Ink Master Recap: Botched Head Tattoo

Hey Gasmii, Wanna know what ended up happening with the girl whose tattoo wasn’t completed in the first episode?? I’d keep reading then…

In the premiere episode of Ink Master, we met the 10 artists competing for $100,000 and a spread in Inked Magazine. The first challenge set the tone of the episode by asking the artists to display raw talent and dealt with doing a skull in their style on a dead pig. The elimination challenge was to cover up a tattoo and ended up with B-TAT going home even though Jeremy didn’t complete his tattoo.

This week we open with the artists immediately after the elimination of B-TAT discussing whether or not Jeremy should have gone home for not completing his work. Al of course leads the discussion and asks how everyone would feel if they had gone home over Jeremy. He does make a good point that if he had finished, his tattoo could have been a disaster but they will never know now. Jeremy tries to make his point that his outline was solid and then interviews that the threat of going home terrifies him but he wants to show that he has talent.

Oliver protects his jewels.

The artists meet the judges on a roof top garage surrounded by a flock of pimped out cars. I’m pretty sure these are the leftovers from Pimp My Ride (they should bring that ish back, you know Xzibit needs a job). This week’s guest judge is Clinton ‘Ton’ Jones from Auction Hunters. Ton has experience in the tattoo world because not only is he tatted up (including his head) but he’s built machines for the past 14 years. It’s okay Ton you don’t have to impress me with your tattoo history; there are only so many “mainstream” tattoo artists that they can bring on the show as recognizable guest judges. The challenge is to draw lines on the car to bring out the personality of the car itself. I keep repeating this “bring out the personality” line for a reason, trust me!

Flash Challenge
90 Minutes
Lines – bring out the personality of a car with straight lines

Tommy

Bili

Lea

Heather

James

Al

Jeremy

Josh

Shane

The judges name Bili as the winner although I did prefer Al’s design. Ton reminds the rest of the artists that they need to get off their asses and show the talent they have. Al felt like he should have won and says that since Bili is about 2 feet tall all he had to do was put a paintbrush in his mouth and run around the car in a straight line. Oh Al, you are a dick but I admit I laughed at that.

And here is where it gets pretty interesting…Oliver calls out Heather and says that they expected more from her. Heather immediately replies back that the challenge was about line work and making nice lines on the car. Oliver tries to explain to her how she missed the purpose of the challenge but she cuts him off and he ends up almost losing his toothpick. Oliver is a beaver and you do not eff with their wood chewing time so he yells at her that the challenge was to do lines that fit the f**king shape. He then says, “What do you want me to do? Judge the little s**t you did back there?”

Oliver will smack a b***h and still not lose his toothpick.

On the ride to the studio Heather tells the others that she is not good under pressure. Shane interviews wondering if she didn’t think she would be under pressure when she came here to compete. The guys all agree that she just needs to step her shit up or leave and stop crying. I just want to grab her and tell her that she’s not f**king these guys and she’s not paying them so they don’t care if her feelings are hurt or not and she can quit complaining to deaf ears.

The elimination challenge is to do a tribal tattoo which consist of clean and precise lines with areas of black saturated ink. Since Bili was the Flash Challenge winner he is able to select his canvas first. He starts interviewing potential clients based on how easy their skin would be to work with and then asks each what they had in mind. Bili decides to work with the client who inquires about a full head tattoo because he wants to challenge himself. The potential clients then select skulls that have each artist’s name underneath to determine who will work on them. Jeremy proclaims that he doesn’t like tribal and hates the challenge because he really only specializes in new school. Did Jeremy piss off production because he’s getting a pretty bad edit this week.

Consultation time begins and Shane learns that his client has psoriasis which has flared up. He states that the healing of the tattoo could be affected because of the psoriasis so he brings in Ton and Dave to take another look. They all agree that Shane’s client should not be tattooed while his psoriasis is flared so they send him home but this leaves Shane without a back-up client and he questions if he’s now screwed. Dave offers up Ton who interviews that if Shane screws up, he is getting a beat down. Bili is concerned about finishing a large head tattoo while Jeremy explains some more that he hates tribal tattoos and he doesn’t do them often, if at all.

The moment Shane crapped his pants.

