When a celebrity gets a tattoo, it’s almost always a reason for discussion online. But when young children are involved in the process, literally drawing what will later be inked into the skin, the story goes beyond a typical post. This is exactly what happened with Ronan Keating and his son Jack Keating: father and son had a home “tattoo day” and invited a tattoo artist right into their house. Ronan, who has been collecting tattoos for a long time, was bolder than usual this time – he handed over part of the sketch to his children Cooper and Coco. The result was tear-jerkingly touching.
Why This Matters for Tattoo Culture
Family tattoos are a stable trend in recent years, but the option where children draw the sketch is rare. Usually, parents either recreate children’s drawings made years earlier or commission an artist to create an image related to the child. Here, the children became co-authors: Cooper drew a character from the cartoon “Bluey,” and Coco drew a sun. Both drawings ended up on their father’s body next to professional work. This approach turns a tattoo into a family artifact, something that can be shown to grandchildren with the comment ” your brother drew this when he was four.”
From an expert point of view, several techniques are at play here. Children’s drawings have long been an independent genre in tattoo culture: they are valued for their sincerity and the “incorrectness” of lines that an adult hand cannot replicate. Combined with clear professional graphics, it creates a contrast that makes the composition lively and personal. It’s not just decoration, but a document of family life.
What Exactly Did the Children Draw and What Did the Artist Ink
Let’s break down what appeared on Ronan’s body in this session:
- On the shoulder – a large bird of paradise. This is a nod to Ronan’s wife, Storm, whose roots are in Papua New Guinea. The bird has become a symbol of her family heritage and connection to local tribes.
- Nearby – Cooper’s children’s drawing: a Bluey character, done with a freehand style.
- And Coco’s drawing – a sun, drawn just as “freely as it turned out.”
In his post caption, Ronan wrote that he is proud to wear the bird of paradise and thanked the artist Gemma Betton, noting her talent. It’s worth noting separately that Ronan’s tattoos also include coordinates and names – for example, the name Missy, Jack’s daughter, and geographical markers associated with places important to the family. This is a typical technique for “cartographic” tattoos, where the body becomes a personal atlas.
Jack’s Japanese Dragon: Tradition and Meaning
His son, Jack Keating, chose a completely different style. His work is done in the Japanese tradition: a dragon runs across the entire surface, with sakura blooming among it, and in the center of the composition is a small triangle with mountains and trees. In Japanese tattoo culture (Irezumi), the dragon is a symbol of strength, grace, and wisdom, while the blooming cherry blossom represents fragile beauty, the transience of life, and acceptance of its cycles. Together, this reads as a meditation on the theme of the personal journey.
Jack covered the lower part of his sleeve with this drawing – the so-called “sleeve,” where the tattoo covers the entire arm and is completed with a final element. This is a classic scenario for the Japanese style: the arm is assembled from stories over years, and the dragon often becomes its culmination.
Home Session and Privacy
The peculiarity of this story is the format. Artist Gemma Betton came to the family’s home, and this was emphasized in her social media post: she called the day with the “Keating family” (including Storm, Missy, Coco, and Cooper) wonderful and thanked them for their hospitality. Public figures are increasingly choosing home sessions: this way, they maintain privacy, avoid studio queues, and get a calmer, more intimate atmosphere. For the client, it’s also a matter of comfort – especially when children are around, as in this case.
Gemma also noted that she tattooed Ronan about a year ago and has now returned to complete the work for Jack. Such continuity – an artist returning to a client for a new stage – is a sign of trusting relationships in the tattoo community, where the choice of artist is often more important than the choice of subject.
Conclusion
The Keating family’s story is a clear example of how tattoos today work on several levels simultaneously: it is a personal symbol (the bird of paradise as a tribute to his wife), a family chronicle (children’s drawings, names, coordinates), and a stylistic statement (the Japanese dragon by his son). The format of “tattooing with children” and home sessions shows where the culture is heading: from demonstrating the body to demonstrating relationships. And, perhaps, the main takeaway for anyone considering something similar is that a child’s drawing in a tattoo ages with the child, and in ten years, it will be a reminder not so much of the style, but of how they held the pencil. This is perhaps the most honest form of portrait that can be inked into the skin.