A traditional tattoo font, pike letters adorn knuckles and banners in old school style tattoos. Filled in completely black at the bottom half, the pike letters are left blank or shaded in with a lighter color on the top half. All pike letters are capitals, and the left side of the letter consists of two vertical lines instead of just one, while the right side remains a single line. For example, on the letter "A", the left side of the "A" is thicker with two lines while the right side is still one line. The right side of the letter or additional lines, such as on the letter "E", are slightly curved or have a dip, with a small, perpendicular dash on the end of the line.
Old English is most expensive script in the tattoo industry because of the detail involved in tattooing the letters. Referred to by industry professionals as "Old E," the tattoo must be large to use Old English letters or over time, the lines of the letters will blur. Last names from shoulder to shoulder and "rockers" --- a word or phrase that a tattoo artist arches on the stomach --- are commonly tattooed with Old English lettering.
Script lettering for tattoos is cursive writing. Memorial tattoos, to honor a deceased family member or friend have script style writing under the tattoo with the person's name or the date of birth and death. Religious tattoos, such as praying hands, have biblical scripture tattooed underneath in script. Script tattoos without imagery attached --- lettering only --- are tattooed in black and gray tones. Tattoo artists use a technique called "drop shadowing" to give a script tattoo depth.
An ambigram is a tattoo that has two different words in one design. When looking at the design right side up, one word is displayed and when flipping the design upside down, a different word displays. The most popular ambigrams for tattoos are the words life and death, hope and faith and dream and believe. Ambigrams are complicated designs to draw and require a consultation with a tattoo artist before the day of the tattoo.