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 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

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

Image credits: dieizonvonfreedom

#4 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

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

Image credits: supermegabot

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

Image credits: viniciusrosa.tattoo

#7 Grampus Cover-Up

Image credits: honor_tattooist

#8 Beautiful Cover-Up Tattoo

Image credits: archers_ink

#9 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

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

Image credits: marko_tattoo

#11 It Looked Bad Before The Cover

Image credits: guppy.flowertattoo

#12 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

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

Image credits: 16ams17

#14 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

#15 25-Year-Old Rework. It Doesn’t Need To Be Always Fully Covered-Up

Image credits: park_tattooer

#16 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

#17 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

#18 I’ve Done This Cover-Up

Image credits: moritattoo

#19 Cool Cover-Up

Image credits: archers_ink

#20 Cover-Up

Image credits: saralewistattoo

#21 Cover-Up Inspired By Van Gogh

Image credits: vismstudio

#22 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

#23 One Of My Favorite Cover-Ups

Image credits: Papoy8812

#24 Cover-Up Tattoo

Image credits: daldam__

#25 Homer Rework

Image credits: mat_paglione

#26 Cover-Up Done Today

Image credits: edo.sacerdoti.tattoo

#27 Another Tribute Made To Lilith

Image credits: azevedoarts

#28 Octopus On The Shoulder As A Cover-Up

Image credits: d.borkowski.tattoo

#29 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

#30 Thorn Cover-Up

Image credits: bk_tattooer

#31 Check Out This Insane Cover-Up

Image credits: salvationtattoostudio

#32 Spider Cover-Up

Image credits: tamar_skullfield

#33 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

#34 After Cover-Up

Image credits: blaquebird

#35 This Awesome Octopus Cover-Up Project

Image credits: newtestamenttattoosstudio

#36 In Progress, 90% Done

Image credits: drfranktattoo

#37 Cover-Up I Did

Image credits: Michelle689

#38 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

#39 Ringwraith Cover-Up

Image credits: bdc2113

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

Image credits: scrubsnbeer

#41 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

#42 Cover-Up Davy Jones

Image credits: deniskoktysh

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

Image credits: sebastian.nasty

#44 Cherry Blossom Butterfly Cover-Up By Me

Image credits: Winatattooshop

#45 Cover-Up Before And After

Image credits: vianakike

#46 Cover-Up

Image credits: arcstattoo

#47 Bull Cover-Up

Image credits: bk_tattooer

#48 Neck Cover-Up

Image credits: vitamina_tattoo

#49 The Tiger As A Cover-Up Of An Older Tattoo In All Its Glory

Image credits: notomasztatuaz

#50 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

#51 This Is Just Impressive

Image credits: archers_ink

#52 Cute Black Swan With Yellow Tulips

Image credits: tattoosbyalisha

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

Image credits: salvationtattoostudio

#54 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

#55 Lion Cover-Up

Image credits: tomasdacejtattoo

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

Image credits: theclassicoversharer

#57 Covered The Linework. In Order To Cover It Naturally Without Making It Too Big, Sometimes I Work Free-Hand Without Using A Transfer

Image credits: harusisun

#58 That’s How You Cover-Up A Tattoo

Image credits: Kami_No_Tanjou

#59 Tattoo Cover-Up

Image credits: studiowtattoo

#60 Cute Cover-Up

Image credits: ssammugonzo

#61 Well-Executed Cover-Up Project

Image credits: redemptiontattoostudios

#62 Cover-Up In Progress

Image credits: marekpawlik_tattooartist

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

Image credits: nanditattoos

#64 Just Amazing, Wow

Image credits: archers_ink

#65 My First Tattoo, Which I Put Less Than 0 Thought Into. This Cover-Up Was A Blessing

Image credits: inferno845

#66 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.

Image credits: mazierotattoo

#67 Dr. Suess Cover-Up

Image credits: SnazzyVanWinkle

#68 Wanted Athena Anyway So Covered It Up With That

Image credits: reddit.com

#69 Before And After. Cover-Ups Aren’t Magic, They’re Just A Rad Illusion

Image credits: electric.linda

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

Image credits: marekpawlik_tattooartist

#71 This Cool Cover-Up

Image credits: denis_panda_tattoo

#72 Cover-Up Tattoo

Image credits: oztattoom

#73 Covered-Up Old Tattoo, Took Only One Year To Finish

Image credits: laky_tattoo

#74 Transformation Of The Wolf, Cover-Up Made A Few Years Ago

Image credits: d.borkowski.tattoo

#75 Covered-Up This Old Moon

Image credits: yerae_tt

#76 Before And After

Image credits: veranitattoo

#77 From An Impulsive 19-Year-Old Mistake To Something I’ve Wanted For Years

Image credits: localstreetcat

#78 Cover-Up In Progress, I Couldn’t Wait Till It Was Colored To Share

Image credits: ravencrowe

#79 One More Coverage

Image credits: nohra.tattoo

#80 Covered-Up My Sick Bull

Image credits: St-Mclovin

Source: boredpanda.com