S12.E06: Art of War

[thewhiteowl]

Consistency is tested.

[2727]

That was a very worthy elimination, although I could easily have picked a couple more to be in the bottom. Not a good outing for most of them.

Dani's excellent work loses out again.

At this point I'm kind of watching just to see what Nunez will wear next.

Edited July 17, 2019 by 2727

[Wandering Snark]

Wow, 3/4 of these turned out looking like shit and WAY up there on the "not on MY body" scale. We had, maybe three that actually hit the challenge? Which makes me think this was just a bullshit assignment. I hate when they "get cute" with the type of tattoo they ask for... this whole episode was ridiculous. And the women's team got robbed again, twice. The suit of armor they "decided" after the fact that they'd judge it on legibility from afar instead of consistency. And funny, that allowed them to overlook that the mens would have cut you had you rubbed a hand over it and looked to have been done by a chisel.

I think we should have at least had a token female judge for "battle of the sexes" which is being judged by three guys. I just hate this whole season at this point.

[Absurda]

I'm new to this show, I've only seen the last season and this one since they are the only ones available on demand.  Please tell me that judging was better (more fair, more consistent) in past seasons.  I call BS on both wins this episode.  The women should have taken the win in the flash challenge.  The brief was consistent.  They did consistent and excellent work.  The men hacked up their armor but they win because it can be seen from far away.  What?  That wasn't what was asked of them.

Then Dani's tattoo was perfect.  It was 100% exactly what they asked for, perfectly done with no other elements and she didn't win?  WTF??  Is this really biased judging or producers wanting to blow up Cam's head so he's a bigger ego monster than he's been? 

They keep bringing back female artists who apparently did well on their seasons, why haven't they been doing well in the last two seasons?  Did the producers stop trying to find high quality female artists or has the judging just completely sucked for 2 seasons?

I did do a google search and cross-stitch and embroidery tattoos are actually a thing.  I was kinda interested in how the tattoos would turn out since I've been doing cross-stitch since high school.  I wonder if I can find a local artist who can do it. 

[palmaire]

39 minutes ago, Absurda said:

Please tell me that judging was better (more fair, more consistent) in past seasons. 

Wish I could.

Same judges since the beginning, same erratic choices and carefree attitude towards the supposed theme.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I hated the judges attitude in this episode.  If they hate cross stitch tattoos so much, why have them as a challenge? 

Dani's tattoo fit the brief and was very well done.  She should have won, but, yet again, as they did with the armor challenge, they toss aside the brief.  

I wish that when they have these kind of specialty tattoo challenges they allowed the inktestants to do a little research.  The vast majority had no idea what they were doing, so the canvasses are stuck with terrible tattoos that do not match what they wanted.  

[Inkmaster0345]

10 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

I hate when they "get cute" with the type of tattoo they ask for... this whole episode was ridiculous.

 

Reminiscent of when they did "trash polka" a few seasons back. Sure, to some the style is probably attractive, but it's just way too niche to be executed and judged fairly on such short notice. The show hides behind "an Ink Master should be able to handle any style". I agree with that for well-established styles: Japanese, traditional, black and grey, cartoon, etc. But something like cross-stitching is a bit too out of left field for me. It's the type of challenge that would be great for a flash challenge (remember when this show actually did tattoos for flash challenges instead of random art mediums?). 

49 minutes ago, Absurda said:

I'm new to this show, I've only seen the last season and this one since they are the only ones available on demand. 

 

Do yourself a favor and watch seasons 3-5 if you can find them. Despite their flaws, those are the prime seasons in my opinion. Fewer cliche setups and twists, less scripted drama, and way more tattoo time (as mentioned, the show used to do more tattoo flash challenges). Also, seasons 3 and 4 feature artists who are, in my opinion, the two best champions in the show. 

2 hours ago, Absurda said:

They keep bringing back female artists who apparently did well on their seasons, why haven't they been doing well in the last two seasons?  Did the producers stop trying to find high quality female artists or has the judging just completely sucked for 2 seasons?

1

There have been a lot of great female competitors. But in such a male-dominated field they are simply outnumbered. The best women are just as good as the best men, there are just more men in the talent pool.

Anyone catch when the men were discussing the strategy of taking out the middle of the women's team? Someone said something to the effect of "no point going after the top competitors because they'll do a good job anyways" and when they said "top competitors" the camera flashed over to Laura Marie. Foreshadowing? 

