Inkmaster Recap: No More Ink
By Derek Paradis
Inkmaster Episode 7
If any of you remember seasons 5 and 10 dimension challenge, then this is a deja vu moment except it’s not dimension day. Working in two teams of four, the artists had to create a dynamic composition one layer at a time. They had to take 10 layers of acrylic glass and paint layer on top of layer to create foreground, middle ground, background, and multiple elements within the piece to create flow and movement and draw your eye all over the design.
Team number 1, Angel Rose, Tony, Gian and Bob created a picture frame with an anatomical heart and within the heart is a living room space with a chair and fireplace and a desert background scene and within the living room space is another frame with an anatomical heart as if you see those reflection mirrors in an elevator (infinite reflection) and they definitely nailed creativity, artistry and composition. Team number 2, Anthony Michael DJ Tambe, Katie and Jason created orb-like spheres descending from the foreground to background with whoosh clouds and a castle and steps in the background and the judges loved the composition and dimension. Team number 1 took the win because it was more finished but putting that aside, both teams created a dynamic piece of art that wasn’t a “pain in their glass”.
Before we get into the tattoos, in case you’ve already watched it, a special guest judge came in the middle of the elimination tattoo; Model and actress Ruby Rose. She definitely loves tattoos and her favorite style is Japanese tattoos. The artists had to tackle Ami James’ specialty, traditional Japanese which has a strict set of rules and composition within symbolism and elements.
Angel chose to do a full body foo dog and her technical application was amazing and her gradients were super smooth, consistency in the swirls and hair, it’s a redemption tattoo from season 13’s Japanese challenge; Gian created a hannya mask with flowers and as clean and technically applied as his tattoo is with solid colors and composition, the judges wanted him to use more thick lines to bold the mask and make it stand out.
Bob went ballsy and chose a tattoo virgin who wanted a full body samurai in full armor, and he nailed the composition of the posture and how he holds the sword and lines and color are solid and saturated; Anthony did some sales-pitching and did a beautiful colorful koi fish with black-and-grey water rather than two koi fish and blue water and the colours are super smooth, great composition, bold technical application and smooth gradients; but DJ went above and beyond with a beautiful geisha holding a mandarin violin and it expresses emotion, feelings, and intended thoughts and his composition was spectacular and colours and lines were super solid that the judges unanimously gave him tattoo of the day.
If anybody wanted Japanese and the artists who specialize in Japanese saw these three tattoos, they’d probably be disappointed and would’ve passed. Jason created a Japanese crane with a sun, billowy clouds, and cherry blossom flowers where the composition was stagnant and very pale and the sun is where my eye is being drawn to rather than the crane. The crane is supposed to be a gracious and elegant bird and there’s nothing elegant about it. It’s blocky but at least it’s legible.
Tony chose to do Japanese thunder god Raijin and did his choice backfired. The face was too small and it’s red on top of red on top of red and it gets lost in the arms and the hair and everything is illegible. Katie got thrown to the wolves and the kill shot landed doing a dragon with flames where the composition really was stale and how it balled up made it hard to read but her technical application and colours were solid, that wasn’t enough to save her though.
In a split decision vote, 3 votes to 2, Katie was the next artist to close shop. I don’t agree with the call but I think she did a very good job this season and she did amazing tattoos this season and she never disappointed with her creativity, and when she took a hard knock to the bottom, she always kept fighting as that’s commendable.