It seems like one of the most popular trends in tattooing these days are literary or word tattoo designs.  People both men and women are getting written tattoos now more than ever before.  However, there are many different styles to choose from and a lot of different options so before you run out and get your tattoo lettering design you should think about how you want the font to look and what you want to write. 

The History of Word Tattoo Designs

You see written words have been a part of tattoos for a long time.  However, it wasn't until recently that the words became the tattoo itself.  It used to be that the words were used to embellish and enhance the tattoo design.  For example an anchor tattoo might have the words "home sweet home" written under it.  Another example might be the classic heart tattoo with the letters mom written under it.  You get the idea here lettering used to be an extra piece to add on.  However, these days tattoo lettering and literary tattoos have taken the main stage and they are no longer part of the embellishment but they are part of the tattoo itself. 

Different Font Styles

There are many different styles of fonts and new fonts being created every day.  The possibilities are unlimited and you can even custom design or have a custom designed font created for your tattoo if you want.  However, some of the most common fonts that are used in tattoos are below.  These are broad categories and there obviously are many more options within each category.

Celtic - A beautiful lettering font for tattoo designs.  The Celtic's were the first to create illuminated manuscripts of the Bible and therefore had perfected the art of calligraphy.  There are a few different styles that can fall under the Celtic look.  These can include everything from the ornate illuminated capital letters to a simple uncials font.  There are so many options and if you are getting a quote or saying that is Irish, Celtic or European you might want to consider a Celtic font.

Gothic - Gothic of course came from the calligraphers that were writing the Bible during the Gothic era.  Gothic letters are often very ornate with lots of embellishments.  This has been used heavily in gangster tattoos but can also be used in any kind of tattoo letter design.  There are a wide variety of different gothic fonts everything from really heavy black lines to much lighter and flowing lines.  Gothic fonts can often look great as a literary tattoo.

Calligraphy - Calligraphy of course is a very general terms and can actually be applied to any of the above letter styles also as they are all calligraphy.  In reality calligraphy is any type of fancy writing.  However over the history of calligraphy most people have come to associate the certain fonts with what is called calligraphy.  These are always written with a calligraphic pen and have the distinct look and feel.  They pen his a wedge at a 45 degree angle creating bold down strokes and thin diagonal strokes.  Again there are many different types and styles of calligraphy and they can make the font or the tattoo look very different so you should carefully consider the options.