Ink Masters

[21stNow]

Oh, you know all the nails shops are going to be bombarded with people wanted nail tattoos. My artist has been bombarded with koi fish lately.

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I'm not in love with Chris because I know where he comes from. He co-founded the most egotistic shop in Omaha. Great artists there, but I can't handle the egos.

I don't understand the blow outs he had with he first client and the issue he had with the neck tattoo not taking the ink. I am not an artist. I am a collector. Do artists really come across skin that is untattooable(if that's even a word)? My freckled friend has a few tattoos and her linework always sucks. Kind of broken in to dots. Her artists always blame it in her freckled skin. But then she has never gone to a quality artist for her tattoos.

I have a spot on the top of my left foot that has skin that is thicker or of a different texture from the rest of the skin on my foot. I plan to let my artist know about it whenever I get a foot tattoo. I don't know that it will make a difference, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. That area doesn't absorb lotion in the same way as the skin around it, so it isn't far-fetched to think that ink could go in differently.

[pidjones]

Ok, I have to recant. Slightly.

I took a good look (as much as I can in a mirror, lol) and there are white and light blue parts of my tattoo up in the blue of the water and in the clear of the jellyfish were you can see my freckles. It actually looks like the white ring of the jellyfish is a little dirty! This is not part of an outline, but they do show through some of the lighter ink.

OK, you really must buy yourself a good USB web cam so that you can admire your art. And from what I've seen of it, your linework is impeccable!

[Electric i]

It seems obvious to me that, barring an upset, Chris Blinston is going to take the title this season. He has consistently done excellent work including some fairly large pieces.

[marley mission]

i have to say i find this season to be the least enjoyable of the series

i wish that they could cut the drama and the odd skull challenges

and just have these artists just let these artists make good tattoos each week

they seem to force these gimmicky ideas week to week

and so many of the artists are portrayed to have awful personalities

which i think alot of it is a big staged deal

anyway - the product of this show

gets more unattractive from season to season

and week to week

just one mans opinion

[Tornado6]

I DVR it and fast forward all of that stuff :cool:

[Synesthesia]

Marley, I agree. I think there's been the most drama so far this season, all of it pointless. Think of how much better it would be if it was just a bunch of buddies doing the best tattoos they could with realistic constraints (instead of tattooing fingernails and incorporating people's buttcracks into the design). It always bothers me how during the skull picks, they all try to screw each other up...these are going on people forever and you guys are TRYING to give them bad tattoos.

I'm still rooting for Kruseman. He's a local artist, does solid traditional, and has one of the better attitudes of anyone there.

[TrixieFaux]

Kruseman does at least appear to be one of the more decent human beings. Have to say, I was happy for Duffy when she won that victorian challenge. This show, as sucky and annoying as it may be, is still one of our guilty pleasure shows...

[The Tig]

A guilty pleasure indeed! Even see some of the tattoo artists I know follow inkmaster's Instagram feed even though they say they never watch the show. ;)

Like everyone else, I don't enjoy the contrived drama, but that's Spike and "reality" TV for ya'. I don't mind watching the egotistical a-holes go down in flames, even though some are quite talented in their area.

St. MarQ, "I am a tattoo god!"

https://www.pinterest.com/MrsStMarq/st-marq/

Joshua Hibbard

Portland Oregon Tattoo Shop | Joshua Hibbard | Tattoo Book

[Hogrider]

Like everyone else, I don't enjoy the contrived drama, but that's Spike and "reality" TV for ya'. I don't mind watching the egotistical a-holes go down in flames, even though some are quite talented in their area.

St. MarQ, "I am a tattoo god!"

Unfortunately the contestants have discovered that by being obnoxious assholes, they get more screen time. As long as it works, they'll continue to do it. I'm not sure why someone thinks it's good to be famous for being a butthole, but that's the new reality.

[Electric i]

Here's a fun fact: St. Marq taught Chris Blinston how to tattoo. So, due to Chris not wanting to send that twat with the mustache home, St. Marq left WAY sooner than he should have.

[xcom]

Here's a fun fact: St. Marq taught Chris Blinston how to tattoo. So, due to Chris not wanting to send that twat with the mustache home, St. Marq left WAY sooner than he should have.

WoW didnt know that... As far as him leaving to early.. I didnt think so. Homeboy could not think outside the box and was stuck on his own ways/style.

By this season players know the game and they are not going to put up with ego maniacs that try to get in peoples head... so the whole team ganged up on him...

I am sure that if you would of have asked the second team to also have a pic from the over all team they would have gunned for him.

That tactic worked on most seassons but to his luck it did not play out on his advantage this time and the judges had no choice even though they didnt want him out... It was too clear...

