Terrible Television » Best Ink

Best Ink Season 2 Finale: Full Body of Work

misslinda — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:33:03 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

This is it, only three artists remain on Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C) —Jerod, DJ, and Teresa. The artists arrive at the Best Ink studio to face their two final Ink Challenges. For the first Ink Challenge, the judges are looking for their signature pieces. For DJ, it’s his abstract tattoo. Teresa gets her blood puddin tattoo. Jerod gets to re-ink his animated tattoo. The signature piece should tell how the artists and the skins have risen above adversity. And, the artists have free reign to do whatever they want with one hour to consult and five hours to ink.

Teresa is thinking about wolves, how one of them dies and another wolf takes over. They are leaders of their own packs. DJ is talking about a hand reaching for the light out of darkness. Jerrod wants to put a tattoo on a statue since his skin’s faith has helped her in life, and tattooing has helped Jerod.

After five hours of nonstop pain, the artists gets a short break before working on their second tattoo. But first, one artist must be eliminated.

DJ’s tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ’s tattoo is a hand holding an orb, and it is an amazing drawing, but lacking in concept.

Teresa’s tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa somehow managed to make a feminine-looking wolf.

Jerod’s tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod did a greyscale religious statute that falls just short of realism.

Unfortunately, Jerod’s tattoo is just not enough, and he is eliminated from the competition. (You can read his exit interview here.)

For the final Ink Challenge, the artists will be inking celebrity skins. DJ is inking Travie McCoy, and they’ve been friends for years. He wants a portrait of his little French bulldog, Stitch. Teresa, on the other hand, is inking a Backstreet Boy—A.J. McLean, who wants a tattoo to represent his new baby. Teresa decides to ink a photo of the baby’s hand gripping A.J.’s fingers.

The artists return to the studio and have an hour to prepare for the tattoo. DJ’s challenge is making room on an already inked up body, while Teresa’s challenge is making baby hands interesting. Both tattoos look…cute. And I’m not sure that cute is a good thing. With one hour left, the artists add a last little pop of color as their celebrity skins try to power through the pain.

DJ’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Hmm. DJ kind of blew it. I’m giving the win to Teresa. But, I don’t get a vote. So let’s see what the judges have to say. DJ’s tattoo looks like a devil dog (Lucifer, not Hostess). The judges like the drawing, but feel that the eyes lacked a little something extra and maybe should have been cartoonier. Teresa’s tattoo is beautifully rendered but poorly placed. And, she managed to get a touch of leopard print in the background that is kind of nifty.

The judges deliberate and call the artists back in to crown a winner. And the winner is, Teresa! Yay! Aw, but DJ is super sad, and having to stand there while Teresa feels that rush of joy is awkward. Well, good for both of them. This was fun.

You can read DJ’s exit interview here, as well as Teresa’s winning chat here.

Best Ink 209: True Love

misslinda — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:17:53 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

Two episodes left of Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C), and we’re down to Jerod, DJ, Teresa, and Alli, most of which are fantastic artists (*cough* not Alli). For the final Flash Challenge, the guest judge is Larry Law, a contributing editor of Tattoo Magazine. Larry explains that the baby portrait is the most difficult tattoo to accomplish because it is a heavy responsibility. The artists have a half hour to sketch a baby photo as a realistic portrait. The winner gets $5,000 and a baby. No, kidding. Just the cash.

While the drawings are good, Joe says that he wants to see tattoos. So in walk the mommies. The artists have four hours to complete the portraits. Jerod made the tattoo look better than the photo. DJ’s tattoo is looking pretty good. Teresa’s tattoo is looking pretty bad. Unsurprisingly, Alli doesn’t really do portraits.

The judges have generally positive comments, and give the top two spots to DJ and Jerod. The win goes to Jerrod. Not only does he get the cash (but not the baby), he gets an advantage in the Ink Challenge.

Jerod’s Baby Portrait Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The Ink Challenge is a face-off, in two matches. The winner of each match goes straight to the finale, while the bottom two have to battle it out for the third spot. Jerod’s advantage is that he gets to choose the artist he wants to face off against. Gee, I wonder who he’s going to choose…Alli.

