Ink Master season 9 episode 12 sneak peek: Armpit tattoos

For those of you wondering what the main challenge is going to be on Ink Master season 9 episode 12, it’s simple: Armpit tattoos. Basically, these are the sort of tattoos that people with a billion tattoos still don’t want to get. They hurt like hell, for one, and it’s also incredibly difficult to get one that looks good because of all of the contouring that has to go on there.

Also, we really hope that the human canvases put on deodorant before the artists have to work in there.

The sneak peek video below gives you a very good sense of some of what’s coming just in terms of laying out the challenge. It also lays out some of the parameters: Not only do the remaining artists have to do tattoos on both armpits, but they also have to match in terms of style. The theme continues that they must look as though they were done by the same artist. This is super-challenging when you’ve got people of different skill levels, and you have to hope that the beta artist will be able to rise to the level of your alpha. After all, one of the things that you must remember here is that if your beta starts things off, then you’re setting a negative precedent for your team if they mess things up. Consistency is really the name of the game here, and if you can nail that, there’s a reasonably good chance that in the end, you’ll end up with the best tattoo of the day.

Based on where everyone is right now in the competition, there are some big-time reasons to be worried about both Unkindness Art and Allegory Arts. These two are the final two teams remaining who were there from the first episode, and they are facing off against extremely strong artists across the board. We’re talking about formerly runners-up and also Old Town Ink, a consistently strong shop that hasn’t made a whole lot of mistakes since they first arrived in the competition. Someone has to get eliminated at this point, and if we were one of the newbie shops, our priorities would be a) making sure you adhere to the challenge and that you don’t get eliminated on a technicality and b) figuring out a way to ensure that you are so creative that nobody else can touch you. Push your canvases to have some designs that are different than things that anyone has ever seen on the show before. This is the part of the season where creativity is king.

Did you see our interview with Artistic Skin Design?

They were the eliminated artist from this past installment, and you can head over here to read up on what they had to say about their time in the competition.

What do you want to see in terms of armpit tattoos Tuesday night? Share in the comments below! There will be a full review of Tuesday’s episode the moment after it wraps. (Photo: Spike.)