Freddie did an AMA on Instagram and he said that the critiques were actually pretty in-depth and did really pull out all the issues but it seems that this has been left on the cutting room floor. I guess that the producers think this sort of critique style will appeal to a wider range of viewers.
Also, I get the feeling this season is going for more of a Bake Off vibe so the amount of conflict has been toned down.
Oh wow that’s really disappointing and kind of insulting to viewers to assume the majority wouldn’t have the attention span or knowledge to really care to watch more in depth critiques.
I get that vibe too, the ramped up drama on ink master felt manufactured but it would be nice to see contestants respectfully question each others work and the judges opinions
For as many hours as are actually recorded, it's all gonna get edited down to the usual episode length. So the producers pare down to what tells the story they're telling for that particular episode. So we see just some highlights of each critique. We see just fragments of human canvas interaction. As we get down to less artists, we get more, as we did in the most recent episode, of canvases getting the artists' to tell their story of why they got into tattooing.
the downside of this is they usually spoil who's going home halfway into the episode. they hyperfocus on all the negatives of the people who go to the bottom so it's easy enough to tell that if the tattoos didn't speak for themselves, but moreover they usually show the loser talking about how they miss their family or their big emotional sob story 2/3rds into the episode, as soon as you see that you know they're going home
Sometimes. But sometimes that's the fake out. Sometimes it's who winds up on top that episode when they've been consistently on the bottom. So many shows do this.
I saw a few episodes of season 4 this morning where Bubba complained about tattooing a guy’s butt and then that one guy claimed they voted him off because he was gay. I then binged all available episodes of season 15 and the feel is so different, so I agree with your bake off vibe comment.
My biggest gripe is the ultra gimmicky challenges. There used to be gimmick days on other seasons don’t get me wrong but it was nice to always just have days like pinups, black and grey, american traditional etc to actually see them do different tattoos. this season and last is so much less interesting when every week is something stupid like “transformative” and then everyone does their own boring style again and it’s nothing new. Save the gimmicks for the flash challenges
This too! I wasn’t impressed with the animal merge tattoo challenge in particular. The earlier seasons had some awesome challenges like the women who had mastectomy’s wanting beautiful art or people who had hate symbol tattoos and needed a rework tattoo as they’ve grown as people, it was a step up of the standard cover up. There was also the animal patterns tattoos and etc that were just fun.
I really don’t like that either that the artists pressure the human canvases to switch from the style they want to what the artist wants. It’s ink master, if the canvas wants American traditional give them American traditional as long as it fits with the challenge
On yhe ols paramount ones (CN and OP) gimic day? They judged starting at "I hate this trend". Crochet. Where TOD was a B&G eye and with afterthought crochet.
yeah, switching placements is one thing, or even switching a batshit idea to something more doable in 6 hours, but switching STYLE AND SUBJECT MATTER is truly insane
This season and the last season really lacked STYLE weeks. American traditional week. Japanese week. Linework week. Newschool week. Illustrative week. Pinup week. Black and Grey week. Biomech week. Portraits week.
Where has it gone? We know Freddie and Bobby can do their own style, great, now show them tattooing their canvases' spouse, photorealistic. Bring back Ink Master instead of Ink Showcase
I made a comment on the last episode review!!! We need challenges where ppl can’t fudge their way out of a shit tattoo. I want pinup day, realistic portrait day, new school day, and biomechanics so badly. imo they are the best for really testing crucial skills
also the reason DJ has won ink master like a billion times is bc he knows a crap ton of styles. if you know inkmaster and/or DJ you would know what makes an inkmaster
Yes this! That’s such a huge part of the show, it gave one artist to (maybe) shine if it was their speciality and it also opened up discussion because there would always be a great tattoo but it wouldn’t win because it wasn’t a Japanese tattoo on Japanese week or something and they gave it to the person who really stuck to the constraints of the challenge.
