The "Ignorant Tattoo" Trend Is Not What It Sounds Like

Your first thought when you heard about the "ignorant tattoo" style might be that the art is rude or in poor taste, but thankfully this trend is much more about dry humor than insensitivity. According to tattoo community Tattoodo, the movement is a modern version of the "ironic" design, which was pioneered by French graffiti artist Fuzi Uvtpk in the '90s when he started to stray from conventional tattooing by using his street art on skin.

Johan Plenge, cofounder and CEO at Tattoodo, told POPSUGAR that the style is massively popular right now, making it easy to find a reputable tattoo artist to create one for you. "The style has clear connotations to old school prison tattoos, Russian tattoos, and other underground practices that mark the beginning of modern-day tattooing before it got mainstream," he said. "As you can see, the style is characterized by humorous, cartoon-like or graffiti-inspired images without color."

There are plenty of examples of the tattoos on Instagram to draw inspiration from, but we've rounded up illustrations from four talented ignorant-tattoo artists, ahead.

Alvar Mena

Alvar Mena's work, based in Spain, involves pop-culture characters, black lines, and funny captions. Many of the designs on his Instagram involve a newspaper cartoon-like box around the drawing.

Luis Lefeld

Luis Lefeld of Madrid designs tattoos with dark humor, and frequently skulls and the Grim Reaper.

Rita Salt

Artist Rita Salt, who travels through Europe without a base, incorporates childlike drawings into her work.

Becca of Cherry Pie Tattoo and Piercing

Glasgow-based artist Becca specializes in cute, dark, pop-art-related tattoos.