30 Creative Cover Up Tattoo Ideas (Before & After)

Summary: Wondering how to cover up tattoos? You can find inspiration to cover your old faded tattoos with these creative cover up tattoo ideas.

People get tattoos to represent their personalities, beliefs, and values, or to commemorate certain important moments or persons. However, as time goes by, the original tattoos blur and their colors fade away. People no longer like their tattoos due to the change in their aesthetics and taste.

But it’s hard to erase or remove a tattoo once it’s inked into someone’s body. But you can consider covering a new tattoo on it. In this blog, we’ve compiled 30 creative cover up tattoo ideas to help you easily cover up disliked tattoos. Let’s see together!

Things You Need to Know About Tattoo Cover Up

1. What Is Tattoo Cover Up?

Tattoo cover ups are tattoos over unwanted past tattoos, scars (especially those caused by surgery or self-harm), or symptoms of a skin condition. This is one of the two main methods of removing unwanted tattoos, the other method being laser removal. Generally speaking, covering up unwanted tattoos is cheaper, less painful, and overall easier to do than removing them.

2. How to Cover Up a Tattoo?

• Cover tattoos with clothes and accessories

• Use makeup products to cover tattoos

• Cover tattoos with other tattoos

30 Cover Up Tattoo Ideas You Should Try

Small Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

There is a little heart tattoo on the woman’s right arm, and this can be covered up with a rose tattoo. The vintage rose pattern goes well with this woman's outfit and makes her look more charming.

The tattoo on the woman’s arm is like an organ of the human body: the heart. It can be covered with a sunflower tattoo. The woman looks more beautiful with this new design.

Big Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

You may dislike the big tattoo on your leg but removing it is painful. Look at this tattoo cover up. The tiger is large enough to completely cover your previous tattoo.

No longer like the tattoo on your arm? You can cover up it with a lion tattoo. Its color is similar to your skin color and it’s big enough to cover up the original one.

Cover Up Tattoo Ideas Female

For women, there are a wide variety of tattoo cover up ideas. They can choose to use flower tattoos like roses to hide the tattoos on their arms, use butterfly tattoos to cover up tattoos on their shoulders, or use leaf designs to conceal tattoos on their chest. These elements are from nature and can express the intrinsic beauty and charm of women.

Cover Up Tattoo Ideas Male

Men can use animal tattoos like wolves, tigers, and lions to cover up their original tattoos. These wild animals can show men’s power and make them look more appealing.

Wrist Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

There is a letter tattoo on the man’s wrist. The tattoo artist incorporates creative designs into the new tattoo. A vintage mirror is decorated with a red blossoming rose. In the mirror is a landscape.

Lower Back Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

A butterfly is spreading its wings and flying on the woman’s lower back. But if you no longer like the dark color, you can consider adding a new tattoo cover up with a bright color like red.

Forearm Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

You got your ex's name tattooed on your forearm. But later you broke up and don’t want this tattoo anymore. No need to remove it, you can cover up it with a long branch tattoo. Its size is proper and it looks good.

Finger Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

There once was a lotus petals tattoo on the fingertip, but if you dislike its pattern now, you can do as follows: use a small clock tattoo to cover up it. This design is interesting and cute, right?

Neck Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

Similarly, the original thunder tattoo is large and you can use extended leaves to cover up it. The size is proper enough and the design is aesthetic.

Chest Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

Look at this tattoo cover up example, the original name tattoo on the man's chest is covered by a leaf. Its complicated texture and dark color make the man more charming and sexy.

Upper Back Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

Look at this picture, the text tattoo on the woman’s upper back is vertical. So the tattoo artist uses a sword-shaped tattoo to cover up it. Also, there is a vintage clock in the middle of the sword, making this design more creative and mysterious.

Ankle Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

The original tattoo on the ankle is big, so here the tattoo artist uses intricate flower patterns to replace it.

Shoulder Tattoo Cover Up Ideas

The original tattoos on the woman’s shoulders are small, so you can consider a small crown tattoo cover up. You can first generate your wanted crown design, and then tell the tattoo artist your idea.

Name Cover Up Tattoo Ideas

When you’re young, you may tattoo your mate’s name on your body. But then you broke up due to certain reasons, and there is no need to keep this tattoo. Then you can cover up it with a new tattoo. Like this, the original tattoo is covered up with a green leaf tattoo.

Flower Tattoo Cover Up

Flower tattoo cover ups are the most common and suitable for all body parts and tattoo sizes. Most often we cover the original tattoo with a rose or a sunflower. The blooming flowers symbolize new life and a new start.

Star Tattoo Cover Up

The bright stars in the night sky mean hope and luminosity. So when we feel upset and confused, we can get star tattoo cover ups on our bodies. And the good luck is on its way.

Heart Tattoo Cover Up

Look at this picture, the tattoo artist uses a heart-shaped design to cover up the tattoo behind the ear. It’s not just a simple heart. A small heart is surrounded by a big heart with intricate and aesthetic patterns.

Butterfly Tattoo Cover Up

You can use butterflies with different colors and styles to cover up your unwanted tattoos. They are big enough and visually appealing as well.

Landscape Tattoo Cover Up

For some long and vertical tattoos, in addition to a leaf tattoo, you can also use a landscape tattoo to cover it. It’s big enough and adds an artistic touch to your tattoo design.

Bird Cover Up Tattoo

For tattoos on your back or behind your ear, you can consider using bird tattoo cover ups to conceal them. The bright color and beautiful feathers of birds can make you look pretty charming.

Portrait Tattoo Cover Up

Portrait tattoo is also a great option when covering up big tattoos on your body. The dark color and delicate brushstrokes can help your new tattoo design stand out.

Wings Tattoo Cover Up

For tattoos on the upper back, you can use wings tattoos to hide them. It seems like a pair of wings have extended from your arm and you can fly.

Feather Tattoo Cover Up

Look at this tattoo cover up example, no matter what part of your body the original tattoo is on, you can cover it with a feather tattoo!

Visualize Your Cover Up Tattoo Ideas with AI Tattoo Generator

Above we’ve shared 30 cover up tattoo ideas suitable for all tattoo sizes and body parts. Now it’s time to visualize these ideas and have a magical makeover.

Fotor’s AI tattoo generator has state-of-the-art AI algorithms. You can generate the virtual tattoo design before you go to the tattoo parlors. Whether a simple heart tattoo or an intricate flower design, just type the prompts in the text box, and you can get your desired results.

Look no further! Use our tattoo generator to virtually try on stunning tattoos and incorporate creative ideas into your personal tattoo cover up designs.

Final Thoughts

People’s tastes may change a lot as time goes by. Those tattoo designs they once favored may be disliked now. Luckily, there is a better way than removing it, which is to hide the old tattoos with a new tattoo cover up.

In this blog, we’ve collected the best 30 cover up tattoo ideas for both men and women. Before getting a true tattoo, you can first generate your dreamy design with an AI tattoo generator. This can save you time and help you make wiser decisions.