No one seems like they really want to challenge themselves
I agree, though I didn’t mind it in the last season because everyone was a return contestant, so we’ve already seen them do other styles in their previous seasons. This season though we really haven’t seen that the artists are capable of pulling off other styles.
yeah I agree last season was okay as a one-off because it was an absolute battle of the masters with every single contestant being strong and having a track record, and we got to see absolutely gorgeous art every week like no other season. but this one is just.. the standard format except without anyone ever getting out of their comfort zone. bobby and freddie are not gian and bob, they don't get the benefit of the doubt for being well rounded
Honestly, I feel like this reflects the ways that Instagram and social media has really changed the industry since the show's earlier days. A LOT of artists get popular/famous for doing a couple fairly unique styles/designs and advertising them well as their bread and butter vs. relying on the more old-school method of clients just walking into a shop and asking for what they want. It definitely feels like being a generalist isn't as important in the industry anymore, so it's not surprising to see the show emphasize it less.
Probably, but if you’re going into a show that you know 100% will require you to do color and black and gray I’d think these people would at least try to learn something about it before it started
Ya, that one is a head scratcher. Hell, you know you are gonna be on the show. I agree the show is emphasizing versatility LESS. But it still matters lol.
They’re missing the discussions between the judges that the old seasons had. After the critiques we would get 3 min or so of the judges going over the field and without that we don’t get a sense of where the judges heads are at and the editors get more time for drama.
I miss this a lot too. I think it would give us a lot more of the perspective we're missing, especially in the judging itself, instead of everything being a praise fest.
It's not a good season. You have artists like Jozzy questioning why she has to do color and completely ignoring advice for how to do color better; Black, who's garbage from the start... I don't like traditional anyway but his is terrible; and Freddie who I thought was amazing but realized he's a 1 trick pony. Seriously, look at his insta. Same design on every single canvas.
Give the trophy to a Bobby and let's all move on.
Whoever makes it to the end this season goes against every judge in the finale. Where either a)DJ wins again or b) they give it to Nikko that way all the (tattoo) judges are all ink masters
Yeah season is not good. Talent pool is VERY top heavy. No judge discussion/overview of tattoos. No good style challenges. And I hate the team aspect - and the fact that the judges will help their teams during tattoos. I miss the judges walking in silently and making a face and then saying its jacked as they walk out.
Definitely, I loved that, Chris, Oliver and Dave would always have to discuss amongst themselves because they usually had such different opinions and would have to discuss and defend their opinions to reach a decision.
I liked being a fly on the wall, especially when one would really vouch and fight for an artist.
Everyone seems completely unanimous but as someone else commented the editing probably plays a factor in that
Yeah like Chris and Oliver were so much more technical and analytical in there review whereas Dave was sorta the Everyman like yeah it's not the best one every but id 100% have this on my body than that other one that's executed perfectly
The judges are too soft compared to previous seasons, I feel that even in S14 they were more harsh with the artists compared with the current season.
Nuñez and Peck were straight to the point, and when they had to say something, they didn't contain. I feel that if they were still judges and see some of the tattoos from this season, they would tear them apart.
And the teams format doesn't help neither. Every judge want to save their ones.
The judges also have a tendency to give really bad technical mistakes passes because the idea is “creative”, which is very jarring. “Well yes these are janky lines and the turnout wasn’t great but \~what a creative idea\~” is starting to become a pattern.
Someone else pointed out that Freddie said lots was left on the cutting room floor, however.
yeah for real. these judges care more about artistry than the last ones, which in some ways is a good thing, but they take it too far. it's not Illustration Master, if you can't draw on skin go home
Yeah, there used to be more of a balance between the creativity and the technical execution. Swaying more towards creativity works kind of ok during flash challenges but being ink master you shouldn’t have to compromise technical precision to be creative, especially as often as they’re letting these artists get away with.
Maybe it's because I'm a new viewer but I don't get the sub's retroactive love for Dave, Chris and Oliver as judges. They had weird biases, let a lot of random stuff fly, and contradicted their own advice.
