choosing a style can also help you choose images from that style. Often styles have common images that you could build off of or they might inspire your own ideas for the sleeve. As a side note, choosing a style can help you choose an artist in your area who does that style well. If you need help with some different styles google is a great resource or feel free to email me tattootitan07@gmail.com and I can give more specific advice as there are way too many styles to cover in this article.

There are many different aspects of sleeves and different ways to go about it but another variable is size. Some people (often celebrities in music) have a bunch of tiny tattoos creating a sleeve or full look. So another thing to think about is the overall look you may be going for and the size of work that might compliment that. If you want to build up a sleeve with a bunch of small things or just a few really big things. Maybe a mix of the 2 is better for you. This also plays into coverage. You could get all the skin on your arm tattooed or get work like Ryan Ashley; she is fully covered but she’s gotten her tattoos in a way that there is still a lot of blank skin showing through. There are lots of things to think about that could help you design a sleeve even if you’re not sure what exact images you’d like. 

Knowing some of these things like, which panels you want to save for big focal points, or the style you’d like the sleeve in allows you to keep getting tattooed without interfering in the main parts of your to-be sleeve.

Types of sleeves

You’re already familiar with the full planned out sleeves and looking for some other strategies for filling out a sleeve without one big idea but for the sake of going over all the types of sleeves in case anyone else is wondering, I’m going to start there. 

A common type of sleeve that you’ve probably seen online are the fully rendered and continuous sleeves. These are often people who have an idea to use for the whole arm. The artist then draws the entire sleeve out and they start picking away at it in sessions until the whole sleeve is complete. But what if you can’t choose one idea or you want to start getting your arms tattooed but don’t have a direction for the full sleeve yet? I have good news, there are many ways to build a sleeve! Images below: 2 In progress sleeves by Bryan, these are examples of sleeves he drew in full and they are slowly chipping away at filling in the design.

My personal favourite sleeves are stacked sleeves, and what I am going for myself. You’ll often see stacked sleeves, online at least, done in all in the American Trad style but you can do any style or even mix and match to your liking. Stacked sleeves are built of a bunch of ‘smaller’ images that creates a patchwork type of sleeve. I’m hesitant to use the word, smaller, because size can definitely differ to preference but smaller in comparison to the whole arm images that are common with the fully planned sleeves. Stacked sleeves can be planned from the beginning if you know a few images you’d like or they can be built over time and life experiences. There is really so much you can do with a stacked sleeve that it’d be impossible to give you all the different options. Pictured: on the left a stacked traditional sleeve from @cruel.monica on IG, on the right a traditional stacked sleeve from @alxbngala on IG.

Another way to build a sleeve, and the way that Chris often does it is kind of a mixture of these. He prefers to tattoo sleeves in a way that they are built in a stacked way but once he adds background and ties them all together they look fully rendered. If you have a general idea/direction or theme of a sleeve you can book a consult with an artist and get some compositional advice from them around your theme. The way this works then, is that you might choose a few images that represent or match a theme and slowly work away at tattooing it. If you can pick a theme, and the panels you may want to highlight an artist can help you plan out how to fill those; you can book in for a consult and have them help you develop your ideas more and then book in when you’re ready. In this type of sleeve an artist generally tattoos your main ideas on the focal points and then goes onto the less focal background artwork. Though the shark photo is a back piece Chris used the same technique here. All the little images and the shark were done first in a stacked manor and then when the background is applied the whole thing becomes fully rendered. Same with the other photos of the space chick half sleeve by Chris. The individual sections/focal points were all chosen and tattooed as a stacked sleeve and then once the space background is added it looks fully rendered.

In my own experience I don’t really have a clear idea for what I want my tattoos to look like. I go in with a loose idea for an image (something general a lady, a dragon, some kind of scene), a style (illustrative, traditional, realism whatever you want) and the kind of vibe I’m looking for (creepy, cutesy, ect.) and then let the artist figure it out, I’ve found that it always turns out great and works well with my aesthetic of a stacked look! This can be an easier way to get a tattoo idea executed if you don’t know exactly what you want, let the artist help you out. 

Photo credit:

• @blue.s.ink on IG
• @cruel.monica on IG
• @alxbngala on IG
• @damncoyotechris on IG
• “Arm.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm.
• “Human Arm Images.” Shutterstock, www.shutterstock.com/search/human+arm.

Gatekeeper

Hi there! I'm Taylor, you may know me as Sterling Skull reception, or gatekeeper, or most recently Tater (thanks Chris). I love writing, creating and I love tattoos; so what better way to use my passions than to bring you a personal experience of our studio via a blog! Welcome, please stay a while!