Considering a Cover Up Tattoo? Here’s What You Need to Know

 01/10/2015

Considering a Cover-Up Tattoo? Here’s What You Need to Know

Whether you are regretting one of your tattoos or you simply dislike the design and want another one instead, there’s no need to head straight for laser removal.

Tattoo cover ups can be done and the results are often incredible, especially if you find an artist who excels at being able to incorporate and cover the old design.

Instead of wasting money and enduring more pain than getting a tattoo in the first place, here’s what you need to know about getting a tattoo covered up.

It Will Be a Bigger Tattoo

There’s no way to avoid it; your tattoo will have to be bigger than your existing tattoo to be able to cover it completely.

Although this may seem a little daunting at first, the extra area which needs to be covered will give you and your artist a greater freedom of the design that you decide on. Your artist will be able to guide you on what styles and designs will cover the area best.

Let’s face it, you can’t cover a tribal tattoo with a realistic portrait piece. Well, you could if you don’t mind the portrait sporting a tribal design on their face.

Choice of Design

As we just mentioned, you will have a limited range of designs that you will be able to choose from in order to be able to completely cover your existing tattoo.

The fact that many designs won’t work with your tattoo is something that many people should be aware of before heading to a tattoo parlour with a set idea in mind.

Your artist is there to assess the existing work and create a design which tweaks and integrates with the new design flawlessly so that nobody would ever be able to tell there was another piece of art there to begin with.

man in black t-shirt reading a book. his right arm is a tattoo sleeve

Coming up with a design for a cover up may take a little longer than a fresh tattoo on virgin skin, but rest assured that your tattoo professional knows what they are doing. This is why it’s important to find an experienced artist; they will already know what will and won’t work, saving you from further tattoo disaster.

Colour

As with design, you may be restricted when it comes to colouring a cover up tattoo.

Darker colours such as blacks, blues and browns are preferred as they cover most colours easily. The darker you go, the better your cover up will be.

close up of tattoo artists ink pots of black and red coloured ink

If you are wanting a more colourful tattoo, but your existing piece is quite dark, you can opt for laser removal to lighten the art so that you and your artist have more colours to play around with, such as the beautiful colours of Skin Candy tattoo ink.

Tattoos are permanent and a costly investment. That’s why it’s important to be 100% sure that you are happy with the design to avoid having to pay out for a cover up tattoo which is much more limiting in what you can have done.

If you are a tattooist or a piercer and would like more information on the tattoo and piercing supplies that we have available, contact us today by calling 01922 744088 and we will be happy to discuss your queries with you.