The challenge is to ink their loved ones. DJ has to ink his wife, Teresa’s skin is her boyfriend, who doesn’t really like tattoos. Alli is tattooing her brother. Jerod’s skin is his brother. The artists have one hour to prep, and five hours to ink. Teresa’s boyfriend wants “the universe” because she is his world. Jerod prefers realism, and his brother likes traditional tattoos. So they are going to combine the two and Jerrod will ink a realistic traditional tattoo.

Hmm. We’ll see how that goes.

Alli’s brother wants a clock because he is boring. DJ’s wife already has a whole sleeve that represents their relationship, so they’re a little bit lost and settle on a wedding ring and tattoo machine.

Oh ha ha ha ha ha! Alli inked the clock with Roman numerals and she got the number four wrong! DJ’s inking another ribbon, but with some inking machines drawn in there. Jerrod is doing a sailor chick portrait in a realistic style. Teresa’s universe involves pixels and a funky burst of flames.

Jerod’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The judges kind of maybe like Jerod’s tattoo, except he got lost somewhere along the way by trying out a new style of tattooing.

Alli’s Final Tattoo

Alli’s tattoo is ugly. Really, really, ugly. For some reason the judges like it.

DJ’s Final Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ’s tattoo is good, but the judges think that the color is confusing and disjointed.

Teresa’s Final Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa’s tattoo is unique and the judges love it, a lot.

Between Jerod and Alli, the winner is Jerod. Between DJ and Teresa, the winner is DJ. So Alli and Teresa will now go up against each other for the last spot in the finale. In one fell swoop, the judges eliminate Alli from the competition and give Teresa the last spot in the finale. Yay!

Next week, it’s the season finale, where they will each tattoo a celebrity skin.

Best Ink 208: Be Ready For Anything

misslinda — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:48:07 +0000

We’re down to five tattoo artists on Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C), and there’s not a bad one in the batch. Except Alli, of course. The Flash Challenge this week requires the artists to endure an obviously staged car jacking. Why? Because this challenge is a product placement for Fast and Furious 6. They’re going to draw in the style of hyper-realism. The guest judge is Jason Seiler, a spectacular hyper-realistic artist. The winner gets $4,500 and first pick of skins for the Ink Challenge.

The artists only have one hour to complete their sketches.

Alli does not understand photorealism. Jerod is telling the story of the car jacking. Brittany has an awkward sketchy style. DJ is furiously scribbling against the clock. Teresa is having some trouble drawing hands.

DJ’s Sketch // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s Sketch // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jason selects Jerod and DJ as the top two, and gives the prize to DJ.

For the Ink Challenge, the skins will bring very personal photos that will form the basis of a photorealistic tattoo. DJ chooses a skin who wants a tattoo that represents her grandfather, and her Puerto Rican pride. His selection was strategic due to her olive skin tone that will take the shading well. As a twist, the artists will not get to see the photos until one hour before they must start inking, and will have five hours to ink the tattoos.

When the artists arrive at their workstations, the skins reveal the photos. None of the photos are ideal, except for Jerod’s skin who brings a classic 1980s wedding photo. In fact, it’s almost like the skins are trying to sabotage their own tattoos. Teresa adds flowers to a photo of a woman standing in front of a giant sculpture. Brittany tries to figure out how to draw a photorealistic jellyfish. DJ struggles his skin’s photo, because it’s both blurry and narcissistic. Alli’s skin has to work with a photo of a race car and is arguing with her skin over size. Alli needs it to be huge on her back because of the details, and the skin wants it to be small on her ribs.

Brittany seems confused by her jellyfish and is clearly in danger of going home. DJ is kicking himself for choosing his skin. Jerod’s wedding portrait looks perfectly goofy. Alli’s race car tattoo is too floaty and lacks oomph. Teresa’s tattoo is gorgeous, but doesn’t match the photograph.

Brittany’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The judges like the color in Brittany’s tattoo, but it needs much more texture.

DJ’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ’s tattoo looks better than the photo, though the layout isn’t ideal.

