Inked Mag Staff

June 7th, 2017

Ink Master Returns With Shop Wars

The Hit Reality Television Competition Returns to TV With It’s Ninth Season Last night, “Ink Master: Shop Wars” premiered on Spike and the competition is already like you’ve never seen…

The Hit Reality Television Competition Returns to TV With It’s Ninth Season

Last night, “Ink Master: Shop Wars” premiered on Spike and the competition is already like you’ve never seen it before. This season the tables have been turned on the artists, as the entire competition will be done in teams. The teams are comprised of two artists from the same tattoo shop and the partner dynamics include married couples, shop rivals, as well as owners and employees. With this new theme comes a whole new set of rules and prizes: including a $200,000 prize, a feature in Inked Magazine, and the title of Master Shop. That’s right, week by week pairs will be eliminated as a shop until only one is left standing. And oh yeah, there’s one more thing. Each week when a shop is eliminated, a new shop will take their place and the competition will change dramatically from week to week with new artists making their mark. Now, let’s get into more about the first episode of what is expected to be the most dramatic season to date.

Photo via Viacom Media

Photo via Viacom Media

Photo via Viacom Media

The judges met the contestants at Skylands Stadium, where they were presented with their first flash challenge: a sculpture carved out of a block of ice. The team had to work in pairs, which is how each of the challenges will be set up for the entire competition. But before we dive into this chilling challenge, let’s first meet the contestants.

Photo via Viacom Media

Ulyss Blair and Eva Huber tattoo at Allegory Arts in Florence, AL. They primarily tattoo in neo-traditional and illustrative styles respectively, and they are one of the married pairs.

Photo via Viacom Media

Jessy Knuckles and Allisin Riot tattoo at Pinz and Needlez in Baltimore, Maryland. They tattoo in black and gray and new school respectively.

Photo via Viacom Media

Babiery Hernandez and Jhon Campuzano tattoo at Thicker Than Blood in White Plains, NY. They each specialize in black and gray.

Photo via Viacom Media

Bang and Danger Dave Tattoo at Tri-Cities Tattoo in East Point, GA. They each specialize in black and gray.

Photo via Viacom Media

Derek Zielinski and Thom Bulman tattoo at Classic Trilogy in Mattydale, NY.

Photo via Viacom Media

Dane Smith and April Nicole Tattoo at Artistic Skin in Indianapolis, IN. They tattoo is new school and neo-traditional.

Photo via Viacom Media

Wes Hogan and Mike P tattoo at The Marked Society in McDonough, GA. They specialize in black and gray and new school respectively.

Photo via Viacom Media

Aric Taylor and Carlos Rojas tattoo at Black Anchor in Hesperia, CA. They specialize in black and gray and photo realism.

Photo via Viacom Media

Doom Kitten and Erin Chance tattoo at Unkindness Art in Richmond, VA. They specialize in neo-traditional.

Photo via Viacom Media

For the first flash challenge, the artists had to carve a sculpture out of ice. Allegory Arts won the challenge and were safe from elimination this week.

Photo via Viacom Media

The contestants then moved on to another flash challenge immediately after—creating a shop logo out of molten metal. Unkindness Art won over the judges with their design and was deemed safe from elimination for the week.

Photo via Viacom Media

The elimination tattoo was balls to the wall right out of the gate.

Photo via Viacom Media

The artists had to work in pairs and create a tattoo using only the reference of a live model.

Photo via Viacom Media

The artists struggled to use these three animals as reference for their work but in the end, some rose to the top while others sank to the bottom.

Photo via Viacom Media

The artists at Thicker Than Blood were voted by the judges as having the worst tattoo and the shop was eliminated from the competition.

Hooked already on Shop Wars? Tune in next Tuesday at 10/9 to see more challenges, tattoos, and drama unfold in the following episode.

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