Negative space tattoo - cover up?

Howdy,

I have a tattoo on my foot I'm not too happy with. There's nothing wrong with it - it's just old and amateurish and gotten way before I knew what artists could do.

So I want a cover-up and since I've since seen a hell of a lot more work and have formed my own tastes - I'd love for my next tattoo to have the primary design done in negative space.

For example, I'd love it to be in a similar style to this (not the specific design, just the style) - negative space picked out by stippling:



I think it's just so strong and yet so soft at the same time. Gorgeous.

The question I'm asking though, is can negative space tattoos be even used as a cover up? By using white ink I mean? Or would that distract from the design in a way that bare skin wouldn't?

I would want the cover up to be much the same size as the original - it's on my foot and there's limited space there unless I want to do a Fearne Cotton thing and cover the whole foot, which I don't, really.

Keep in mind that I'm so white I'm practically blue, and have never had a tan in all my 30 years, so in fairness white ink would probably look like my own skin.

I'm honestly not that familiar with what white ink can do at all, though.

But I'd like opinions - if a design similar in spirit to this wouldn't be suitable at all to a cover up then I can try to find something else and keep the negative space idea for a future tat.