Big Boy Laroux

i'm watching, and good god, there are like 80% shitty artists this time around.

pretty disappointing on that front. Hopefully some get better as they get used to the pressure.

madcougar

I mostly enjoy the evil looks of joy the artists make when the judges dump on some other artists. Makes tattoo artists look like they're all pieces of shit.

Big Boy Laroux

Hilarious that girl broke down before they even got to her. What a fragile ego!

madcougar

Considering what a drama queen Kyle was last season, it was funny to see him go off on her.

james2025a

Kyle seems to always do really dark tattoos. The only stand out i seem to remember from the last season was the picture of the Colosseum. The rest of them...Meh!!! Personally i think that Craig Foster was much more deserving of being brought back. He was very talented.

madcougar

Was Sausage gonna cry for bringing that Hawaiian dude to the elimination?

james2025a

There were quite a few nice tattoos last night in the geometry challenge. Gentle Jay is an arse and not impressed with his skills. I think Scott Marshal is proving to be the one to beat this time around. Sausage seems to have some skills even if he does have a stupid name. The rest of em seem a very mixed bunch, with no great skills between them. I was surprised that David rushed that tattoo due to pain. You would have thought after 20 years in the business he would show the customer a little more respect.

Big Boy Laroux

I thought halo's tattoo was the best of the day, myself. Not something i would wear myself, but the color gradiations were done pretty much perfectly.

Big Boy Laroux

Haven't watched this week's episode yet, but had to comment on last week's. Yes, i'm sure being gay in the tattoo industry is difficult. But if your work sucks, it sucks. Quit using your sexual preference/race/physical deformity etc. as an excuse for bad work.

They booted that one guy that did crappy work cause his back hurt. Sorry, man, you do bad work, you go home.

madcougar

I think there are a lot more good tattoo artists this time around, but the crappy ones are REALLY crappy.

james2025a

This is turning into a three horse race between Scott, Sausage and Matti. I think Matti is the weakest of those three and my money is on Scott. His tatts have been super clean and very nicely done throughout. Sausage is very close behind, but i am getting the feeling he is not as well rounded. Should be a good final.

madcougar

I agree, although at this almost everyone who remains has done at least one nice tattoo, something I don't think you could say about previous seasons. Not sure why, but I loved Scott's tattoo last night. Very cool.

LiquidSky

I'm a gay guy and agree with you. I was embarrassed that he played that card.

***********
Lots of aggression between the artists this season. I agree that Scott, Sausage and Matti seem to be the strongest.

metman86

I still am shocked that the human canvases just let these guys do what they want to them... Some of the work is horrible.
Unless I was able to pick Scott or Sausage, none of the others do any work on me....Free or not...
Someone mentioned that this show is Hells Kitchen like and I agree, there is a huge difference between the real talent and some of the lesser talents when the seasons begin... And it is these of the lesser talented group that are really butchering some of the canvases... oh well.
I still love to watch the show... What was up with the kid quitting on his tattoo..what a tool!

madcougar

I guess the thing is when they're shooting these episodes, you don't have any clue who the good artists are. Just luck of the draw. We obviously have hindsight to determine who we would want to tattoo us. Also, I wonder how many of these people are actually pretty decent tattoo artists but the structure of the show (time limit, being filmed, tattooing in a strange environment) just doesn't allow them to do a good job.

bluthswede6

What did everyone think of Kyle's blowup this week? Kind of disappointed that is how it ended for him.

james2025a

Well its been interesting to watch Kyle. I think he has moments where he shows he has skill, but too often he makes very dark tatts with messy designs. He seems to over think things.

Coming back into this season i get the feeling that he felt that it would be a breeze for him, only to come up against a few really skilled artists. This knocked him off his game, and then the judges giving him harsh critiques only edged him even closer to that edge. In the end i think it became clear how much of a double edged sword it was being allowed to come back for a second chance. Sure you know the ropes and have a little advantage, but thats not to say you will produce quality work and be pitted against artists with an inferior skill level.

In the end everything came to a boil. He let it all play mind games with him and it got him axed. Its a shame that he went out this way as he seemed like a cool guy, but the pressure got the better of him. He complained in one of the earlier episodes about that young girl who could not handle the pressure and this is exactly what got him in the end. Karma i guess.

