S08.E07: New School, Old Scars

[thewhiteowl]

The artist tattoo former smokers who have been scarred for life in the flash challenge; Team Nunez battles in the elimination.

[zxy556575]

I have no problem with Tito leaving, but Nikki's justification for bad work of "I didn't know. I'm still learning" does not an Ink Master make. At least Nunez called her out during deliberations for her unearned mouthiness.

Really nice work on the amputation although seeing that guy writhe in agony was upsetting. Pain tolerances differ and all, but that tender skin seemed like it would really hurt.

Good for Kelly for turning around the canvas/tattoo that nobody wanted; even the judges thought it was the most difficult. But honestly, after Kelly re-imagined it and created the design, anyone could have tattooed it fairly well. The canvas wanted everything, but Kelly's artistry was being able to distill that so it represented the essence or spirit of the request.

[Inkmaster0345]

Tito gone. About time. Thought the flash challenge tattoos were generally cool but didn't find any of the elimination challenge tattoos particularly interesting. Eric's tattoo had the best overall look imo, Kelly's little man standing atop the colosseum was bizarre but technically well done and definitely new school--not mad that it won.

Thank god there was almost no mention of the gender war this week, maybe miracles do exist. 

This format is getting stale very quickly. I didn't realize how much I would miss the days of 12+ tattoos being judged. My favorite part of the show is the tattoos, and this format limits the number of tattoos I get to see per week. 

Team Peck up next week and that means we can play our favorite game of Boneface/Gia/Beavers. Step right up and spin the wheel! Think you know which one will be eliminated? Spoiler: it doesn't matter because they'll all be gone soon anyways! Woohoo! 

Ryan, Gian, Mike, Eric, Sketchy and Kelly obvious final 6. Nothing until that point really matters as far as the competition goes. I still like Ryan, Sketchy and Eric as my final 3 with Gian/Kelly barely missing out. 

[zxy556575]

8 minutes ago, Inkmaster0345 said:

I still like Ryan, Sketchy and Eric as my final 3 with Gian/Kelly barely missing out. 

Not disagreeing, but I thought Ryan's stoma tattoo was disappointing for 5 hours of work. She can do better. Kelly has the best overall score right now so I'm hoping she makes it through to the end.

It was nice that Team Peck tried to give each of the flash canvases the best artist for their desired design. A touch of actual humanity and professionalism on display!

[niklj]

No tattoos stuck out for me. At least, in a good way. I saw a lot of potential Ink Master: Redemption tattoos today.

Can't believe Tuff Tito made it this long. If they weren't doing the dumb teams this year, he would've been gone soooo long ago.

Nikki really annoyed me with her picks, but especially when she played "Did I do that?" dumb to Kelly. Don't kid me, lady, you did that on purpose. 

Nunez is still the worst team leader.

[holly4755]

Yeah, respect for Kelly, she doesn't really complain. just does the job the best she can. I can see others complaining if they got the trachea guy.  I don't even want to think how delicate the skin must be around there, 

[candall]

I just couldn't bring myself to care about The Trials and Tribulations of Peck & Nunez, so the episodes have been stacking up on my DVR.

I checked in tonight to see what was happening--it's disappointing to see just a handful of tattoos when the show is nowhere near the finale and there's no way to know if anyone in that crowd standing off to the side would have created something better or worse. 

At least it looks like they're slowly circling back to ten artists competing against each other.  Who thinks the eliminations might "coincidentally" continue to be one from Column A followed by one from Column B?

 

I guess this season was a gift to the viewers who enjoy a skills competition for the strategizing more than the skill.  >eyeroll<

 

(Speaking of strategy, when Nunez shows you a picture of what he thinks the water should look like, your water better look like that, weirdly dissonant Japanese style or not.)

[Apatee]

Weak tattoos this week. I didn't particularly like any of them, flash challenge or elimination. Thank god Tito's finally gone. They justified keeping him in that early elimination by his report card, but he was consistently terrible.

Think Nikki's on the verge of being turned on by the girls. Giving an attitude and hard canvases to your allies? Good strategy. Kelly got screwed twice this episode and still had a great attitude. Future contestants should take note. 

