Ink Master (season 7)

The seventh season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master (subtitled as Ink Master: Revenge ) premiered on Spike on March 1 and concluded on May 24, 2016 with a total of 13 episodes.

This season features eight returning veteran artists as they face eight new artists in an elimination-style competition for a $100,000 prize and the title of Ink Master. The returning artists are James Vaughn (season 1), Sarah Miller (season 2), Jesse Smith (season 2), Jime Litwalk (season 3), Sausage (season 4), Matti Hixson (season 4), Cleen Rock One (season 5) and St. Marq (season 6). The new artists are Alex Rockoff, Anthony Michaels, Ashley Velazquez, Christian Buckingham, Corey Davis, Cris Gherman, Megan Jean Morris, and Picasso Dular.

Judges, guest judges, and special appearances

The judging panel consists of three primary judges. During the final decision, they will vote for one of the bottom artists and the artist with two or three votes will be eliminated from the competition.

Judges

The judges for season seven are Chris Núñez, Oliver Peck, and Dave Navarro who also serves as host of the show. No guest judges appeared for the first time.

Judging and ranking

The judge listing types are:

• Judging Panel

The judging panel is the table of three primary judges.

• Human Canvas Voting

After the tattoos are completed, the canvases for the challenge gather and vote on the worst of that day's tattoos. While the primary judges have the final say, the weight of the canvas vote does affect the judging panel's final decision. The canvas whose artist was voted worst tattoo of the day will come to the panel to explain to the judges what the jury discussed.

Contestants

Progress

Flash Challenge Progress

Elimination Challenge Progress

Credit Order: Anthony, Ashley, Cris, Picasso, Corey, Megan Jean, Christian, Alex, Matti, St. Marq, Jime, Sarah, Sausage, Cleen, Jesse, James

<span style="background-color:white "legend"; color:; border:1px solid darkgray; text-align:center;">    Legend

 INKMASTER  The contestant won the competition and was named Ink Master.

 RUNNER UP  The contestant was the runner-up on Ink Master.

 3RD PLACE  The contestant was 3rd place on Ink Master.

 WIN  The contestant won best tattoo of the day.

 F/O  The contestant won the face-off.

 HIGH  The contestant was given an honorable mention in the judges recall.

 HIGH  The contestant was considered to be among the top.

 LOW  The contestant was among the bottom group in the judges recall.

 LOW  The contestant was voted worst by the human canvas jury.

 LOW  The contestant was considered to be in the bottom.

 OUT  The contestant was eliminated from the competition.

 OUT  The contestant was voted worst by the human canvas jury and eliminated from the competition.

Episodes

Episode 1: Initiation

First aired March 1, 2016

• Skill of the week: Fundamentals
• Flash Challenge: The 8 new artists squared off in a three-part challenge. They were given four hours to first do a full-body sketch of a nude model, assemble both a liner and shader machine from Seth Cifferi, and then tattoo the drawing they did earlier with the machines they built on a dead pig.
  • Winner: Christian Buckingham
• Returning Artist: St. Marq
• Elimination Tattoo: The new artists were surprised to learn from the judges that they will be faced with a new returning artist from a previous Ink Master season each week, and that the returning artist each week is given the opportunity to choose the elimination tattoo. St. Marq challenges the artists to tattoo one of the seven deadly sins in black and grey, using only shading needles.
• Tattoo Critique: The judges were impressed with Christian, Megan Jean, and Anthony's technical abilities and artistry, with Christian and Megan Jean being the judge's top two. Picasso impressed with his drawing, but was criticized for lack of contrast and not leaving any skin breaks. The judges thought Cris' tattoo was hard to read, but technically sound. The lack of detail underwhelmed the judges in Alex's tattoo. The anatomy of Ashley's tattoo was unappealing. Corey struggled with details and his tattoo was rough and not very technically sound. St. Marq was heavily criticized, as his tattoo was strange, not detailed, and overall unappealing. Oliver Peck referred to his challenge as "one of the worst backfires in Ink Master history."
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris
• Human Canvas Jury: The jury brought St. Marq to the bottom due to the poor placement of the tattoo in relation to the canvas' other tattoos. However, the canvas said he was happy with the tattoo.
• Elimination: Corey and Ashley joined St. Marq in the bottom three. St. Marq was criticized for his poor placement and unnecessary large field of black. The judges compared Corey's tattoo to St. Marq's, saying the quality didn't stack up in spite of Marq's flaws. Ashley was told her shading was not smooth and not very technical. Corey is eliminated in a 2–1 vote over St. Marq.
  • Eliminated: Corey Davis