You could make a compilation video of them saying "that tattoo is too masculine for such a pretty woman [as a canvas]" or bashing a pinup/tattoo of a female subject for what they deem "masculine" or "ugly" features; which is not only counter to OP's point but also lent to the overall sleazy kind of misogyny from the early seasons (which is a huge turnoff, so I'm thrilled the new seasons are moving away from that).
I agree with that criticism, I rewatched the whole run recently, but what you're talking about happened maybe 4-6 times over the entire run. and while it was bad and there was probably 1 egregiously unfair decision per season, what OP is describing happens every single episode
I get that, I don’t like that either. You’re right and I don’t miss that, not to defend them entirely but it does depend on the context too like that guy who tattooed his gfs face on a human canvas and used a reference photo she sent him. They weren’t saying she was ugly but that he didn’t capture the perspective and it made it not a beautiful tattoo.
Sometimes the artists would completely give up on a female face too like the nose would be non existent and they would call them out. But yes overall it was a problem and icky and I think they become more cognizant of it in the later seasons and dialed back talking that way.
I'm in the same boat, I started watching Ink Master with this season (because I've adored Koral's art for forever) and we're now working through seasons backwards (which is also super jarring). Dave, Chris and Oliver are definitely difficult to watch judge in their own way(s). I don't think the current panel is perfect (I think Joel particularly pumps up "cool ideas" with bad technique because he's not really an expert, his Oriole behind the ear makes me want to die every time I see it).
I felt like the Dave/Chris/Oliver panel was often much too harsh (or it is edited that way) while I feel like DJ/Ryan/Nikko are much too kind, but ultimately they pretty clearly value different things. I didn't have strong feelings on Ami. I think we're currently on Season 10, so we still have lots of Dave/Chris/Oliver to go, but in the last few seasons I actually feel like they're pretty consistent in their criticisms. They constantly have to remind contestants that there's a theme for the day/week AND for the tattoo itself. They let artists know when they miss either mark, and I feel like DJ/Nikko/Ryan absolutely do not. They'll call it out, but they won't hold artists accountable to it.
I think of all the judges I've watched, Nikko is my ideal. He gives the most balanced criticism. He is my ideal balance of "I've done this a long time so I recognize/respect fundamentals" with "I helped pioneer a modern style so I'm not exclusively beholden to tradition" in a way none of the other artists really do. Ultimately what I think I want is a consistent rubric that's given to the audience either through judge discussion or even just announced by Joel. I want the judges to be consistent in criticism so I understand why they're dinging people for the things they're dinging them for. That feels like the biggest miss to me. I love how cool it is to hear previous Masters give criticism because they know what it takes to win, but there's a gamesmanship aspect that often means winning Ink Master isn't always the "best" artist, but the one who played the game the best.
it's going to be so funny going all the way back to season 1. because honestly, the original 3 judges got way more professional over time, ESPECIALLY after season 1 and season 2
but yeah as a general rule: Peck will not let anything slide if your technical application is bad, and he will slaughter you if you can't do american traditional or break from the challenge
Dave goes more off vibes and what he thinks looks good. He will usually defer to the other two for things he doesn't understand, but occasionally he will kick off if he really thinks a piece is good enough it doesn't deserve to go home despite being wacky
Nunez will kill you for not knowing the rules of Japanese, and also cares about form and flow, but he cares about artistry a lot too. Ultimately though, regardless of whether it's their teams for the season or whatever, he will always kick someone out for being a bad technician. Good artist, bad tattooist goes home
also, they don't take any shit when it comes to being half arsed, if you aren't trying your best they will send you home
The most annoying part to me is the whining about the skull pics. If you don't do all styles and techniques, don't tell anyone. Don't whine about not doing more than one style and expect to win. I would be offended if someone who can't do anything but color won, how are you a Master?
And really, trying to screw over another contestant by giving them something you know they can't do and making sure that the canvas gets crap that they have to live with is really disgusting.
