Cover Up Tattoos

The above image illustrates the process of covering up old tattoos from start to the finished product. What you will notice is I don't use black pigment as the main vehicle for covering up the old tattoo. What I do instead is a layering process that yields a final product that appears to be impossible to be a cover up tattoo in the first place. In fact, for the most part, I completely ignore the old design. In this way I don't allow the old tattoo design to dictate my composition, light source, and shadow patterns. If I did then the end result would certainly appear as a noticeable cover up attempt, and therefore a failed cover up. Now it should be understood, that this process may require multiple sessions even once the first pass of the new tattoo is finished. However, when I go back into the areas that may need addressing I only layer the areas where the old tattoo is showing through the new tattoo. The number of times it takes to layer out an old tattoo will depend on its age, and the quality of the work. Usually I am able to give a good estimate of how many layers an individual cover up may take once I have started the new cover up tattoo and have seen how the new pigment is doing over the old. In the end I may adjust the values, temperatures, or hue in areas where the old tattoo was slightly, and only if necessary, to match the characteristics of the old tattoo with the new tattoo. In this way the old tattoo blends into the new one and is effectively gone, or covered up. Sometimes, focusing on a black and white cover up is more suited, while other cover up situations may work best with a full color cover up instead. This is something myself and the client will discuss during our initial consultation and from there decide the best course of action. The Main point here is that you don't have to live with the old tattoo, and you don't have to get laser removal either. Nor do you need to just blast black over the areas where old tattoos were. You can have a new tattoo, that doesn't look like a cover up, and is the tattoo you owe to your self and deserve.