S06.E06: Firing Lines

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Heads roll when artists must take on a legend in the elimination challenge. Devious strategy during skull picks heats up the competition, forcing one artist to face an insanely demanding canvas.

 

[HunterHunted]

Kito's drawing was terrible and his tattoo worse, but his canvas was awful. She had a bad case of hot girl syndrome, meaning she's used to getting her way because she's hot. However, the editors made it sound like she was delusional for wanting a koi fish with flowers. When we saw the completed tattoos there were quite a few flowers.

I want St. Marq's next tattoo to be a cube just to figure out how he'll pull that off without lines.

[tm07]

Kito hasn't been the best tattoo artist, but I am not going to lie I was sad to see him leave. I loved his personality, but I have to remember this is a competition :/. But that canvas I wanted to slap, she sounded like such a Whiney bitch. Forgive me if I am in correct but I know she said she didn't want water because... It doesn't move(???), then she only wanted one whisker? Then she was about to cry, because she was scarred it was going to hurt? I was like, "WHAT?! Why the hell are you here?" Someone posted her Twitter name under the #humancanvas hashtag on Twitter. Apparently she is a stripper and porn star. I did not know that lol but no matter what she is, she shouldn't have been such a Whiney bitch I'm sorry that's unforgivable :/

St. Marq is annoying the shit out of me =___= I hate his cocky attitude

[murf1013]

Wow. I'm not a Kito fan, but his canvas was a pain in the ass. No water ... for a koi fish??? The idea of the flowers wouldn't have bothered me if she actually had a legit reason for wanting flowers and not water.

I'm starting to wonder if IM actively recruits difficult canvases? I have tattoos and personally, I don't know that I'd go on a competitive tattooing show where the contestants are looking to screw their co-contestants in the first place. And I definitely wouldn't do it if I wanted something SO specific.

On the other hand ... I'd let Tommy Helm tattoo whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted on my body (except the neck up). He could tattoo anything he chose because I know it would kick ass regardless of what it was. (Ok ... maybe not a naked woman/man. I don't want nekkid peeps on my skin.)

Edited August 5, 2015 by murf1013

[phoenix780]

That canvas struck me as a famewhore, amping it up for airtime, so even if she's unhappy- oh well.  Just go on The Bachelor next time, or Big Brother, whatever.  

 

I thought the skull pick was the smartest I've seen on this show.  It wasn't random personal nonsense or some convoluted battle between the self-described best.  It was just strategy, I was pretty impressed.

 

Overall it was pretty entertaining.  If the rest of this season goes this way I'll be a happy viewer.

[Charlesman]

I think last season in the "fix the show/suggestions" thread, I brought up the idea that the guest judges should have to tattoo alongside the contestants for 2 reasons: 1) so they would appreciate the constraints the artists are under with time and the parameters of the show, and 2) so we at least get to see one good tattoo each week. I liked that they brought a little of that into this episode, but I would have liked to have seen even more of the guest judge's tattoo. He did definitely appear to get a lot done in the same six hours everyone else had. I wonder why he did so much better and wish it was talked about more.

[candall]

Okay, so Mike Rubendall may be the master, but I could not figure out that fish when they showed his tattoo, before I'd seen the others.  The artwork is absolutely beautiful, but only the eye and the one fin tell me there's a fish in there.  Sorry.

[WickedTuna]

Okay, so Mike Rubendall may be the master, but I could not figure out that fish when they showed his tattoo, before I'd seen the others.  The artwork is absolutely beautiful, but only the eye and the one fin tell me there's a fish in there.  Sorry.

I thought his tattoo was really hard to read. I didn't even see the fish until they went in close.

I must have been looking at different dogus because I didn't think any of them were that good and the judges were raving over them

[tm07]

@charlesman you know what? I didn't even realize what you said until you said it, but that is a good idea to have brought him on the show to have him tattoo with the other contestants. His time management was amazing, I am not a tattoo artist, but I am an artist and one of my biggest flaws is time management. I AM NOT GOOD AT IT. But it's nice to see a tattoo artist guest judge tattooing along side the contestants <3

[tm07]

@pheonix780 agreed! That was such a genius move! I am surprised St. Marq didn't get the annoying human canvas though. You would think he would have been picked for her just to get his nerves riled up and give him a hard time.

