S06.E02: Fight or Flight

[thewhiteowl]

Guest Judge Oliver Peck delivers a smack down when artists take on his specialty; a twist puts power in the hands of the artists.

 

 

[niklj]

I did something I did not expect to while watching this show: I awwed. I loved how protective Dave was over his mentor Earl.

 

As opposed to the douchery of Ryan who threw his own mentor under the bus when he came under fire. Karma says hello.

[PepperMonkey]

nik, I, too, loved how passionate was Dave in his defense of Earl. For some reason, Earl tugs my heartstrings just a bit. He seems damaged and sad. I was happy he had the best of the eagle tats.

 

I'm officially withdrawring my support of Craig for the win this year. Dude has been there before and he STILL wants to do nothing but new skool. On AMERICAN TRADITIONAL night, ffs. I'm wondering if he can even do black and gray yet, cause that's what got him sent home before.

 

Glad Ryan is gone. He was the biggest douchbag I've ever seen in the history of Ink Master, and that is saying something.

Edited July 3, 2015 by PepperMonkey

[Muffyn]

At the beginning I thought Dave said “This week we’re going rectally into a tattoo challenge.”  Um, I guess he meant directly.  For a moment all I could imagine was the whining while the tattooists got all up close and personal with the rectums of the canvasses.

[TattleTeeny]

I heard that too! 

Somewhat related (as in, hardly, really): In addition to this show on Tuesday nights, I also watch Pretty Little Liars. There was a scene of a main character getting a spur-of-the-moment tattoo immediately after her friend got out of the chair--no paperwork, no IDs, nothin'! Just "You want one too? OK, your turn now." Further, she was getting her hip (I think) done while sitting up normal, which meant that the tattoo lady (who, of course, was all Hot Topic'd out, sassy, and irreverent) was in her own chair all bent at the waist and leaning her face in at the customer's hip level. 

Edited July 1, 2015 by TattleTeeny

[LoneHaranguer]

I was astounded that the canvasses were 100% in agreement with the judges as to which were the bottom three works.

[phoenix780]

I want to know what show that was last night, and whether we get more of them because it was awesome.  

 

I loved having no skull picks.  I loved the little bit of potential drama with someone getting to choose their canvas out of two options, and how that's potentially mitigated by the relationships between the people going head-to-head.  I feel like the tattoos are better because, and it may be because of that.

 

I also enjoyed drama driven by friendship.  It was strange for this show but refreshing.  And they cut one of the biggest boasters!  That was surprising.  

 

I liked the eliminations being head-to-head the way it was.  I also thought the human canvas jury was awesome- probably the most critique I've heard on this show in awhile (the judges critique but it's a lot of posturing to make it exciting, the jury just went for it).  I was further impressed that the peer jury was all about quality of work.  

 

So yeah, I really enjoyed this episode, and I wonder if they listened to feedback because the changes they're making are all on point, imho.  Only slight nitpick was the way the criteria for the main challenge became blurred- was it American Traditional, or was it Legibility- but that was minor, and it was interesting to see the judges take slightly different approaches. 

 

On another note, that girl Katie (the blonde)...for some reason her face/hair remind me of an owl, which is kinda fun.

 

(Huh, a whole comment on this show without having to use the words "douche" or "asshole."  Neat.)

[zxy556575]

My takeaway is that when you give the artists a picture to copy, they do pretty well. Left to design on their own, they flail. A lot of them across seasons don't even seem to understand what the various styles entail. This article has some traditional tattoos that use the same motifs from this episode, but done a lot better.

 

Out of the three lip sync for your life eagles, I liked Kito's the best.

 

The guy who always does new school can bite me.

Edited July 2, 2015 by lordonia

[LoneHaranguer]

 

So yeah, I really enjoyed this episode, and I wonder if they listened to feedback because the changes they're making are all on point, imho.

If it was feedback, what took them so long? Maybe this week's guest judge ripped them a new one over disgracing the profession. I'm a little skeptical of how they're going to maintain the theme as more artists become partnerless, but they're on the right track. I definitely won't miss having winners match canvases with artists likely to screw up what they're asking for. I'm surprised the producers haven't been getting sued over the results, regardless of what kind of contracts the canvases have to sign.

[leighdear]

A surprisingly mellow episode, and I liked it.  Dave was nicely protective of Earl, but I hope that's not his "thing" all season....saving Earl from himself.  Though the waxed 'stache thing is annoying.  I can see a little bit of Dave going a long way. 

 

Craig's ear gauges have really gotten big, I almost didn't realize it was him. 

 

And I agree that when they have a specific, overriding criteria like legibility, they need to stick to it.

 

Is it psychotic that I miss Josh HIbbard?  *LOL*

[TattleTeeny]

Not at all; I liked Josh too.

[leighdear]

He's the only person in all the seasons put together that I'd want to see as a three-peat contestant.  I just love him!  :)

Edited July 2, 2015 by leighdear

[PepperMonkey]

JOSH FTW!!!!

[qtpye]

I really hated that a guy made a horribly dark tattoo skull with a knife just to show his contempt for American Traditional.  It was totally disrespectful to his canvas who will have to live with that for the rest of her life.  During the jury she did not even try to defend his awfulness.  She almost looked like she had tears in her eyes.  It will also be a hard tattoo to cover up because it was so dark.

 

I am glad that guy went home and I hope all his future customers take heed of how unprofessional he acted.

[NikSac]

I kind of think making your human canvas cry because your tattoo was so bad (if they have legitimate criticisms and not just "I didn't end up liking it") should be an automatic out.

