Ink Master season 9 will be Ink Master: Shop Wars; premiere date, more
In some ways, the new subtitle speaks for itself. This season, you’re going to see co-workers at various shops actually working with each other in order to get an even larger grand prize. Thematically, there are some similarities here to Master vs. Apprentice, but here it seems to be more about collaboration than opposition.
Here’s where things get a little bit tricky — there are only eight teams of two, which means that the show has to find some way to be creative when it comes to the eliminations. Otherwise, this would be a really short season if you are eliminating two people a week. It’s hard to figure out precisely how they will make this work, just as it’s also somewhat hard to figure out why don’t they just stick with the traditional competition since that was awesome and they don’t need all of these different themes.
Nonetheless, the video below should help you to get to know some of the artists — we’ve got their names, their shops, and even their social-media handles below in the event that you want some further information.
Allegory Arts – Florence, AL
Ulyss Blair (@Ulyss_Blair) – Co-owner/Artist
Eva Huber (@eva_jean) – Co-owner/Artist
Artistic Skin Designs – Indianapolis, IN
April Nicole (@April_Nicole) – Artist
Dane Smith (@danesmithtattoo) – Artist
Black Anchor Collective – Hesperia, CA
Carlos Rojas (@Crojasart) – Artist
Aric Taylor (@Aric_Taylor) – Artist
Classic Trilogy Tattoo – Cortland, NY
Thom Bulman (@Bulman_Tattoos) – Owner/Artist
Derek Zielinski (@derek_zielinski_artist) – Artist
Pinz and Needles – Baltimore, MD
Jessy Knuckles (@jessyknuckles) – Artist
Allisin Riot (@allisintattoos) – Artist
The Marked Society Tattoo – McDonough, GA
Wes Hogan (@awesomehogan) – Artist
Mike P (@tattoosbymikep) – Co-Owner/Artist
Thicker Than Blood – White Plains, NY
Jhon Campuzano (@jhoncampuzanotattoo) – Artist
Babiery Hernandez (@babierytattoo) – Artist
Tri-Cities Tattoo – Atlanta, GA
Bang (@chabangna) – Artist
Danger Dave (@dangerdaveink) – Artist
Unkindness Art – Richmond, VA
Erin Chance (@ErinChanceTattoo) – Owner/Artist
Doom Kitten (@doomkitten) – Artist
A couple of takeaways here — not all of these Twitter accounts are super-active, and Danger Dave is going to have a hard time topping Survivor alum Danger Dave Ball as our favorite Danger Dave in the world. Also, we like that there’s someone named Doom Kitten out there in the world.
As you would expect, we’re going to be offering up all sorts of great coverage of Ink Master: Shop Wars over the course of the season. Be sure to come back throughout the year for some more news all about that over at the link here.
Excited for the new season? Share in the comments below! (Photo: Spike.)