Best Ink: Pin Up Showdown Recap

sigh…

Hey Guys! Last week we were introduced to the artists competing for $100,000, a spread in Tattoo Mag and the title of Best Ink. Our host is Kimberly Caldwell because she has two tattoos on her back, the expert judge is sex robot Sabina Kelly who judges competitions and owns two shops and our head judge is Joe Capobianco who bears a strong resemblance to Patrick the Starfish/Grimace. Last week, the judges sent home pretty girl Tiffany who was voted on the bottom three along with Meghan and Jessica. Our winner was London who covered up his clients yin yang dolphin with blue crap.

First I just want to point out that the theme song really sucks for this show. Like…REALLY sucks. Anyway we open with Meghan explaining how she almost went home last week and that the competition is now real and she doesn’t want to come off looking like a chump. I would suggest that she lost that opportunity the minute she decided to widen her ears and dyed her hair 4 colors. Anywho, the artists meet up with Kim who rolls in obnoxiously honking the horn of a beautiful classic car. Sex robot Sabina is there as well modeling the new Gretchen Rossi skin her Japanese creators just came up with. I’m sorry but when you’re that pale you shouldn’t be wearing pink lipstick…
This week’s challenge featured classic cars and I kid you not I thought for a second they really were copying Ink Master because the second week challenge was to draw lines on classic/custom cars. Nope, they are using the cars as inspiration on Best Ink and have to airbrush a t-shirt onto the skin of some random bikini/bathing suit clad model. Alexis, which seems normal for her, is freaked out and Jon is pissed because he isn’t a body artist and doesn’t work with airbrushing or make up. The artists are given 2 hours to make a full shirt design inspired by the car located behind their canvas.

Flash Challenge – Using a classic car as inspiration, paint a t-shirt on the model

Nicky

Roman

Meghan

London

Kyle

Jon

Jessica

Alexis

Charlie

Roman is complimented on his transformer style piece while Alexis’ details were very solid. The win went to Roman however because robot recognizes robot. His win gives him the advantage of having a double vote for the bottom three. It means his vote counts twice which means he has the potential to send someone home. The artists are sitting around discussing the flash challenge when Jon comments that he thought it would be more interesting and that he doesn’t do make up. Jessica has to interject and yells at everyone for bitching that it wasn’t a drawing challenge and that as artists they should open up their minds and learn from various mediums. Nicky thinks that she should be on meds and I tend to agree. Jessica had a valid point that they should be well-rounded artists but her delivery sucks and she’s obnoxious.

Kim reveals a display on the wall that will showcase the winning piece each week which was very similar to what they did for Shear Genius. Then Judge Joe fills us in that the challenge this week is to do a pin-up girl tattoo. He explains how the pin-up is a classic tattoo that ranges from very animated to traditional to even blood pudding which is a darker type of pin up style. The artists all meet their clients and we get a bit of consultation but not before three models from Pin Up Girl clothing come in to pose as muses for the artists. So of course the men start taking pictures they probably shouldn’t have but tried to pass them off as references.

Even she doesn’t understand why her boobs are getting photographed.

As soon as the artists are finishing up their sketches and ideas, Kim calls for a twist in that each client is to move one artist to the left. Yep, all that hard work each artist did to make a sketch and come up with an idea is now going to another artist along with their client. Now this is where it gets a little sketchy because Charlie’s original client, Jessica, is very adamant about what she wants done down to tiny details. When she moves to Roman’s station he immediately has a face of disgust and interviews that Jessica gave him a look like she didn’t want anything to do with him. He lets this continue by having a bad attitude and trying to force Jessica into letting him do what he wanted. Roman is really pushy and I’m sorry competition or not, I agree with Jessica when she says that if you put something permanent on me then I’m going to make sure it’s something I really want. Jessica ends up leaving probably because she couldn’t trust Roman to give her the tattoo that she wants.

She doesn’t want a biomechanical pin up, Roman.

The other mishap was Jessica being obnoxious and overdramatic (is she on the crimson wave because that would explain a lot) as usual. Jessica was given Nicky’s client and she didn’t understand how to complete his original vision. She calls him over and he reluctantly gives her some tips only to find out he had not given her all the designs he made. He failed to give her an idea for a sketch that he scrapped and so she bitches him out for it. Man, this girl…I just can’t another week with her. While we are on the subject of annoying bitches, I am really tired of seeing the commercials for this Brooklyn show on Oxygen. Why is this fat bitch saying she didn’t call her a pig but she called her a liar? Of course you didn’t call her a pig because at your size you shouldn’t be calling anyone a pig except the mirror. Sorry, this show just looks like complete garbage.

