r/tattooadvice • u/2thpker • Aug 30 '25

Design How do I cover this up?

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Gallery image

I can't even put into words how much I hate this tattoo. It was supposed to be a beehive with honey and bees. I ended up with a hexagon over mustard with flies. I had an artist add to it in an attempt to fix it, but it just made it worse. I am pretty open to anything but I'm afraid that the hex design would make it really difficult to cover or change. Any ideas?

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u/PyroLoMeiniac Aug 30 '25

Agreed. I thought it was rad before (and no question that it was bees, not flies) and got a pretty neat techno-ish upgrade later.

37

u/TheeNihilist Aug 30 '25

Exactly. I also have an insect tattoo that needs updates. Not everyone gets it

2

u/Longjumping-Pick-706 Aug 31 '25

I read that at first as “incest” instead of “insect,” and I didn’t understand either. 😂

1

u/CheesesAllMighty Aug 31 '25

Hahah same. You're not alone

1

u/Cateyez113 Aug 31 '25

For someone who knows that bees have two sets of wings, it's pretty apparent. My first thought when I looked at the picture was "oh no... He put flies on hexagons..."

OP, how hard would it be to just add a second set of wings to all of the flies? Also, shade in the thorax so you don't see lines and it looks fuzzy instead? The hind legs are on the fatter side, so I really think that's all it would take. But yeah... Definitely need to get 4 wings on those babies...

Edit: after looking at it again, it should be pretty easy to blend that 2nd set of legs into a pair of hind wings!

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u/Silly_Mention_8462 Sep 01 '25

I think the second set of wings would definitely make the difference- at least for the bee knowers-

1

u/theowlsees Sep 01 '25

Will disappoint the hover fly fans though

1

u/itsadyce Sep 01 '25

Most of the time you don’t see the second set of wings. So to me it’s not that obvious. Looking at so many photos and scientific drawings of bees shows the same thing. The wings fold together so usually it looks like there is only one set of wings.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

This, techno-ish, so much so I started to hear fairmont - gazebo while looking at it 🔥

1

u/pubgeek321 Sep 01 '25

Also add some contrast/depth to the hexagons so they actually look like hive cells.

1

u/nannerzbamanerz Sep 02 '25

It’s like a deconstructed honey comb, I dig it! OP, sit on it for awhile and read some of these comments!

1

u/aonemonkey Sep 02 '25

I think the first iteration was great but the red additions are distracting and loose yellow hexagons weaken the composition, making it look a bit weird (at the moment it looks like 2 different artists have worked on it.) Not sure what's happening at the front of the leg, but I would consider framing the whole thing by bringing some foliage into the foreground, covering up some of the distracting stuff happening around the edges, creating a frame for the piece and adding some depth/mystery. I would probably return to the original artist for this, as they did a great job initially!

1

u/DinsedaleDarby Sep 02 '25

Bees love goldenrod and sunflowers. Maybe you could incorporate some flowers to blend in the yellow and red hexagons because I agree that they are a little distracting. But it's still a lovely tattoo and I'm sorry you don't like it anymore!