Ink Master season 10 episode 4 review: Is this the shock elimination of the season?
One of the things that Steve Tefft told us in an interview preseason is holding very true now — there are really two different kinds of artists these days. There are the technicians — those who excel at the application of tattoos — and then there are the artists, who are the people who excel at the drawing. The best tattoo artists have both, and you really do need both to have a shot at winning this competition in 2018.
With this episode, what we learned is that technicians still often win out, or at least that is the way of things at present. It doesn’t matter how good of an artist you are if you don’t know how to lay in your great design. That is what happened with Matt Buck. Despite being the #1 pick in the premiere, that was a very small sample size. Matt had never worked worked on a color tattoo on darker skin; he has only been tattooing for around four years. He didn’t know how to handle the situation properly and turned in a tattoo that already looked faded and many years old. The design of it was smart, but the overlay of it just didn’t work. This was enough that he was eliminated while Lil’ D stayed.
The irony here is that Lil’ D is probably the polar opposite of Matt in that he can probably do a tattoo on any skin type in the world — he’s just a technician more so than an artist. There were problems from the beginning with his drawing, but that plus a difficult canvas gave him a hard time. Personally, we think that the judges gave Lil’ D some leeway because his canvas was so terrible and there was only so much that he could do in order to work with them.
Also in the bottom this week, surprisingly, was Katie Rhoden. She’s been a strong contender for some time, but in this episode it seemed little bit like she struggled pairing up the different styles. This was one of the harder challenges in recent memory just because of the sole fact that the artists had to, effectively, mash up two different styles in a single tattoo. That is not an easy task. Some artists did do a better job than others — namely, Fame. He created one of the best tattoos of the season that included black-and-gray and watercolor elements.
About the drama…
Is Josh Payne a hero, a villain, or, as Katie says, a monster? Probably somewhere in between. He’s someone who came into the season arrogant as hell; with that, everyone else targeted him because of that. Then, he fought back. Josh welcomed the treatment that turned him into the villain. With that, we don’t have a lot of sympathy for him. Do we understand his frustration with the comment of “I gave up a lot to come here,” which Katie made on a number of occasions? Sure, but he still has to have more sympathy since for some people, being away from their homes and their families will be more difficult than others.
One other thing that’s interesting is this: What’s with this trend of Steve being presented as the old man? The show acts like he’s 110 years old and incapable of even moving around.
Related – What’s coming on the next Ink Master episode?
CarterMatt Verdict
We were shocked to see Matt go home since he’s an amazing artist; yet, it’s hard to argue with the judges for the decision. He’s a guy who could come back in five years and easily win the competition — yet, we also don’t have a lot of confidence that Lil’ D is making it a whole lot further, either.
What do you think about Ink Master season 10 episode 4? Do you think that the right person went home? Be sure to share in the attached comments! Meanwhile, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want some other Ink Master news. (Photo: Paramount Network.)