Tattoo Cover Up

[Aggie_Ama]

Anyone have experience with getting a tattoo covered? I got a yellow rose on my ankle when I was 18, I thought I might leave Texas and wanted a yellow rose. As I got older I realized a yellow rose really doesn't mean anything to me. Plus it is just plain looking and I don't care for it much. I am considering getting it covered with a lily, it is my favorite flower or a gardenia which reminds me of my Pawpaw. At one point I thought about getting it removed but I don't dislike it that much, it just doesn't hold much significance to me.

My main concern is what do I need to think about, does it need to be a lot bigger? The rose is already decent size, that is one thing I didn't think about when I got it was it is it isn't little or dainty. The other concern is a gardenia or a lily would have light colors, the tattoo artist outlined the rose in black and it does have a green stem, so it is relatively dark.

[gnat23]

You need to find an artist who a) has experience with coverups (check their book of previous work) and b) can work with what you've already got. Colors, if you go a little darker, can be done, but the real artistry is in using the previous black lines to shape what the new piece will be.

On my upper back, I had some egyptian wings with a sun and snakes in the middle. While it was neat looking, my only regret was that it was too small for the placement. My artist added a few more "layers" to the feathers to extend it to my shoulders (yay!) but then there was the issue that the sun was the size of a dime and didn't hold up to the new wingspan. She was able to turn the sun into the thorax of a large beetle, turned everything a blue-green (the red of the previous sun became a "highlight" on its back), used the previous snakes as legs, and then had the beetle holding a HUGE sun over its head above the wings. I was stunned and thrilled with the end result.

This is a little fuzzy, but it's a decent view of where the old one was (colored) and the outline of the coverup.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnat23/153151712/

-- gnat!

[Aggie_Ama]

I knew you would have advice Gnat. The artist that did my wrist tattoo has some cover-ups in his portfolio. I may start with his thoughts since I clicked with him. I need to have him touch up a bit of the tattoo on my wrist so maybe when I go for that. At least I have some ideas what questions I need to think about.

[Aggie_Ama]

I got the piece done on Wednesday night and I am super happy with the results, didn't enjoy the two and half hours on the table but it was worth it. This location hurt a lot more than my wrist or hip, I don't remember the first tattoo because it was about 14 years ago and my memory has faded of the feeling.

I didn't give my artist much direction other than I wanted a pink lily and a picture of one I liked. Ultimately we had to go darker with the lily because I didn't want this any higher really than the existing tattoo, his original design would have put the flower more on my calf and relied on the leaves to cover the old tattoo. The design we used is just a modification of what he initially had for me when I came in.

Before:


Mark-up:


About halfway:


Immediately after:


Today:

[Catrin]

I hear you about how it can feel on the table - my one and only tatoo took two sessions, both were about 8 hours & it covers about 1/3 of my back. I don't do anything halfway

Enough of that, I think the new tattoo is beautiful! The colors are rich and vibrant, and I love the shading. Very nice!

[Atlas]

That's lovely.