A photographer by trade, Teresa had some very specific ideas about the style of cover up tattoo she wanted; she just wasn't sure it would be possible to tattoo over her old burn scar. It took up most of her lower right leg, but it was fairly flat, so when she came in to see me about it, I thought we might be able to create something gorgeous together. After some discussion, we decided on a botanical piece that would feature the birth flowers of the birth months of her five children. She really liked the soft, watercolor style of tattoos that are so popular right now. I had to be honest and tell her that that particular style doesn't last very long, especially if the colors are in the red/pink range--- even more especially if you don't use an outline and gray shading to define the shapes. Watercolor style tattoos can sometimes work to cover old scars but you still need to follow the Cover Up Formula (see my Cover Up Tattoos page) for them to be effective.
We worked together on the colors, with some back and forth, and in the end we were both happy with the way the piece turned out. She says, "You did such an amazing job on my leg. I don’t think I can come up with the words to thank you."
Here are some pictures of the drawing, before, outline and gray stages, plus the final (very fresh) color photos.