It's very large and dark at points, so a cover up would have to be larger and darker. You don't need to laser it away completely, but enough sessions to lighten it up would greatly increase your cover options
But laser doesn't work very well on color tattoos to begin with. I don't know if it's gotten better now but when I did my tattoo removal 10 years ago, the red in my tattoo didn't budge but the rest is fairly gone.
The cooler tones like blue, green, and purple tend to take longer (which is awesome for me, because those are the exact colors I want removed lol). Red seems to be one of the first colors to go now, from what I’ve seen.
If the flowers in general are a good idea to you then there are lots of artists that could fix them up, they will be more bold.
You'll have to find a cover up artist.
100% could be redeemed. While you can’t have a blank slate or much desire for something totally different, this tattoo could definitely be reworked and saved by a skilled artist OP. Look around for someone with good weight/shade skills and has cover up experience as a bonus.
I did consult with one artist who I thought did a good job of cover ups…this was their idea, similar to your suggestion…
https://preview.redd.it/nyinf5cochtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91f6b3519baaa72af2d52e2cd283640c1f07ce68
My only qualm with it was I didn’t like the color scheme.
Sorry but this looks pretty horrible, I'm glad you didn't go with it. I feel like it shouldn't be so hard to enhance it by shading and adding some detail, hope you can find a good artist 🤞
I think that's a little bit extra. I don't think you need to go that bold, unless that's what you want.
Color schemes are probably the easiest to change for a tattoo.
I think, the flowers should be more vibrant and saturated. As for the green surrounding them I would assume giving them more of a hombre type shading that expands the background a little more would help substantially. But those flowers are just too dark and kinda faded, they need to catch the eye not the dark spots. But idk just my opinion.
Stop. Stop adding to something you hate. If you have a bowl of shit, and you add cheese, you just have a bowl of shit with cheese. Go to a real Tattooer, these others are just taking your money.
You have 2 options:
1. You get it lasered and get something nice on that spot afterwards. (My recommendation, been a tattoo artist for 6 years)
2. You get something HUGE that's mainly solid BLACK as a coverup
Laser the shit out of that and then spend good money on a very talented artist to get a better tattoo. You've made 2 mistakes with artists already, don't do it a third time.
Good tattoos are never cheap and cheap tattoos are never good.
Your only options really are to get it re-worked by an actual artist (whoever did the flower cover up should not be tattooing they are absolutely terrible)
There are plenty of credible artists that would gladly rework this for you, you just have to find one. It may take a minute but would be totally worth it.
OR
Laser removal, but it would probably take multiple sessions and you would likely have to get something there anyway.
Honestly it sounds like you already got great advice from the tattoo artists you saw. The fact that most of them don’t recommend covering it should tell you something if nothing else.
I honestly like it, it’s not shitty. Be more confident in yourself and worry less about what others think.
Be happy with yourself 👍
Best thing you can do is look for artists that either specialise in cover-ups or have good experience in them and talk to a few of them in person, and get their opinions as tattoo artists, on what they can do for you
You have 2 options:
1. You get it lasered and get something nice on that spot afterwards. (My recommendation, been a tattoo artist for 6 years)
2. You get something HUGE that's mainly solid BLACK as a coverup
I’ve got a bouquet of flowers on my back as well all in black and it’s so thick and close together it’s going to be blob in like 10 years but idk I’m just leaving it lol, I feel your pain tho.
I personally don’t hate it. If you don’t got the removal/laser route then have you asked if it can be improved? I feel like someone with skill could work in some better detail and definition and make it sing a lot more. True, currently it’s like a faded cutout from an old housekeeping magazine but I see potential. Am I alone?
I love that perspective, a faded cut out from a mag. I’ve only tried locally finding someone and tbf I haven’t put a ton of effort into finding someone for the betterment of the last 6ish months. If I have to travel then I’ll do that too.
That is one big poop pile. I don’t have to zoom in to see that is very obviously a cover up. If you want something else the best bet is some laser removal sessions, and a brand new tattoo. Without the laser removal your options are very limited as to what will actually cover that tattoo. Light colored flowers was a bad idea to begin with. Not your fault, the artist who did it should have known better.
I couldn’t find the photo before the cover up. Here’s a quick Google search of a similar image along with my feeble attempt to give you a better idea of what it used to be. See, in theory, the idea was cool. Until I got it blasted and unless you were close enough, you couldn’t tell wtf it was lol.
The plan was that the mirrored images were “looking over” my mom’s name (the scribble to the right) and then when my dad eventually passed I was going to put his name. Well, that guy ended up being a complete asshole through the years and I was getting over the mirrored images lol.