Very talented artists but tooooooooo stuck to his own ways and people like that are not good for this type of games.

Also this was an amazing tactic by Chris.... He played it out well! he knew none of the other team mates could have taken out St. Marq and it was obvious he was going to be the one to be put on the head chopper... So Chris wanted to be put for elimination so he can have the chance to go head to head with him...

So one more player with strong reputation and skills out works very well on his favor...

Well played Chris... Well played..

Now he has about 3 maybe 4 more to worry about...

[Electric i]

Yeah, keeping Mustache Pete in the house kept Chris' "Team Florida" strong, which is what he wanted/needed. St. Marq would have crushed that little guy like an insect and Chris is actually a really good tactician as well as a damn fine artist. When I saw his Heart/Grenade that sealed his victory in my mind, although he has stumbled a couple times since then. Now that Tyler is gone he is alone and not well-liked, so the rest of the season is going to be interesting.

And Craig has more lives than a cat. He isn't going to make the Top 3, but he has survived a lot longer than I expected him too. He is probably a fantastic artist in his home studio, but the House seems to rattle him something fierce.

[xcom]

Yeah, keeping Mustache Pete in the house kept Chris' "Team Florida" strong, which is what he wanted/needed. St. Marq would have crushed that little guy like an insect and Chris is actually a really good tactician as well as a damn fine artist. When I saw his Heart/Grenade that sealed his victory in my mind, although he has stumbled a couple times since then. Now that Tyler is gone he is alone and not well-liked, so the rest of the season is going to be interesting.

And Craig has more lives than a cat. He isn't going to make the Top 3, but he has survived a lot longer than I expected him too. He is probably a fantastic artist in his home studio, but the House seems to rattle him something fierce.

I couldn't agree more! But I do think Craig is a strong artist and will make it far.

For sure 100 times better than the last season.

[xcom]

So I been watching it on Hulu sense I have no cable/sat :P dont judge me.... lol...

I just caught up with Episode 9 and I have to say that Craig disappointed me with his performance.... I hope he picks it up. He did an awesome polka trash piece in the previous episode... It was amazing.

Now to Episode 10. :)

[Blaue]

We watch on Hulu. My husband laughs and knows what we are watching from the other room based on how often the language sensor beeps. I like seeing the tattoos, but wish the critiques had more air time. My neophyte eyes can't always tell what they are criticizing.

I will happily admit that I found my tattoo artist from this show. One of the shop's owners was on as a guest judge. I have googled a couple of people on the show, so I googled this guest judge because he is in NYC. Then I fell in love with the work of one of the artists in that shop. And now I am the proud bearer of art from an amazing artist!

[PinkUnicorn]

We watch on Hulu. My husband laughs and knows what we are watching from the other room based on how often the language sensor beeps.

I find the beeping very annoying (particularly when I'm watching on netflix).

I wish they'd either not beep it, or have a script which didn't "need" to be beeped.

[The Tig]

We watch it later and pause during the reveal of each tattoo so we can take time to really look at it.

Watching the new UK series, Tattoo Fixers, nothing is bleeped and more skin is revealed than we'll ever see on US TV.

[21stNow]

I liked episode 13 because it showed some of the challenges in tattooing dark skin. It was still kind of disappointing because in just over 40 minutes, there wasn't a lot of discussion as to what should be done differently before a design, size, color and placement is chosen because the skin is dark as opposed to the choices that would be made with lighter skin.

As a person with dark skin that likes tattoos, it is hard to find information on design choices that would work better for dark skin. There is one blog that I have found that is dedicated to getting information out about what to look for. However, the blog's advice tends to be "find an artist that is used to tattooing dark skin". That doesn't go far enough. I live in an area that has a high concentration of black people. For the most part, any tattoo shop that is in the city or inner suburbs has a high number of customers that have dark skin. However, practice doesn't always make perfect. Just because a shop has tattooed customers with dark skin for 10 years doesn't mean that they are "good" at it.

The nature of the art of tattooing has a lot of secrecy in it. I can respect that, but it can reduce the amount of information that is available to the client to make an informed decision. We have to trust the artists that we do find that have experience with tattooing darker skin. That smaller number of artists limits our choices in the first place; we, as customers, don't know if the information and suggestions that we are receiving are good or not.

The other facet of the tattoo industry that hinders us is that portfolio pictures are usually taken as soon as the tattoo is done. This really doesn't help dark-skinned clients in the search for a good tattoo artist for two reasons. One is that even with artists that have a high number of dark-skinned clients, the portfolio pictures tend to skew more toward the clients with lighter skin tones. The second is that tattoos look different once they are healed. This difference is even more pronounced on clients with dark skin.

