Tattoo Cover-Up Design Commission Pricing

Price a custom tattoo cover-up design at roughly $75–$150 for a small piece, $150–$350 for a medium one, and $350–$800 or more at sleeve scale, billed as hours times your hourly rate. No median found in our September 2026 review of BLS, O*NET, and APT sources, so those tiers are a framework, not a survey. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

Sources for the pricing framework below: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, a 2013 Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine cover-up study, FDA and American Society of Plastic Surgeons consumer pages, and Brillay's own How It Works and Pricing pages.

Cover-up work starts with the same question every time: what is actually under the new design? Peer-reviewed evidence shows the old tattoo often stays partly readable after a cover-up — a study of 36 cover-up tattoos published in the Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine found the primary tattoo could still be visualized to some extent in 55.6% of cases and "very well" in 38.9% (Bryson, Wright and Barker, "The identification of tattoo designs under cover-up tattoos using digital infrared photography," Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine 36(3–4):104–110, 2013). That planning problem happens before a needle touches skin, which is why the design is worth selling as its own priced commission, separate from the appointment.

Why do cover-up designs cost more than a regular commission?

A cover-up design costs more than an equivalent fresh design because the new artwork has to physically obscure the old tattoo's darkest lines and largest shapes. That constraint adds reference tracing, value planning, and placement negotiation before drawing starts. Published research shows the risk is real: cover-ups frequently fail to hide the original design completely. A custom cover-up design is not the same file for every buyer: it is made around one client’s existing tattoo, scarring, and reference photos, which is what that client is paying for.

The 2013 Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine study of 36 cover-up tattoos concluded that how well an underlying design stays hidden "depend[s] on the ink colour, ink density and the extent to which the tattooist covered or incorporated the existing tattoo into the new design" (Bryson) — three variables the artist has to solve at the design stage, not at the appointment.

Three things specifically add time on the design side:

• Reference tracing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that "if the tattooist injects the pigments too deeply into the skin, the pigments may migrate beyond the original sites, resulting in a blurred appearance", which is why a fresh, well-lit photo of the existing tattoo beats a client's memory of it.
• Value planning. Cover-ups generally need more saturated color or larger negative space to beat the ink underneath, and the FDA counts "more than fifty different pigments and shades" in use in tattoo inks, so pigment choice is a studio-level judgment rather than a published rule.
• Placement flexibility. Sometimes the honest answer is that the new design has to extend past the old tattoo's borders, which the client has to see and approve before booking.

No trade body sets a cover-up multiplier. The Alliance of Professional Tattooists, a nonprofit business league for the tattoo trade, states plainly that "The APT does not dictate tattooing techniques or aftercare procedures", so both technique and pricing norms are your studio's call.

What does a cover-up design commission actually cost?

Cover-up design fees are set by each artist, and no published benchmark exists to anchor them. The September 2026 framework on this page prices a small cover-up design at $75–$150, a medium one at $150–$350, and a sleeve-scale one at $350–$800 or more, with each tier derived as design hours multiplied by a $26.58 hourly floor.

Where the $26.58 floor comes from. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $55,290 for craft and fine artists in May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Craft and Fine Artists); divided by a 2,080-hour work year, that BLS median works out to $26.58 an hour, the floor used in the table above. Substitute your own hourly rate and every tier rescales — the structure is the reusable part, not the dollar amounts.

A September 2026 review of three sources found no published median price or multiplier for cover-up design work: the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook lists no tattoo-artist occupation at all, O*NET OnLine maps the keyword "tattoo" to the catch-all code SOC 27-1019.00, Artists and Related Workers, All Other, and the Alliance of Professional Tattooists publishes no rate guidance — all three. Treat that as "none found in this review," not proof that no such figure exists anywhere.

Two fee lines are not illustrative and can be stated exactly. Clients pay upfront as guests with no follower account needed, and you deliver later. No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. Stripe sets that card processing rate, and its published U.S. rate for domestic online cards is 2.9% + $0.30, with international cards adding 1.5% and currency conversion adding 1% (Stripe pricing). On a $200 cover-up design fee, that is $16 in Brillay platform fee and $6.10 in typical U.S. Stripe card processing.

U.S. creators should plan for one tax line. The Internal Revenue Service states that third-party settlement organizations are not required to file Forms 1099-K unless gross payments to a payee exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200, a threshold restored by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill enacted July 4, 2025 (IRS news release announcing Fact Sheet 2025-08, October 23, 2025). States can set lower floors — the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Form 1099-K requirement "remains at $600 or more in gross payments, regardless of the number of transactions" (Massachusetts Department of Revenue) — so check your own state's rule. Income is reportable whether or not a form is issued.