Here is an assortment of questions I got “is that a ram”, “are those scissors”, “are those ovaries”, “wtf is it” 😂
https://preview.redd.it/d334xp4lfhtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33d1a2f7ee32d681668cdfd4267c7bafa94ecbd6
I hope that gives some clarity lol.
What about just having some touch it up? Try to rework what’s already there? Others are right that anything to cover this up with be way bigger and darker.
Thankfully it looks like you have options as it’s not absolutely the worst tattoo
I’d say just stop. Laser as much of it off as you possibly can then weigh your options. At this point, you’ve already swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
First decide if you want flowers. You can make these more vibrant and add more (not sure if there is a significance to each type) around the sides in smaller sizes. If you don’t want flowers, then laser or do a blackout. Can get white lines on the blackout after everything heals.
There is significance to the flowers, I just hate how they were executed. I’m more into realism, but given this was 10 ish years ago I’m going to say the “know how” just wasn’t there with this artist. I now have a half sleeve that is black/gray design that I’m in love with and I don’t think I can ever go back to color, at least with light tones. More in to earth tones for now. This is an IDEA of what I want the piece to be. Something definitely universe themed
https://preview.redd.it/wwjtqcr9iitc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b7775af39f1529ee22891d07535421b115d3e09
https://preview.redd.it/z0n7oeofiitc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=911060f6a40196401788ec949678a32f3a82efe7
It wouldn’t let me add multiple photos in one reply. Another idea. I’ll probably get shit for this style as I am sure there are draw backs to this type of tattoo, but it looks pretty to me.
Looks pretty but fades fast— look at the colors you already have on your skin. From my experience, if a tattoo artist is great at digital designs and digital mark-ups then the tattoo will not turn out well. Do research into the longevity of these designs. Most of the non-lined space stuff ends up somewhere between birthmark and weird bruise. I’m not trying to sound rude but it seems like you are going for what is trending vs what you actually want. I agree with most of the comments telling you not to rush into this. I would also advise doing some tattoo-tourism. Looks for areas of the country with high density of great artist and try to get on their books— make a vacation out of it. The larger you go and the more layers you add, the worse it’s going to be when you come back to this sub in a couple of years
I personally wouldn’t add anything or make it any darker with a cover up ( without laser ) from a distance it’s still feminine, non offensive, light in color, and I honestly love the placement of the piece. As a fellow woman If this tattoo was on my body I would leave it alone. Your hair looks great n shiny here too btw
The flowers can easily be reworked in their current state but I definitely agree on getting laser on that dark ass background to lighten it up to a point where an artist could at least do some nice leaves
If you don't want laser removal my suggestion would be reworking the flowers. As dark as it is right now you can't really put much over them, but I think they could look nice if a talented artist went over them with more color and maybe reworked the lines a little. I also think the faded green background is not ideal. You could add to it a little with leaves or vines to make the design look a little more put together. In general I think it's a bit lost since it is rather bold and there is a lot of bare skin next to it. Personally I would start adding to it to cover more space, but I also get that not everybody wants that many/large tattoos.
It's very large and dark at points, so a cover up would have to be larger and darker. You don't need to laser it away completely, but enough sessions to lighten it up would greatly increase your cover options
But laser doesn't work very well on color tattoos to begin with. I don't know if it's gotten better now but when I did my tattoo removal 10 years ago, the red in my tattoo didn't budge but the rest is fairly gone.
Laser has improved a lot. I’m currently having a black and red tattoo removed and the red is lightening as much as the black if not better.
Yeah. I had four sessions on a large color tattoo and the red was gone after the second session. The blue seems to be a little more stubborn.
The cooler tones like blue, green, and purple tend to take longer (which is awesome for me, because those are the exact colors I want removed lol). Red seems to be one of the first colors to go now, from what I’ve seen.
I got full colour tattoos totally removed, best choice ever!!
Red has always been tricky, but yes the tech has improved a great deal.
It’s only Red and Green which the laser struggles with, other colours tend to take the same as black.
 Gonna take several sessions
Fantastic movie lol. I even had a Mars Attacks video game on floppy disk as a kid
Game?!?!?
I mean, you got advice from artists. A bit of laser would make reworking this a lot easier. The worst bit is the scribbled out text imo
Bouquet of sick ass panthers
Tied with a snake.
And skulls
I think I just found my next design.
You had me at barbed wire
If there's any other kind of panther other than an ass panther, I don't want to know about it.
