S07.E07: Knuckle Sandwich

[Shay]

Alliances are broken in a tense Flash Challenge and a veteran returns to prove he's not a one-trick pony.

[Shay]

I'm super happy that Jesse Smith is finally back! I've been watching this season just for him :D . (Though despite being a Jesse Smith fan I have to say I wouldn't mind seeing Anthony win this season. His work has been solid all the way through, especially in the first challenge which I still think he should have won because he was the only one who touched upon the "7 sins" aspect of the challenge.)

Anyway, prior to the season I had a look at all the previews for the series provided on spike.com & youtube and based on this I've been able to predict the elimination order so far. If all the material from the previews is still accurate (i.e. if no challenge that was shown got scrapped or replaced) this week's eliminated artist will be

either Sarah or Jime if the main challenge is a portrait challenge. If it's not a portrait challenge Jime will be out for sure.

I can't wait to watch the episode~!

 

 

[Kate the Great]

Sarah's tattoo was hard to look at, but Cleen's Ronnie Rayguns looked like Lou Ferrigno. And with "It's a great tattoo; screw the canvas jury" and his unreadable tattoo in the flash challenge that mystifyingly won... I still wish he'd pack his bags. The showrunners can only edit what you give them, dude.

 

For all Sarah got the boot for darkening Clinton's portrait, not a word about how dark Anthony's George Washington was? I like him and think he's a talented artist but the portrait, while an attractive drawing, looked nothing like Washington whatsoever.

 

And why couldn't anyone choose an obscure president? I mean, I would be hesitant to get anything political inked on me anyway because politics can change, but... wow, you like George Washington/Abe Lincoln? What a surprise! That is so unique!

Edited April 13, 2016 by Kate the Great

[Eliza422]

I thought Cleen's Reagan was terrible - I said he looked like the Joker, then Christian said it too. Not that I can really argue with Sarah going home. I like her, but she always lets the competition get to her.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Eliza422

[MuMuGuy]

Sarah definitely deserved to get the boot. Besides the fact that she's too emotionally weak for competitive environments, her tattoo is awful. It's pretty embarrassing that she made that Bill Clinton tattoo have darker skin than Barack Obama. If the late Nelson Mandela had some kind of skin infection, that would be Sarah's tattoo tonight.

 

My favorite part of tonight's episode was the fact that they didn't have Matti or Sausage talking about each other nonstop. I can't be the only one sick of hearing them talk about each other.

[pvandal]

Really Jime? No one knows who Thomas Jefferson is?? It's not like they asked for Millard Fillmore or John Tyler. I have liked Cleen's work in the past but I think he should have gone home over Sarah tonight.

[azshadowwalker]

Both Cleen and Sarah sucked, but Sarah ranting that her work was great proved how clueless and unhinged she is. She really didn't understand the reasons for their critiques of any of her tattoos? I mean, really? It is not like she is being criticized out of nowhere like Megan Jean.

And,no,Anthony's tattoo was in no way, shape or form as ridiculously dark as Sarah's. There's no comparison between the two, primarily because of the contrast between the clothing, the hair and the face in his. Even the skin itself wasn't as dark as Sarah's. His is a tattoo that is going to lighten up while retaining details. Slick Willie's face is always going to be as dark as his jacket, although I am sure both will lighten to some degree.

Christian was right about the way they treat Cleen. Seriously, "It's not bad for a guy who doesn't do portraits"? The soft pedaling of any criticism is pronounced here. Christian is a loud mouth, but I am glad someone said it.

Megan Jean really is a fool. I wouldn't waste my time trying to protect her, either, since she's obviously more worried about Cleen. Great tattoo artist, but not much of a competitor. I am sure getting work done by her in real life is awesome. This just isn't everyday tattooing, and she's bad at the game part of it.

Just glad to be done with the melodrama of Sarah.

Edited April 13, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[niklj]

Really Jime? No one knows who Thomas Jefferson is?? It's not like they asked for Millard Fillmore or John Tyler. I have liked Cleen's work in the past but I think he should have gone home over Sarah tonight.

 

That was hilarious. Has he never seen a $10 bill??

 

Was the topic presidents? If so, why was Hillary on there?

[Demented Daisy]

Political heroes, not Presidents.

 

I think this is the final nail in the coffin for me.  The judging has always been a little suspect, but it was pretty blatant this week.  Sarah's will lighten, but Cleen's Reagan will always have that razor slash across his mouth.  It barely looked like Reagan, but Cleen gets a pass because he's the focus of the drama right now.  Could not possibly care less.  I want to see good work, not a bunch of alpha male morons beating their chests.