I would hate to be on Nunez's team. Better do what he says or your getting blasted at critiques. Kevin's tattoo wasn't as bad as Chris made it out to be. Guess he should've done some Japanese water to appease him. Kevin's on the Nunez shit-list now, will probably be gone soon.

I can't help but stare at Ryan every episode. Her appearance just fascinates me, she doesn't even look like she should be a real person. She looks like a graphic novel character brought to life.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Apatee

[TattleTeeny]

You guys, I don't mean to be mean and judgy about other people's tattoos (my stance is pretty much do what you want) but, yikes--Gia's hands in particular just look like big blue-gray blobs from what I can see, and some of the others look like their stuff is a mess too. I mean, I get it--people who do tattoos probably often end up having lots of stuff on them simply due to learning and practicing and loving tattoos in general and just being around other people who can get it onto their skin wherever, whenever (my own tattoo guy included!). But, man, the old and blurry ones, particularly on the hands*, make me feel tense. I also really dislike that head tattoo she has. 

* I have a weird issue with hand tattoos. I don't mind them in theory but I just can't have one, not even a little one--and not because of my job or anything like that; it's more of an irrational idea that I'd feel like my hands were dirty! My friend has the cutest little neat and simple black anchor on her knuckle--I love it but even that is a no for me. 

[hkit]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

You guys, I don't mean to be mean and judgy about other people's tattoos (my stance is pretty much do what you want) but, yikes--Gia's hands in particular just look like big blue-gray blobs from what I can see, and some of the others look like their stuff is a mess too. I mean, I get it--people who do tattoos probably often end up having lots of stuff on them simply due to learning and practicing and loving tattoos in general and just being around other people who can get it onto their skin wherever, whenever (my own tattoo guy included!).

I'm with you 100%. I am ink free, mainly because of commitment issues, so I often feel weird about judging someone's ink. But every time I see her hands, I think that there is no way I'd let that artist work on me. I'm sure she didn't do it to herself, but it would make me question if she has the right judgement, or even taste, to permanently mark my body. 

[Inkmaster0345]

32 minutes ago, hkit said:

I'm with you 100%. I am ink free, mainly because of commitment issues, so I often feel weird about judging someone's ink. But every time I see her hands, I think that there is no way I'd let that artist work on me. I'm sure she didn't do it to herself, but it would make me question if she has the right judgement, or even taste, to permanently mark my body. 

Forget about her hands, her FOREARMS are completely ruined. Especially her right forearm which is just solid black (which has faded into that grayish/green that tattoos get over time). Elbow to wrist is just solid color with nothing else going on. Because of my beliefs, I don't particularly care for visible tattoos, but at the very least a tatted up person either has multiple different images on their arm or part of a larger sleeve design. Solid black? It looks like necrosis. 

Random note, I'm pretty sure that Dave got the symbol on his lower neck/upper chest touched up before this season. He's had it for years now and it looks solid black. 

[Madding crowd]

I really dislike this new format. We are only seeing a few tattoos and by allowing half the people to sit it out, there is more nastiness. I would like to see an episode or season where the artists have to give the clients exactly what they want. They could pick people who want something that can be done in six hours, or increase the time to eight hours. I never understand the people who go on the show and are willing to just get any tattoo, especially since most are fairly large. I would do it in the finale because they give the artist time to consult and a lot time to complete the piece. To me tattoos represent something very personal but you can't rule out the 'being on tv' factor here.

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Especially her right forearm which is just solid black (which has faded into that grayish/green that tattoos get over time). 

My uncles' tattoos are all like this, but they're from decades ago. Gia is young enough (I assume?) to have gotten hers done in a more modern, refined way. But again, maybe it's due to being in proximity to people who can give you a tattoo at a moment's notice regardless of skill level and experience? I am almost certain that if I lived with my tattooist (back when he was still training, I mean) or knew how to tattoo myself, I'd have a few ill-conceived ventures on me!

Edited October 5, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[TVbitch]

I feel bad for that poor bastard with the trachea at 21 years of age who wanted something cool so as to no longer freak out kids (probably freaks out some adults too) and he ended up with a shit tattoo on his neck that is not gonna be fixable. Then he has to stand there while the judges chat about how fucking crappy it looks. Ouch. 