[TVbitch]

If they are going to do something really niche like the cross-stitching, why not bring in an expert who can show some of their work and give a few mentoring tips. Instead we get confusion and mostly shit tattoos. It would just be so easy to make this a much better show.

It's being made pretty clear this season that the judges do not respect Dave's opinion.   

[Madding crowd]

I thought Cam’s tattoo was beautiful and I really liked the eye. The flowers were also very good but I think they picked the right winner.

It makes the judges look like idiots when they complain about hating a style they assigned. I know it was decided by producers but it’s likely the clients and contestants hate it too.

[Wandering Snark]

7 hours ago, TVbitch said:

It would just be so easy to make this a much better show.

Amen. But they just want drama now apparently, that and to be able to continue to just make up and change shit whenever they want.

You can have an unfinished tattoo if the finished parts are good, you can even have tattoo of the day. Well, we're sending you home because this is clearly an unfinished tattoo (no matter your canvas).

Trauma is a big deal, ehhh trauma is no big thing if we like you and/or your tattoo.

We want consistency here. Well the women might actually win something and Oliver wouldn't go for that (His "You just have to win" was fucking infuriating because the DON'T win because of YOU being a judge, Pecker.) so instead of consistency we're rewarding this one on who's looks better from far away no matter how beat to shit it is up close.

We want cross-stitch tattoos, like Grandma's pillows. Well, you did do a very well executed cross-stitch tattoo but cross stitch tattoos aren't cool, so we're giving it instead to one we thought was cooler and then taunting you for not ever winning.

[2727]

Every day is application day at Ink Master Tattoo!

From the beginning, Peck and Nunez have based their decisions almost solely on whether or not they think a particular tattoo was well inked (bonus for dark outlines!). I wish they would just drop it and not pretend they're looking at linework or consistency or perspective or shading or whatever else the producers make up. My frown lines would thank them.

Dave is the only one who somewhat cares if the results meet the pretend brief.

[RoadFullOfPromise]

12 hours ago, Absurda said:

Is this really biased judging or producers wanting to blow up Cam's head so he's a bigger ego monster than he's been? 

Both. Decidedly biased against the women’s team (Dani got completely jobbed) and so far up Cam’s butt it’s ridiculous. I guess he is a producer’s dream because he’s a loudmouth and is conventionally attractive, I suppose (though I personally don’t see it).

He’s really trying to play it both ways with “People are isolating me and not including me on the team!” and “I’m so much better than everyone else and obviously you should admit it because you’re shit!” and I am absolutely sick of that crap.

[belligerent]

12 hours ago, Absurda said:

Is this really biased judging or producers wanting to blow up Cam's head so he's a bigger ego monster than he's been? 

If they absolutely must give this guy a bigger head, they should concentrate their efforts on his chin because it seems to be falling behind proportionally.

This episode was pretty much bullshit after bullshit after bullshit. The only enjoyable part to me was Sausage being nice to people.

[psychoticstate]

Ironic that "consistency" is this week's theme.  Can the judges actually be tested on that? 

For the flash challenge, if legibility was a key factor, that should have been mentioned.   I'm not on either the men or women's side but the women's suit of armor looked more consistent than the men's.  And some of the work was scratchy.  

Are cross-stitch tattoos a thing because ugh.  Only Dani seemed to understand exactly what the challenge was and hit it and she didn't win tattoo of the day.   Normally I adore Dave but he was really a dick to Holli when she said the women would like to win tattoo of the day just once.  

In the "real world," no way would Pony and Ashley leave before artists like Alexis and Ash.  They are clearly being kept around for the drama.  

I did enjoy seeing Sausage and Duffy again although I figured since the women's team "won" last week, no way would Sausage "win" this week.  This show is so predictable.  

Please, IM, bring back the guest judges so at least there might be some semblance of unbiased and, you know, actually following the rules and theme, judging.  

[RoadFullOfPromise]

50 minutes ago, psychoticstate said:

Normally I adore Dave but he was really a dick to Holli when she said the women would like to win tattoo of the day just once.

SERIOUSLY. Dave, don’t front like it wasn’t totally the whim of the judges/production that they awarded Cam the win despite the fact that he didn’t meet the challenge. Dani (and the women’s team by extension)  absolutely deserved that win but didn’t get it, because...reasons. Ridiculous.