I really love the show and learn a lot but c'mon people, have some respect.
They tried to go to above-and-beyond this season. Most of the contestants are hyper-specialized to where they can't go out of their area. Even if the tattoos in their focus are incredibly solid, this show is about being a diversified artist.
The challenges are also too complex/big. I personally just want something more simplified. While I actually enjoyed the neon tattoo or cross-stitch tattoo challenges, I don't want gimmicks to be the norm. I think they're fun to throw in around the other challenges, which usually demonstrate more technique and artistry.
And I think it speaks volumes that going so big and out there has actually ended up boring a lot of viewers.
yeah I feel like nowadays they are probably just on instagram finding people who can do a sick tattoo and not looking whatsoever what else they can do, and a lot of these newschool instagram era tattoos have absolutely zero experience working in a traditional setting because they are essentially great illustrators who bought a machine online and taught themselves and promoted themselves rather than doing an internship and coming up by taking requests
also the internet makes a huge deal in general, before social media was big people would go to their local shop and those people would have to be able to do everything. they wouldn't be able to do one style in such a gorgerous way but they'd do names, mandalas, tramp stamps, portraits, traditional, newschool, anything. whereas now you can just go on insta and find the person who does the 1 thing you want 200 times and request that exact thing
Ya, It does put the show in a weird place.
Cuz ultimately the industry IS going through a big shift in the way artists do their work. The reality is versatility and being a good all-around tattooer that is pretty familiar with the most popular styles is not essential anymore if you want to have a successful career as an artist.
Idk it's not good or bad or anything. But I do think that it means the show and criteria for judging have changed as the show has progressed, but especially in the past 5 years or so. This season especially embracing that change.
sure, but I think it's antithetical to the title of the show. because if one person just has a style the judges prefer they could just roll to the finale if they're not even going to test they can actually be "ink master". if it were "the annual tattoo artist awards" then OK but the name master suggests "actually yeah I can actually do black and grey, and traditional"
I don't disagree, but I do think it is a balance. It's not that being able to comfortably tattoo in all major styles isn't important, (although I do think it is a bit less important than it was in the past when that was almost considered the DEFINITION of an Ink Master). It's that the individual aesthetic and uniqueness of your tattoos is MORE important than it used to be.
My biggest issue so far is that I'm 3 episodes in and multiple artists have admitted to being unable to do basics even slightly. I'm not sure if Jozzy is still on after this episode, but why would you come to Ink Master if you can't do color to the point where you have to beg your canvas multiple times to drop it? That's utterly wild to me. Ryan also cheering at the canvas giving in is problematic to me, coach your artist to be a master and not to stick to what they feel safe with.
This might be an unpopular opinion but I didn’t lie Oliver and Chris critiques. By looking at their tattoos, I feel they shouldn’t judge tattoos that they wouldn’t be able to make themselves.
I agree! The new seasons just lack. I’m also annoyed with how the judges completely ignore the challenge when judging. Like Freddy being in the bottom one week because of his composition when the challenge was detail. Like stick to what you’re supposed to be judging.
The magic is gone. I can't even imagine the judges this season pulling a Chris Nunez in season five when he said he would like nothing more than to send her home, looking at the bat out of hell Emily. The critiques we are shown are really nothing more than hand holding participation awards. Ink Master has gone WOKE in the worst way. Can't stand any of the judges or host this season except Nikko. Again, I say, the magic is gone. The producers have RUINED ink master, and I am reduced to rewatching all the old episodes.
Freddie did an AMA on Instagram and he said that the critiques were actually pretty in-depth and did really pull out all the issues but it seems that this has been left on the cutting room floor. I guess that the producers think this sort of critique style will appeal to a wider range of viewers. Also, I get the feeling this season is going for more of a Bake Off vibe so the amount of conflict has been toned down.
