Hello, new to the site, COVER UP QUESTION

[Thewaydown]

Hello, I am 26 years old and I reside in the state of Utah. I have a few tattoos, one of which I am looking to get covered up. I am new to the forum.

The tattoo in question is a 1/3 sleeve (almost a half sleeve, it starts about an inch and a half above my elbow. It is completely filled in (there is basically no skin showing, besides the inside of by bicep) It is of a graveyard that I got done when I turned 18, hasty to get a new tattoo by a bad ass dude. I have another tattoo by the same guy which I love, just over the years, I have started to hate the graveyard. It has a lot of black lines (trees, gravestones, fence, grass) some lighter green for the grass, some brown in the trees, grey for the headstones, and red/dark purple for the sky.

I have already heard the whole "you should just learn to live with it and deal with it" spiel and I disagree.

The cover up I want isn't the most traditional, I guess. I have gotten really into "blackwork" and "dotwork", and I would really like to completely black out the half sleeve. My question is: Would it look like shit if I just went and got the tattoo completely blacked out over the top of it? Would it look completely obvious that it was a cover up, or would it just not look as solid and it would had I just gotten an all black half sleeve to begin with?

Thanks, this is probably an amateur question, but no one I know has been able to give me a clear answer.

thewaydown

[Mark Bee]

Every time I see someone with huge swaths of black, I always wonder what it is they are covering up. How bad was it?

If you are happy with having a large blacked out section, then go for it. Probably the best advice though, is to go into a good shop (people here can point you in the right direction - I live in Canada, and my knowledge of Utah shops is slim to none, or I would suggest a place.) and ask a tattoo artist for advice. If you post a pic of the tattoo in question, you might get some more detailed feedback.

[tatB]

post a photo

[misterJ]

Can you upload a picture of your arm? I think a disconnected black patch running from almost elbow to shoulder would look strange.

Black work is very severe, I would certainly let that marinate before making any permanent decisions.

consult a tattoo artist you trust, and see if they can give you any options

[exume]

Go talk to the guys at cathedral tattoo in slc, CJ Fishburn has been making really cool stuff lately but the whole shop is doing solid work

[CaptainMidnight]

I'm in SLC as well, and the guys at Anchor do an awesome job - I'd say go talk to them. Nothing against Cathedral, but have to stay loyal.

[Deb Yarian]

Check out Roxx work in SF

[graybones]

Another option is to layer a new tattoo on top of it that doesn't completely cover the tattoo below. I could see this working nicely for a dotwork style.

Example of what I mean: Instagram

[irezumi]

aka The Blastover

[Thewaydown]

Go talk to the guys at cathedral tattoo in slc, CJ Fishburn has been making really cool stuff lately but the whole shop is doing solid work

Cathedral is my favorite shop. CJ actually has done two pieces on my girlfriend and they are awesome. Jake Miller tattooed my chest a few years back when he worked at 11th street electric.

I was actually planning on going over there to see what they had to say about it. They know the guy who did the tattoo in question (works at another shop), and I wouldn't want it to offend the artist, because he's a good guy (I guess I just don't know the proper etiquette when it comes to cover ups).

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aka The Blastover

Precisely.

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Another option is to layer a new tattoo on top of it that doesn't completely cover the tattoo below. I could see this working nicely for a dotwork style.

Example of what I mean: Instagram

I actually quite like how that looks (cool tattoo, also), although my tattoo isn't as faded as the one in the picture, so I feel like doing other work over the top might look too messy, I don't know though.

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I'm in SLC as well, and the guys at Anchor do an awesome job - I'd say go talk to them. Nothing against Cathedral, but have to stay loyal.

I've never been to Anchor, I might check it out, thanks for the suggestion. I actually feel similar loyalty to Cathedral, haha.

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Can you upload a picture of your arm? I think a disconnected black patch running from almost elbow to shoulder would look strange.

Black work is very severe, I would certainly let that marinate before making any permanent decisions.

consult a tattoo artist you trust, and see if they can give you any options

The way I would most likely have it done would be to fade the edges of the blackwork in with dotwork. I think it would look pretty cool, just my opinion.

I attached a picture of my tattoo.

I think part of the reason why I don't like it anymore is about a year after he finished the piece I had him do a blastover of a tree, and it is pretty obvious that it was added on after, and it just makes it look weird.

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Every time I see someone with huge swaths of black, I always wonder what it is they are covering up. How bad was it?

If you are happy with having a large blacked out section, then go for it. Probably the best advice though, is to go into a good shop (people here can point you in the right direction - I live in Canada, and my knowledge of Utah shops is slim to none, or I would suggest a place.) and ask a tattoo artist for advice. If you post a pic of the tattoo in question, you might get some more detailed feedback.

Uploaded a photo.

I think I will go in to a local shop here and ask them their opinions. Thank you for the advice.

[SeeSea]

I think you made it out to be a lot darker and more severe than the picture actually shows. Get opinions. It would be crazy to blast over this with solid black.

[misterJ]

Another option is to layer a new tattoo on top of it that doesn't completely cover the tattoo below. I could see this working nicely for a dotwork style.

Example of what I mean: Instagram

I think you made it out to be a lot darker and more severe than the picture actually shows. Get opinions. It would be crazy to blast over this with solid black.

I was expecting some garbage horror show. That's not so bad

I think @graybones has a damn good option based on that and what I see in the photo. That graveyard piece is a nice contrast to almost anything solid. just my opinion though its gotta be your choice.