All’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The judges are unhappy with the placement of Alli’s tattoo, and the shading is awkward.

Jerod’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s tattoo needs more background to accent the portraits.

Teresa’s Tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The judges love the look of Teresa’s tattoo, but it strays too far from photorealism.

The top two artists are DJ and Jerod. The win goes to Jerod, who will choose the bottom two artists. Jerod picks Brittany and Alli. Unfortunately, Brittany gave the judges no choice but to get rid of her this week.

Next week, the final four artists will…who knows. It’s a secret, but I’m guessing it involves tattoos.

Best Ink 207 – Animated Ink

misslinda — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:42:58 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

After Tylor went on a “long-ass smoke break,” six artists of Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C) remain. They arrive at Universal Studios for their Flash Challenge and meet the guest judge, Miya Bailey, who is known for tattoos based off of comic book heroes. In one hour, they must draw up an action movie poster of a superhero of their own creation, including a cool name and a tag line.

Here’s what everyone made:

Jerod: The Reader // Credit: Oxygen Media

“Your Darkest Fears Are An Open Book”

Brittany: Serpentina // Credit: Oxygen Media

“She’ll steal your soul then eat you whole”

Teresa: Red Hawk // Credit: Oxygen Media

“Vengeance Is Her Game And The Sky Is The Limit”

Derek: The Planet // Credit: Oxygen Media

“Only The Strongest Will Survive”

DJ: Atom Bomb // Credit: Oxygen Media

“Killing Them Softly”

Alli: The Day Aliens Saved the Earth // Credit: Oxygen Media

“She’s Large And In Charge”

Alli gets an earful about the crappola she presented, and Teresa and Jerrod get the top two spots. Jerrod’s character is the most original, and Teresa’s line work is clean. Miya gives the win to Teresa.

It’s time for the Ink Challenge. Brittney won last week, so she has immunity. The artists have five hours to ink the tattoos. They must do animated tattoos, which is kind of confusing. The software recognizes the tattoo and places an animation over it, so I guess everyone needs to carry an iPad around, like, forever? Brittney’s skin wants the molecular representation of titanium, which makes her think of a skeleton. Jerrod’s skin wants something religious, so he’s thinking of a stained glass window. DJ’s skin wants a lion for strength and courage, and he’s going to make it massive. Derek’s skin wants a realistic cheetah, and he’s going to make it stalking prey. Alli’s skin is a musician, but Alli doesn’t know what the instruments look like so she reverts back to musical notes. Teresa’s skin wants a “vintage” dial phone.

Derek didn’t prepare any sketches because “I’m bad*ss and they know it,” so I look forward to his tattoo turning out horribly. Oh good! The giant cheetah he’s inking is ugly. Teresa is inking a massive telephone that I anticipate her skin regretting the next day. Alli is having timing issues while inking a musical instrument she’s never heard of before, and the tattoo looks pretty bad. DJ’s tattooing a lion and doesn’t think Derek’s cheetah is any competition because the lion is the king of the jungle and “a cheetah’s just it’s little bitch.” Jerrod’s tattoo looks really nice, if you like religion. Brittney’s tattoo is kind of boring because it’s science.

We finally get to see the animations.

Brittany’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Brittney’s boring skeleton tattoo is boring, so she’s lucky that she has immunity.

Jerod’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerrod’s religious tattoo looked nice animated, but the tattoo looks unfinished due to lack of color.

Teresa’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa’s phone animation is clever and the tattoo is nice, but it’s very static looking.

Derek’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Derek’s cheetah animation is cute, but the tattoo lacks contrast.

DJ’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ’s lion is Disney-esque adorable, and the tattoo is slick.

Alli’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

The shape of Alli’s bizarre instrument just doesn’t work.

The elimination process has changed. Only two artists will be chosen for the top. The first artist is DJ, and the second is Teresa. The winner is DJ. All of the artists will go back to the tattoo shop, and the other artists will have to convince DJ that they should stay. Then, DJ will choose the bottom two artists. DJ puts Alli and Derek on the chopping block. The judges call Derek’s tattoo “a total letdown,” and Alli’s use of design is “less than spectacular.” For some reason, they keep Alli in the competition and eliminate Derek, who calls it “bulls**t.”

