Hello to everyone, I’m new here and some advice would be greatly appreciated.
I had a number of tattoo’s done when i was in my teens, I’m now in my 40’s and hate what I have! I don’t have a problem with Tattoo’s just “Bad Tattoo’s” and have been thinking about getting them covered up.
Today I visited a well respected tattooist with a view to getting the first one covered up, I wanted a dragon design as I was born in 64 & this is the year of the dragon, not only that I think they look great. The tatoo artist said he wouldn’t be able to cover it with a dragon? I asked him even if it was shaded and he said no, so I’m a little dissapointed I have to say as on my other arm I wanted a dragon koi and he said he didn’t like doing dragon fish and would be happier doing a standard Koi, if he’s putting his name to it. now I’m feeling like I have to have what he wants me to have and not what I want, this obviously goes against the grain for me as this is the only chance left for me, if I screw it up this time I’m stuck with it
I realise with cover up’s that you are restricted, but looking around on the net ive seen a number of cover ups that have worked well?
Here is a photo of the horrible tattoo I want to cover up, hopefully this will help in your feedback?
Personally, if I were you. I would just go to another artist. If you want a drangon koi, then get one. Don’t settle for less just because the artist doesn’t perfer doing them.
That piece would be easy to cover up with a dragon koi, koi in general are easy coverups for certain pieces of ink. There are just some thick black area from the indians hair, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Well said
As long as the cover up includes inks that are darker than what you have it will be fine
There are a lot of tattoo magazines in the newsstands that feature cover ups and I have seen some great dragon designs over bigger pieces than yours!
Let us know what the next artist you visit says!
Thanks to all of you who have responded, this guy has a very good reputation and I have already booked appointments, he said it will take 6 hrs to cover which seems a little excessive to me, I had to pay a deposit when i booked up which is in January as he is fully booked until then!
I’m glad that many of you think it can be covered with a dragon, I’ve been in touch with another tattooist but I’m awaiting a response, thanks again for all your encouraging remarks 😀
This is the design i wanted.
I’ve printed it off and cut it out roughly then just positioned it over the tattoo and it admittedly it does show through around the outer edge in a couple of places, but no doubt the tattooist can just extend the waves and make them black instead of the light blue?
His argument was that the indian head would show up through the dragons curvy body, I dont think this is the case as thats the part of bare flesh between her plats mostly.
if i went for the dragon in dark green or purple am i right to presume it would cover?
Comet,
If you could come to me…which I doubt, I guarantee you I could cover it with a dragon. Your existing ink work is well faded and made up of inks that don’t hold their color over time. If the artist doesn’t want to di it, it is probably because he either doesn’t know how to do cover ups…which is possible, he doesn’t like dragon work, which is possible, or its too much of a pain in the behind to do, which is also possible.
But it CAN be done. I can do it. So could Outlaw I’m sure, so could Izzarink, and I’m sure there are other artists here who have the skill to do it. If an artist tells you he can’t or if he is hesitant about it, go somewhere else.
I would suggest going maybe 20%-30% larger on the ink work. Here’s why. Your putting a LOT of detail into a small area, and your covering existing ink. The existing ink is going to be darker than the surrounding area which will affect final color. Your squeezing a lot of detail into a small space which means a lot of lines close together. If your artist isn’t extrememly good you’ll have line bleeding over time and you’ll lose detail. You need to go large enough to maintain detail over ten years.
Also question your artist about inks. If he uses skin candy or mom’s millenium then the chances of the existing ink showing through the final work is increased after healing. My suggestion would be to use an artist who uses eternal or intenze ink. Karl’s Premium K inks are good also. I’m not sure about immortal ink. I’ve heard conflicting reports. The ink used in a cover up is extremely important.
For the most part, reds, yellows, and golds don’t cover well. Dark greens and blues do good, I’d say stick with those for color.
Hope it helped.
Oh…and one more thing. He’s probably over-shooting you on the time, but there is a reason for that. If I were doing that, I could probably get it finished if you did it 30% larger in four hours, but I’d still tell you six. Every one takes ink a little different and the artist has to compensate for that. You never really know how complicated covering existing work is going to be until you actually start laying the work, and sometimes it simply takes longer. I would want you to be ready to spend the 6 hours here, and if we finished in 4 then your out sooner than expected. If it takes longer than I expect then your not rushed.