And my money is still on Scott. Halo is improving, but he is no where need the league of Scott and Sausage.

Big Boy Laroux

Great summary of Kyle, James. Completely agree.

That gunpowder print stuff was pretty cool. Wonder if the show ends up selling any of the non-tattoo work. Not saying I'd buy, but I'm sure the show could get something for the art.

madcougar

Kyle is a fucking idiot. I never understood why he had fans to begin with. It was hilarious how he just came unglued.

SPiRAL

Totally agreed.

james2025a

Gentle Jay should have been booted from the competition last night. His tattoo sucked and his attitude is worse. I loved the fact he tried to railroad Scott and it went nowhere. Tracing is one thing, using images for references is something totally different. I do think that the tattoo that Scott did was one of his weakest so far though. Matti did great work with that Viking.

madcougar

That viking was bad ass. I suspect they kept the top six as a result of dumbass Kyle getting kicked out. I'm sure they have to produce X amount of episodes. Jay should have gone home. I wonder if he realizes he looked like a punk ass bitch doing what he did. Even if the guy traced the picture, his skill at applying ink far surpass those of Jay.

james2025a

I agree. Jay i think realized that he was on the outs and tried doing whatever he could to paint the target on someone else. Got him nowhere in the end which was sweet.

I can see that Scott has been acting pretty cocky, but thats making great viewing. He is the only person that is playing this as 100% a competition. The artists complain when he wins the flash and assigns them hard tattoos, and this amazes me. Why would he give anyone a chance to win? He is there to win...plain and simple, and i love the way he is playing the game. The fact the guy has really great skills makes it even harder for everyone else to swallow.

Also on a side note, has anyone else noticed that whenever they announce the guest judge or the challenges Sausage goes over the top with love? He seems to be a fan of every single person who turns up on set. I recall him saying he is a born again Christian or some such thing, i just did not realize that this means you are also born again as massive kiss ass.

Big Boy Laroux

It's the same with any reality show. People that actually use the rules to their advantage (or really, just seem to be actually aware of the rules) are vilified by the rest of the contestants.

Scott is far far far from being as bad as these people think he is.

Jay definitely should have gone home. His tattoo was horrible.

And even if Scott were a tracer, you still have to tattoo it and make it look good. I didn't like Scott's tattoo that much, but he obviously didn't trace.

Now - when I saw the preview for this episode I thought for sure it was actually about Melissa being the tracer based on her "demon" tattoo. Check out this tattoo by Nikko Hurtado:



I thought her demon copied this almost exactly (well, aside from being 1/10th as good) . I don't know if this was original art by Nikko, hopefully it is just off of some source material.

james2025a

Thats a very nice tattoo of venom. Well i can totally understand that any decent artist would want to use reference work in order to make a great picture. If you are going to draw a horse then it is far better to have a reference photo to work off than your memory of what a horse looks like. Thats when the reality turns into anything but reality. In the end Jay came off looking like an idiot....for like the 12th episode in a row.

This weeks episode was interesting. Scott and Halo worked well and did a nice picture. I actually kinda liked elements of Melissa's and Jays, but it really did seem to have elements that were not cohesive together. I was surprised that Sausage and Matti did a Japanese style. Whenever people get eaten up and spit out by the judges then a good bet is that they have done Japanese. I could see the skill there, but the image was not that great overall. A kick ass Dragon would ave been cool, but the smashed face just made it seem strange. As Scott said to Sausage, this is not the time to be taking big chances and trying new stuff. Better to stick with what their skills are best matched to.

Glad to see Jay go. He really has beliefs that his skill levels are way above what they actually are. This is a guy who i would never want tattooing me. In the end i agreed that Melissas speed round tatt was better. Nice coloring and just easier to read. She is certainly the weak link now, but Sausage showed that he can make a bad choice from time to time. That might be the chink in his armor when it comes down to the final 2(3?). I think its gonna end up as Sausage, Matti and Scott in the final. It would be cool to see Halo make it as a fourth as he certainly has talent, but i doubt they will go there.