Next week, the artists work in photorealism.

Best Ink Episode 206: I’m Sexy and I Know It

misslinda — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:21:35 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

The contestants on Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C) are brought to an airplane bone yard in the Mohave desert. Hannah Aitchison is the guest judge, and she is the master of classic airplane nose art. For the Flash Challenge, the artists have an hour and a half to paint a modern pinup on the nose of the airplanes. The winner gets a wad of cash and an extra hour in the ink challenge.

Teresa made Lucky Lucy after her grandmother, and it’s yet another gorgeous painting from her. Derek made a pinup with gigantic tatas that looks like a blow-up sex toy and he says it’s a portrait of his mother. Alli went with a mother nature theme because maybe people in the air miss the ground. Jerod made Bombshell Bobbi after his girlfriend, and it’s cute and has a clamshell. Brittney made a fun face blowing kisses, but the face looks like a plastic surgery tragedy. Tylor made a mess, and he ended up slopping a smiley face on the plane. DJ made a painterly military woman that kind of doesn’t work on a plane but would work on a wall. The top artists are DJ (really?) and Jerod (meh), and Jerod is the winner.

Jerod’s Pin-Up Flash Challenge // Credit: Oxygen Media

This week’s Ink Challenge is in Joe’s signature style, which is “blood puddin.” A blood puddin tattoo is a dark, mysterious, sexual pin-up. All of their skins will be women who have sad stories, because all skins have sad stories. Jerrod’s skin is a blank canvas, and she wants something sexual. Alli’s skin requests a sexy Queen of Hearts. Teresa’s skin describes a female pirate captain steering a ship. Brittney’s skin wants a sexy Victorian babe. Tylor’s skin asks for a mermaid Queen of the Sea, which is like Chicken of the Sea’s third cousin, twice removed. DJ’s skin wants a curvy redheaded musician. Derek’s skin explains how great a green zombie brain cupcake would look on her arm.

Derek is having timing problems, and keeps stressing how he doesn’t do this style or draw female figures. DJ’s tattoo is looking super dark and bloody. Brittney’s inking sloooowly, as is Jerrod, though he has an extra hour. Alli is also in danger of not finishing, and here’s what I don’t get about this show: why are there time constraints on a tattoo? Rushing through a permanent and prominent feature on a human body is just plain silly. Tylor is inking in grayscale, which is not what this challenge is about at all. Teresa is methodically painting her skin. Oh man, DJ’s tattoo is insanely good. Wow. Let’s see how this one pans out.

Alli’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Alli’s tattoo sucks. There, I said it.

Teresa’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa’s tattoo is beautiful and complex, but the judges don’t like it because it doesn’t look like a blood puddin pinup.

DJ’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ’s tattoo kills it, but the figure’s hand is blocking the boobs.

Derek’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Derek’s tattoo is too much zombie and not enough blood puddin, and Joe declares it “not cute enough.”

Brittany’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Brittney’s tattoo is clever but maybe a little oddly proportioned.

Tylor’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Tylor’s grayscale tattoo is too sweet and cute to be blood puddin.

Jerod’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s tattoo is bad*ss, but it lacks pop without color.

The top three artists are DJ, Brittney, and Teresa. The winner is, as expected, DJ. Wait, no. It’s Brittney. What?! DJ was totally robbed. They choose Derek, Jerrod, and Tylor for the bottom three. The judges eliminate Tylor because he didn’t even try to do a blood puddin tattoo. Ouch.

Next week: animated tattoos. I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds exciting.

Best Ink Episode 205: A Good Laugh

misslinda — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:13:42 +0000

Derek and Brittney
Jerod and Teresa
Alli and Tylor
Ralph and DJ

Alli and Tyler dig into each other right away. Jerod describes Teresa as a pinhead, DJ calls Ralph hairy, and Brittney goes on the worst date ever with Derek. The two top are Tyler and Brittney. Tyler draws Alli as an annoying mosquito. Brittney made Derek into an animal, which is a fresh idea and a good drawing. The winner is Tylor, who gets to choose two of his fellow artists for a night out on the town. He chooses Alli for the public humiliation, and Brittney for coming in second place.

