A man who has spent more than £40,000 on tattoos has declared he's giving up his "lifestyle" for the time being, as he wants to use his money to clear his mortgage instead.
The body modification enthusiast, known as Britain's 'most tattooed man', was born Mathew Whelan but changed his name to King Of Ink Land King Body Art The Extreme Ink-ite, and goes by Body Art for short.
And although the 43-year-old man, from Birmingham, loves his heavily inked look, he's vowed to press pause on his tattoo hobby until he pays off the remaining £66,000 left on his mortgage.
He said: "Getting tattoos can be an addiction, however, this is a lifestyle for me, which I can start and pause whenever I please. I'm taking a break from being inked while I concentrate on clearing my mortgage, so I'll be slowing down over the next few years."
Body Art has said he plans to "limit his lifestyle" but may still get the occasional tattoo every now and again, although he insisted he has a strict budget in place to keep him on track to clearing his mortgage.
The man claimed he's spent more than 1,500 hours under the needle getting his tattoos done, and in 2016 he even set the record when he had 36 tattoo artists work on him at once.
And while he hasn't kept track of the amount of money he's spent on tattoos so far, he knows the cash would be better spent paying off his mortgage than adding more ink to his skin.
Body Art was last tattooed in January, and he also has several body modifications including having his eyes stained black, his ears shaped, and his nipples removed.
He added: "I am living an abbreviation of my name, B Art, as I'm being art in my life no matter what others say or think of my tattoos. I last had ink put on me in January this year, when I got my left arm tattooed with blackout to cover previous tattoos.
"They [the tattoos] are part of my journey, and I will go on to evolve more at some point in the future – just not anytime soon."
The heavily-inked man also recently welcomed an English Bulldog named Mary into his life, a dog that resembles the very first tattoo he got when he was 16.
"My first-ever tattoo has become a reality," he explained. "I've never had a dog before in my life, as I've always been more about exotic animals, such as reptiles.
"But, it has been quite strange that my first K9 also happens to be the same animal, features and all, that was also my first tattoo on this journey. Animals are much better than people, as they build a bond with you and become a family member very quickly.
"I've had snakes, rats, hamsters and turtles before, which I've also got tattooed on me."
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