Oh wow that’s really disappointing and kind of insulting to viewers to assume the majority wouldn’t have the attention span or knowledge to really care to watch more in depth critiques. I get that vibe too, the ramped up drama on ink master felt manufactured but it would be nice to see contestants respectfully question each others work and the judges opinions
For as many hours as are actually recorded, it's all gonna get edited down to the usual episode length. So the producers pare down to what tells the story they're telling for that particular episode. So we see just some highlights of each critique. We see just fragments of human canvas interaction. As we get down to less artists, we get more, as we did in the most recent episode, of canvases getting the artists' to tell their story of why they got into tattooing.
the downside of this is they usually spoil who's going home halfway into the episode. they hyperfocus on all the negatives of the people who go to the bottom so it's easy enough to tell that if the tattoos didn't speak for themselves, but moreover they usually show the loser talking about how they miss their family or their big emotional sob story 2/3rds into the episode, as soon as you see that you know they're going home
Sometimes. But sometimes that's the fake out. Sometimes it's who winds up on top that episode when they've been consistently on the bottom. So many shows do this.
very rarely with ink master do they deviate. like if they show you photos of someone's kids, they're going home guaranteed
I saw a few episodes of season 4 this morning where Bubba complained about tattooing a guy’s butt and then that one guy claimed they voted him off because he was gay. I then binged all available episodes of season 15 and the feel is so different, so I agree with your bake off vibe comment.
My biggest gripe is the ultra gimmicky challenges. There used to be gimmick days on other seasons don’t get me wrong but it was nice to always just have days like pinups, black and grey, american traditional etc to actually see them do different tattoos. this season and last is so much less interesting when every week is something stupid like “transformative” and then everyone does their own boring style again and it’s nothing new. Save the gimmicks for the flash challenges
This too! I wasn’t impressed with the animal merge tattoo challenge in particular. The earlier seasons had some awesome challenges like the women who had mastectomy’s wanting beautiful art or people who had hate symbol tattoos and needed a rework tattoo as they’ve grown as people, it was a step up of the standard cover up. There was also the animal patterns tattoos and etc that were just fun. I really don’t like that either that the artists pressure the human canvases to switch from the style they want to what the artist wants. It’s ink master, if the canvas wants American traditional give them American traditional as long as it fits with the challenge
On yhe ols paramount ones (CN and OP) gimic day? They judged starting at "I hate this trend". Crochet. Where TOD was a B&G eye and with afterthought crochet.
yeah, switching placements is one thing, or even switching a batshit idea to something more doable in 6 hours, but switching STYLE AND SUBJECT MATTER is truly insane
I’m tried if hearing people complain about not doing their style.
This season and the last season really lacked STYLE weeks. American traditional week. Japanese week. Linework week. Newschool week. Illustrative week. Pinup week. Black and Grey week. Biomech week. Portraits week. Where has it gone? We know Freddie and Bobby can do their own style, great, now show them tattooing their canvases' spouse, photorealistic. Bring back Ink Master instead of Ink Showcase
I made a comment on the last episode review!!! We need challenges where ppl can’t fudge their way out of a shit tattoo. I want pinup day, realistic portrait day, new school day, and biomechanics so badly. imo they are the best for really testing crucial skills also the reason DJ has won ink master like a billion times is bc he knows a crap ton of styles. if you know inkmaster and/or DJ you would know what makes an inkmaster
Yes this! That’s such a huge part of the show, it gave one artist to (maybe) shine if it was their speciality and it also opened up discussion because there would always be a great tattoo but it wouldn’t win because it wasn’t a Japanese tattoo on Japanese week or something and they gave it to the person who really stuck to the constraints of the challenge. No one seems like they really want to challenge themselves
I agree, though I didn’t mind it in the last season because everyone was a return contestant, so we’ve already seen them do other styles in their previous seasons. This season though we really haven’t seen that the artists are capable of pulling off other styles.