[azshadowwalker]

Tito's portfolio finally lost out to his actual work on the show. About fucking time. Bye, Tito! 

And, no, Nikki didn't intend to fuck over Kelly. That would not even make sense, even if she hadn't specifically said she didn't really understand New School then proceeded to show it by the tattoo she produced. She fucked herself over as much as anyone, because she didn't understand what she was doing and gave herself something difficult, as well. 

Edited October 6, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[qtpye]

9 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I feel bad for that poor bastard with the trachea at 21 years of age who wanted something cool so as to no longer freak out kids (probably freaks out some adults too) and he ended up with a shit tattoo on his neck that is not gonna be fixable. Then he has to stand there while the judges chat about how fucking crappy it looks. Ouch. 

Good lord, that was awful.  I mean usually the canvas is nowhere to be found when they do the critiques, but that guy had to hear about how horrible his tattoo was in person.

Why the heck is someone who has barely been tattooing a couple of years on this show?  How the heck does she have the chops to be Ink Master?  It would be one thing if she was brilliant, like Anthony (I think he was the one who one last year...super sweet guy....rare for this show), but so far that does not seem to be the case.

[Inkmaster0345]

7 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

Tito's portfolio finally lost out to his actual work on the show. About fucking time. Bye, Tito! 

And, no, Nikki didn't intend to fuck over Kelly. That would not even make sense, even if she hadn't specifically said she didn't really understand New School then proceeded to show it by the tattoo she produced. She fucked herself over as much as anyone, because she didn't understand what she was doing and gave herself something difficult, as well. 

I thought it was common knowledge that Nikki unintentionally gave Kelly a harder canvas? She wasn't being shady, she just knew nothing about the style and didn't know how to judge the canvases accordingly. 

Personally I'm starting to think that Nikki is in the alliance less because she's a strategist and more because she's kind of an air head who just goes with the flow. She didn't represent her mental fortitude well this week lol. 

[psychoticstate]

On 10/4/2016 at 8:58 PM, lordonia said:

I have no problem with Tito leaving, but Nikki's justification for bad work of "I didn't know. I'm still learning" does not an Ink Master make. At least Nunez called her out during deliberations for her unearned mouthiness.

I agree.  I really, really agree.

You would think an inktestant that says "I didn't know," or "I'm still learning," etc. would be shooting themselves in the foot.  Guess it depends on the day at IM.

Only Dave pointed out what I was thinking - - that Kevin was safe and the elimination was between Tito and Nikki.  Tito deserved to go for throwing Kevin under the bus (and completing disregarding the "agreement" to go after Nikki) but Nikki's tattoo was shit as well.  

I was disappointed with the trachea guy's tattoo.  I thought Kelly could have done much, much better.  I also thought Kevin's wolf was really beautiful. Nikki's flash challenge tattoo was done very well and incorporated his existing tattoo so I'm not angry that she won.  She pissed away a skull assignment though by not asking enough questions and then screwing Kelly over.   She should probably watch her step.

Although - - she clearly wasn't going home.  Not over Tito and not with Ryan and Gia defending her.  I think she could have taken a crap on the canvas and she would have been defended.

I hate this format.  I hate the team concept.  I hate the other team being able to speak over the judges and throw their opinions in.  I can't wait to get back to everybody against everybody and every single inktestant tattoos.  Sheesh.

I love Dave.

I miss Josh. 

[thewhiteowl]

I am so over this "team" thing. So they have two teams, only to make each team compete against itself.  Not much different than the regular format other than more whining, pissing, moaning and less tattooing. Since I only watch for the tattooing,  I am pretty bored. Hope it gets better. 

[Galloway Cave]

On 10/5/2016 at 8:53 AM, Inkmaster0345 said:

Especially her right forearm which is just solid black (which has faded into that grayish/green that tattoos get over time). Elbow to wrist is just solid color with nothing else going on.

I just saw an interview with her from November 2015 and her forearm didn't look solid in the interview. You could tell there was something going on, even from a distance. Don't know what happened in six months to cause it to blur so much. My first tattoo is 33 years old and you can tell exactly what it is after all these years.

She credited the four large tats on that arm to various artists in Tucson, AZ.

