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Akvile Petraityte 🇺🇦

80 Tattoo Regrets That Got A Major Upgrade (New Pics)

When I got my first tattoo, there were a lot of things I worried about. What if the design I picked doesn't transfer well on the skin? What if the artist gets a hand (or brain) tremor and I end up with one of those tattoos from the realm of "No Ragrets"? What if the tattoo ages horribly and bleeds out into the skin later?

Luckily, a comforting idea was always at the back of my mind. There's such a thing as tattoo cover-ups. I can always hide or add details to the existing tattoo to make it look better. And that's what this list is about – masterful tattoo cover-ups that showcase the true artistry of tattooists. So scroll through these artful improvements and let us know your tattoo story in the comments!

#1 Wonderful Cover-Up

Image credits: tomas_daubaras_d

#2 Coverage With Portraits Of Masha And Pérola, Companions Of The Client

Image credits: dieizonvonfreedom

#3 The Dragon Was About 20 Years Old And Difficult To Cover-Up, So I Offered To Adapt It To A New Tattoo And He Accepted

Image credits: leoruiztattooer

Who says you can't erase past mistakes? Certainly not when tattoos are involved! However, it's useful to know some things before deciding to cover up a tattoo. Salon owners and tattoo artists recommend doing a fair bit of research before making the big decision.

One might decide that the tattoo mistake is just not worth it and decide to get rid of it permanently. That's where tattoo removal comes in. Laser removal is the best option for those who want to erase their ex's name, an offensive design, or a poorly done ink job.

#4 Grampus Cover-Up

Image credits: honor_tattooist

#5 Many Will Find It A Very Unusual Design, But It Was Created By My Client 20 Years Ago And Has Great Meaning. The Proposal Was To Keep The Same Idea As The Design But Keeping It More Current

Image credits: mazierotattoo

#6 Cover-Up By The Amazing Tata At Recycle Tattoo, Ho Chi Minh City

Image credits: supermegabot

However, removing every trace of a tattoo can be expensive, painful and time-consuming. Depending on the person's skin tone, the removal process might leave some scarring. That's caused by the loss of pigmentation.

Dermatologists say that the effectiveness varies individually: "Laser tattoo removal is a process that relies on the body eliminating ink from the skin which can take some time to process. While results will become apparent within a few weeks, it is not unusual for the body to take more than a year to completely eliminate ink."

#7 25-Year-Old Rework. It Doesn’t Need To Be Always Fully Covered-Up

Image credits: park_tattooer

#8 I Took Advantage Of The Cat's Structure To Create A New Drawing And Also Took Into Account The Anatomy Of Her Body, Muscles, Tendons And Bones

Image credits: mazierotattoo

#9 Cherry Blossom Butterfly Cover-Up By Me

Image credits: Winatattooshop

Cover-up artists also recommend doing a few laser removal sessions before starting the coverup process. Chronic Ink writes that artists can cover up any tattoo, they just might need 2-3 removal sessions beforehand. "Doing a few removal sessions may lighten your tattoo, or bring your scarring down, so that the cover up tattoo has a better chance of really covering as if it were never there," the specialists at Tattoo Do write.

#10 Beautiful Cover-Up Tattoo

Image credits: archers_ink

#11 This Is The Most Detailed Piece I Have Ever Done In Such A Short Span Of Time, Less Than A Month, 8 Sessions. Everything Below The Neck Is Healed

Image credits: shaman_ink

#12 Many People Think That To Cover It They Need To Make A Much Larger Design, This Is Not A Rule, It All Depends On The Creation Of The Art

In this case, we mold the design to fit the cover to the millimeter.

Image credits: mazierotattoo

A complete tattoo cover-up is not always the only option. Some people may choose to reinvent the existing design on their skin. There's a possibility to incorporate the old tattoo into the new design. Perhaps the best example is that drunken Pikachu painting himself that Jessica Baker redid several years ago.

#13 Check Out This Insane Cover-Up

Image credits: salvationtattoostudio

#14 Cover-Up Inspired By Van Gogh

Image credits: vismstudio

#15 Cool Cover-Up

Image credits: archers_ink

A blast-over is also an option. That's a technique of putting a new tattoo on top of the old one without covering it completely. Tattoo Do writes that they can be especially eye-catching if the previous tattoo had light or faded colors. Then they can look similar to stained glass.

#16 Homer Rework

Image credits: mat_paglione

#17 Eventually It Could Use More White In Some Areas I Think But For Now We’ll Get To The Other Side Where I Have To Work On Top Of The Exact Same Tone And Structure

Image credits: jessimanchester

#18 Long Journey Of The Tribal Cover-Up Comes To An End

Image credits: marko_tattoo

The success of the cover-up also depends on the color of the previous design. Darker colors with a heavy use of ink are more difficult to cover up than light-colored tattoos.

"For example, it would be easier to do a cover-up of a tattoo done in the watercolor style than it would be to cover up a traditional style tattoo. In cases where stronger colors are used, your artist may recommend a fading first," the artists at Chronic Ink write.

#19 Well-Executed Cover-Up Project

Image credits: redemptiontattoostudios

#20 One Of My Favorite Cover-Ups

Image credits: Papoy8812

#21 After Cover-Up

Image credits: blaquebird

The next steps depend on what artist you choose for the coverup process. Some may like to give options of what is possible in each case. Others start by asking: "What would you like?" Electric Linda, founder of Attitude Tattoo Studio, is the proponent of the latter. "When I do cover ups, I want to make something that you really, really want," she says in her YouTube video.