Pretty sure you get tested for mental illness before you get on these shows, right?

Anyway, the judges come in towards the end of the second consultation session and announce that sometimes you can’t please your client. Roman’s client left but he is getting a back up that is currently on the way. He will not get any extra time but he will obviously start after everyone else. Of course not everyone agrees with this because Charlie interviews that he shouldn’t have gotten a replacement. She says you can’t make someone feel shitty for wanting what they want and she doesn’t hide the fact that she is talking about Roman who walks up and asks her why she is trash talking. Charlie says she wasn’t trash talking she just thinks that you have to be a flexible artist and give the client what they want and not what you want to do on them.

Daddy Issues: Only reason girls cry after getting yelled at by men

He asks her if she knew what happened and she says she doesn’t she has only heard bits and pieces from others. He ends up rightfully yelling at her and telling her that if she doesn’t know the entire story then she shouldn’t speak about it. Charlie starts to cry and tells London that she believes she will go home because Roman hates her and he has a double vote. London says that Roman won’t vote on feelings but on who has the weakest piece. The artists start their pieces while Roman waits for his new client to show up. They all have 5 hours to complete their tattoos.

Roman’s replacement rolls in.

About an hour into tattooing Roman’s new client shows up and he gets to work on a consultation. She basically wanted something similar to what he was doodling so he tweaks it and gets to work. The other artists finish and leave while Roman is left to finish his piece. He notes that he is lucky his client was so nonchalant (she was on xanax, guaranteed) about the design and sat like a rock. He finally finishes and off to eliminations we go but not before finding out that Best Ink has a tumblr…more on this later.

Hannah, I’ve missed you on my screen.

During elimination the guest judge is revealed to be HANNAH ATCHINSON!! Seriously I loved her on LA Ink when it was about tattoos and she looks even better than she did on that show. It’s revealed that she has a two year waiting list so go Hannah for not letting scumbag Kat hold you down.

Elimination Challenge – Pin up Tattoos

Roman

Nicky

Meghan

London

Kyle

Jon

Jessica

Charlie

Alexis

The reviews are all pretty spread out with London’s piece being unproportioned with a stubby body, Charlie’s lines were nice while Jon’s were impeccable, Alexis received a lot of good praise on her line work and color choices, Nicky is noted as being fast at completing his work but suffers with quality because of it, Jessica’s piece was thrown off by the chair, Roman’s colors were vibrant, Meghan’s piece was facing the wrong way which really irks Joe and Kyle’s piece looks unfinished.

The artists are dismissed to vote on the bottom three when Kyle announces that he doesn’t like fake ass people. This comes about because London and Jon were looking at the pieces on a board and London remarks that everyone did a decent job. Jessica sticks her nose into the business and says that London was being nice and not fake by trying to boost up the people who already knew they were on the bottom by saying all the pieces were good. Voting begins and Roman notes that he is in fact voting on the weakest links and not on who he doesn’t like.

Alexis and Roman receive the top two spots and Roman takes the win. The bottom three is actually a bottom four because of a tie. Kyle, Meghan, Jessica and Nicky are on the bottom. Joe notes that Nicky and Jessica are missing huge pieces that could have made the tattoos more successful but he sees something in them so they are safe. Kyle’s piece was unfinished and Meghan’s piece is facing the wrong direction. Kyle is safe and Meghan is sent packing and Joe says that it is too early in her career to be competing. In other words she is still fresh meat and can’t hang with the big boys. Megan says that she is sad she can’t continue but she has learned some new tricks and she is only 2 years into her career and that 4 years from now she will be tearing shit up. Doubtful but okay little monkey!

Bye Bye Colorless Na’vi!

So what did you think of the episode Gasmii? Is Jessica going through that time of the month or is she skipping her meds? Is Roman the love child of Bili Vegas and Josh Woods with his pushy demeanor? Was Meghan the right choice or should someone else have gone in her place? Are we liking this show or just tolerating it until Ink Master returns?

Best Ink Tumblr

So Best Ink has a tumblr where people are encouraged to post their tattoos so how about each week I pick one of my faves and showcase it? Stupid idea…then let me know in the comments! Check out the others at the Tumblr site.

Submitted by Elmo Boyd “Gas mask”