"I take the piss out of Ed all the time, when Im with him, that they are sh*t," he recently told the UK's Daily Mirror . "They are!" In the interview, Paul revealed that not all of Sheeran's tattoos are his doing: some of his smaller tattoos are reportedly the handiwork of Sheeran's "manager's mate," but Paul gets blamed for those too.
One of the most common annoyances that tattoo artists experience is doing basic or unoriginal designs for their clients when what they really want is to be presented with a challenge. And while Paul concedes that Sheeran's childish tats carry a "personal" meaning to the singer, he also admits that it gets frustrating to be associated with that work.
"I was a big massive artist doing 3D-work and winning multi awards," Paul continued. "And then all of a sudden you end up doing Pingu the Penguin and fking gingerbread men on pop stars... Everybody just thought I was sh*t, but Im not." He concludes that being Sheeran's artist has been a double-edged sword, as it has both raised his profile but also created a skewed perception of his talents and style.
Working with Sheeran has been the "best thing to happen to my career and the worst," he said, adding: "But I dont regret working with them as its changed my life and opened amazing doors for me to do great things."