I am so fancinated by the artform that is lettering, that I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could.  During my self-education I found that many of the styles that we use, are from the classic trade of sign painting.  If you look around at old buildings and signs you will see it, you will see countless letterforms, hand painted by human hands. 

Many of those letterforms can be seen in modern day tattooing, from the blocky forms of black lettering (old English) to the flowy forms of script (cursive).  Side note: script writing used to be relegated to only the royal manuscripts, which is why it is still so popular to this day. 

Instead of looking at tattoo lettering books, I prefer using books on lettering and topography in general, just as painting can help one learn to tattoo better, topography helps with becoming a better tattoo letterhead. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.