I meet many dark-skinned people with tattoos and get a chance to ask questions. However, it leaves me with more questions than I started with! I see designs that I wouldn't have been interested in in the first place. There are other factors that I find that would be different between what I would choose and what the person that I talk to chose. If I went by what I saw in the general public, I probably would have never gotten a tattoo.

I would like to see more discussion on tattooing dark skin in the industry in general. It seems like people are scared to talk about it because they may be perceived as being racist. However, the difference is real and should be discussed.

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To bring my long-winded discussion back around to this episode of Ink Master, I thought that Kruseman was unfairly criticized for keeping it simple with his tattoo. It is often recommended to keep tattoos simple on dark skin and I thought that Kruseman's tattoo showed up the best now and probably will in the future. I get that people don't think that guys want rose tattoos, but that is a myth that is proven wrong on a daily basis.

Chris' portrait tattoo also looked like it would hold up pretty well. While I agreed with the judges that the mouth was different from the photo and that the hands weren't great, I thought that those were minor details that didn't affect the overall tattoo and how it shows up now and will show up in the future.

Matt's tattoo was one that I thought that should not have been done on a client with dark skin. The eagle was too dark, detailed and cramped in the body in order to be able to discern what you are looking at if you see this tattoo from a distance. This showed the challenge that even if the tattoo is large, it still doesn't need to be as detailed as it would be on a client with lighter skin because the contrast isn't great enough for the eye to see that detail from a distance.

Craig's tattoo actually didn't seem as bad as what the judges made it out to be. The scribbles did distract me, but I thought that the use of gray to get a 3-D effect came out better than I thought that it would. I've seen designs like that that were done with all black that end up looking more like scars or cover-ups rather than tattoos. Visually, I think that Craig's may hold up better over time and if not, was one of the easier designs to touch-up in the future.

I don't know what to say about Duffy's tattoo. I couldn't tell what that was from a distance and would probably struggle if I were up close to it. This tattoo shows why I think the overall concept of a tattoo competition show is a bad idea because there needed to be more consultation with the client. The client initially wanted 5-6 different things. Duffy did talk him down to three things. However, the area where that tattoo was placed still doesn't allow for all of that to fit and show up well. Even just the Detroit skyline would have been difficult to show and contrast in such a relatively small space. I think that Duffy's tattoo would have been better with less black and more gray, but that's just my guess. She had a hard client to work with that just needed more time than what the show allows for.

Tyler's tattoo went the other direction, with too much gray and not enough black. There was too much detail for it to show up well on the client's skin, as well. The white ink probably won't be visible in less than two months, so the accents that we saw today will be gone soon. While I understood the judges' criticism of being unable to discern whether that was a bear or a canine, I could still tell that it was an animal of some sort. This gave his a leg up over Duffy's because I couldn't tell what her design was at all if I hadn't seen the consultation that led up to it.

Overall, I liked the episode because it forced the artists to deal with the challenge of tattooing dark skin. I have seen episodes of this show and other shows that show one or two clients with dark skin that all of the artists try to avoid. This brought the challenge to the forefront as these artists could not avoid dark skin at all.

[Synesthesia]

As usual, I really liked Kruseman's (fangirl, I guess). He did exactly what he should have and his was the only really readable design and would age the nicest. I was pretty bummed that the jury criticized it for being "just a rose," I'd much rather have a nice clean rose than 50 different components crammed into one muddy tattoo. People have no respect for the classics. Tyler's was shockingly bad, like scratcher level bad. And I'm so sick of his "I don't normally tattoo this subject, this skin, etc" shit...what DO you do?

Things I would love to see the show do away with: the jury, and the entire existing format pretty much. The jury adds nothing to the show and it's always pretty shocking to see them vote someone the worst of the day when the judges thought they were one of the best. Just goes to show how little the average person knows about tattoos, I guess. I really feel like it contributes nothing and is pretty mean spirited. I would hate to have my brand new tattoo dissected by a bunch of people on TV and I always feel bad whenever someone is brought to tears during it. There's just no need to make someone feel so bad about something that wasn't even their fault...most of the time they didn't pick the artist and didn't impose the time limits.