[phoenix780]

I wonder if the presence of a "master" impacted the canvasses' behavior.  I'd probably act out a little if I was stuck with a contestant (who was likely assigned my tattoo because it would throw them off their game) while someone got a legit expert.  I also might roll with it more if I knew my artist was the expert, making it easier for them to do good work.  

 

Also, if they had to tattoo side-by-side with someone, why not Nunez?  This is his style, right?

[leighdear]

I was happy for Matt getting the win.  He's focused, non-dramatic and does good work.  

 

I agree the pornstar/bimbo Koi canvas amped up the drama on purpose.  I think they plant at least one "disrupter" in every challenge, and whomever gets it is just unlucky for that episode.  Some pull it out, but some like Kito just couldn't.   

 

I loved to watch both Chris Nunez & Chris Garver work, back in the Miami Ink days.  I adored all of them, even Ami.  

[Hana Chan]

St. Marq needs to be served a big steaming cup of "shut the fuck up". Am sick to death of hearing him go on and on about how amazing he is and then it doesn't show up in his tattooing. He should have been down at the bottom since the challenge was line work and his was nearly devoid of any real lines. The ones at the bottom at least tried to do lines and didn't duck the challenge.

 

I always look forward to Japanese week, as this is the style that is so dear to my heart. And the judges are right in that it's such a specific aesthetic and it's quickly obvious when it's not done right. It's obvious that most of these artists just don't now the style and that's pretty ridiculous to anyone familiar with the show - they had to know that it's going to come up at some point in the season. Why they didn't study up on the style makes no sense to me if they want to win.

 

My personal favorite was Erik's, but I can't argue with Mark winning (I just didn't love the colors). Most of the others had some serious flaws and few came close to hitting the mark of being a good example of traditional Japanese tattooing. As far as Kito goes... he got totally screwed. I had issues with the design but his canvas was a disaster. This had train wreak written all of it and I think that whoever got her would have been equally trashed. My bottom picks would have been St. Marq (for the total lack of line work), Kito, Marisa and maybe Dave and going by the rules, since this was a linework challenge specifically, the one who did almost no lines would lose out to those who did lines and maybe didn't do them as well as they could have. St. Marq would be gone.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Hana Chan

[Maharincess]

Peck wasn't even trying to be sly as he was staring at porn star difficult canvas' chest was he? It looked like Nunez was at least trying to be sly about looking.

Why were Dave's eyes so swollen? He reminds me of a little kid, always trying on new looks to try to make himself look cooler.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Maharincess

[zxy556575]

Nice discussion of how to tattoo over stretch marks, guys! We've also had to listen to you whinge about older skin, darker skin, scars, moles, asscracks, jiggly skin, nipples, and just overall bad skin. Also, the only body parts that any of these "top tattooists" like are the back, arms, legs and chest. Ankles, feet, hands, armpits, neck, head, face, and god forbid the ribs are all TOO HARD!! And the canvases better goddamned sit perfectly still or any mistakes are all their fault.

[phoenix780]

Nice discussion of how to tattoo over stretch marks, guys! We've also had to listen to you whinge about older skin, darker skin, scars, moles, asscracks, jiggly skin, nipples, and just overall bad skin. Also, the only body parts that any of these "top tattooists" like are the back, arms, legs and chest. Ankles, feet, hands, armpits, neck, head, face, and god forbid the ribs are all TOO HARD!! And the canvases better goddamned sit perfectly still or any mistakes are all their fault.

Don't forget that they'll also complain about the flash challenges, as in "I'm not a sculptor."  They do seem more sensitive than people on similar reality competition shows, though I'd never thought about it until your comment.

Edited August 6, 2015 by phoenix780

[Hana Chan]

I'm not overly irked about the artists complaining about having to work on difficult body parts or canvases with skin imperfections because they do making doing their best work more difficult. This is a contest, after all, and stretch marks make getting clean lines and color saturation more challenging. If the had their choice, they of course would want pristine, smooth skin to work on (preferably in a nice open body spot and on a canvas with high pain tolerance levels so they don't have to deal with squirming or complaining). And this lot is inclined to bitch about everything so I just tune the stretch mark complaint out.

 

Unfortunately we've seen many times when getting a crap canvas draw can and does knock contestants out of the competition. Kito wasn't going to win, but he got totally nailed by an unreasonable canvas who made it impossible for him to do a reasonably good job. This went beyond just being difficult, but near sabotage. It's one thing when a particular canvas makes doing the tattoo a challenge (like the stretch marks), but it's another when they simply make it impossible for you to do your job.

