A man who was "tired of paying" to replace his worn-out shoes has decided to have his favourite pair of Nike trainers tattooed onto his feet.
Tattoo artist Dean Gunther, 34, used his incredible art skills to draw the design of the trainers onto the man's feet before making the ink permanent and creating a strange but impressive illusion.
Dean, who is originally from Bellville in South Africa but moved to the UK five years ago, recently went viral for tattooing a realistic six-pack onto a man's stomach, but his latest project is even more bizarre.
He said of his creation: “I wanted to create the illusion that the person is wearing shoes, even though he's bare feet. It will definitely make you look twice."
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here.
Dean - who set up his own tattoo studio in Greater Manchester called DG Tattoo Art - found the trainer design his customer liked best, viewed the image in 360 degrees, and then drew the design onto the client's foot freehand.
The piece took the artist around two hours to draw and another eight hours to tattoo onto both feet.
He added: "Drawing the tattoo on my free hand was the most challenging part. I had to make sure everything flows with the contours of the body. A stencil would not work in this case, so it's all freehand.
"Once that was on, the tattooing was straightforward.
“He's tired of paying for shoes, so he decided he will get his favourite pair of Nikes tattooed on him and he can see the funny side to it! Definitely a great conversation starter. His wife loves it too.”
The artist shared his creation on TikTok and Instagram via his dean.gunther account, where it racked up more than 2 million views, and commenters can't get enough of the unique design.
One person wrote: "Save a fortune on trainers."
While another said: “Wow, brave man [to do] both feet."
And a third posted: "Mad as pumps, I love it."
Dean recently won Best in Show at the Liverpool Tattoo convention with an African-inspired tattoo that took him three days to complete and has also given fans a hint about what his next tattoo creation will be.
The artist says he will be creating one of the most emotional pieces he's ever attempted in hopes of raising awareness for cancer.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@trinitymirror.com .