As for the format...I've always hated the skull pick thing. This isn't how tattooing is done, unless you're a world famous artist who has the luxury of declining inquiring people, you pretty much have to try to do whatever comes in the door or send it to someone else in the shop at least. I would like the show a lot better if people chose their artist. It's always kind of mind boggling when the show actually does that (like the last episode with the football players) and all the artists act like it's the worst thing ever...uh, isn't this how your shop is run back home? And if they actually got a decent amount of time to consult with them, if they broke the sittings up over more days, etc...anything to make sure the tattoos were the best they could be. Someone who isn't on the level of the other artists is still going to suck, whether they have 1 hour or 30 hours to do a tattoo. At least then it would give people more of a chance to get decent tattoos and do the craft more justice. And of course, they could get rid of as much drama as possible and I wouldn't bat an eye.

[Electric i]

I hate to be That Guy, but it seems to be the role I am destined to play in life.

It's Season 6 of Ink Master, not season 1. There is NO REASON for any artist to enter that House and say "Gee I don't do (insert name of style here)" because they should know by now what is expected of them. Even if you have never seen a single episode of the show, you have Internet access and you can go to the Wikipedia page and learn.

You can't do portraits? Don't sign up.

You can't do Black and Gray? Don't sign up.

You can't do American Traditional? Don't fucking sign up.

It's a competition not your home studio. If you can't handle the pressure, pack your shit and go home. Or better still, DON'T FUCKING SIGN UP. (I'm looking right at YOU, Mystical Mike, you fucking prat.)

Shane O'Neill, Scott Marshall, Steve Teft, Joey Hamilton...these guys didn't crack under the pressure. They consistently turned in solid, good tattoos under the exact same constraints as everyone else. And Scott Marshall then defeated 3 other Ink Masters in a Contest of Champions, so you can call him arrogant, but unless you can out-tattoo him, then you have no choice but to suck it up and drive on.

To quote Sean Connery "Losers whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the Prom Queen."

[xcom]

@Synesthesia, I guess they forgot to talk to you when they made they show.. LOL... J/K ;)

Its meant for TV and they will drive that way... I understand what you mean but you have to understand that this is to capture as much audience they can and not just tattooers/collectors...

What people like? Drama and Bullshit.... That's what all this realty tv shows bring and Ink Masters have a mixture of "game" and "reality tv" and this is where @Electric i nails the coffin...

@Electric i, +1 everything you said.

[pidjones]

Last night showed that no master is permitted to be sent home before the apprentice. Kruseman's portrait was sad, sad, sad. Duffy's only added a few pounds and had a slightly higher hair line. I felt sorry for the father and son both in Kuseman's case - the face on that thing was awful. But, Duffy was sent packing. I think I liked the flash challenge on this one better than some of the others.

[Synesthesia]

@Synesthesia, I guess they forgot to talk to you when they made they show.. LOL... J/K ;)

Its meant for TV and they will drive that way... I understand what you mean but you have to understand that this is to capture as much audience they can and not just tattooers/collectors...

What people like? Drama and Bullshit.... That's what all this realty tv shows bring and Ink Masters have a mixture of "game" and "reality tv" and this is where @Electric i nails the coffin...

@Electric i, +1 everything you said.

I don't know a single person who actually enjoys the bickering and contrived set-ups. Not on this show or any other reality show. I think this is just what TV producers thinks people like, or what they hope they can make people like if they shove it down their throats enough. I'm just saying I would like the show a lot better if those things were different, I don't really expect them to change anything because that would require effort on everyone's part.

[9Years]

...There is NO REASON for any artist to enter that House and say "Gee I don't do (insert name of style here)" because they should know by now what is expected of them.

Not to interrupt your "keeping it real" moment, but you are missing the principle reason, admitted or not, that most 'artists' sign up for this contest. It is not because they have hopes of winning it; win, lose or get laughed off, I bet you their business goes through the roof (at least in the short term) because every chump with no clue wants a sweet-tatty from "that guy from the TV". They can now forever scrawl those magic words "as seen on season xxxx of...." which all the rubes will eat up from now until forever.

That's the real shame of these shit-shows, IMO.

[Electric i]

Not to interrupt your "keeping it real" moment, but you are missing the principle reason, admitted or not, that most 'artists' sign up for this contest. It is not because they have hopes of winning it; win, lose or get laughed off, I bet you their business goes through the roof (at least in the short term) because every chump with no clue wants a sweet-tatty from "that guy from the TV". They can now forever scrawl those magic words "as seen on season xxxx of...." which all the rubes will eat up from now until forever.

That's the real shame of these shit-shows, IMO.

Yeah, you're right. There's no possible way doing badly on this show could hinder an artist's career. Nope, none at all. Everyone wants to get a tattoo done by someone who was on TV. Even if that person was...how did you say it? Laughed off the show? Yeah, that's definitely a selling point for an artist. "Hey, did you see me get mocked and ridiculed by my peers? How about you pay me to put ink into your skin!"

A fool and his money.