Time starts and the artists work hard to complete their tattoos as no one wants to have an incomplete piece. Ton explains to Shane that he doesn’t really want anything solid because his piece is on his knee and it could fade out easily. It is kind of humorous seeing a big dude like Ton wincing in pain while getting his knee tattooed.

Bili’s client really starts to feel the pain and starts to black out from all the pain and rattling. Bili is unable to finish his tattoo with about 20 minutes worth of work left because his client’s body starts to give out. The client interviews that previously his throat tattoo was the worst pain he had felt but now his head is the worst. Time is up and the artist put down their machines. Bili is disappointed because his client will now walk around with an unfinished tattoo and Al asks would the others be mad if they got sent home over Bili whose tattoo isn’t finished. Al further digs into Bili and tells him that he should know his limitations based on the time limit given and that the others would be pissed if Bili stayed over someone else. Judging begins and no one seems sure of themselves except Al of course.

Elimination Challenge
5 Hours
Tribal Tattoos

Heather

Heather believes she did a good job with the fit and that the coloring was done well. It looks pretty solid and if you keep reading, you might find out something interesting about it. Dave, being the catty chick that he is, brings up the flash challenge and how intense it got. Heather said she didn’t feel her design was the worst of the bunch and Oliver interjects that he didn’t say hers was the worst but that it was one of the worst. Heather again argues with Oliver and asks him if he even remembers what he said to her and that he picked her out of everyone in the group. He remembers what he said to her and then eases back saying that the elimination tattoo was good and that he liked her sharp and precise lines while Chris says it seems as though Heather finally woke up.

Bili

Bili choosing the head tattoo was a bold decision but it was left unfinished. Chris reiterates what we are all probably thinking and that everyone needs to complete their tattoos. Bili may have kicked himself out of the pack for having an unfinished tattoo. B-T-DUBS…I also found out what happened with Bili’s client and his unfinished tattoo so keep reading along.

James

James is complimented on his monster tattoo and he responds that he wanted to go big or go home and that he didn’t want an unfinished tattoo.  Oliver says that James has a good eye for what his capabilities are and that that is a sign of a good tattooer.

Lea

Lea says it was hard to do perfect lines and that she ran out of time and only one side was really good when asked by Chris if she believes this is up to her level of work. Up close views of her tattoo showed very shaky lines and I am not sure if it was her design or not but the cross in the middle does look a little uneven where it intersects.

Jeremy

Hey guys, Jeremy doesn’t like tribal tattoos and it’s not his thing. Jeremy’s lines end with periods instead of sharp edges and Chris says something along the lines of “sentences should never end in periods”. I’m guessing he didn’t do so well in English class.

Tommy

Tommy was happy to add a little feminine touch to his tribal and the judges agree that he did a good job. His lines were very clean and he injected his own style successfully.

 

Josh

Josh impressed the judges with his large tattoo and unique flair. Oliver thought some of his lines looked a little overworked but noted that working with tender skin is tricky. Chris didn’t like the line he placed through the S because upon first inspection, it looks like a completely different letter. I’m not entirely sure what letter Chris might have thought he saw but it looks like an S to me.

Al

Al says he loves tribal and felt he did a good job but Oliver points out that the tattoo, specifically the lion’s head, is pointing outward towards his client’s armpit. Al gives probably the best excuse I’ve heard on reality tv to explain why the tattoo faces outward. He goes on to explain that in some Polynesian totem poles the faces face outward and that’s why he did it. Oliver shuts it down and explains that in Tattoo 101, tattoos should face inward and that this is a huge design flaw. I love that Al tried to explain it like he is well versed in world cultures because you know he was just talking out of his ass.

Shane

Oliver observes that Shane didn’t go over his lines and it was so well done that you couldn’t tell where he started a line and where he ended it. Shane receives a lot of praise but admits it was intimidating to tattoo on Ton.

The artists are dismissed and of course Al leads the discussion on how they felt about deliberations. Al asks if that’s a rule he broke by making his tattoo face towards the armpit and everyone chimes in with a resounding yes. He goes on to ask everyone who makes the rules of tattooing and why do you have to follow those rules? Then in typical New Yorker fashion we get a good dose of Al yelling “Get the f**k outta here” before Tommy speaks for the second time since the competition started. He asks Jeremy if he feels like he pushed himself to the limit to which Tommy answers for him with a “no, because you hate tribal”. Jeremy defends himself saying that he didn’t want to have another unfinished tattoo.