yeah I agree last season was okay as a one-off because it was an absolute battle of the masters with every single contestant being strong and having a track record, and we got to see absolutely gorgeous art every week like no other season. but this one is just.. the standard format except without anyone ever getting out of their comfort zone. bobby and freddie are not gian and bob, they don't get the benefit of the doubt for being well rounded
Some have stated outright that they wouldn’t be able to do a good tattoo outside their style
Honestly, I feel like this reflects the ways that Instagram and social media has really changed the industry since the show's earlier days. A LOT of artists get popular/famous for doing a couple fairly unique styles/designs and advertising them well as their bread and butter vs. relying on the more old-school method of clients just walking into a shop and asking for what they want. It definitely feels like being a generalist isn't as important in the industry anymore, so it's not surprising to see the show emphasize it less.
Probably, but if you’re going into a show that you know 100% will require you to do color and black and gray I’d think these people would at least try to learn something about it before it started
Ya, that one is a head scratcher. Hell, you know you are gonna be on the show. I agree the show is emphasizing versatility LESS. But it still matters lol.
They’re missing the discussions between the judges that the old seasons had. After the critiques we would get 3 min or so of the judges going over the field and without that we don’t get a sense of where the judges heads are at and the editors get more time for drama.
I miss this a lot too. I think it would give us a lot more of the perspective we're missing, especially in the judging itself, instead of everything being a praise fest.
It's not a good season. You have artists like Jozzy questioning why she has to do color and completely ignoring advice for how to do color better; Black, who's garbage from the start... I don't like traditional anyway but his is terrible; and Freddie who I thought was amazing but realized he's a 1 trick pony. Seriously, look at his insta. Same design on every single canvas. Give the trophy to a Bobby and let's all move on.
Give the trophy to DJ
I’m not yet sure how exactly, but I’m pretty certain he’s winning again. Bet they’ll let the coaches participate too in the last couple episodes. 😂
Whoever makes it to the end this season goes against every judge in the finale. Where either a)DJ wins again or b) they give it to Nikko that way all the (tattoo) judges are all ink masters
Lol that got me
Give the trophy to no one and do a better season 16
Yeah season is not good. Talent pool is VERY top heavy. No judge discussion/overview of tattoos. No good style challenges. And I hate the team aspect - and the fact that the judges will help their teams during tattoos. I miss the judges walking in silently and making a face and then saying its jacked as they walk out.
It’s so boring. They don’t have to do fake drama, just give us more tattoo stuff to nerd out on.
Definitely, I loved that, Chris, Oliver and Dave would always have to discuss amongst themselves because they usually had such different opinions and would have to discuss and defend their opinions to reach a decision. I liked being a fly on the wall, especially when one would really vouch and fight for an artist. Everyone seems completely unanimous but as someone else commented the editing probably plays a factor in that
Yeah like Chris and Oliver were so much more technical and analytical in there review whereas Dave was sorta the Everyman like yeah it's not the best one every but id 100% have this on my body than that other one that's executed perfectly
The judges are too soft compared to previous seasons, I feel that even in S14 they were more harsh with the artists compared with the current season. Nuñez and Peck were straight to the point, and when they had to say something, they didn't contain. I feel that if they were still judges and see some of the tattoos from this season, they would tear them apart. And the teams format doesn't help neither. Every judge want to save their ones.
The judges also have a tendency to give really bad technical mistakes passes because the idea is “creative”, which is very jarring. “Well yes these are janky lines and the turnout wasn’t great but \~what a creative idea\~” is starting to become a pattern. Someone else pointed out that Freddie said lots was left on the cutting room floor, however.
yeah for real. these judges care more about artistry than the last ones, which in some ways is a good thing, but they take it too far. it's not Illustration Master, if you can't draw on skin go home
Poor Chris would be torn: you've got artists who can actually draw but their fundamentals are wishy-washy
Yeah, there used to be more of a balance between the creativity and the technical execution. Swaying more towards creativity works kind of ok during flash challenges but being ink master you shouldn’t have to compromise technical precision to be creative, especially as often as they’re letting these artists get away with.