And not for nothing, but for all of the fawning over of Cam’s tattoo, I really didn’t care for it, nor did I think it was particularly well-executed.  

[Wandering Snark]

1 hour ago, RoadFullOfPromise said:

they awarded Cam the win despite the fact that he didn’t meet the challenge.

In my above rant I forgot to mention the question here to me was, have you ever seen a cross-stitch pillow with a realistic eye in the middle of it?

[dstann]

On 7/18/2019 at 12:58 AM, Absurda said:

Then Dani's tattoo was perfect.  It was 100% exactly what they asked for, perfectly done with no other elements and she didn't win?  WTF??  Is this really biased judging or producers wanting to blow up Cam's head so he's a bigger ego monster than he's been?

I actually agree with the judging, I thought Cam used cross stitch in a artistic way that made his tattoo look better.  While Dani did a 100% cross stitch tattoo that was well executed I can't help but think the tattoo would have looked better if it wasn't cross stitch.  If it was just realistic roses I think it would have looked better.

3 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

I did enjoy seeing Sausage and Duffy again although I figured since the women's team "won" last week, no way would Sausage "win" this week.  This show is so predictable. 

I was the opposite and thought well they will want Sausage in the final so sorry boys one of you is going home....but I was wrong 😄

[RoadFullOfPromise]

Ash was being kind of a brat about it (in terms of how she went about bringing it up, though I know a lot of that is editing/production prompting), but she was absolutely correct that the flash challenge was testing consistency, so they did what they were told the challenge was. The judges decided to look at legibility instead (in order to justify the men’s team win), but how would the women’s team have known that?  

[Sile]

4 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

Please, IM, bring back the guest judges so at least there might be some semblance of unbiased and, you know, actually following the rules and theme, judging.  

Now that right there is just crazy talk!

Edited July 18, 2019 by Sile

[2727]

I wonder if this show has developed a bad rep in the tattooing community and famous guest judges no longer want to be on it? Or have they already run through most of the top tier artists?

Guest judges used to be awesome since they often served to throw cold water on Peck's and Nunez' favoritism and echo chamber mindset.

[Madding crowd]

5 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

In my above rant I forgot to mention the question here to me was, have you ever seen a cross-stitch pillow with a realistic eye in the middle of it?

None of the other clients wanted a traditional floral sampler though. The challenge dumb as it was , was to create what the client wanted executed with a cross stitch style. 

[Wandering Snark]

Nobody wanted a T-Rex that just ate a hooker and has her fishnets stuck in his mouth either...

[Madding crowd]

No, they didn’t. But they all wanted something that would not have been on a traditional cross stitch except the one person, so I don’t think it would have been fair to judge on what a old fashioned cross stitch sampler would have.

The judges did say several of them were bad including the T-Rex.

[Inkmaster0345]

11 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

In the "real world," no way would Pony and Ashley leave before artists like Alexis and Ash.  They are clearly being kept around for the drama.    

1

You can see the "Ash, you should be proud of yourself making it so far in the competition as an underdog" elimination coming from a mile away. Ink Master loves to drag someone from the bottom to the middle of the season for some reason. 

7 hours ago, dstann said:

I was the opposite and thought well they will want Sausage in the final so sorry boys one of you is going home....but I was wrong 😄

 

Agreed. And for as good as Sausage is I'd still say he's underappreciated. Dude is an absolute monster and I'd like his chances 1v1 against anybody in the show's history. 

6 hours ago, 2727 said:

I wonder if this show has developed a bad rep in the tattooing community and famous guest judges no longer want to be on it? Or have they already run through most of the top tier artists?

 

I've wondered this myself a few times. My hypothesis is that it's easier for them and more appealing to viewers to just bring back well-liked past contestants. Popular veterans are an easy way to boost ratings.

[dstann]

Oh and my favorite line in the episode was Ashley saying "There is no way she is getting a whole goth fairy".  I just love the shock of contestants at some of the simple requests.

[Omeletsmom]

On 7/18/2019 at 9:47 PM, Madding crowd said:

No, they didn’t. But they all wanted something that would not have been on a traditional cross stitch except the one person, so I don’t think it would have been fair to judge on what a old fashioned cross stitch sampler would have.

The judges did say several of them were bad including the T-Rex.

Cross stitch ain't what it used to be.  They didn't have to do an old-fashioned design; modern cross-stitch can be pretty awesome.