#22 It Looked Bad Before The Cover

Image credits: guppy.flowertattoo

#23 New One Had To Be A Little Wonky To Cover-Up The Original. Don’t Really Care Though, I Like It

Image credits: 16ams17

#24 3 Sessions On This Really Big Tattoo. Just To Give You An Idea The Customer Is 2 Meters High! All The Old Tattoo Was A Keloid And Now It’s Flat Again

Image credits: drfranktattoo

"When they do tell me what they want, I will have to look at what they had before," she goes on. "And think about all the ways that I can make this come true. And I just have to pick the one that will look the best. Almost anything is possible. You just have to be creative," the tattoo artist believes.

#25 Another Tribute Made To Lilith

Image credits: azevedoarts

#26 I’ve Done This Cover-Up

Image credits: moritattoo

#27 Cover-Up I Did

Image credits: Michelle689

Choosing an artist is a critical part of the tattoo cover-up process. You'll want a professional and experienced tattooist, but also one whose work you love. Chronic Ink lists trusting your artist as one of the main steps in getting a cover-up.

"Tattoo artists spend years perfecting their craft. If you can’t trust them to realize your vision, you’ll never be satisfied. Some doubt is natural, even healthy, but you have to trust your tattoo artist if the two of you are going to successfully collaborate and produce an incredible cover-up tattoo."

#28 Cover-Up Done Today

Image credits: edo.sacerdoti.tattoo

#29 Blast-Over Tattoo Before And After

Got this moon tattoo when I was 16 and finally got it covered-up at 26. Some of it is still visible but I don’t mind. What do you think?

Image credits: Decodamour

#30 Exclusive Art Created For Simone, Who After Carrying Out Some Laser Removal Sessions Came To Me For A Cover-Up

Image credits: viniciusrosa.tattoo

There's another thing to keep in mind – the cover-up design will definitely be bigger than the old tattoo. Artists can only cover the existing outlines if they go over them. "Your cover up tattoo will need to be, at a minimum, the same size as the original," Removery claims. That's why laser removal is not such a bad choice – if the old design is big, people can remove part of the tattoo, and cover up the rest.

#31 Octopus On The Shoulder As A Cover-Up

Image credits: d.borkowski.tattoo

#32 One Of The Most Challenging Covers I've Ever Done, Due To The Choice Of Design! In This Case, The Application Of Ink Was The Big Secret Behind This Coverage

Image credits: mazierotattoo

#33 Cover-Up Davy Jones

Image credits: deniskoktysh

#34 Bye Pigeon, Hello Eagle. Awesome Transformation With Part Cover-Up

Image credits: salvationtattoostudio

#35 I’ve Always Wanted Somebody To Read My Skin And Get A Little Peak Into My Life And Interests And This Was The Only Tattoo That Didn’t Really Feel Like It Should Be In My “Book”

Image credits: Hold_ThisL

#36 Correcting Someone Else's Work, That Was Also A Cover. There Was A Dragon Above The Thumb. Choose A Master Carefully And Be Sure To Look At Their Work

Image credits: ascetic_inks

#37 Cover-Up In Progress

Image credits: marekpawlik_tattooartist

#38 Dr. Suess Cover-Up

Image credits: SnazzyVanWinkle

#39 Lion Cover-Up

Image credits: tomasdacejtattoo

#40 Bad Decisions Begone

I got the original back when I was 18, as a fan of this series who didn’t want the same thing everyone else was getting. I grew up and realised the less than savoury parallels being drawn between this and another IRL symbol of hatred, and also I don’t align with the beliefs of the creator of the series, so it had to go. So I went and got it covered-up finally. I’m feeling good today.

Image credits: Pinkshoes90

#41 In Progress, 90% Done

Image credits: drfranktattoo

#42 Cover-Up Tattoo

Image credits: daldam__

#43 Cover-Up

Image credits: saralewistattoo

#44 Nasty Tribal Cover-Up Of A Greek God Poseidon

Image credits: sebastian.nasty

#45 Bull Cover-Up

Image credits: bk_tattooer

#46 Covered-Up This Old Moon

Image credits: yerae_tt

#47 If You Save At The Wrong End, You End Up Paying Twice. Let Us Advise You So That You Don't Regret Your Tattoo At Some Point

Image credits: paintera_tattoo

#48 This Awesome Octopus Cover-Up Project

Image credits: newtestamenttattoosstudio

#49 Before And After

Image credits: veranitattoo

#50 This Is Just Impressive

Image credits: archers_ink

#51 Did This Cover-Up Tattoo Recently, With A Warrior Tattoo

Image credits: nanditattoos

#52 Cute Cover-Up

Image credits: ssammugonzo

#53 Neck Cover-Up

Image credits: vitamina_tattoo

#54 That's How You Cover-Up A Tattoo

Image credits: Kami_No_Tanjou

#55 Tattoo Cover-Up

Image credits: studiowtattoo

#56 Thorn Cover-Up

Image credits: bk_tattooer

#57 I Started This Project A While Ago With Huge Cover-Up/Rework Of Octopus

Image credits: marekpawlik_tattooartist

#58 Cute Black Swan With Yellow Tulips

Image credits: tattoosbyalisha

#59 Here’s A Little More Of Steve’s Ongoing American Native/Wildlife Sleeve I Am Working On. Quite Challenging Cover-Up All Around Included

Image credits: thecovernator

#60 Spider Cover-Up

Image credits: tamar_skullfield

#61 Covered My Birth Giver's Handwriting I No Longer Speak To. I'm Finally Happy In A Swimsuit Again

Image credits: scrubsnbeer

#62 So, My Friend Did A Cover-Up Tattoo And I Think He Did A Damned Good Job

Image credits: theclassicoversharer

#63 Reform And Coverage, Directly From Maranhão, In Some Cases We Can Use The Old Tattoo To Maintain The Essence Of The Design

Another detail of this work is that I adapted the drawing for darker skin, that is, increasing the contrasts (more black, and more spaces with free skin without tattooing) in addition to avoiding using light gray.