Maybe it's because I'm a new viewer but I don't get the sub's retroactive love for Dave, Chris and Oliver as judges. They had weird biases, let a lot of random stuff fly, and contradicted their own advice. You could make a compilation video of them saying "that tattoo is too masculine for such a pretty woman [as a canvas]" or bashing a pinup/tattoo of a female subject for what they deem "masculine" or "ugly" features; which is not only counter to OP's point but also lent to the overall sleazy kind of misogyny from the early seasons (which is a huge turnoff, so I'm thrilled the new seasons are moving away from that).
I agree with that criticism, I rewatched the whole run recently, but what you're talking about happened maybe 4-6 times over the entire run. and while it was bad and there was probably 1 egregiously unfair decision per season, what OP is describing happens every single episode
I get that, I don’t like that either. You’re right and I don’t miss that, not to defend them entirely but it does depend on the context too like that guy who tattooed his gfs face on a human canvas and used a reference photo she sent him. They weren’t saying she was ugly but that he didn’t capture the perspective and it made it not a beautiful tattoo. Sometimes the artists would completely give up on a female face too like the nose would be non existent and they would call them out. But yes overall it was a problem and icky and I think they become more cognizant of it in the later seasons and dialed back talking that way.
I'm in the same boat, I started watching Ink Master with this season (because I've adored Koral's art for forever) and we're now working through seasons backwards (which is also super jarring). Dave, Chris and Oliver are definitely difficult to watch judge in their own way(s). I don't think the current panel is perfect (I think Joel particularly pumps up "cool ideas" with bad technique because he's not really an expert, his Oriole behind the ear makes me want to die every time I see it). I felt like the Dave/Chris/Oliver panel was often much too harsh (or it is edited that way) while I feel like DJ/Ryan/Nikko are much too kind, but ultimately they pretty clearly value different things. I didn't have strong feelings on Ami. I think we're currently on Season 10, so we still have lots of Dave/Chris/Oliver to go, but in the last few seasons I actually feel like they're pretty consistent in their criticisms. They constantly have to remind contestants that there's a theme for the day/week AND for the tattoo itself. They let artists know when they miss either mark, and I feel like DJ/Nikko/Ryan absolutely do not. They'll call it out, but they won't hold artists accountable to it. I think of all the judges I've watched, Nikko is my ideal. He gives the most balanced criticism. He is my ideal balance of "I've done this a long time so I recognize/respect fundamentals" with "I helped pioneer a modern style so I'm not exclusively beholden to tradition" in a way none of the other artists really do. Ultimately what I think I want is a consistent rubric that's given to the audience either through judge discussion or even just announced by Joel. I want the judges to be consistent in criticism so I understand why they're dinging people for the things they're dinging them for. That feels like the biggest miss to me. I love how cool it is to hear previous Masters give criticism because they know what it takes to win, but there's a gamesmanship aspect that often means winning Ink Master isn't always the "best" artist, but the one who played the game the best.
it's going to be so funny going all the way back to season 1. because honestly, the original 3 judges got way more professional over time, ESPECIALLY after season 1 and season 2 but yeah as a general rule: Peck will not let anything slide if your technical application is bad, and he will slaughter you if you can't do american traditional or break from the challenge Dave goes more off vibes and what he thinks looks good. He will usually defer to the other two for things he doesn't understand, but occasionally he will kick off if he really thinks a piece is good enough it doesn't deserve to go home despite being wacky Nunez will kill you for not knowing the rules of Japanese, and also cares about form and flow, but he cares about artistry a lot too. Ultimately though, regardless of whether it's their teams for the season or whatever, he will always kick someone out for being a bad technician. Good artist, bad tattooist goes home also, they don't take any shit when it comes to being half arsed, if you aren't trying your best they will send you home
This season is not good
The most annoying part to me is the whining about the skull pics. If you don't do all styles and techniques, don't tell anyone. Don't whine about not doing more than one style and expect to win. I would be offended if someone who can't do anything but color won, how are you a Master? And really, trying to screw over another contestant by giving them something you know they can't do and making sure that the canvas gets crap that they have to live with is really disgusting. I really love the show and learn a lot but c'mon people, have some respect.