Episode 2: One Man's Trash

First aired March 8, 2016

• Skill of the week: Contrast
• Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a sculpture out of recyclable trash. Then, they must use a beamlight on their sculpture to create a shadow that has contrast.
  • Winner(s): Ashley Velazquez & Alex Rockoff
• Returning Artist: Cleen Rock One
• Elimination Tattoo: Tattoo neo-traditional hot rods and choppers.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
• Human Canvas Jury: Cris Gherman
• Elimination: Alex Rockoff, Cris Gherman and, & Ashley Velazquez
  • Eliminated: Cris Gherman

Episode 3: Salt in the Wound

First aired March 16, 2016

Skill of the week: Creativity

• Flash Challenge: Working in teams of two, the artists use salt to create their masterpiece.
  • Winner(s): Christian Buckingham & Megan Jean Morris
• Returning Artist: Sausage
• Elimination Tattoo: Capture the canvas's likeness in a comic book character tattoo.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels
• Human Canvas Jury: Cleen Rock One
• Elimination: Cleen Rock One, Picasso Dular and Ashley Velazquez
  • Eliminated: Ashley Velazquez

Episode 4: The Devil's in the Details

First aired March 22, 2016

• Skill of the week: Detail
• Flash Challenge: Tattooing a fingerprint of the canvas's loved one, scanned by Adrian Gardner.
  • Winner: Cleen Rock One
• Returning Artist: Matti Hixson
• Elimination Tattoo: The artists must tattoo a Venetian mask, focusing on detail.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
• Human Canvas Jury: Anthony Michaels
• Bottom four: Picasso Dular, Alex Rockoff, Anthony Michaels and Megan Jean Morris
  • Eliminated: Picasso Dular

Episode 5: New School, Old Artist

First aired March 29, 2016

• Skill of the week: Color Theory
• Flash Challenge: The artists head to Coney Island Freak Show, where they must work in teams of two to airbrush a pair of contortionists and create a mind blowing illusion.
  • Winner(s): Megan Jean Morris & Sausage
• Returning Artist: Jime Litwalk
• Elimination Tattoo: Tattoo a dinosaur, in New School style.
• Tattoo Critique: Jime was praised for his drawing and line-weights but was criticized for his tattoo's darkness. The judges praised Cleen for his hot-and-cold color palette, and for his ability to cleanly saturate a large amount color over a large area of skin with minimal skin trauma. They thought that Matti's TV design was weak, and criticized a stray line. The judges loved Sausage's color saturation and detail. Christian's tattoo was technically strong and used color theory well, but the style was not quite "New School." Megan Jean's tattoo was technically applied well but the perspective of her drawing made it hard to read. Anthony's tattoo was designed very well, and overall very clean. Alex was heavily criticized for his drawing. St. Marq's tattoo was filled with technical problems, drawing problems, and weak color theory.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Sausage
• Human Canvas Jury: Alex Rockoff
• Bottom three: Megan Jean Morris, Alex Rockoff and St. Marq
  • Eliminated: St. Marq

Episode 6: Under Pressure

• First aired April 5, 2016

Skill of the week: Composition

• Flash Challenge: Working in teams of two, the artists create a dynamic composition on a dirty semi truck using a power washer.
  • Winner(s): Anthony Michaels & Matti Hixson
• Returning Artist: Sarah Miller
• Elimination Tattoo: Tattoo a surrealistic female.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Megan Jean Morris
• Human Canvas Jury: Alex Rockoff
• Bottom four: Jime Litwalk, Sarah Miller, Alex Rockoff and Cleen Rock One
  • Eliminated: Alex Rockoff

Episode 7: Knuckle Sandwich

First aired April 12, 2016

• Skill of the week: Precision
• Flash Challenge: Design custom lettering on the knuckles, without using references.
  • Winner: Cleen Rock One
• Returning Artist: Jesse Smith
• Elimination Tattoo: Tattoo a black & grey portrait of a political figure.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Christian Buckingham
• Human Canvas Jury: Cleen Rock One
• Bottom three: Cleen Rock One, Jime Litwalk and Sarah Miller
  • Eliminated: Sarah Miller

