Ed Sheeran's latest tattoo is in honour of his five future children

Ed Sheeran has a new tattoo of five rings on his back. Photo / Getty Images

Ed Sheeran has had a tattoo in honour of his five future children.

The Thinking Out Loud hitmaker - who is married to Cherry Seaborn - has added to his extensive collection of body art with a new inking of rings on his back, which he reportedly plans to dedicate to his kids in future by adding their handprints inside each circle.

A source told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "Ed comes from a large Catholic family and he wants to have a house full of kids.

"He has had five intertwined circles put on his back that look a bit like the Olympic rings. He wants to put a tattoo of a palm print into each circle."

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4 July 4’s 📸 @marksurridge

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Jul 5, 2018 at 10:45pm PDT

The 29-year-old star's tattoo artist, Kevin Paul, previously admitted he thinks a lot of his famous client's inkings are "s**t" but understands they are personal to Ed.

Speaking about trolls poking fun at some of Ed's tats, he said: "I agree with most of it, his tattoos aren't very good.

"And I take the p**s out of Ed all the time, when I'm with him, that they are s**t.

"They are! But every single thing that he's got is personal to him."

Kevin isn't a big fan of Ed's tattoo of Pingu - the penguin from the animated children's series of the same name - which Harry Styles also has, branding it "s**t".

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Hamburg tat 📸 @zakarywalters

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Jul 29, 2018 at 6:46am PDT

He said: "Him and Harry Styles had Pingu tattooed on them and they had it done because that was the cartoon they liked as a child.

"And it does look s**t but it's what they wanted, it's a personal memory and it means something to them."

Kevin admitted working with Ed - who also has inkings such as a huge lion on his chest, a tomato ketchup bottle, and a gingerbread man - is the "best and worst" thing to happen to his career.

He added: "I was a big massive artist doing 3D-work and winning multiple awards.

"And then all of a sudden you end up doing Pingu the Penguin and f***ing gingerbread men on popstars.

"And all that client base just dies off, but the doorways it has opened for me are much bigger."