[Monty]

I did not like those eagles at the end at all. The legs were coming out of the same place as the wings! And the wings were attached wrongly to the shoulders. I realize the goal isn't 100% anatomical precision, but it just looked weird.

 

But I dug the episode. The drama was mostly subordinate to the tattooing. I would like to see more people talking about their own work, rather than trashing each other's work.

[Muffyn]

That skull and dagger tattoo was awful - much too dark and poorly drawn.  As the poor canvas said, even the knife was crooked.  I could see her showing up on Tattoo Nightmares.  

[niklj]

Another thing: was there any reason they were in an airplane hangar in the beginning?

[NikSac]

That skull and dagger tattoo was awful - much too dark and poorly drawn.  As the poor canvas said, even the knife was crooked.  I could see her showing up on Tattoo Nightmares.  

 

I completely agree. All I could think about was how crazy and huge the cover-up is going to have to be.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

My initial reaction to the bottom three having to do another challenge was wait, you're letting the three worst artists of the day permanently mar three more victims? But I ended up liking that we got to see three interpretations of the same tattoo. In a lot of the elimination challenges, we see such a wide range of what the canvases want and where they want their tattoos. Having the bottom three do the same thing is a great way to compare apples to apples without any of the usual whining about "But my canvas wanted this." I do agree that a lot of the artist seem to have a lot more trouble when they have to come up with their own designs though.

 

Huh, a whole comment on this show without having to use the words "douche" or "asshole."  Neat.

Compared to some of the past seasons, this group is pretty low on the douche scale. Well, so far anyway. It's only the second episode so there's plenty of time for douchebaggery!

[leighdear]

 

I could see her showing up on Tattoo Nightmares.

Tommy should have had her in his chair within 36 hours, with all her expenses paid.  But not to be televised, because SPIKE TV would never acknowledge that kind of screw-up on the air.  

 

 

My initial reaction to the bottom three having to do another challenge was wait, you're letting the three worst artists of the day permanently mar three more victims?

As long as the design and requirements are tightly controlled, this is probably ok.  Keep it small, simple and no room for "personal interpretation". 

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

Another thing: was there any reason they were in an airplane hangar in the beginning?

I think it had something to do with housing WWII era planes, because WWII is the era where American traditional started.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

They said that during WW2, paint was in short supply so the pinup girls and other things painted on planes were done with fewer colors and they compensated by using bold black to contrast, which is where the American traditional style of tattoos came from.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Tommy should have had her in his chair within 36 hours, with all her expenses paid.  But not to be televised, because SPIKE TV would never acknowledge that kind of screw-up on the air.

Actually, they've already had at least one canvas from this show get his tattoo fixed on Tattoo Nightmares. IIRC, it was a salty old fellow with a botched pinup on his arm. The best they'll be able to do with the skull would be something that screams "coverup", but the show has aired a few like that, as well as some that weren't entirely successful, so you never know.

[qtpye]

That skull and dagger tattoo was awful - much too dark and poorly drawn.  As the poor canvas said, even the knife was crooked.  I could see her showing up on Tattoo Nightmares.

 

 

The thing that really annoyed me is that it is one thing if your artist tries his or her best and can not execute a good tattoo because it is beyond their ability to do so.  It is a chance that you take when coming on a show like this as a canvas...that your tattoo artist is working under crazy time constraints and perhaps in a style in which they are uncomfortable.

 

However, this guy purposely gave his canvas a bad tattoo so he could prove his point, which was American Traditional sucks.  For all the jerks and bad tattoos that we have seen on the show, I think this is the first time we saw that (I could be wrong).

Edited July 2, 2015 by qtpye

[TattleTeeny]

Such a shortsighted thing to do. And I love American traditional!

[Jon Doe]

iam so glad that bitch ryan got the boot, good riddance douchebag

[halkatla]

I hope I won´t be proven wrong, but I think this is the best group of contestants since season 2. The master vs apprentice thing works, in that they are friendly and nice (at least at the start). They´re pretty good at tattooing, I don´t know anything about tattoos so when I first started watching the show I was blown away every episode by how amazing they were and I didn´t understand the judges critique. Then as time went on I was less and less impressed. I didn´t even like season 4 or 5, except for a few people who knew what they ere doing and weren´t annoying. I´m so happy with the way this season is turning out. Loosing that annoying guy Ryan was an unexpected joy.

[ShadowSixx]

I'm catching up via Hulu and I loved how protective Dave was as well. I was like finally a contestant who isn't all so bitter and have a big chip on his shoulder. Many times I've said that most contestants that are on this show I wouldn't go to them in real life to get tattoos because of their attitudes and the way they're portrayed on the show. I really do hate when an artist says they're getting screwed when the topic of flash and elimination challenges are all the same, so there is now screwing.

 

Ryan was a douche and was so happy that he was eliminated. His tattoos were so ugly. I feared he was going to be like last season's Emily, and just stick around for drama sake thank goodness I was wrong. I thought Earl was gonna get eliminated because they showed his talking head so much I said he's eliminated and I was wrong again lol. 

 

I wonder how many styles these tattoo artists learn when becoming artists because it seems even when some of them do what they are "allegedly" good at, it still comes out bad. For the artists do they focus on just one frame of tattooing or do some branch out and do other styles.

 

Count me in as well for wanting to see Josh Hibbard again. 

[tm07]

@shadowsixx I seriously couldn't stand Emily. She was such a bitch