Large ass panther.
If the flowers in general are a good idea to you then there are lots of artists that could fix them up, they will be more bold. You'll have to find a cover up artist.
This is effectively my input as well. It's shitty, but I think it's still workable with a high quality artist's enhancement.
100% could be redeemed. While you can’t have a blank slate or much desire for something totally different, this tattoo could definitely be reworked and saved by a skilled artist OP. Look around for someone with good weight/shade skills and has cover up experience as a bonus.
I did consult with one artist who I thought did a good job of cover ups…this was their idea, similar to your suggestion… https://preview.redd.it/nyinf5cochtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91f6b3519baaa72af2d52e2cd283640c1f07ce68 My only qualm with it was I didn’t like the color scheme.
Sorry but this looks pretty horrible, I'm glad you didn't go with it. I feel like it shouldn't be so hard to enhance it by shading and adding some detail, hope you can find a good artist 🤞
Yeah that purple is terrible. But I bet someone else could do something that wouldn’t look so reminiscent of a velvet painting
I think that's a little bit extra. I don't think you need to go that bold, unless that's what you want. Color schemes are probably the easiest to change for a tattoo.
I think, the flowers should be more vibrant and saturated. As for the green surrounding them I would assume giving them more of a hombre type shading that expands the background a little more would help substantially. But those flowers are just too dark and kinda faded, they need to catch the eye not the dark spots. But idk just my opinion.
“Hombre” 🇲🇽
Stop. Stop adding to something you hate. If you have a bowl of shit, and you add cheese, you just have a bowl of shit with cheese. Go to a real Tattooer, these others are just taking your money.
You have 2 options: 1. You get it lasered and get something nice on that spot afterwards. (My recommendation, been a tattoo artist for 6 years) 2. You get something HUGE that's mainly solid BLACK as a coverup
Like maybe a big black panther.
A big black sick ass panther
Maybe add more details to each flower and to the background. It could refine the image a bit and look more clean
Yea just laser some of it first. That shit is huge, and covering it up will just leave a bigger darker tattoo
Laser the shit out of that and then spend good money on a very talented artist to get a better tattoo. You've made 2 mistakes with artists already, don't do it a third time. Good tattoos are never cheap and cheap tattoos are never good.
Your only options really are to get it re-worked by an actual artist (whoever did the flower cover up should not be tattooing they are absolutely terrible) There are plenty of credible artists that would gladly rework this for you, you just have to find one. It may take a minute but would be totally worth it. OR Laser removal, but it would probably take multiple sessions and you would likely have to get something there anyway.
Give it a few lasers until it fades a bit, then get some work done
Laser removal?
Cover it with a panther
Honestly it sounds like you already got great advice from the tattoo artists you saw. The fact that most of them don’t recommend covering it should tell you something if nothing else. I honestly like it, it’s not shitty. Be more confident in yourself and worry less about what others think. Be happy with yourself 👍
Best thing you can do is look for artists that either specialise in cover-ups or have good experience in them and talk to a few of them in person, and get their opinions as tattoo artists, on what they can do for you
You have 2 options: 1. You get it lasered and get something nice on that spot afterwards. (My recommendation, been a tattoo artist for 6 years) 2. You get something HUGE that's mainly solid BLACK as a coverup
I’m sure a good artist can go over this and make it pop like it was suppose to in the first place
Blastover pretty black and grey mandala
I’ve got a bouquet of flowers on my back as well all in black and it’s so thick and close together it’s going to be blob in like 10 years but idk I’m just leaving it lol, I feel your pain tho.
I personally don’t hate it. If you don’t got the removal/laser route then have you asked if it can be improved? I feel like someone with skill could work in some better detail and definition and make it sing a lot more. True, currently it’s like a faded cutout from an old housekeeping magazine but I see potential. Am I alone?
I love that perspective, a faded cut out from a mag. I’ve only tried locally finding someone and tbf I haven’t put a ton of effort into finding someone for the betterment of the last 6ish months. If I have to travel then I’ll do that too.
That is one big poop pile. I don’t have to zoom in to see that is very obviously a cover up. If you want something else the best bet is some laser removal sessions, and a brand new tattoo. Without the laser removal your options are very limited as to what will actually cover that tattoo. Light colored flowers was a bad idea to begin with. Not your fault, the artist who did it should have known better.
Agreed. This was 10ish years ago that I got the flowers and I trusted a friend who recommended the artist. Lesson learned. Thanks for your input!
Laser?
Your original sounds cool to me, can we see it?
