Tattoo cover-ups in West Palm Beach
Don't hide it.
Replace it.
A cover-up shouldn't look like an apology. Done right, the new piece is one you'd choose on purpose, and the old one becomes something nobody can find.
The honest process
How a cover-up actually works
New ink doesn't erase old ink, it has to out-design it. Darker, denser areas of the old tattoo must land where the new design is naturally dark, and the eye has to be led somewhere more interesting than where the old tattoo sits.
1
Send the photo: it's required
The consultation request for a cover-up must include a clear, well-lit photo of the existing tattoo. No photo, no honest answer: what's possible depends entirely on how dark, dense, and scarred the existing work is.
2
Hear what's really possible
Clayton maps the old tattoo against candidate designs and tells you plainly what will cover, what won't, and what it takes, including when a laser lightening session or two would open up far better options.
3
Wear something better
The new design is drawn around one rule: your eye should land on the new piece, never hunt for the old one. Then it's tattooed with the bold structure cover-ups demand.
The rules nobody can cheat
Bigger, usually. A cover-up almost always needs to extend beyond the old tattoo's edges. The new design needs room to redirect the eye.
Bolder, always. The styles on this page of Clayton's work (saturated color, traditional, Japanese) dominate cover-up work for a reason: pale, fine, delicate designs cannot sit on top of existing ink.
Black covers black only with black. The darkest parts of the old piece will show through anything lighter placed over them, so the new design's shadows are planned around them.
Laser is a tool, not a failure. For very dark or dense pieces, lightening the old tattoo first can turn an impossible cover into a great one. If that's your best route, you'll hear it at the consultation, before you spend anything on ink.
A note on before & after photos
Cover-ups are the one style where photos have to prove the claim, so this page won't borrow the trick. Before & after sets, including healed results, are being prepared from Clayton's own cover-up work and will be added here before this site officially launches. Until then, the consultation is where the evidence lives: send your photo, and Clayton will walk you through what's realistically achievable on your piece.
Tattoo artist at Wooden Heart Tattoos · In Palm Beach County since 2001 · Full Color, American Traditional, Japanese Traditional, and Cover-Ups
Choose “Cover-Up” as the style on the request form, the photo of your existing tattoo is required there, and it's what the whole design starts from.