The problem with Dani's was that, from a cross-stitch point of view, it wasn't finished.  It should have had  outlines that represent the backstitching that finishes most projects.

etsy shop here

1 minute ago, Omeletsmom said:

Edited July 20, 2019 by Omeletsmom
argh; quoted myself instead of editing

[2727]

58 minutes ago, Omeletsmom said:

Cross stitch ain't what it used to be.

Thanks for the link. 

Seeing those samples, I have to retract my criticism about Pon's rose not looking like cross stitch. His outline did sort of resemble this. (Still badly done, though!)

Edited July 20, 2019 by 2727

[Madding crowd]

4 hours ago, Omeletsmom said:

Cross stitch ain't what it used to be.  They didn't have to do an old-fashioned design; modern cross-stitch can be pretty awesome.

The problem with Dani's was that, from a cross-stitch point of view, it wasn't finished.  It should have had  outlines that represent the backstitching that finishes most projects.

etsy shop here

My original post was in response to the post that said Cam should not have won because he made a hand with an eye it it and not a traditional flower sampler. My response was 1) they were not asked to make only floral traditional and 2) they were asked to create whatever the client wanted in a cross stitch style.

We may be saying the same thing here but I wasn’t saying that only flowers are cross-stitch

[Princess Sparkle]

I am a cross stitcher and cross stitching tattoos have really been gaining popularity over the past 4 - 5 years - I've seen a decent amount in the groups I'm in. I was actually surprised so many of the contestants balked at them. The issue, once again, was so many canvases asking for too much in the time allotted. There's ways of doing it and doing it well - I've put some examples below. There's also embroidery tattoos now too.

However, the disdain from Ollie and Nunez - why even do this challenge if they hate it so much?

Cam winning was a fucking joke. Dani nailed the challenge and it should've been hers. And how in the hell was Ash on the bottom AGAIN and still didn't go home? It's a cheat to not do individual x's and to just do long lines like she did.

[Wandering Snark]

Thanks for the examples! And yes this was what I was expecting them to produce not these janky wierd tattoos with a bunch of x's on them.

That pirate skull tattoo was one of the worst tats I've ever seen on this show not a single X was done correctly!

[Princess Sparkle]

3 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Thanks for the examples! And yes this was what I was expecting them to produce not these janky wierd tattoos with a bunch of x's on them.

That pirate skull tattoo was one of the worst tats I've ever seen on this show not a single X was done correctly!

There's a close-up of it on the Ink Master instagram and it's an abomination. Ashley's face on her tattoo was ROUGH, I won't deny that - but the x's on Jakes are BAD. Look at the top of the bandana especially; they are all sliding sideways. 

And looking at this now - did Ash cut this woman's skin, or is the ink just blobbing kind of weird? There's some spots in the t-rex's mouth that look like cut skin, but maybe it's just extremely uneven line weight and shading.

[Wandering Snark]

Holy crap... these are even worse than I originally thought. Imagine the embarrassment of having your name attached to these on Instagram?

I of course feel worse for the people wearing these for eternity but if you want to be a "human canvas" for this show after the high average percentage of crap tattoos you should know better!

ETA: Not sure what's going on in the mouth of that T-rex either, but it looks even more like fishnet than cross-stitch.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Wandering Snark

[Princess Sparkle]

3 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

ETA: Not sure what's going on in the mouth of that T-rex either, but it looks even more like fishnet than cross-stitch.

I can’t believe that Nunez AND Ollie told Ash it was a good idea that she did those long lines and made them like cross hatches and that the shading was the only issue doing that. No...that’s not the only issue; doing that is why it looks like fishnet. They could’ve at least pretended they liked this challenge. 

[qtpye]

It was nice to see the softer side of Sausage.

Thats all I got. The episode was bullshit.

[hjmugillecuty]

 Inkmaster’s Twitter did a poll on who should have won tattoo of the day. Dani won with 74% of the vote.

As a cross stitcher, Dani’s was amazing. And I don’t think it needed backstitch. I’ve done several pieces where you have a photo turned into a chart and none of those ever have backstitch. And that’s basically what they were supposed to do. Did any of them even use graph paper?

[halkatla]

Were the judges being consistently inconsistent with the way they judged everything this episode? I guess the only time they messed up is when they kept Ash ones again, that was totally consistent.