What is a fair way to structure a cover-up design price?

A fair structure ties the price to the inputs that change your workload: the quality of the reference photos, the measured coverage area, and the exact design files included in the one-time delivery. Set one fixed fee for one clearly defined design delivery, then sell later changes or added coverage as a new custom request instead of absorbing the extra work.

As a custom request, you set the title, description, price, and delivery time yourself. Brillay's Custom Work page gives "a clear delivery time (like 3–5 days)" as its own worked example. Delivery is one-time, so define exactly what the follower receives; additional work afterward can be sold as a new custom request.

Anchor the fee to hours rather than to a market rate that does not exist. At the $26.58 hourly floor derived from the BLS May 2025 median annual wage of $55,290 for craft and fine artists (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook), a design that eats a full working day of tracing, value planning, and mockups costs about $213 before any rush surcharge — which is the arithmetic case for charging for the design step at all.

Should the cover-up design be a paid question or a full service?

A cover-up design commission should be sold as a custom request, not a Paid Question, because the client has to send a reference photo of the existing tattoo and the artist has to send a visual design file back. A Paid Question only takes a written question and returns a written reply, with no attachments in either direction.

Custom Work works the opposite way: the follower "can also attach their own files when they order (a track, a resume, a screenshot)," and the creator delivers a written note plus up to 5 files or a private link. A cover-up commission needs exactly that exchange — reference photo in, design file out.

Paid Questions still have a role in a cover-up funnel. Keeping the two separate avoids doing unpaid image review inside what was sold as a text answer.

What should a cover-up design listing include?

A clear cover-up listing tells the client exactly what they are paying for before they submit anything: the reference material you require, the one design deliverable they receive, your delivery time, the fee, and what is outside the scope. Vague listings like "cover-up design, DM me" invite scope creep once photos start arriving.

Include, at minimum:

• Required input: Clear, well-lit photos of the existing tattoo from multiple angles, plus the client's size and placement goals.
• Deliverable: A digital design — line art, or line art with color and shading reference — and not the tattoo appointment itself.
• Price and scope: State one fixed fee, exactly what the client receives in the single delivery, and what would require a separate custom request.
• Delivery time: A specific window you commit to; Brillay's Custom Work page uses "a clear delivery time (like 3–5 days)" as its worked example.
• Exclusions and scope: State that the design fee excludes the tattoo session and stencil printing, and that a heavily saturated blackout cover-up may need a separate quote.

Writing those five items into the listing, rather than settling them in DMs after payment, gives the client a clear record of the price, scope, required references, and promised design file.

Followers pay upfront; you can decline a request.

How common is tattoo regret, and why does that matter for pricing?

Tattoo regret is common enough in the United States that cover-up demand is a steady category rather than a niche request. Pew Research Center's survey of 8,480 U.S. adults, fielded July 10–16, 2023, found that 32% of Americans have a tattoo and that 24% of tattooed Americans regret at least one of theirs.

"Most tattooed Americans do not regret getting a tattoo. But about a quarter (24%) say they ever regret getting one or more of their tattoos." — Pew Research Center, "32% of Americans have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one," August 15, 2023

The same Pew Research Center survey of 8,480 U.S. adults, fielded July 10–16, 2023, found that 22% of U.S. adults have more than one tattoo, that 38% of American women have at least one tattoo against 27% of American men, and that 69% of tattooed U.S. adults cite honoring or remembering someone or something as a reason they got one (Pew Research Center) — a category of tattoo whose meaning can change, which is a large part of why cover-up requests keep arriving.

The alternative your client is weighing is laser removal, and it is slow. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons states that "depending on the tattoo design, size and color, it may take 1-10 laser sessions to remove the ink," with "a six-week time period between each laser session" (ASPS, Tattoo Removal) — meaning a ten-session removal spans more than a year of appointments.

Removal is also priced above most cover-up designs. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons states, "The average cost of laser skin treatments like laser tattoo removal is $697, according to the latest statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons," and adds on the same page that "this average cost is only part of the total price – it does not include other related expenses" such as facility and anesthesia fees (ASPS, Tattoo Removal Cost). That $697 ASPS figure comes from a broad statistics line item — "Skin treatment (combination lasers) (e.g., laser hair removal, IPL treatment, laser tattoo removal, laser treatment of leg veins)" in the ASPS 2024 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report — and is not the price of complete removal.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is equally blunt about the outcome: "Despite advances in laser technology, removing a tattoo is a painstaking process, usually involving several treatments and considerable expense. Complete removal without scarring may be impossible" (FDA). Against a removal process that may involve 1–10 sessions, publishing a $150–$350 design fee lets a client compare the cover-up planning cost before contacting you.

