Chicano vs Script & Lettering

Chicano was influenced by Script & Lettering — fine-line script lettering is a defining element of Chicano work.

Original illustration evoking the Chicano look

Chicano

A fine-line black-and-grey tradition from Mexican-American Los Angeles, rich with religious, romantic, and street iconography and script lettering.

  • Fine-line black-and-grey shading
  • Religious and devotional motifs
  • Cursive and Old English script
  • Smile-now-cry-later masks
  • Roses and pin-up imagery
Full Chicano guide →
Original illustration evoking the Script & Lettering look

Script & Lettering

Flowing cursive and decorative hand-lettering tattoos, from elegant copperplate script to bold flourished words and names rendered as their own art form.

  • Flowing cursive connected strokes
  • Stroke-weight contrast (thick and thin)
  • Decorative swashes and flourishes
  • Consistent slant and baseline
  • Word-as-subject composition
Full Script & Lettering guide →

At a glance

ChicanoScript & Lettering
Era1940s–present1900s–present
DisciplineTattooTattoo
RegionUnited States, Los AngelesUnited States, Global
FamilyRealism, IllustrativeIllustrative
Formal traitsgrayscale, fine line, script lettering, devotionalcalligraphic, flowing, flourished, legible

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