Best Ink Episode 204: Live Out Loud

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

The artists of Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C) arrive at Paramount Recording Studios for a Flash Challenge. Guitars! Draw them like one of your French girls. The contestants have one hour to paint a design on a guitar, and the winner gets $2,500. This is the sort of challenge that separates the artists from the ar-teests. And then, there’s Dollarz. He painted the back of the guitar because he didn’t realize that the strings go on the front.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Flash Challenge All Guitars Lined Up

Pictured from left to right: Tylor, Teresa, Alli, Derek, Brittany, Ralph, Dollarz, DJ, Jerod
Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod is painting a nekkid lady to match the curves of the guitar. Tylor creates outer space? I don’t know what it is other than a mess. DJ puts a Japanese anime boar on the front of his guitar. Dollarz quickly slops some paint on the front of the guitar that looks like blood. Ralph paints his cute little French bulldog. In contrast, Brittney paints heavy metal hell. Derek goes with flames, skulls, and spider webs. Alli paints roses and doodads. Teresa designs a raven, and a raven-haired woman that is amazing…except the bird is upside down and looks dead, but not in a good way.

For some reason, DJ and Dollarz are the top two artists. Dollarz gets the win, and he can either choose an extra $500, or an extra 30 minutes in the Ink Challenge. Dollarz takes the money because his name is Dollarz. Duh.

The Ink Challenge is inspired by music. The skins want abstract tattoos that tell the story of their bond with music, and the artists will have four hours to make those dreams come true. Derek is the only artist super excited about abstract tattoos because he is an abstract tattoo guru, and “don’t even worry about that, bro, my s*** is legit.” Brittney is worried about this one and says as much to her skin, which makes him really comfortable.  Tylor’s skin wants non-abstract lettering, so he asks her to get that in her next tattoo, Alli is having trouble figuring out what abstract means, and Teresa’s skin isn’t giving her any clues as to what the heck she wants.

Alli is having some real problems with her skin. She does not like the design, or the placement, or the weather. After a whole mess of ink is on the girl’s arm, she says that she’s “super unhappy with it,” and just sort of pouts through the rest of the tattoo. DJ is making some really nice looking paint splatters, which don’t even look like a tattoo. After talking real big, Derek’s “abstract” tattoo is looking very “literal.” Meanwhile, Alli’s skin is bitching and moaning about the design, and “I just have to think about how I’m going to fix it later.”

It’s time for the judging!

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Teresa's Ink

Pictured: Teresa’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa made a giant explosion of color.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Ralph's Ink

Pictured: Ralph’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Ralph went with a wavy squiggle tribal thingy. Meh.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Brittany's Ink

Pictured: Brittany’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Brittney’s tattoo is horrible, and the “my equipment is broken” excuses start flying.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Tylor's Ink

Pictured: Tylor’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Tylor’s tattoo is spotty.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Jerod's Ink

Pictured: Jerod’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s tattoo is blotchy.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Dollarz's Ink

Pictured: Dollarz’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Dollarz inked some kind of forgettable heaven and earth swish.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Derek's Ink

Pictured: Derek’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Derek’s angel figure is too heavy.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud Alli's Ink

Pictured: Alli’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Alli’s tattoo turned out pretty.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 4 Live Out Loud DJ's Ink

Pictured: DJ’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

And then there’s DJ.

DJ made an amazing painting. It’s really gorgeous. Ink splatters, a tornado of color, it even has energy.

The top three artists are Teresa, DJ, and Alli. This week, the winner is DJ. He gets immunity for next week, and the three contestants have to select the bottom three artists up for elimination. Everyone’s name gets tossed out there for various tattoo infractions, but the final picks are Derek, Dollarz, and Jerod. The judges let Derek stay since his tattoo was okay and kind of sort of maybe abstract. Then, the judges send Dollarz home because they don’t want to see another tattoo from him ever again.

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