Ed Sheeran’s tattoo artist says star’s inkings are “s***” and lost him clients

He has become as well known for his quirky tattoos as his soulful singing voice.

But Ed Sheeran’s extensive collection of body art has been branded ‘s**t’ by his tattoo artist who revealed he has lost clients as a result of his work on the popstar.

The Shape Of You singer – whose 60 strong collection of tattoos includes cartoon penguin Pingu, a Heinz Ketchup label and a gingerbread man- has spent more than 40 hours getting inked by Derby-based tattooist Kevin Paul.

And after Ed’s new Heinz Ketchup ink got fans raging, Ed’s long-time pal Kevin weighed in on the Grammy winner’s colourful collection in an interview with The Mirror.

He said: ‘I agree with most of it, his tattoos aren’t very good. And I take the p**s out of Ed all the time, when I’m with him, that they are s**t.

Discussing Ed and Harry Styles’ decision to get matching Pingu tattoos in honour of their favourite childhood cartoon, he said: ‘It does look s*** but it’s what they wanted, it’s a personal memory and it means something to them.’

Kevin, who has been personally responsible for more than 40 of the Galway Girl singer’s tattoos, revealed he had lost clients as a result of working with the popstar.

Kevin said his work with Ed ‘changed things’ as he was an award-winning artist beforehand, with a specialism in 3D work.

But he admitted that client base ‘died off’ when he began doing ‘Pingu and f*****g gingerbread men on popstars’ – although said the doorways opened for him are now much bigger.

He has now worked with other superstars such as Rihanna, Harry Styles and Cara Delevingne.

Kevin added that he has ‘zero regrets’ over working with Ed as its been one of the ‘best and worse things’ to ever happen to his career.