[NikSac]

I wish that judge would take that nasty toothpick out of his mouth while he speaks. Watching people use toothpicks under normal circumstances is gross but while talking? Seems disrespectful and also disgusting.

 

Same here!

 

I have a weird 'thing' about toothpicks, as in cannot stand them (I have a very hard time eating a sandwich if it's been toothpicked first), to the point that it's kind of a joke in my family, so I always thought I was just oversensitive to him.  It so grosses me out. Would it kill him to spit the thing out for an hour or two before/during filming?

[OakGoblinFly]

Ugh, Kito never stood a chance with that woman as his client - I don't like to use the term "fame-whore" but I think I will make an exception in her case.  I have no doubt that she was willing to let herself get any kind of tattoo just for the publicity.  I have no doubt she had a plan to have it covered-up before she ever walked in that door.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was a plant and was told by producers to be as difficult, unrealistic, and demanding as possible.   Then again, she could be just that dumb - really, you can't even say 'koi fish' and you think water with a fish tattoo is stupid.

 

Someone needs to take St Marq behind the barn and open up a can of whoop ass on him.  He's not a very good "villain" and frankly I've not been impressed with any of his work.

 

Chris really needs to stop with the macho-Marine talk - we get it dude, you are a former Marine, you're proud of that, just stop.

 

Katie is like nails on a chalkboard - the affected speech, the garish lipstick choices, and the stupidity that she spews - just go away.

 

Erik, Matt, and Chris were my favorite tattoos.

 

I don't think that Dave Navarro is particularly attractive, yet I found myself a little weak in the knees when he was wearing his glasses.   

I'm not overly irked about the artists complaining about having to work on difficult body parts or canvases with skin imperfections because they do making doing their best work more difficult. This is a contest, after all, and stretch marks make getting clean lines and color saturation more challenging. If the had their choice, they of course would want pristine, smooth skin to work on (preferably in a nice open body spot and on a canvas with high pain tolerance levels so they don't have to deal with squirming or complaining). And this lot is inclined to bitch about everything so I just tune the stretch mark complaint out.

 

 

 

The only issue I had was Marissa complaining about the woman's stretch marks to Tyler while she was still tattooing the woman - her client was right there and probably overheard the entire conversation.  Commenting about the difficulty of the skin type, placement, and client demands with the judges is fine (as long as it doesn't border into excuse making) - I think part of being "Ink Master" is learning how to deal with these challenges .... part of what made Josh Hubbard the evil genius he was was his ability to talk the client into a tattoo that would make Josh look good .... that's a smart move in a competition AND as a tattoo artist.  

[wovenloaf]

I wish that judge would take that nasty toothpick out of his mouth while he speaks. Watching people use toothpicks under normal circumstances is gross but while talking? Seems disrespectful and also disgusting.

Oliver Peck grosses me out. The toothpick and the dumb mustache. Yuck.

And Nunez thinks way too highly of himself. And he was wearing a polka dot sweater in this episode? Is he in his hipster phase now...? Not a good look for you, pal.

Dave, though. Oooh I treasure Dave. He never looks like a slob, and he manages to pull off a look that I would generally dislike on other people. And for some reason I love his voice - it's so...soothing or something. <3 Ok, I'm done fawning now!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I liked the flash challenge. Sometimes the show does a great job coming up with flash challenges that are tattoo related without actually tattooing. I liked that carving lines in clay was all about linework. I was pleasantly surprised to see that so many of the contestants did so well.

 

St. Marq can STFU. Not only is he delusional and obnoxious but his dismissive condescending sexist attitude when he called Katie and Duffy silly little girls made me want to punch him in the face.

 

I liked that Chris's skull picks were all strategic rather than emotional.

 

Kito's canvas was a whining famewhore nightmare. Good lord. It was obvious from the beginning that she was going to be a pain in the ass. Even though I agree that Kito's design wasn't great but she was complaining nonstop before the tattooing even started.

 

I agree that part of Josh's success was due to his ability to talk his canvases into something he could do well that fit the challenge parameters and could be done within the time limit on a body part that was suitable.

 

I loved that the guest judge went head to head with everyone. I would love to see that every week too!

Edited August 18, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo