A Tauranga artist has offered to use his unusual skills and "tattoo" all the sick children at Auckland's Starship Hospital.

Benjamin Lloyd said he had painted fake tattoos on several children and he got the idea of going to Starship Hospital after he saw the smiles the designs produced.

"It's just the confidence they get - especially the boys they walk round so proud, you put art on them and they're just so excited they can choose their own designs.



"They're so fascinated while they're getting it, they're so happy with it."

BENJAMIN LLOYD The children are extremely happy and gain so much confidence from getting the designs, Benjamin Lloyd says.

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It takes about eight minutes to do a sleeve design on a child's arm, which was also about the extent of children's attention spans, he said.



"You've got to be quick. And it's good with this design you can get a lot done really quickly."



The only downside is that parents tell him their kids never want to shower or wash it off.



Lloyd wrote about his plan on Facebook on Sunday afternoon and by Monday had more than 250,000 likes and 130,000 shares.

BENJAMIN LLOYD Benjamin Lloyd working on his airbrush designs.

Lloyd said the post has reached more than 15 million people and sent his phone into meltdown.

"I checked it this morning and was just like 'Wow'. I started crying I couldn't believe it."

The 25-year-old artist has airbrushed tattoo designs on a handful of children over the past two years, after years decorating cars and houses.

He uses stencils and sprays his designs using India ink that can be washed off in the shower.

Lloyd said part of his inspiration for helping children was his own experience drawing fake tattoos on himself when he was young.

"I've been drawing my whole life. When I was two years old I had quite a bad burn on my hand and had a skin graft with my bum skin on my hand. I had a big complex about it. I was teased every day at school and so I would draw over my hand and up my sleeve. I just got better and better, eventually I had a line up of people wanting me to draw on them, I was doing deals with kids swapping cards and marbles".

From there he has started his own airbrushing company, working on absolutely everything, with the motto "you say it I'll spray it".

He said he has been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to his plan to go to Starship Hospital and was hoping to visit later this week.

With the enormous spike in demand, he said he may need help from fellow airbrush artists and said anyone who would like to get involved could contact him through his Facebook page.