A Manx tattoo artist has won a special award at a tattoo convention in Cork.

Simon Williams, from Port Erin, runs the ‘Manx Tattoo and Body Piercing’ shop in Douglas and is currently celebrating his 30th year in the profession.

Simon recently won the 'special merit' award from the Middleton Tattoo Convention near Cork, Ireland.

In the early stages of his inking career, he attended a number of tattoo conventions in locations such as Germany, Canada, Norway and Ireland.

It was only recently - as Simon approached the 30th anniversary of starting out in the tattoo industry - that he decided to start doing conventions again.

‘Staying put in your own studio can stagnate you,’ Simon explained.

‘Being at conventions invigorates and excites me. You get to see amazing talents and talk to them about their methods.

‘Keeping in the loop with modern practices helps to keep my tattooing more relevant, and makes sure I’m bringing my clients the very best the industry has to offer.

‘To be able to win an award as well while I was there - it felt incredible.’

Starting his career as an apprentice in 1995 at ‘Skin Symbolz Tattoo’ next to the Rovers Return Pub, Simon then ran the studio through to the year 2000 while the owner was setting up studios in Tenerife and Norway.

In early 1999, Simon decided to become independent, and his shop Manx Tattoo was formed.

The studio has proved to be a huge success, attracting many local tattoo enthusiasts as well as a large number of visitors from further afield, especially during the TT fortnight.

This year, Simon is set to tattoo his 10,000th ‘Three Legs of Mann’ tattoo - a poignant achievement to mark his special anniversary.

‘My favourite tattoo to do is the Three Legs of Mann, and we’ve recently started giving people a certificate of authenticity when they get it,’ he said.

‘Crazy goes hand in hand with tattooing, and I’ve done some strange ones.

‘I’ve tattooed girlfriend’s names on genitals, and I once tattooed “CHOOSE LAXEY CHOOSE LIFE” backwards across a guys chest so he could see it every morning in the mirror!

‘I also recently tattooed an expiry date on an amputees leg stump...

‘The first tattoo I did in the shop was a Three Legs of Mann for myself and after I finished, the first customer walked in. They haven’t stopped coming since!’

To win the special merit award at the convention in Ireland, Simon tattooed an ‘old school version’ of a circus performer in the form of the Three Legs of Mann, included with a shamrock on the performer’s backside.

Simon plans to continue travelling abroad and attending conventions, and has already booked to work at the ‘Middleton Tattoo Bash’ in January, while looking to work at summer conventions right after next year’s TT.

He added: ‘Receiving recognition through the award was great, but all of the tattooists there are creating amazing work and it was just great to be part of it again.’