Nine-year-old Thai tattoo artist makes his mark

Wielding a cumbersome tattoo gun with his small hands swamped in surgical gloves, nine-year-old Napat Mitmakorn expertly inks the pattern of a fanged serpent on a man’s upper thigh.

“I want to be a tattoo artist and open a parlour,” he told AFP in his booth at a Bangkok tattoo expo, where fascinated attendees paused to film his work. “I like art, so I like tattoos.”

Tattooing is a centuries-old tradition in Thailand, where tattoo parlours are omnipresent and offer designs ranging from the ancient and spiritual to the modern and profane.

Napat’s father, Nattawut Sangtong, said he introduced his son, who goes by the nickname “Knight”, to the craft of tattooing to avoid the pitfalls of contemporary childhood.

“I just wanted to keep him away from his phone because he was addicted to gaming and had a short attention span,” said the 38-year-old, an amateur tattooist who works at a block printing factory.

Watch Knight in action here:

Mastering the craft from tutorials

The father-son duo learned from TikTok tutorials. They practised on paper before graduating to artificial leather simulating human skin and then the real thing.

Knight said he swiftly picked up the skills because art is his favourite school subject. Recognising his son’s talent, Nattawut now coaches him in two-hour sessions three days a week.

“It’s not just tattooing, it’s like meditation,” Nattawut said.

The tattoo artist with milk teeth

The pair runs a TikTok channel called The Tattoo Artist with Milk Teeth. They livestream Knight’s sessions and sometimes draw hundreds of thousands of viewers with a single clip.

His Saturday session at the Thailand Tattoo Expo was his public debut. He tattooed his uncle a second time, marking him with a 20 cm mythical Naga serpent.

Unfazed by the techno music blaring from massive speakers, Knight predicts the creature from Hindu and Thai folklore will take 12 hours to complete.

Only family and friends get tattoos for now

For now, his father insists he only works on family and friends. Opening up to public clients would require more rigorous hygiene training.

But Naruebet Chonlatachaisit, Knight’s uncle, is relaxed as the tattoo takes shape on his left leg. “I trust him, and I think he’ll only improve,” he says.

Knight was one of nearly 200 artists at the Thailand Tattoo Expo. However, he drew outsized attention among the crowds of thousands of visitors this weekend.

Office worker Napat Muangsawang stopped by the boy’s booth to admire his meticulous artistry.

“The art is quite amazing. It isn’t easy, and not like drawing on a paper where you can erase it.”

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