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Traditional black and grey skull tattoo crowned with a thorny ring and pierced by a nail

Traditional Skull and Thorns Tattoo

Three-quarter profile skull crowned with a heavy ring of thorns, a nail driven into the base of the composition and laurel leaves rising above. Smoked grey shading models the bone while solid black handles the thorns, the two values giving the piece its weight without me reaching for colour.

I ran the design along the length of the canvas so the thorn ring sits at the widest point and the composition tapers downward. Religious and memento mori motifs are regular requests at my studio because the iconography suits the limited palette of traditional work. Bold outlines and a confident black handle do more for a skull than any amount of fine detail. Bookings for traditional pieces in Wellington go through my Whitetail Tattoo studio.

Book Similar PieceSee All Traditional

By Rhys Thomas at Whitetail Tattoo, Level 3, 41–47 Dixon Street, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand

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Common Questions About Traditional in Wellington

What's the difference between traditional and neo-traditional?
Traditional keeps to a small, classical colour palette (reds, yellows, greens, blues) with chunky outlines and limited shading. Neo-traditional opens that up with more colours, finer detail, and more painterly shading. Same bones, more flexibility.
Do traditional tattoos cost less because they look simpler?
No. Traditional tattoos look deceptively simple. Clean bold lines and solid colour packs are hard to execute well, and they're priced on time and skill required, not visual complexity.
Can a traditional design be personal rather than generic?
Yes. Most of my traditional pieces are custom subjects rendered in the traditional language. Bring your own meaning and I'll handle the visual grammar.