Whether you want to forget that drunken Vegas mistake or your ex's name, there is a way to erase the past. At least from your skin.
Turns out, there are a lot of gifted artists who are able to transform unfortunate designs into beautiful works of art. Yes, there are limitations, and yes, sometimes the end result might not be what you had in mind initially, but as we at Bored Panda have already shown, a tattoo cover-up is a great alternative to laser removal and can help you regain confidence in your looks.
But in case we haven't completely sold you on it (or we have but you just want to see more stunning examples), here's a reminder. Or rather, a whole bunch of them!
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One of the artists whose works appear on this list is Min. They're from Taiwan and realized they wanted to do tattoos for a living when they were about 19 years old. "I found that I had chosen the wrong direction in my studies," Min told Bored Panda. "This forced me to really think about where I should where I should be taking my life in the future."
"Because I've been a fan of drawing since I was a child, I eventually stumbled upon the tattoo world and I was simply fascinated by it. Pretty soon, I made up my mind to enter it myself."
Min took things seriously around 5 years later when they were 24 years and had just finished their military duty. Now, the artist has developed a really unique style, playfully exploring geometry. "It's quite rare to see someone working in a similar fashion in Taiwan. There are many pros who can come up with geometrical designs but in my opinion, geometry can't be dull, so I try to make it vivid on the skin."
"This is actually what I have been learning the most during my career."
Cover-ups are a world of their own and whenever Min is working on one, they keep 'dancing' between the original design and the desired composition but as long as the artist follows their heart, sooner or later everything comes together.
"There are many limitations when you're doing a cover-up and it requires thinking outside the box but that's what makes it so exciting and rewarding," Min explained.
IMO it's a pity they didn't retrace the scrolling vines underneath.
To understand what makes this process so delicate, consider this: when a person gets their first tattoo, the needle deposits the ink into the dermis layer (below the epidermis), at least one millimeter from the surface of the skin. The ink of the cover-up tattoo goes into the same location, so it's actually mixing with the old ink. The result is the combination of the two.
For example, if the person had something tattooed in red and an artist applies blue for the cover-up, it's going to come out purple. Darker colors dominate lighter ones, so black is usually the preferred choice in cover-up work.
It's a territory that many tattoo artists don't even enter!
First one has seen some s**t. Second one is about to dole out some s**t.
I love how the artist turned the "wings" on the original tribal tattoo into swimming koi fish.
Is the photo on the left what happens to the watercolour style tattoos?
What's happening with the background behind the roses in the second one? Imo it looks kinda weird but maybe it's just me
That's not really what I would want on my butt/lower back... Especially with the black tar or whatever that is underneath Sailor Moon... (and is that a signature???)
Why all these geometric shapes? Would look great without those lines and circles. JMO
Again, I like the before better. I don't like this style with all the thin lines and circles and dots and planets and stuff in all these "after" pictures. I think it's messy. Just my opinion...
this, I like. And you can find the unicorn in the splashes if you look for it.
Not sure about this one. Sure, the before was faded, but it had so much detail in the flowers and captured the fragile and versatile nature of flowers much more than the new tattoo does.
Nice tattoo, but if all she wanted was a coverup, that's a bit overkill. I'm sure there's a lot to be done with a simple cross
That's an artists impression of what it will look like, not the actual tattoo. This is just Photoshop
Jesus looks like one of those Bowflex before and after pics in this one 😂
don't wanna be a partypooper, but a lot of these tattoos are just updates and not real cover-ups. but most of them are beautiful and all are nicely done
I really like the ability to update, cover or refresh these tattoos while keeping as much of the original and respecting the original design.
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So my take-away is that, dang, there are a crap load of really lousy tattoo artists out there…..
A lot them are not licensed and are friends of friends using Internet bought kits I bet!
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I don't get the shapes aspect of some of them. There's a beautiful picture of an animal or plant and then there's some randomly placed Vetruvian Man style geometric shapes just... sitting there. I fully accept that it may just be me or a small group of people like me, so there's that.
