When I was 10, I wanted to be a garbage man. And an astronaut. And a teacher. And the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox. What I’m trying to say is that, at that age I had no idea what I actually wanted to do once I was grown up. Hell, I’m deep into my career and I’m still not exactly sure if this is what I want to do. Needless to say, I was very different from Thomas Spring. This 10-year-old from Muskegon, Michigan knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up—a tattoo artist. 

In an interview with Bored Panda, Katie Eklund, Thomas’s mom, talked about how her son was basically born to be a tattoo artist. His father is a heavy metal drummer, his stepfather is an engineer who happens to be a talented artist who has dabbled in tattooing and Eklund herself is a talented photographer. Thomas, who likes to go by the nickname Bubba, has been surrounded by art his entire life. 

“Thomas always had a pen and paper in hand since he was around 2 or 3 years old learning to write and color,” Eklund told Bored Panda. “He started to develop a taste in heavy metal music since his dad is a musician and also covered in tattoos. Thomas started tracing skulls and anatomically correct hearts, now he free hands and ‘eyeballs’ all of those things, including characters like Pennywise and The Joker, and various DC and Marvel Comics.” 

We love to see the passion that young Bubba has for tattoos. With at least eight more years to practice before he can legally tattoo, Bubba has gotten quite the head start on an apprenticeship. Although, he might want to think about wearing some gloves once he picks up an actual tattoo machine. 🙂