[Merneith]

The topic was politicians. Maybe they couldn't find a tenth president. Who the hell wants a politician's face staring out at them in the mirror, anyway? Talk about twisted ...

[txbowler]

As a Sarah fan, I wanted to see her win but I understand that the judges could have sent her home for that tattoo.

 

Yes you can nit pick and argue but it is what it is.  Normally on portraits, someone does such a horrible job and it doesn't even look anything like the person, but everyone did well last night.  I could recognize every face easily.

 

I will still watch to see who wins.   I did enjoy Christian calling out the judges for the "for someone who doesn't do portraits comment".

 

Judge everyone by the same standard.

[candall]

This challenge should have been a snap.  They're right--it's human copy machine work.  I'm pretty sure they even have an actual copy machine there.

 

I made a living for a couple of years doing oil portraits.  I'm never going to burn up the art world with my creativity, but I'm good at seeing what's important when reproducing a photo into a different medium.

 

And that's what people wanted, Megan Jean--a reproduction.  Stop making yourself a higher hurdle like changing the direction of the light source or complicating the perspective.  Haven't you noticed none of those advanced skills get you anywhere in this competition?

 

But at least the woman understands "light source"!  The beauty of the Obama photo came from the strong light from the right casting the left side of his face into various depths of shadow.  Jesse decided to put shadows on the top lip, the right cheek and lower temple, the left jawline and upper temple.  That portrait of President "Patchy" Obama was stupid.  And the judges raved about it.  "Such balls."

 

I'm just going to settle back and hate-watch from now on.

[psychoticstate]

Sarah proved that while she's generally a great artist, she simply cannot compete.  She melts down about as quickly as Marq's head expands.  Worse, she knows she is overthinking things and yet, she continues and sabotages herself.  

 

I am firmly off the Megan train with her flash challenge assignment to Anthony.  That's b.s.  Give Cleen a good pick and give a person supposedly in your "alliance" a tricky one?  To quote Kevin O'Leary, you're dead to me. 

 

How did Cleen win that flash challenge?  What he did was precise but it was hard to read.  I wouldn't have given him the win.  Actually I don't know who I would have because I can't really remember what was done.

 

Happy to see Jesse back and I did laugh over everyone freaking the hell out about him assigning b&w portraits.  Good for him.  Especially given that it seems the majority of inktestants left specialize (or claim they specialize) in portrait work.  

 

I didn't care for either Cleen's or Sarah's tattoos but if I had to choose, I would have sent Sarah home as well.  That said, for the judges to tell Cleen - - and only Cleen - - that his wasn't bad for a guy who doesn't do portraits, that's some straight up bullshit.  I like Cleen but since when did they start grading on a curve?   Did they set the bar higher for the artists who do portrait work?  Grrrrrrr.

 

I think putting a current political figure on yourself is crazy town - - no way would I want either Clinton permanently attached to my body.  What the hell?  That said, I thought Sausage's tattoo of JFK was the best but I don't hate Christian for getting the win.  Major props to him for calling out the judge's bias.  Personally I wish they all would have agreed to Dave's (sarcastic) suggestion that the gang grade the ink after the judges.  Bygones.

 

Previews make it look like someone - - Christian?? - - is going after Anthony.  They had better think twice and leave Anthony alone.  He's a good artist and he doesn't start shit (which is probably why they are going after him.)  He had better make it to the finale. 

 

Look forward to seeing James next week.  Wonder what his challenge will be? 

[azshadowwalker]

I couldn't imagine getting any of those tattoos. Weird old paintings or questionable contemporary politicians. I guess they wanted someone immediately recognizable. In that case, I'd probably go with Lenin or Emma Goldman, because they wouldn't accept more obscure people like Alexandra Kollantai. It's also Spike, so they probably wanted someone inside the U.S. idea of "conservative vs. liberal". Definitely no one still alive is a good idea.

Edited April 13, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[grumpypanda]

Sarah is slightly nuts but for some reason I can't help but root for her. However, I knew the minute I saw her Clinton tattoo that she was a goner. What the hell was she thinking making it so damn dark but more importantly why would anyone want a tattoo of a politician on their body?

Anyway, is it just me or has Jesse gotten hotter with age? I never thought much of him before but I thought he looked might good last night. His tattoo was alight I guess. Portraits are kind of boring to me so I wasn't really feeling any of the tattoos this week.

[Charlesman]

Didn't think the Hillary tattoo deserved the win. A little off in the upper half. The JFK one was awesome, though. That thing looked spooky good.

[azshadowwalker]

I didn't find the Hillary tattoo that compelling, either. To be honest, I didn't find the Obama one as great as the judges did. It was solid, but something was off to me. I think they talked it up because he didn't come in with a challenge that was "his". Definitely on a curve.

