| Too Small - As a general rule the a tattoo that | | | | red tattoo it will need to be covered by black or |
| needs to be "covered up " by another design will | | | | blue, not yellow or orange. Choosing the right |
| have to larger than the original piece. If the original | | | | colors is a big part of getting a cover up that will |
| tattoo is 2 inches by 2 inches than the cover | | | | look good after it has healed. |
| could no less than 4 inches by 4 inches and ideally | | | | Too Detailed - Probably the biggest complaint |
| would be much larger. Making the new tattoo | | | | about finished cover up tattoos is that you can |
| design larger than the old one allows the artist | | | | still see the original tattoo threw the new design. |
| room in the new design to hide the old tattoo | | | | Some of the reason this happens is the design |
| with out losing the integrity of the new design. | | | | chosen as a cover up was to detailed from the |
| Too Light - Tattoo inks are applied in a scale from | | | | start. The idea with a cover up is to hide the |
| light to dark. While tattooing a darker color can | | | | original design while keeping the integrity of the |
| stain a lighter color, so the tattoo artist while | | | | new design. One of the ways this can be done is |
| coloring the tattoo will begin by doing all the dark | | | | scaling back on the detail of the new tattoo, |
| colors first than the light colors. This also applies | | | | replacing detailed line work with thick lines and bold |
| to the tattoo cover up, a tattooed color can only | | | | fields of color will help cover the original design |
| be covered by a darker color i.e if you have a | | | | while keeping the new tattoo clear and legible. |