Differences between a 100 dollar tattoo and a 500 dollar one on most of them..
Do tattoos really cost that much in the USA? My most expensive one took 3 hours and cost 200 euro (with tip). My average is 70-100 euro for one piece and they look great according to other people.
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Most of these aren't cover ups. They're retouching or fixing. Most cover ups require a lot of darkening.
And the only real cover up in there (the whale over lettering) was done poorly. The lettering can be seen through the whale, which Is something you don't want to get with a cover-up...
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WOW - some of the "before" tats are just embarrassing. Do your research before getting inked! Make sure whomever you choose is licensed & look at their previous work. You CAN be licensed but still not be all that good at it.
I REALLY don’t mean to sound critical, because I don’t really like the ones with the stray lines. I mean they aren’t MY tattoos so I have no say in it, and people have free will, it just looks out of place
I cannot judge the quality of neither the originals nor the cover ups, however, what irritated me was the choice of motives. Sometimes the original was something that most probably had a deeper meaning to the person who had it inked - and then the cover ups were something that felt quite random to me? If you want to get rid of an old memory is it really "hey, just put something over it, yes, a fat skull or whale will do!"? These posts always remind me to only get a tattoo if I am really 100000% sure about the motif...
I have wanted a cover-up of a tattoo since the day I first got it. That was 25 years ago...
Me too! I had one when I was 15 that I added to to try and fix it and I'm 40 now. I hate it but it's bled into my skin so much that it can't be covered up and I don't wanna pay £500 to have it lasered and then another £500 to put a tattoo over it! Thinking about getting an arm transplant :P
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don't wanna be a partypooper, but a lot of these tattoos are just updates and not real cover-ups. but most of them are beautiful and all are nicely done
I really like the ability to update, cover or refresh these tattoos while keeping as much of the original and respecting the original design.
Load More Replies... So my take-away is that, dang, there are a crap load of really lousy tattoo artists out there…..
A lot them are not licensed and are friends of friends using Internet bought kits I bet!
Load More Replies... I don't get the shapes aspect of some of them. There's a beautiful picture of an animal or plant and then there's some randomly placed Vetruvian Man style geometric shapes just... sitting there. I fully accept that it may just be me or a small group of people like me, so there's that.
Differences between a 100 dollar tattoo and a 500 dollar one on most of them..
Do tattoos really cost that much in the USA? My most expensive one took 3 hours and cost 200 euro (with tip). My average is 70-100 euro for one piece and they look great according to other people.
Load More Replies... Most of these aren't cover ups. They're retouching or fixing. Most cover ups require a lot of darkening.
And the only real cover up in there (the whale over lettering) was done poorly. The lettering can be seen through the whale, which Is something you don't want to get with a cover-up...
Load More Replies... WOW - some of the "before" tats are just embarrassing. Do your research before getting inked! Make sure whomever you choose is licensed & look at their previous work. You CAN be licensed but still not be all that good at it.
I REALLY don’t mean to sound critical, because I don’t really like the ones with the stray lines. I mean they aren’t MY tattoos so I have no say in it, and people have free will, it just looks out of place
I cannot judge the quality of neither the originals nor the cover ups, however, what irritated me was the choice of motives. Sometimes the original was something that most probably had a deeper meaning to the person who had it inked - and then the cover ups were something that felt quite random to me? If you want to get rid of an old memory is it really "hey, just put something over it, yes, a fat skull or whale will do!"? These posts always remind me to only get a tattoo if I am really 100000% sure about the motif...
I have wanted a cover-up of a tattoo since the day I first got it. That was 25 years ago...
Me too! I had one when I was 15 that I added to to try and fix it and I'm 40 now. I hate it but it's bled into my skin so much that it can't be covered up and I don't wanna pay £500 to have it lasered and then another £500 to put a tattoo over it! Thinking about getting an arm transplant :P
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