The judges deliberate and it’s decided that they want to meet with Lea, Jeremy, Al and James. Without having to wait in agony, James is told that he did the best job because he went big and did lots of clean line work. He has a good grasp on what he can accomplish and therefore he wins the challenge.

On to the bottom three, Dave asks Jeremy why he should remain in the competition when he is back in the bottom again. Jeremy says he knows that he is a good artist but he just hasn’t been given an opportunity to prove it. Chris lets him know that this is his job and that he should be able to do it even if a particular style is not his strong point. Al is told that he came in with guns blazing and lots of showing off but he has yet to produce something of quality. Oliver explains that his lines were inconsistent. Lea’s tattoo wasn’t clean and the lines were incredibly shaky. Chris says you came to compete but you aren’t hitting the mark and then it’s mentioned that she does all these big pieces but they don’t have the quality that some of the others have.

You know next week is the new school challenge too…

The judges end up sending Jeremy home. Jeremy lets the judges know that if this had been a new school challenge, he wouldn’t be in the bottom because that’s his style and he is amazing at it. Chris says it needs to be all school. Jeremy interviews that it sucks that he lost but he isn’t good at tribal, he is good at what he knows and that is new school.

Do you agree that it was time to send Jeremy home or should it have been Bili since his piece was unfinished? Are you guys sick of Al or do you agree that if someone doesn’t finish they should automatically go home? What’s your Oliver toothpick theory because I still think he’s a beaver or that it’s some kind of life saving apparatus.

Something that I find often happens with reality shows is that you almost never get to find out the end result of something dramatic. I got curious and decided to peek around and see what ended up happening with the unfinished tattoo from last week. I mean she had a wedding coming up and now instead of a crooked tattoo she has a lot of black dark outline over the top of crooked wings.

Jeremy’s Client
Episode 1

Jeremy’s client, Christine, ended up posting a blog on Inked Magazine and it answers the question I had about what happens if the tattoo ends up not being finished. Apparently the producers ended up paying for another artist to finish the tattoo for her and Jeremy isn’t too pleased about that. Christine blames her outburst on stress from the wedding, her nerves, pain from being tattooed and the cameras. She issues a public apology in hopes that Jeremy will read her blog post (because apparently she has never heard of facebook to contact him personally). This public apology kind of reinforces my thought that she just wanted her 15 minutes of fame which is why she caused a ruckus, stormed out and is now trying to contact Jeremy publicly.

So Jeremy ends up finding this blog and responds in the comment section. Jeremy accepts her apology but was frustrated that someone else finished his vision and got paid for it while he was not compensated. Oh and apparently Christine may have allegedly mixed Patron and Klonopin before getting her tattoo done which is a big tattoo no-no and could have contributed to her inability to allow Jeremy to finish the tattoo.Jeremy also comments that he did lay her down but she didn’t last more than 2 minutes in the new position.

Christine’s Finished Piece…

There’s always three sides to every story and we may never know exactly what happened but I do feel that Jeremy should have been the one to finish her tattoo instead of another artist. He worked hard on a concept and had a clear vision in his mind of what the outcome would have been. I like Jeremy’s style and despite what was shown of him on the show, I think he’ll be just fine and continue to grow his portfolio and business.

Bili’s Client
Episode 2

Bili’s client Ryan ended up getting his piece finished by Bili himself though I am not sure on the timeline. Credit needs to go to Tattoosday for this updated information and picture of Ryan’s tattoo. Tattoosday also just happens to be Heather’s client from this episode and gives a little more insight on the show and his experience in his blog. He grew up in Hawaii and wanted to incorporate a Hawaiian sea turtle and a hibiscus as a tribute to his childhood. He also commented that Heather wasn’t a fan of the judges which was pretty obvious by the end of the episode. I wish they shared more of the client’s side on the show because this story is interesting and I didn’t even catch that there was a sea turtle in his design upon first view. 

To get the funniest quotes from TVgasm recaps as they’re posted, follow us on Twitter or like our Facebook page! You can post your favorite lines right back at us. Thanks for being here!