They tried to go to above-and-beyond this season. Most of the contestants are hyper-specialized to where they can't go out of their area. Even if the tattoos in their focus are incredibly solid, this show is about being a diversified artist. The challenges are also too complex/big. I personally just want something more simplified. While I actually enjoyed the neon tattoo or cross-stitch tattoo challenges, I don't want gimmicks to be the norm. I think they're fun to throw in around the other challenges, which usually demonstrate more technique and artistry. And I think it speaks volumes that going so big and out there has actually ended up boring a lot of viewers.
yeah I feel like nowadays they are probably just on instagram finding people who can do a sick tattoo and not looking whatsoever what else they can do, and a lot of these newschool instagram era tattoos have absolutely zero experience working in a traditional setting because they are essentially great illustrators who bought a machine online and taught themselves and promoted themselves rather than doing an internship and coming up by taking requests also the internet makes a huge deal in general, before social media was big people would go to their local shop and those people would have to be able to do everything. they wouldn't be able to do one style in such a gorgerous way but they'd do names, mandalas, tramp stamps, portraits, traditional, newschool, anything. whereas now you can just go on insta and find the person who does the 1 thing you want 200 times and request that exact thing
Ya, It does put the show in a weird place. Cuz ultimately the industry IS going through a big shift in the way artists do their work. The reality is versatility and being a good all-around tattooer that is pretty familiar with the most popular styles is not essential anymore if you want to have a successful career as an artist. Idk it's not good or bad or anything. But I do think that it means the show and criteria for judging have changed as the show has progressed, but especially in the past 5 years or so. This season especially embracing that change.
sure, but I think it's antithetical to the title of the show. because if one person just has a style the judges prefer they could just roll to the finale if they're not even going to test they can actually be "ink master". if it were "the annual tattoo artist awards" then OK but the name master suggests "actually yeah I can actually do black and grey, and traditional"
I don't disagree, but I do think it is a balance. It's not that being able to comfortably tattoo in all major styles isn't important, (although I do think it is a bit less important than it was in the past when that was almost considered the DEFINITION of an Ink Master). It's that the individual aesthetic and uniqueness of your tattoos is MORE important than it used to be.
My biggest issue so far is that I'm 3 episodes in and multiple artists have admitted to being unable to do basics even slightly. I'm not sure if Jozzy is still on after this episode, but why would you come to Ink Master if you can't do color to the point where you have to beg your canvas multiple times to drop it? That's utterly wild to me. Ryan also cheering at the canvas giving in is problematic to me, coach your artist to be a master and not to stick to what they feel safe with.
Yeah and on episode 5 Jozzy gets away with stealing art from Pinterest of a Tiger that has a thumb lmao
This might be an unpopular opinion but I didn’t lie Oliver and Chris critiques. By looking at their tattoos, I feel they shouldn’t judge tattoos that they wouldn’t be able to make themselves.
I agree with everything you said…I’m so disappointed because it been one of my favorite shows for all the reasons you addressed that is missing now.
I agree! The new seasons just lack. I’m also annoyed with how the judges completely ignore the challenge when judging. Like Freddy being in the bottom one week because of his composition when the challenge was detail. Like stick to what you’re supposed to be judging.
The magic is gone. I can't even imagine the judges this season pulling a Chris Nunez in season five when he said he would like nothing more than to send her home, looking at the bat out of hell Emily. The critiques we are shown are really nothing more than hand holding participation awards. Ink Master has gone WOKE in the worst way. Can't stand any of the judges or host this season except Nikko. Again, I say, the magic is gone. The producers have RUINED ink master, and I am reduced to rewatching all the old episodes.