A 12-YEAR-OLD girl from Texas has officially been named the world's youngest tattoo artist.
Natalie Dejesus started inking at the remarkable age of six and now has clients from as far as Scotland, Alaska and Russia.
The youngster learned her craft from her mother, Ariel, and has since taken the internet by storm.
Videos of Natalie tattooing her clients have gone viral on social mediaafter perfecting the skill at such a young age.
After practising her first tattoo on her mum, Natalie quickly fell in love with the idea of inking.
Now, armed with her blood-borne pathogen license, Natalie is a fully certified, and thriving, professional tattoo artist.
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Speaking on her apprentice daughter, Ariel said: “I trust her 100%.
"She trains all of my employees, any employee that I have, she trains them, and I feel like she could run that whole shop without me, honestly.
“Whenever they see Natalie and they see her working, and they see that she knows what she's doing, and I don't have to tell her a single thing, they go to her and ask her questions
“Sometimes I'll be tattooing when she's tattooing – So, I'm not even there to be able to supervise her.”
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It didn't take long for Natalie to follow in her mothers footsteps after being introduced to the inking world as a baby.
Having watched Ariel tattoo her clients, Natalie was tasked to ink her initials and add to an expanding array of art.
Natalie’s love for tattoos and art blossomed and after a few years of practice, alongside some first hand training with her mum, she became a fully-fledged tattoo artist.
The fact that she now has to wade through client appointments shows her level of talent.
Ariel said: “I started tattooing when she was three months old. So that's what she grew up with.
“I never sat down and said this is how you hold the machine, this is how you draw a line, this is how you wipe the tattoo.
"I never taught her any of that. She learned all of that on her own by watching. So that's pretty amazing.
“She picked up a machine at six years old and did a little ‘n’ and then, as she gradually got older, she started learning more and more on her own actually."
Ariel reveals that, despite her daughters young age, they have no issues with finding clients.
She added: “It's not hard for us to market to try to get her clients. I think a lot of people were really interested in a 12-year-old tattoo and when she blew up on social media, she was 11.”
But Natalie and Ariel's business has really taken off thanks to their "blindfold tattoos", in which a client is unable to see what is being inked on their body.
People even travel from far and wide just for the experience.
“I have had people from Hawaii, Alaska, Scotland and Russia," said Natalie.
"I've had clients from almost every state come here to get a blindfold tattoo and that's what really popped off.
“I think that having all the attention from the blindfold tattoos helped recognise Natalie whenever she started tattooing.”
While Natalie has already gathered a strong reputation, Ariel, from Fort Worth, Texas, believes that her young apprentice has a long way to go to become a tattoo star.
She said: “I think that she's headed in the right direction but from a professional artist, she has plenty of room to learn as well. I don't think as an artist we ever stop learning.
“I wish she practiced every day, but she does not. Her practice is when she comes in and feels like she wants to tattoo.
“I don't think that her sitting down and practicing every day or whatnot is going to happen until her attention span is a little bit better, maybe when 14, 15, 16 years old.
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“She's 12. So, she has the attention span of a 12-year-old.
“She can say that she doesn't want to do it all day long, but I know it's going to happen."
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