Flash Challenge caricatures // Credit: Oxygen Media

For the Ink Challenge, the skins want humorous tattoos. Tylor’s skin wants his pug tattooed on his leg. Brittney’s skin wants a stick of butter and a donut and a cup of coffee on his shoulder. DJ’s skin wants a fried egg and Ralph’s skin wants a squirrel and a fortune cookie message because…I have no idea. Alli’s skin wants a punk rock duck on his forearm, Derek’s skin wants a potato on her leg, and Jerod’s skin wants a bacon garter belt (which is great because he’s a vegetarian) and Teresa’s skin wants a bouquet of spoons.

Everyone’s drawings exceed expectations, and there are happy skins all over the workshop — except…Ralph. He’s not really happy with his sketch, but he starts inking anyhow because there’s a deadline. And this is what’s so scary about this show—these are permanent designs under a time constraint! Tylor’s skin is all sorts of twitchy, which is making it hard for him to do good work.

At the judging, one artist’s ink has run dry.” DJ is safe from elimination, but everybody else is up for grabs.

DJ’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

DJ made a couple of fried eggs in a skillet which are meh.

Tylor’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Tylor made a pug dog’s face, but it’s buried in a lion’s mane and overall just is not the best presentation of a pug.

Derek’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Derek’s baked potato is kind of awful, to the point where I feel badly for the skin.

Jerod’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s bacon bow garter is cute.

Brittany’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Brittney’s butter and coffee and donut is okay.

Teresa’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa’s bouquet of spoons is a stunning tattoo, as usual.

Ralph’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Ralph’s squirrel is frightening, and not in a good way.

Alli’s final tattoo // Credit: Oxygen Media

Alli’s punk rock duck is both awful and fantastic.

Jerod, DJ, and Teresa are the top three this week. The winner is Teresa, who will be immune from elimination next week, who. The three top artists decide on who will be sent home, and everybody’s name comes up during deliberations. They decide on Derek’s potato, Brittney’s coffee and donut, and Ralph’s squirrel. The judges think that Derek’s potato layout is awful, but save him for next week. Because Ralph’s squirrel lacked joy, the judges send him home.

Best Ink Episode 204: Live Out Loud

misslinda — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:07:46 +0000

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.

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!

Pictured: Teresa’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Teresa made a giant explosion of color.

Pictured: Ralph’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Ralph went with a wavy squiggle tribal thingy. Meh.

Pictured: Brittany’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

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

Pictured: Tylor’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Tylor’s tattoo is spotty.

Pictured: Jerod’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Jerod’s tattoo is blotchy.

Pictured: Dollarz’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Dollarz inked some kind of forgettable heaven and earth swish.

Pictured: Derek’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Derek’s angel figure is too heavy.

Pictured: Alli’s Ink
Credit: Oxygen Media

Alli’s tattoo turned out pretty.

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.

Best Ink Season 2 Episode 3: There’s No “I” In Tattoo

misslinda — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:57:50 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

The contestants gather at the headquarters for Pastry Footwear, which is a sneaker line designed the offspring of hip hop moguls and this week’s guest judges, Angela and Vanessa Simmons. They explain branding to the contestants and introduce the Flash Challenge. The artists have one hour to stamp their own individual brand onto Pastry shoes. The winner will get $2,000 and some sort of bragging rights.

Ralph is painting eyes and lips in honor of his girlfriend, someone actually said “chicks dig candy,” I see sparkles, cherries, and DJ takes the shoelaces out because that’s more street. Teresa gives some long and boring explanation of the symbolism. Jerod paints words, so whatever. Ralph slaps some blue paint on the gold sneakers. Dollarz made a stupid musical note. Kelly decorated the sneakers with sprinkles. Brittney put a rebel flag on one shoe and an American flag on the other. Tylor painted a red rose and a black and white rose. Derek put candy and pastries all over the sneakers because he thought that was the assignment. Alli made “like cute, and a little tough.” DJ brought it back to hip hop’s roots by making some really ugly sneakers with tiger stripes. Basically, he’s sucking up to Run DMC’s relatives.

