Cover That Up!: An ink master recap

Welcome back to the tattoo competition that uses tears as lubricant, Spike Tv’s, Ink Master.  So, it is no unknown fact that this season kind of feels like a joke to a lot of the fans, with low level artists and predictable trumped up drama.  It’s like they looked at the numbers that last seasons hated Josh Hibbard must have brought in and cloned that moron several times over.  It’s a new kind of low for this dog and pony show that only seems to get worse with the judges clearly overlooking several flaws in the works of artists that they have pegged as favorites.

What am I talking about?  Well this week’s flash challenge was a clear indication that they blatantly disregard crappy tattoos done by house favorites while picking on contestants for obvious personal distain.  This week’s challenge was to test adaptability by combining an image and a script that describes how each canvas lives life to the fullest.  The results range from beautiful, to absolutely horrifying, to not even finished.  Now, for the past few weeks the judges have put Scott and Matti on a pedestal and began to preach the “they can do no wrong rederick,” so when Matti’s script ends up being complete shit they turn to golden boy Scott.  One glance at this piece tells you there were major design flaws… First off, you can’t even tell what it says; in fact Halo had to ask when Scott showed it off.  What is supposed to be large, I’m guessing graffiti lettering, that is supposed to say triumph with a flag, came out looking like a hodge podge of block shapes with a backwards flag.  The judge’s oooh and awe over it like Scott just invented the wheel.   Thankfully, they come to their senses and give the award to Halo, who did do a spectacular pit bull combo with decorative script.  But, what really got to me was Kyle’s critique, now I’ll admit Kyle has been whinier this season than the previous season; however it’s easy to tell why.  It’s all steaming from the definite fact that Judge Chris Nunez does not like him, on a personal level.  Every week, Nunez rides him and picks apart every detail in his work while letting other huge design mistakes slide.  He has admitted on camera that he picks on Kyle.  I’m no stranger to the behavior of pushing with criticism, it runs rampant in my family, but his approach is shit.  All he does is pick without ever a good mention, all this will do is cause deep seated rage which looks like it will explode next  week as Nunez didn’t have the balls to tell Kyle to his face, what it is he thinks of him.  Instead he sent a message back with the surviving bottom contestants.

With that aggravation, I moved into the elimination tattoo, cover ups.  I’ve always hated cover up week, probably as much as most of the artists hate “Asian” week.  I just find them to usually be uninspired and a bit typically flat.  So, when they revealed their master pieces there wasn’t too much excitement at the Lovett house hold and we weren’t thrilled or disappointed.  The only part that did thrill us was that in this episode there would be two eliminations. 

Weekly Breakdown:

Melissa:  Melissa was cursed with a horrible canvas with a horrible idea of a new age engine.  I seriously feel for her, but bad canvases are just a part of this industry and some days you end up being the wind shield, this day she was a bug.  The engine itself looked flat with uneven lines and the color didn’t really saturate correctly, but what lost me was that bizarre green border she put on it.

Sausage:  It was a great idea, and had some really great flow but the highlights and shadows seem to accent parts that I’m not sure really should have been accented.  The dark shadows don’t really break up the design as much as over complicate it.  Still, better than what the client had.

Jim:  The shape of the roses just seemed so out of touch with the elements of a graceful design and the butterfly seems flat.  Now the flatness seems like it is due to bad decisions in color choices, it’s just too light.  When you see flowers and butterflies you think of bright vivid colors.

King Ruck:  Man am I tired of this guy, it’s big, it’s clunky and most importantly there is a huge black spot right in the center.  Yeah I just don’t know where all this is coming from… But, it needs to stay there.

Kyle:  I actually liked this one, and the judges ripped it apart.  The flaw would be the placement of the trunk and how it sat on her thigh but to me I thought the piece was colored beautifully and that the minimalist nature of it complemented her body instead of over whelming it.

Lydia:  A grey scale skull, not really inspired.  Good enough to not go home, by the way you pretty much rammed it into the other tattoo.

Matti:  Nice color, even design, just really big.

Gentle Jay:  It’s a huge blob of black crap.  Seriously there is almost no element of this tattoo that I would have kept at all.  The shape of the skull bugs me, the joint like cigarette bugs me, but nothing bugs me more than the eyes on the cap.  

Scott:  My mom and I both agreed that it was a scary red patch.  I dislike new age art and this just screamed rinky dink tattoo to me.

Halo:  I loved this turtle, it was almost huggable.  Still here is an excellent place to prove a point, yes this was the best tattoo of the day but compare Halo’s turtle to Kyles.  Kyle had more detail in his and got knocked to shit. 

In the end Halo takes top tattoo, as it should be and he must nominate a bottom.  Jim pleads his case revealing that he is partially color blind.  Okay, aren’t you the one that gave David crap because he was having a medical issue, and this is one you can foresee.  You don’t deserve any special consideration Jim, and your bad attitude confirms it.  Apparently, the judges agreed as they say good bye to Jim and King Ruck this week but, not before Nunez pulls the bitch move of telling Jay to tell Kyle he deserved to go home this week.  I guess it’s true a bitch is a bitch is a bitch, and Nunez is being just that.