"I am Sheffield through and through, I have Pete McKee's 'The Snog' tattooed on my leg and I love it"
A Sheffield man who got Pete McKee’s most iconic mural tattooed on his body has told it was a “painful” one to get done.
Richard Dixon, aged 64, is a die-hard Sheffield Wednesday fan and was born and raised in the city and has long been a fan of Pete McKee’s work.
He said: “I’ve known McKee for a long time and I had seen [The Snog] on the Fagan’s wall and thought I’d just get it done.”
Richard describes himself as “Sheffield through and through” and has a number of tattoos inspired by the city, including the Tinsley Towers, Henderson’s Relish, and numerous Owls images on his leg.
Pete McKee restored The Snog in May after remedial works on Fagans’ pub meant the original had to be covered up. Richard saw this as an excellent opportunity to get another incredible bit of body art.
“It did hurt this one,” he said through a chuckle, “But it’s absolutely amazing. A lad on the bus just said ‘wow, that’s amazing’ to me.”
Richard said he hasn’t shown the new ink to Pete just yet, but was sure he would love it, adding: “I’ve got his name at the bottom of the tattoo.”
Richard had the new tattoo done on June 22, so said he was still nursing it a little but was sure the colours were really starting to come out.
It was done by The Holy Spirit Tattoo in Chestefield, close to the local football ground, where Richard has had a number of tats done before by Paulo. This time the artwork was done by Dominic and Richard could not be more full of praise.
“He’s an amazing tattoo artist,” he told The Star.
The Snog tattoo has gone down excellent with his family as well, including Richard’s sister, who he lives with on Eckington Road in North Derbyshire.
Richard said: “My son Luke was the first to tell me to have tattoos. If my dad was here he’d be shouting at me. I had about three in one year. Luke loves it and my sister loves it too.”
The tattoo is an excellent copy of Pete McKee’s newest version of ‘The Snog’, after the popular Sheffield artist made some changes from the original in the restoration.
The original mural, which features the characters Frank and Joy, had Joy wearing a brown coat and donning grey hair, but now she wears an eye-catching purple jacket and has a pink do.
This is the version replicated onto Richard’s leg and won’t be the last tat he gets.
“I’m going to have something else of McKee’s,” he said, “but I need to see what room I will have left as I have a lot of Wednesday stuff on my legs.”