The top two artists are Ralph (seriously?) and DJ (SERIOUSLY?). DJ wins this round with his boring tiger-striped sneakers that don’t even have any laces. Derek understands me and says “DJ put some stripes on his shoes and won.”

For the Ink Challenge, pairs! Five teams of two, and each team will be assigned a pair of family members who want a tattoo that highlights their bond. They will each have four hours to ink the tattoos. The skins tell their sob stories, and here are the pairs:

Kelly and Brittney inking twins who want to show their bond with a horse with wings and fire and hair.
DJ and Derek will be making angels with wings for cancer survivors.
Dollarz and Jerod are working with a father and son who want a macaw and something about Venezuela.
Tylor and Ralph are inking a mother and daughter with some kind of birds.
Teresa and Alli have skins who lost their father, and are designing something involving a puzzle piece that has to go around a gunshot entry wound.

Teresa is a little annoyed with Alli because she lacks confidence and possibly creativity. Their sketches are kind of lame, with flowers and puzzle pieces. Kelly’s drawing of a Pegasus sucks but she won’t take any of Brittney’s help. The winged angels that Derek and DJ sketched are really quite nice, and Tylor and Ralph made birdies that look so good that their skins start crying.

Kelly is having technical difficulties and keeps changing her needle. Joe checks in with her and says something about maybe going back in to clean up the lines, which must be super comforting for the skin to hear. Teresa’s skin is bouncing all over the place, and Dollarz is inking a very ordinary parrot. Joe mentions the teamwork thing because Jarod and Dollarz don’t seem to be making matching tattoos. And, with only one hour left, everyone’s scrambling. Time’s up, machine’s down, and some of the tattoos look better than others. Well, to be honest, some of them are truly terrible. And by terrible, I mean Kelly has no business painting permanent pictures on peoples’ bodies and I’m embarrassed for the poor guy who has to walk around with whatever Dollarz scratched into his arm.

It’s time to face the judges. The judges like Derek and DJ’s teamwork because there are several unifying elements in both tattoos. The overall story in the mother and daughter tattoos is a big hit, but the judges didn’t like seeing so many birds in Ralph and Tylor’s tattoos. Jerod and Dollarz also made birdies, but oh boy. It’s not good. Jerod’s bird looks like it’s farting, and Dollarz made a cloud and a rainbow that’s supposed to be a bird and Venezuela. Alli and Teresa talk their way through the puzzle piece concept. Teresa’s tattoo is artistic and well executed, but Alli’s is a little…garish? Brittney and Kelly tattooed twin Pegasus horses on fire that do not look like they belong in the same room. There was clearly a teamwork problems, but if you ask me, that’s the least of Kelly’s problems.

The judges pick their top three: Derek, Teresa, and Ralph. And this week’s win goes to Teresa, who has immunity for next week’s Ink Challenge. The top three artists deliberate on which contestants to select for the bottom three. Ralph nominates Dollarz, Teresa picks Kelly, and Derek thinks maybe Jerod or Tylor? In the end, it’s Dollarz, Kelly, and Jerod. The judges let Jerod stay because his black and grey line work is top notch. Dollarz and Kelly get quite the talking to, and because Kelly has been in the bottom three for three weeks and nobody wants her to inflict any more damage on an unsuspecting skin, they send her home. Finally.

Next week, it’s an abstract tattoo challenge.

Best Ink Episode 2: Secret Spelling Bees

misslinda — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:33:51 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

The contestants on Best Ink 2 (which airs on Oxygen on Wednesdays, 10/9C) gather in a nightclub to find out what their next challenge will be. Oh look, it’s Ray J. He’s the guest judge for the Flash Challenge. The artists have one hour to use glow in the dark paint to “set the secrets of this club on fire.” The winner of the challenge gets $15,000.