What should clients know before commissioning a cover-up?

Clients should understand that a cover-up design is a planning step, not a guarantee about how the finished tattoo will look on healed skin, because ink density, healing, and technique vary by artist and by body. Health, ink, and licensing questions belong with the studio and a clinician, not with the designer.

Peer-reviewed results set a realistic expectation: in the 2013 Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine study of 36 cover-up tattoos, the primary design could not be seen at all in 44.4% of cases — meaning it remained detectable in the majority (Bryson).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's consumer fact sheet is direct about how little premarket oversight tattoo ink has: "many pigments used in tattoo inks are not approved for skin contact at all," and no color additive used in tattoo inks is FDA-approved for injection into the skin. Regulation of the practice itself sits below the federal level — "the actual practice of tattooing is regulated by local jurisdictions," the same FDA fact sheet states — so licensing rules differ by state, county, or city.

Brillay processes the payment for the design commission, while the studio handles the tattoo appointment: Brillay's How It Works page states that "there are no live video calls or appointments to schedule".

What else can a tattoo artist sell alongside cover-up designs?

Use one Brillay link for Custom Work, Paid Questions, Tips, and Goals; clients see all your offers in one place, and creators can receive payouts in 41 countries. Paid Questions, Tips, and Goals suit the same audience without becoming a full commission.

• Paid Questions for quick pre-design questions that need no photo, such as general style or aftercare questions.
• Tips let a supporter send you a one-time amount to say thank you, with nothing to deliver in return.
• Goals for funding studio gear as a stated cash goal rather than a per-item purchase.

The audience for those smaller offers is large: Pew Research Center's survey of 8,480 U.S. adults, fielded July 10–16, 2023, found that 41% of U.S. adults under 30 and 46% of those ages 30 to 49 have at least one tattoo (Pew Research Center).

For commission-pricing logic outside cover-up work, see pricing a custom tattoo design before inking, how to price a character design commission, and how to take paid commissions — the same scoping principles carry over. Tattoo artists and illustrators working from a link-in-bio setup face the same problem: DMs that never turn into a priced, bookable request.

Frequently asked questions

No median price for cover-up design work appeared in a September 2026 review of BLS, O*NET, and Alliance of Professional Tattooists sources, so creators price by coverage size, scope of the one-time delivery, and delivery time. On Brillay, a cover-up design is sold as Custom Work at a price and delivery time the creator sets, and followers pay upfront.

How much should I charge for a tattoo cover-up design?

The framework on this page prices a small cover-up design at $75–$150, a medium one at $150–$350, and a large or sleeve-scale one at $350–$800 or more, plus a rush surcharge of 25–35%. Those tiers are design hours multiplied by a $26.58 hourly floor, derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage of $55,290 for craft and fine artists in May 2025 divided by a 2,080-hour year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook) — not market survey data.

Why is a cover-up design more expensive than a fresh design?

Because the new artwork must obscure the old tattoo's darkest lines and largest shapes, which adds reference tracing, value planning, and placement negotiation before drawing starts. A study of 36 cover-up tattoos published in the Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine found the original design still visible to some extent in 55.6% of cases, and "very well" in 38.9%, with ink colour and ink density the deciding factors (Bryson).

Is a cover-up design a Paid Question or a custom request?

It is a custom request, because the client needs to send reference photos and you need to deliver a design file back.

How long should I take to deliver a cover-up design on Brillay?

You set the delivery time yourself when you create the service; Brillay's Custom Work page uses "a clear delivery time (like 3–5 days)" as its worked example and states that the creator sets the price and delivery time. Quote a window you can hold even when reference photos arrive blurry.

How much does laser removal cost compared with a cover-up design?

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons puts the average cost of laser skin treatments including laser tattoo removal at $697, excluding facility, anesthesia, and other related expenses, and says removal "may take 1-10 laser sessions" spaced six weeks apart (ASPS, Tattoo Removal Cost and ASPS, Tattoo Removal). A $150–$350 cover-up design fee is a smaller decision for the client.

What if a reference photo shows the tattoo cannot realistically be covered as requested?

Decline and refund the request rather than deliver a design that will not work, and explain what would need to change — size, placement, or darkness — for a workable cover-up. Brillay's How It Works page states, "You can decline and refund it. You're always in control of what you take on".

What does Brillay charge for a cover-up design commission?

Brillay's platform fee for a custom request is set out above; only Stripe's published U.S. rate for domestic online cards, 2.9% + $0.30, is separate and set by Stripe, with international cards adding 1.5% and currency conversion adding 1%.

Create your free Brillay page and turn "can you cover this up?" into a priced design commission instead of a free DM estimate.