Old tattoo you want gone? These patterns are built the way real cover-ups are: bigger, denser and darker than the piece underneath. Browse by style, then preview your pick over your own tattoo.
Five styles that carry enough ink to hide an old piece — ordered roughly by how reliably they cover.
Dense, shaded realism is the workhorse of cover-ups — heavy ink load hides whatever is underneath.
Solid black areas reset the canvas completely. The boldest option, and the most reliable over dark old ink.
Bold outlines and packed color blocks read as one solid shape — old lines disappear under the new piece.
Thick black bands and geometry were covering tattoos long before it was a trend — proven and low-maintenance.
Symmetry and heavy dotwork shading build density without going full blackout.
Patterns shown are AI-generated references for style exploration. The before/after cases above are real outputs from our preview tool.
Three real outputs from the preview tool — hover a card to see the original tattoo underneath. Bring your own photo to the tool and get the same for your ink.
A clear, well-lit photo of the existing piece — this decides which patterns can cover it.
Dense dark styles (blackwork, black & grey, neo-traditional) cover the most; fine line covers the least.
Take the pattern into the preview tool and see it composited over your actual tattoo before you book a studio.
Dense, dark styles — blackwork, blackout, black & grey realism, neo-traditional and tribal — carry enough ink to hide old lines. Fine-line, watercolor and small minimal pieces usually cannot hide a dark tattoo without laser fading first.
Almost always yes. A cover-up needs to be noticeably larger and denser so the old piece reads as shadow inside the new design rather than showing through it.
Yes. Every pattern here can be taken into the Cover-Up Preview tool: upload a photo of your existing tattoo, add the design, and see the composite on your own skin before committing.
The patterns are AI-generated references. The three before/after cases on this page are real outputs from our preview tool — hover each to see the original tattoo it covered.