Jerod

Teresa

The artists sit down at easels and begin painting, but quickly find that it’s not so easy to make something look good in both regular light and the black light. Jerod paints two unfinished faces and something about a chain under the black lights. DJ fills the canvas with a man in a top hat, but under the black lights he’s a devil. Kelly paints a straight-laced girl that transforms into a free spirit under the black lights. Melvin makes a businessman, and under the black lights he’s on puppet strings which is poorly executed but kind of clever. Derek paints a skull and money symbols which is ho-hum. Ralph makes a killer’s face that turns into an even bigger killer’s face under the black lights. Dollarz paints an eyeball and a forty, and meaningful words in glow paint. Alli paints a chick with a martini that turns into a chick with a martini and slightly brighter hair. Tylor paints paradise, and under the black light there’s a shark attack. Brittney makes a girl with flowing hair. Teresa paints a beautiful woman who turns into a skull under the black lights. Teresa’s is actually a really good painting, but Jerod gets the win because his painting speaks to Ray J.

Jerod & Teresa

For the Ink Challenge, Pete Wentz tells the contestants that they have to use UV ink on skins that are mild mannered by day, but very different at night. The theme is secrets, and the artists have five hours to complete the tattoo. Apparently UV ink is new and really hard to use, so there should be some spectacularly lousy results and at least a few very unhappy skins.

There are a lot of requests for pinup girls and clothes coming off under the black light, plus a surprising amount of birds on fire. Why do they all hate birds? Then there’s Melvin’s skin who wants a very literal music note kind of thing that is destined for mediocrity. There’s also a cross and horoscope signs which, boooooring. Teresa’s skin requests script work and it’s a whole Bible verse so there’s lots of potential for typos.

The victims arrive for their five hours of torture. Kelly is nervous because her last skin walked out halfway through. Melvin kind of sort of salvages the bland musical notes tattoo, but he’s not quite finished with the sketch so who knows. Teresa asks her skin to double-check the spelling, so you know this is going to be an issue later on. Dollarz is inking a ribbon that is a lot like last week’s winner, but not as good.

Joe checks in on everyone to see how they’re incorporating the UV ink. So far, he’s not seeing anything inspiring until he gets to Jerod who is doing something creative with the ink. And here we have it, you can practically hear Teresa’s stomach drop as she realizes there’s a typo in her tattoo. Luckily her skin isn’t in the room because that’d be awkward.

Joe, Sabina, and Hannah weigh in on this week’s work. DJ is lucky that he has immunity because he presents a hot mess of a phoenix that never really catches fire under the black lights. The judges are underwhelmed by Ralph’s wolf with glow-in-the-dark fur. Alli made a wacked out unsexy figure. Jerod made an awesome Native American figure that turns into a roller derby girl with the lights out. Brittney inked a nutty scary face that gets even freakier under the black lights. Melvin cobbled together a blank banner over piano keys. The judges think Kelly’s owl is “cute,” but they’re not sure where her five hours went since there’s not much detail in the tattoo. Tylor impresses Sabina but Hannah can’t stand black and grey spots of color. Dollarz gets compared to DJ with the bow, and called out for adding a splotch of water that has no meaning. Derek sort of crapped out with his bird on fire that Sabina calls a “turd with wings.” Teresa’s tattoo is called pretty, and the UV ink works really well. However…typo! “Phillipians” is not a word. That should be one “l” and two “p’s,” but close enough?

Teresa’s Misspelled Tattoo

Jerod, Tylor and Brittney are the top three, and Brittney gets the win for the explosion of color under the black light. The top three choose the bottom three, and the deliberations are fairly catty. Tylor hates Alli as a human, and Brittney calls Derek an “a**hole.”

The bottom three contestants are Kelly, Melvin, and Dollarz. The judges let Dollarz off the hook because his fundamentals are good. They decide to keep Kelly and her stupid owl and send Melvin home. They also remind Kelly that she’s been voted into the bottom three two weeks in a row, so she really needs to get it together.

Next week, teamwork! That’s not going to end well.

