Tribal tattoos are usually abstract lines and shapes or drawings can echo the forms of plants or animals. Tribal tattoos traditionally tend to use a single color black. The symbolism of tribal tattoos tend to revolve around the concepts of power, strength, skill and loyalty, hallmarks of the ideologies of ancient cultures from which originated.
In today's time tattoos are becoming more popular and more "acceptable" as a form of expression, but more traditional values have been lost, as each civilization grows outside of the traditional forms and evolves. Today may simply like the appearance of a drawing of people and forget the story behind it and they really wanted to say. This can be seen as a bad or a good thing, but it's the choice of the people and no one more. Keep in mind, though if you are thinking of getting a maori, Samoa or any other tribal tattoo culture and you're not that culture can be abused and accused of stealing from their culture. So before you reach any tattoo consider all the possible consequences.
Today tribal tattoo style has become a bit of a melting pot of projects integrated with other elements. While traditional tribal tattoos were only black, colors and styles and modern techniques were introduced in style. Tribal designs can be used as background for more colorful interpretations modern-it is not uncommon to see water colored stars or flowers thrown one-piece tribal curves these days.