In the interview she seemed like a different person than she is on the show- cheerful, non-gothy and looked her age. You have to wonder how much of her show persona is a put-on.

I'm really hoping that all the artists compete each week from here on out and the "team" concept is gone. I guess Peck and Nunez will continue to mentor their remaining artists but hopefully they won't continue to go back and forth with the eliminations.

[zxy556575]

Okay, I honestly don't understand the repeated excuse of not being familiar with a particular style. It's not like the artists are required to draw anything from memory -- they have a damned Internet full of examples!

I realize (sort of) there are technical differences in how tattoos are inked from one style to another, but it seems like any artist of this supposed caliber should be able to apply a stencil for, say, a koi fish and still do it justice even if they're "not familiar" with Japanese.

[Honey]

Would Nikki have been allowed to freshen up that old dragon tattoo during the flash challenge?  I so wish she would have made the time to do that.

[Charlesman]

Ryan's hair was darker this week for some reason. Must be time for a touch up 

[azshadowwalker]

On 10/6/2016 at 8:21 AM, Inkmaster0345 said:

I thought it was common knowledge that Nikki unintentionally gave Kelly a harder canvas? She wasn't being shady, she just knew nothing about the style and didn't know how to judge the canvases accordingly. 

It certainly seemed to be. Upthread someone thought otherwise, but I don't see how it could be construed to be intentional on Nikki's part. 

As far as the posts asking why she's there with so little experience, I would guess because she was selected by the judges based upon her portfolio and the work she did on the first episode, just like everyone else.  She's not even close to being the first inexperienced artist on the show. If this were a normal season, she might have left earlier, but there's no big mystery or wild inconsistency about her being on the show. 

I have been going through Nikki's Instagram looking for the interview mentioned upthread. Looks like she moved to LA to work at a shop there last December. Before that, she worked here in Tucson. She mentioned Anthony Michaels a few times, and it looks like he did some of the work on her hands. I wanted to see which local artists did her tattoos, but could never find the interview where she talks about that. Anyway, from the quick trajectory her career has taken, she has some talent. 

I did find one video on YouTube from when she first started working in Tucson. I thought it was a different girl. She looks like a baby. If her metal head lifestyle is why she's doing the black hair and heavy makeup, she should find better music to listen to. (Well, anything is better than Slipknot.) She is really stunning with her natural red hair. Not sure about anyone who loves LA as much as she does,  though. 

Edited October 9, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[Galloway Cave]

16 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

I have been going through Nikki's Instagram looking for the interview mentioned upthread.

I saw the interview on Tumblr, I think. I wasn't able to link to it. It was done outdoors at a fair and the interviewer was interviewing three artists, including Nikki. It was from December 2015. I'll see if I can track it down.

[azshadowwalker]

Google shows a mention of it on her IG, but the link just takes me to the main page of her profile. So, I ended up stalking her IG for hours trying to find the specific post. She seems to be doing a lot of traveling, including to some really expensive places (back and forth between Tucson and LA, New York, Boston, Hawaii, Seattle, Portland) and partying a lot. The lack of sleep related to the work travel and the drinking are probably making her a bit puffy, but they also seem to indicate that she is quite successful for an artist with only five years of experience. 

Thanks so much for trying to find the link, @Galloway Cave. 

[pigs-in-space]

Is it this interview?

[Galloway Cave]

5 hours ago, pigs-in-space said:

Is it this interview?

Yes! Thank you. I thought it might be on Tattoo.com but couldn't find it.

[azshadowwalker]

Thanks for the link. Weird that I pulled that up numerous times, but never watched it. That will teach me. Anyway, the one that I did watch on YouTube was from 2013, when she was relatively new to tattooing. This is the one that I thought had to be someone else.  Amazing how much she has changed in just three years. 

[qtpye]

Nikki looks so pretty and fresh in that video.  She really should go back to the red hair, it really suits her.

[LeisureTime]

I know I'm weeks behind, but honestly. There's something really rich about Niki being all "That's not New School!!!"  at Tito and then playing the "Oh, I'm still learning; I don't really know what New School is..." I mean, I'm not sad to see Tito go, but it would have served her right to get the axe here.  Also, I cannot stand Kelly's hair in the lightest, but I really like her attitude.