Best Ink 2: Season Premiere

misslinda — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:35:35 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.redesignrevolution.com

Host Pete Wentz welcomes twelve contestants who will compete on Best Ink 2 for a $100,000 grand prize, and the cover and feature spread in Tattoo Magazine. Each week, one artist will win, and one artist will go home. So who are these lucky dozen needle-wielding artists? There’s Brittany, Dollarz, Kelly, Melvin, Teresa, DJ, Derek, Alli, Ralph, Jerod, Tylor, and Carolyn, and they all converge on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles to size each other up.

Before getting to the tattoo shop, the contestants must first compete in a Flash Challenge that will test their artistic abilities outside of tattooing. This week, the contestants must spray paint a self-portrait on a billboard, dangling six stories off of the ground. Legendary street artist Justin Bua will decide who gets the win.

Brittney, Derek Melvin and Alli are up first and have fifteen minutes to spray their portraits. Melvin slips out of his chair, and in the end there are four blobs that mildly resemble faces. Thankfully, the portraits look a lot better from the ground. Next, Teresa paints her Mohawk, Tylor writes his name, Jerod cleverly sprays an umbrella to shield his portrait from the drips coming from Brittney’s design, and Kelly makes a mess. DJ, Ralph, Carolyn, and Dollarz are last, and Ralph is afraid of heights, Dollarz has no spray controlz, Carolyn is too ambitious with the short amount of time, and DJ is a spray paint pro with an inflated ego.

Justin Bua decides that Tylor, Kelly and Alli are disappointing because…they didn’t lay the background down? I don’t even know what that means. Teresa and Melvin are in the top two, which totally pisses off DJ. And the win goes to Melvin. He will have his first choice in skins for the ink challenge and wins a thousand dollars.

Let’s go the tattoo shop! It’s huge, and…colorful. The three judges in this year’s challenge are Joe Capobianco from Season One (I’m sensing he’s not so nice?), Sabina Kelley, also from Season One, and Hannah Aitcheson from that other tattoo show. No, the other other one.

The Ink Challenge involves working with skins who want to tell the story of their trying circumstances through tattoo art. During the consultations, the skins start yammering about random stuff that makes no sense to anyone but themselves. Tree branches, a “Thai creature,” a corset, a lighthouse, a bearded lady, an owl clock chest tattoo….doesn’t anybody get drunk in Cancun and wake up with an ankle rose anymore?

The contestants have four hours to complete their tattoos. I don’t know. Are tattoos really something that should be rushed? Melvin’s skin, Jeremy, is in excruciating pain as he gets a very misguided full chest tattoo involving an owl. I’m also a little worried about Kelly, whose skin is micromanaging the tattoo which, to be honest, looks like crap. But still, shut up and let the artist permanently ink this wreck on your torso, lady! During one of the skin’s many, many breaks, she decides that she doesn’t like the tattoo, and it gets a little (a lot!) tense, with a final declaration of “This challenge is about me!” that culminates in the skin walking out halfway through the tattoo. Wow. So…what happens when your canvas leaves before judging? Huh.

At the elimination judging, Alli has good line work, Brittney’s tree is either “flattering” or “flat,” Dollarz scissorz banner looks cheap, Jerod’s lighthouse is forgettable, Ralph’s street sign is amateur hour, Tylor’s colorific skills are bizarre, Melvin’s owl clock is too big, DJ’s corset kicks ass, Carolyn’s gore face is disappointing and haphazard, Teresa’s bearded lady octopus face is “killer,” Derek’s wolf is snarly, but could have used some color, and Kelly’s half-finished tattoo is horrendous and I would feel badly for the skin if she wasn’t such a b*tch.

Teresa, DJ, and Derek are the top three, and the win goes to DJ, so he has immunity for next week’s challenge. The top three artists will now determine who is in the bottom three. Then, the judges will decide who goes home.

The three artists choose Kelley because her figure was missing a foot, Carolyn because her design was blech, and Melvin because he made a stupid tattoo. The judges give Kelley and Melvin a second chance, and send Caroline home for having the best tattoo to work with, and totally dropping the ball on execution.