Episode 8: Breathing Fire

First aired April 19, 2016

• Skill of the week: Legibility
• Flash Challenge: The artists work in teams of two to make a large-scale legible design, using pushpins.
  • Winner: Cleen Rock One & Christian Buckingham
• Returning Artist: James Vaughn
• Elimination Tattoo: Tattoo a Japanese dragon with water.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Cleen Rock One
• Human Canvas Jury: Sausage
• Bottom four: Jime Litwalk, Sausage, Matti Hixon and Megan Jean Morris
  • Eliminated: Megan Jean Morris

Episode 9: Sink or Soar

First aired April 26, 2016

• Skill of the week: Texture
• Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of two to tattoo a full set of wings on the canvas's back at the same time, with one artist working on a "good" wing and the other tattooing an "evil" wing.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: James Vaughn
• Bottom two: Jime Litwalk and Sausage
• Face Off: Jime and Sausage were given one last chance to redeem themselves as Dave asked them each to pick an artist to face for a head-to-head elimination tattoo. (James was exempt from being chosen, since his tattoo was voted Best of the Day.) The chosen artist picked the style and subject for their face-off. Sausage picked Matti and Jime picked Cleen.
  • Eliminated: Jime Litwalk and Sausage

Episode 10: Shipwrecked

First aired May 03, 2016

• Skill of the week: Adaptability
• Elimination Tattoo: The artists work in teams of three to tattoo American traditional clipper ship with one member from each team working on line work, shading or color.
• Tattoo Critique: The teams must decide the weakest member who will then be put up for elimination.
• Face-Off Tattoo: Anthony and Jesse have six hours to adaptability to tattoo their own subject and style from scratch without any references.
  • Eliminated: Jesse Smith

Episode 11: Head in the Game

First aired May 10, 2016

• Skill of the week: Ingenuity
• Flash Challenge: Tattooing a design on the canvas's foreheads.
  • Winner: James Vaughn
• Elimination Tattoo: The artists have to use ingenuity to cover up the canvas' despised tattoo.
• Tattoo Critique:
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Anthony Michaels
• Human Canvas Jury: Christian Buckingham
• Bottom three: Cleen Rock One, Matti Hixson and Christian Buckingham
  • Eliminated: Matti Hixson

Episode 12: Turning the Tables

First aired May 17, 2016

• Elimination Tattoo: The new artists finally get their revenge by picking the veteran artist they want to face in addition to picking the style and subject. Anthony picked Cleen in the battle to tattoo a realistic black and grey woman they drew while Christian and James duke it out in the realistic full bodied black and grey wolf tattoo. The winner of each face-off will advance to the live finale.
• Tattoo Critique: The new artists beat out the veteran artists to earn their place in the finale.
• Face-Off Tattoo:The veterans have one last chance to earn a spot in the finale with them calling their own shots this time. While James picked a Japanese fu dog on a peony, Cleen settled in on New School with a snake wrapping a skull on top of a dagger.
  • Eliminated: James Vaughn
• Finale Tattoo - Part 1: The final three artists are tasked to do 48 hours of tattooing where they have to tattoo each canvas for 24 hours. In the first part, the judges chose the style for each artist they struggled tattooing during the competition. They then must tattoo their assigned style to the chest with Anthony doing Japanese full color, Christian doing American Traditional and Cleen working on fine line black and grey.

Finale Tattoo - Part 2: Dave gave the artists good news where they have to tattoo a sleeve in the style of their choice. The judges and the viewers will choose which one artist to advance to the final two along with the second artist chosen by the jury of eliminated artists while the artist who didn't advance to the final will join the jury.

Episode 13: Revenge Live

First aired May 24, 2016

The artists will do their tattoos in their hometown before returning to New York to present their final work. The winner of the chest piece tattoo that was voted by the fans will receive $20,000 from Gildan USA.

• Tattoo Rematch: Matti and Sausage square off with the winner, who was chosen by the loudest reaction from the audience, tattooing their winning design on the artist who loses this rematch.

Winner: Sausage

Tattoo: A sausage with the sentence, "#TeamSausage" inside.

• Advanced: Anthony Michaels
• Jury's Choice: Cleen Rock One
• Winner: Anthony Michaels

External links

• Official website
• Ink Master at the Internet Movie Database
• Ink Master at TV Guide