Former soldier inks picture-perfect tattoos of football and music stars

Chris Meighan has been flooded with requests from footie fans who are keen to have stunning images of their favourite Celtic and Rangers player permanently displayed on their bodies.

The talented artist has even had the brother of Fernando Ricksen fly over from the Netherlands to have a memorial tattoo of the Ibrox legend inked on his leg.

Chris, 45, has built a reputation for his staggering portraits of stars including Gers icons Davie Cooper, Ally McCoist and Walter Smith as well as Hoops icons Henrik Larsson and Scott Brown.

Noel Gallagher is among the icons Chris has been asked to portray | Handout

He is also known for designing realistic images of movie and rock stars including Sean Connery, Harvey Keitel, Jimi Hendrix, Kanye West, Eminem and Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.

And this week the former serviceman has had his work highlighted by the estate of rapper Tupac Shakur who have posted an image of a stunning tattoo Chris did of the tragic US star on their social media page.

Chris, who owns the Santa Cruz Kustom Club studio in Stirling, said: “I’ve always been very artistic and went to art school when I was younger but didn’t get into the tattoo industry until around 13 years ago.

“I joined the army when I was 29 and one of the guys knew I loved drawing and painting and bought me a tattooing kit as a present.

“I’m totally self taught and picked it up really quickly and decided to open up my studio after I left the army.

“I always wanted to do portraits and realism and I specialised into that area of tattooing very quickly.

“I’ve been very lucky that a lot of football fans have come to me to have their idols tattooed on them and my work has had a lot of attention on fans’ forums.

Old Firm legends like Davie Cooper are common requests | Handout

“A job I was really proud of was when Fernando Ricksen’s brother got in touch saying he wanted a lasting memorial for his brother done and he flew over from Holland to have me do it.

“He messaged me and said he’d seen my work and that he wanted a Scottish artist to do the tattoo. It was a real privilege to meet him and be chosen to do the tattoo of Fernando.

“I’m not a supporter of any particular football team, but I really do enjoy doing these images for fans.”