[txbowler]

Someone tweeted Sarah and asked her if something else was going on during filming since she seemed so "off" her skill set.  She replied that right before filming began, she found out her fiance of 7 years was cheating on her and broke up with him.  She said she was in a really bad place and it took almost a year to recover.  Giving you an idea when this was filmed.

[hkit]

Someone tweeted Sarah and asked her if something else was going on during filming since she seemed so "off" her skill set.  She replied that right before filming began, she found out her fiance of 7 years was cheating on her and broke up with him.  She said she was in a really bad place and it took almost a year to recover.  Giving you an idea when this was filmed.

 

Interesting, because I was trying to piece together the timeline. Earlier in the season, St. Marq was given a canvas that he said turned out to be a "fan". Unless someone knew of him in real life, a "fan" would have had to see him on Ink Master and valued his skills over his charming personality. That would have had to put filming fairly recently, since his season just aired last fall. I thought way more about this than I should admit, mostly because I don't want to live in a world where St. Marq has fans. I believe Sarah's tweet more than anything that comes out of St. Marq's mouth.

Edited April 13, 2016 by hkit

[azshadowwalker]

The problem is that Sarah didn't really act differently from her first go-round. She was just as obnoxious and unstable back then. At that time, the excuse was supposedly her youth. Now, it's her ex. It's always something. On the show, she didn't even admit that there was a problem with the tattoos. Her comment that all of her tattoos were great and the judges must be looking at completely different tattoos told me that she didn't think she was off her game. She really didn't see a problem with the huge "rays" and darkness in the first one? She didn't think the two O's in her knuckle tattoo were shaky and imprecise? She thought the Clinton tattoo was "fucking awesome", with the darkness being even worse this time around? I just don't think she's willing to admit that she might be a good artist in real life, but she's really not very good in this environment. I generally hate it when men call women "crazy", because it's usually meant to gaslight perfectly legit complaints, but Cleen was kind of right that she is crazy.

[Merneith]

Meh. Being good at this gameshow doesn't mean anything about a person's stability or mental state. OR about their artistic talent. All these reality show comps are unreal that way. They don't match real world conditions and that's by design. These shows are designed to keep the contestants on the ragged edge. Some people thrive in these circumstances and some won't. It doesn't say anything about who the real Sarah Miller is.

[azshadowwalker]

Meh. Yelling and screaming and acting a fool shows a lot about someone's mental state and stability. Two seasons, same behavior. Well, one season and two episodes, anyway. She couldn't even get through one episode without reverting to the same old Sarah Miller. Unstable is being kind.

Edited April 14, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[hatchetgirl]

I hated Sarah the first season and figured maybe she matured but dang she was the Same pouty 5 yr. Getting her face all scrunched up in anger. She was gross.

[Sile]

That was hilarious. Has he never seen a $10 bill??

 

Was the topic presidents? If so, why was Hillary on there?

 

The $10 bill is Alexander Hamilton.  Jefferson is on the $2, which I suppose is possible that someone who is relatively young has never seen one before.  Although I'm pretty sure that Jime has seen a lot of nickels in his life so there goes that excuse.

 

I'm kind of surprised that nobody went Hamilton, what with the Broadway show and everybody going bonkers over it.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Sile

[Loki]

I was disappointed with Sarah this season. I've seen her work online and there really are some amazing pieces but she just seemed to flame out so fast. I don't think the pressure of the competition is for her. And her denial about any mistakes in her work strained my eye-rolling muscles.

[txbowler]

I haven't seen any of these people say "my tattoo sucked" on this show.  They all think they are the best ever.  I am a big fan of Sarah's work but her facial expressions are funny to watch when she is being criticized.   I you go back and watch the loft parts from after the tattoo, you can see she knows she is in trouble.  You can see her mind racing to come up with something to say back to Cleen and she can't and defaults to the standard mine is better.  There is no way I am losing to you.

 

And with St. Marq, he was playing head games.  If he could get in your head, then he had an advantage and maybe you wouldn't do your best work.

 

Sarah can not handle the head games.

[zxy556575]

I can understand a contestant on any competitive show -- but particularly this one given the truculent personalities -- wanting to stand behind their work so they don't come off as defeatist to the judges. Nunez especially will go in for the kill at the first sign of weakness. I don't think Sarah walked that line well, or at all, but it doesn't bug me when the artists try. What does is when they attempt to deflect/save themselves by shit-talking others.

 

It reminds of a guy I work with who said about our annual self evaluations, "Why wouldn't I give myself 5s in every area?" To him, doing otherwise would be undercutting himself.

