Everyone makes mistakes—it’s part of being human. When it comes to tattoos, though, those mistakes are a little harder to undo. Once the ink is on your skin, it’s not something you can simply wash away.
Even so, that doesn’t mean you have to live with a tattoo you regret forever. Skilled artists can take bad or unwanted designs and transform them into something completely new. With the right cover-up, most people would never even guess there was anything underneath.
Here are some of the most impressive before-and-after transformations, courtesy of r/Tattoocoverups.
#1 Best Tattoo Cover-Up I've Ever Seen
Image credits: wise_banana-_-
#2 4am Stick And Poke Upgraded
Image credits: rumour13
#3 Before And After
Image credits: Difficult-Moose56
#4 Show Me Your Tits! Bushtit, Wrentit & Titmouse Birds. Scar Cover Up From Top Surgery
Image credits: inkbypush
#5 Deathly Hallows Coverup By Silas, Esoteric Tattoo. Portland Or
Image credits: 1800stabyou
#6 Ghibli Cover Up
Image credits: RattyMctatti
#7 Just Wanted To Show Off My Cover Up Tattoo
Image credits: Rough-Mix-5839
#8 Coverup After 18 Years
Image credits: Own_Competition_2182
#9 Cover Up Ink
Image credits: alyn404
#10 My Artist Just Got A Lifelong Customer
Image credits: sentient_potato97
#11 My Cover Up!
Image credits: AgeInternational5130
#12 Side Coverup With Flowers
Image credits: yerae_tt
#13 My Sh**ty Skyline Watercolor Coverup
Image credits: madzquinn7
#14 Blackwork Coverup
Image credits: average_gremlin
#15 Covering Skin Grafts And Scars With A Phoenix Tattoo By Adam Sky, San Francisco, California
Image credits: Tattoodles
#16 Sad Bear Coverup
Image credits: Gentle_Biscuits
#17 Inverted Flower Ghibli Coverup
Image credits: Jsweezy26
#18 20-Year Old Faerie Gets New Life
20 years ago I gave a picture to a friend so he could create a tribal faerie tattoo design. It became a blob over time. Two months ago, a new (and amazing) artist looked at the blob and said he could fix it. He turned the old one into sticks and leaves on the ground under the new one. (Side note: the new one is based off the same pic the original one was, randomly). So happy with how it turned out.
Image credits: Sad-Illustrator-2700
#19 Cover Up #2 Done
Image credits: h00d_r4t
#20 I Presented My Artist With Quite The Challenge And I’m Happy With The Results
This was actually the third time getting this tattoo worked on. The first time was done on some girls kitchen and I don’t even have photo evidence of that. It was BAD (kids, please wait until you can pay for a good tattoo before getting one). The before picture I posted here was actually after another proper artist fixed it up for me. I know, it’s so awful but she did the best that she could; my foot was pretty chewed up.
So yeah, I’m not embarrassed of my tattoo anymore. It’s still healing and that process hasn’t been fun but it’s so worth it!!!
Image credits: Chicky_Melly
#21 After A Decade Of Believing It Would Be Impossible, I Finally Got My Embarrassing Mistake Covered
Image credits: BakedBen420
#22 Rose Tattoo Coverup
Image credits: yerae_tt
#23 Drunk Tattoo .. Coverup Is Beautiful
Image credits: Waste_Ad6587
#24 Upgraded Birb
Image credits: MzMeow42
#25 Phil Hatchet Yau, San Diego
Image credits: Few_Worry_5595
#26 Old Wings Covered By New, Bigger Wings!
Image credits: purplotter
#27 Lost 70 Lbs So Far And Got A Zelda Tattoo Coverup To Celebrate ✨️
Image credits: amathestria
#28 I Could Not Be Happier
Image credits: beautiful_g1rl
#29 Got This 30 Year Old Flash Tattoo Finally Covered Up
Image credits: HooKerzNbLo
#30 Coverup By Yerae, Chronic Ink, Toronto
Image credits: yerae_tt
#31 Ex Boyfriend Initials Coverup!!
Image credits: littlebabby
#32 I Should’ve Done This Sooner
Image credits: jordannbennett
#33 It’s Like It Never Existed
Image credits: Aquilleia
#34 Name Coverup, Done By Me
Image credits: Aetherwyn
#35 Panther On A Panther LOL
Image credits: antonioottat1980
#36 Coverup I Did Last Summer, Now One Of My Favorite Pieces
I regretted so much about tattooing this mantra.. it was really important to me at the time and had a big connection with to my dad, who I’ve since gone NC with after learning a lot of disturbing things about him. Now what used to be a painful and embarrassing part of me is one of my favorite pieces i have.
A few notes. The center face was empty space. This is half of the mantra, it continued on my chest (i did a separate coverup of that, which i also love).
When i approached this artist i asked how she felt about a coverup and sent her pics of the original. When she said she was open to it, i sent a few samples of her work that i liked (similar “bug babe” designs) and then told her she could design anything she wanted to cover / fill the space, that i really liked heavy black, and that i was comfortable going as big as she wanted.
Booked two days back to back, about 9hrs total.
Super happy with the results.
Image credits: lucyjuggles
#37 😅
Image credits: tacarl2808
#38 Reassurance :(
I posted on here before because I wanted to get a cover up since my mom does not support me as a lesbian and stands up for her family who support Trump and has disowned me. The original tattoo is first. I just got it covered up, and everyone is telling me it looks so bad. I’m really sad. I really loved the idea and it was very symbolic to me and I think he did a pretty good job, but now everyone has me feeling like trash. It’s obviously swollen and fresh here but I guess don’t comment if you’re just going to make me feel worse because I can’t handle any more of it this week….
Image credits: coolcatsam
#39 Finally Got A Mistake Covered Today
Image credits: SakasuCircus
#40 Cover Up By Mike Eaton, Tattoo Asylum, Durham Nc
Image credits: Tattoo_Asylum
#41 Cover Up!
Image credits: seahorse921
#42 Very Pleased
Image credits: Elle_Cee00
#43 With No Help From This Sub Other Than “Kenough” Finally Got The Cover Up
Image credits: Odd_Confection_1108
#44 Cover Up By Daryl Watson @ Tower Of Hearts In Leeds
Image credits: MissFaithless
#45 Don’t Get Matching ‘Best Friend’ Tattoos
Got matching ‘best friend’ tattoos with my now ex best friend. Got it covered less than a year later. I decided ’no matter what, no matter where’ didn’t include her trying to sleep with my husband.
Image credits: OctopusMushroom
#46 Ex Best Friend Drew The Og Tattoo. Finally Got It Covered With A S.A.P (Sick A** Possum)
Image credits: Wild_Mention_5309
#47 Bad Trad Is Now Good Trad
Image credits: emilymakesgames
#48 Been Drying To Get This One Covered Up For Years, Couldn't Be Happier With The Results
Image credits: charliepiper
#49 Bye Bye Bridget, Hello SAP
Image credits: Phi_Schrodinger
#50 Drunk Decision Fixed
Image credits: mama_henz