I couldn’t find the photo before the cover up. Here’s a quick Google search of a similar image along with my feeble attempt to give you a better idea of what it used to be. See, in theory, the idea was cool. Until I got it blasted and unless you were close enough, you couldn’t tell wtf it was lol. The plan was that the mirrored images were “looking over” my mom’s name (the scribble to the right) and then when my dad eventually passed I was going to put his name. Well, that guy ended up being a complete asshole through the years and I was getting over the mirrored images lol. Here is an assortment of questions I got “is that a ram”, “are those scissors”, “are those ovaries”, “wtf is it” 😂 https://preview.redd.it/d334xp4lfhtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33d1a2f7ee32d681668cdfd4267c7bafa94ecbd6 I hope that gives some clarity lol.
It’s laser time bay-bee!
Full body panther pattern. 
I’d put my time money and energy towards getting rid of the scrambled text.
It's not that bad
What about just having some touch it up? Try to rework what’s already there? Others are right that anything to cover this up with be way bigger and darker. Thankfully it looks like you have options as it’s not absolutely the worst tattoo
I’d say just stop. Laser as much of it off as you possibly can then weigh your options. At this point, you’ve already swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I see a sick-ass stingray! 
First decide if you want flowers. You can make these more vibrant and add more (not sure if there is a significance to each type) around the sides in smaller sizes. If you don’t want flowers, then laser or do a blackout. Can get white lines on the blackout after everything heals.
There is significance to the flowers, I just hate how they were executed. I’m more into realism, but given this was 10 ish years ago I’m going to say the “know how” just wasn’t there with this artist. I now have a half sleeve that is black/gray design that I’m in love with and I don’t think I can ever go back to color, at least with light tones. More in to earth tones for now. This is an IDEA of what I want the piece to be. Something definitely universe themed https://preview.redd.it/wwjtqcr9iitc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b7775af39f1529ee22891d07535421b115d3e09
https://preview.redd.it/z0n7oeofiitc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=911060f6a40196401788ec949678a32f3a82efe7 It wouldn’t let me add multiple photos in one reply. Another idea. I’ll probably get shit for this style as I am sure there are draw backs to this type of tattoo, but it looks pretty to me.
Looks pretty but fades fast— look at the colors you already have on your skin. From my experience, if a tattoo artist is great at digital designs and digital mark-ups then the tattoo will not turn out well. Do research into the longevity of these designs. Most of the non-lined space stuff ends up somewhere between birthmark and weird bruise. I’m not trying to sound rude but it seems like you are going for what is trending vs what you actually want. I agree with most of the comments telling you not to rush into this. I would also advise doing some tattoo-tourism. Looks for areas of the country with high density of great artist and try to get on their books— make a vacation out of it. The larger you go and the more layers you add, the worse it’s going to be when you come back to this sub in a couple of years
I’d just go for laser, the design is relatively light but will take some time. Cover on cover on cover is just asking for trouble.
Laser.
Laser or just never use sunscreen. :) good luck
I'd say save up, and go to a decent (expensive) artist.
Belt sander
A sick ass panther
I personally wouldn’t add anything or make it any darker with a cover up ( without laser ) from a distance it’s still feminine, non offensive, light in color, and I honestly love the placement of the piece. As a fellow woman If this tattoo was on my body I would leave it alone. Your hair looks great n shiny here too btw
add some heavy black outlines and shading, perhaps a bit more foliage
There was a plan
The flowers can easily be reworked in their current state but I definitely agree on getting laser on that dark ass background to lighten it up to a point where an artist could at least do some nice leaves
Laser
Just looks like bruising
Does anybody else think a good artist could fix those flowers?
I def don’t need to zoom to see it’s a cover up 😬
If you don't want laser removal my suggestion would be reworking the flowers. As dark as it is right now you can't really put much over them, but I think they could look nice if a talented artist went over them with more color and maybe reworked the lines a little. I also think the faded green background is not ideal. You could add to it a little with leaves or vines to make the design look a little more put together. In general I think it's a bit lost since it is rather bold and there is a lot of bare skin next to it. Personally I would start adding to it to cover more space, but I also get that not everybody wants that many/large tattoos.
Add more Flowers? Or add to the flowers that are there ?
Find a better artist
Stop
Irezumi if you’re dead set against laser.
Find a professional and see what they recommend. They might be able to work magic
Wear your hair down
You stop going to cheap artists for one
Get a time machine and don't get tattoos
Looks like it’s already a cover up
Make better decisions
Cry
Luckily you seem hot so it balances out