Ink Master Puts the Fate of the Artists in the Hands of Their Competitors

Last week on Ink Master, the artists were tasked with creating free-hand tattoos. Laura and Dani thrived in this challenge, whereas Ash was eliminated for creating a faulty flag. This week, the artists were thrust straight into the elimination challenge and were tasked with creating tattoos that had been designed by the opposing teams, testing their adaptability.

But there’s a twist. In addition to doling out line drawings to their competitors, the artists also needed to tattoo their own design for comparison. First up for judging, there’s Dani, who designed a galaxy witch that no one selected. Nunez loved the drawing and her style of black-and-grey application.

Dani also tattooed Jake’s spider, with the judges critiquing her choice to over simplify the design.

Next up, Jake’s spider was up for review. Nunez explained that it’s not a strong enough design to win best tattoo of the day and Peck thought the coloring was muddy.

Jake selected Alexis’s drawing to tattoo and Peck appreciated the legibility of his application. However, Nunez didn’t appreciate the grey undertones his piece had and wished the colors were more vibrant.

Next up, Peck appreciated the use of black in Alexis’s tattoo that pushed the color forward. However, the judges did believe that she overdid the application of black in some areas of the tattoo.

Alexis chose Creepy Jason’s broccoli man to tattoo and Nunez argued that the colors became muddy in the face and needed more lightness in the florets.

The judges appreciated the creativity of Creepy Jason’s drawing and Peck called his application “super slick.”

Creepy Jason selected Laura’s robot design and Navarro appreciated the contrast between the clean hat with the rusted body.

Laura went for a very different approach with her robot and Nunez appreciated her understanding of how to capture chrome.

For her second tattoo, Laura selected Cam’s dragon drawing. Peck appreciated the changes she made to his design that allowed the piece to age better.

Nunez argued that Cam had a better understanding of traditional Japanese tattooing and made smart choices when it came to applying this tattoo.

Cam picked Janelle’s design and the judges appreciated the different black-and-grey tones he applied in the tattoo.

Although Peck complimented the linework Janelle applied in her tattoo, he thought the piece overall was dark and wasn’t as legible as Cam’s.

Janelle picked Pon’s American Traditional horse and Peck pointed out that she had similar issues in this tattoo of making it too dark. He also pointed out the “fuzziness” at the top of the tattoo, which likely indicates a blowout.

Holly also selected Pon’s design and the judges did not enjoy how she shaded the eye, saying it threw off the entire tattoo.

For her own design, the judges appreciated her application of shading and the overall cleanliness of her tattoo. However, Navarro did point out that the red behind his head was nowhere near symmetrical.

Next up, Pon picked Holly’s line drawing and the judges appreciated the clean application, as well as his selection of colors.

For his own drawing, the judges liked Pon’s balance and understanding of colors in the piece.

When it came to picking the best tattoos of the day, Creepy Jason and Pon were on top this week. But, the judges decided unanimously that Jason had won this week.

This week, the judges decided which three artists would be up for elimination. In the end, Janelle, Alexis, and Jake were sent to the bottom. The other contestants were brought on as a jury to help the judges decide who should go home. In the end, the judges decided that Alexis did not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

What do you think about this week’s episode? Did Creepy Jason deserve the win? Did Alexis deserve to go home? Let us know your thoughts on this week’s episode in the comments section.