[qtpye]

This is the thing with Sara.  She is a fantastic tattoo artist.  I am a female and I think Sara, Tattoo Baby, Duffy, and perhaps Megan Jean have been some of the best artists on the show.  It is particularly rough since the show gears towards sexism and misogyny in general.

 

After the first season, Sara sort of got a bodacious babe makeover.  She looks gorgeous, but her look is not reflective of her actual personality. 

 

She is socially awkward and can be a bit of a s***.  She does not read social situations correctly and she thinks being argumentative shows her passion and confidence, when it just makes her look petty and clueless.

 

I still remember her original season.  She had made it all the way to the finale and had just walked out on stage.  The judges were kind of blown away about how awesome she looked (she was much frumpier looking before).  She talked how she considered herself an artist.  Dave complimented her and then made a joke about how he hopes she does not go and cut off her own ear (an obvious reference to Van Gogh), she stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him open mouth.  She did not know what he was talking about or what he meant.  She eventually got it, but it was painfully awkward.

 

I at first thought she did not hear him because of a bad microphone.  Now, I think she is trying to be a loud mouthed bad ass, but is actually somewhat of an introverted and awkward person in real life. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by qtpye

[Loki]

 

She is socially awkward and can be a bit of a s***.  She does not read social situations correctly and she thinks being argumentative shows her passion and confidence, when it just makes her look petty and clueless.

 I really think you hit the nail on the head. that really explains it perfectly. She is a great artist and does well, she just needs to stay off reality shows for a while. (I really do like Sarah, anyone who got that excited about a Star Wars challenge has a place in my nerdy heart)

[Shay]

I think I remember Sarah saying she was home-schooled in season 2 so I'm not surprised at all that she has been and still comes across as socially awkward. I applaud Jesse for improving his skills in other styles but I prefer him doing his own style. I wouldn't have considered his portait among the top three but I suppose the judges (/producers) needed to praise him for throwing them a curveball in regards to the challenge. I still hope he gets to do his signature style at some point in the competition. I enjoy Megan's work on her IG and it's kind of a shame that they seem to focus more on showcasing her as a Cleen groupie instead of the solid artist that she is.

And since she seems to only stay for a couple more episodes (speculation based on the series previews...but I've been right so far ;_;)

I just hope she goes out on a good note and doesn't get some sort of nonsensical love-sick puppy edit.

[niklj]

The $10 bill is Alexander Hamilton.  Jefferson is on the $2, which I suppose is possible that someone who is relatively young has never seen one before.  Although I'm pretty sure that Jime has seen a lot of nickels in his life so there goes that excuse.

 

I'm kind of surprised that nobody went Hamilton, what with the Broadway show and everybody going bonkers over it.

 

LOL I knew there was a reason it felt wrong when I posted it. That's what I get for posting after midnight haha. 

[txbowler]

Just an update for those of you who don't follow Sarah on social media.  On her Instagram account today, the canvas who got the Clinton tat sent in a picture of the healed tattoo.  Wow.  Healed up, it looks so much better.  She was correct to darken it so much.

 

 

[zxy556575]

I was curious, so here's the link. Clinton looks a ton better but wow, that second image in the gallery is amazing! I so wish the show would give the artists enough time to do their best work -- it would benefit the clients, the artists, and us as viewers.

[Jenkins]

Wow, that tat did lighten up a lot. You can tell INSTANTLY who that is.

 

Not much you can do with that horrible Reagan tattoo, but hey, Clean is this years golden boy they are going to make excuses for and give him a pass on his mistakes.

 

I don't follow social media but I wonder if the judges will admit they fucked up?

 

And that second tattoo is what I expected from Sarah. But it seriously looks like if you aren't Cleen, you better put out a near perfect tattoo.

[Eliza422]

Now I've never gotten a tattoo, but is it really at its best right after being done? I realize the nature of this competition precludes looking at them after healing - but experienced tattoo artists should know be able to judge how much one will lighten up, right?

[Kromm]

Does this show take the brains of it's female competitors and melt them?  This has happened too often. I do see she was proven right by how it healed, but this show never shows that kind of thing. It just shows them acting like idiots.

 

Thank goodness Megan Jean seems to (so far) not be insane. Then again, they're all too happy to imply she's some weak willed girlie-girl looking for a boyfriend instead of a win. 

[Kelda Feegle]

I cannot believe how rude Matti was about his human canvas! Full disclosure - I am mid-50s and getting tats, I would hate my artist to speak about my skin like Matti did.

[Jenkins]

Completely agree.

 

I didn't mind Matti until this episode when he started acting like once you hit 40 they should just drop you off on Old Fart Island or something.

 

It is one thing to say the skin is tough to work with but he was just insulting about it.