I don’t know what he’s charging you, but for that being a cover up, if you were to do it 30% larger I would have charged around $600.00. Hope that helps you out also. I would have required a $150.00 deposit and would have done it by appointment.
If you could come to me…which I doubt, I guarantee you I could cover it with a dragon. Your existing ink work is well faded and made up of inks that don’t hold their color over time. If the artist doesn’t want to di it, it is probably because he either doesn’t know how to do cover ups…which is possible, he doesn’t like dragon work, which is possible, or its too much of a pain in the behind to do, which is also possible.
But it CAN be done. I can do it. So could Outlaw I’m sure, so could Izzarink, and I’m sure there are other artists here who have the skill to do it. If an artist tells you he can’t or if he is hesitant about it, go somewhere else.
Many thanks S. Neil for the advice, regrettably I’m in the UK, England. so as you suspect I’m unable to come to you, the time and prices don’t seem far out from your figures, TBH I’m out of touch with prices as most of mine I had done in my teens cost very little indeed, tattooing these days seems a totally different thing to back then, the artist quoted me £60 per hr and said it would take 3x 2 hr sessions although as you suggest he may be able to do it in less, the biggest problem for me is as I said earlier not being able to go with the dragon design I have, or even a different dragon design that may be easier to work with following his advice.
I’m going to see another artist in the morning a couple of hours from where I live in the hope he is more sympathetic to the design i want and see if he feels he can carry out the work, I’m scared as I want quality work this time around, don’t really care how much it costs I just want it to be of a good standard and to work for me. I know that the artist I’m seeing in the morning is not as skilled as the guy I saw today which worries me somewhat but at least it gives me a different perspective to hopefully speak to him.
Again thanks for your help, much appreciated 😎
Look up premium tattoo supplies. They are in the United Kingdom. Get a hold of Karl. He’s an awesome artist. See if he can fix you up. Alternatively, we have several people on this forum who know the best artists over there, and if I’m not mistaken Outlaw on this forum is over there somewhere, and he’s damn good from what I’ve seen.
i hate to put a downer on things but unfortunately Karl is in benidorm spain where he owns K-Tattoo but he is an amazing artist and this i can vouch for…. he is a very good friend of mine.
K’s Premium inks are fantstic, i will never stop using them, i have some work done by Karl himself while he was staying over here in england and the colours are as sharp today as the day they went in.
he is an amazing artist, ink manufacturer and machine builder.
if you like i can call him and ask when he is coming over next, he normally stays at cannock in the west midlands at kev shercliffes place the midland tattoo center, kev is also an award winning tattoo artist and i would recommend checking out his work. he was britains best tattoo artist for a few years running and also has international award winning artist stig working at his studio.
here is a link to kevs place
http://www.midlandstattoocentre.com/index.php
and here is Karls place in benidorm but like i say he does visit the uk
http://www.midlandstattoocentre.com/index.php
Hi…
thanks for staying in touch… Yes Ive heard from Outlaw and he has recommendations for me, just PM’ed him back.
This morning Ive visited an artist close to my home, Clive Povey of 4skin, http://www.4-skin.org.uk/index.html
More of his work is available here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=76077559
Your thoughts on his work?
I enquired about my right arm this time (will post another pic of that) they made me feel very welcome, took a good deal of time to look at my arm with a view to covering up, they took photos, traced the tattoos that are on my arm and took my design that I like, to rework it.
He said its possible to do, but would require a good deal of black to get over it, said it would take around 6 hours, broken into 3 sessions, felt much better with these guys than the last artist I saw regarding my left arm.
This is the Dragon Koi I want to cover it
This is going to be a difficult cover up right guys?
it looks like it would cover it to me . your tattoo is old and faded so i would have thought you shouldnt have too much of a problem covering it with that koi.
you might have to let your artist do it in the colours he/she feels are best .
i looked at the site you posted and their work looks alright , been wondering since why a skin head has a butterfly tattoo on his head 😀
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