‘Ink Master’ exclusive: Corey Davis on elimination, head tattoo, and much more
Sometimes, a contestant on “Ink Master” faces some circumstances that are almost impossible to overcome, and this is where Corey Davis found himself on Tuesday night’s season 7 premiere episode of the show. He was tasked with doing a head tattoo, which would’ve been bad enough even without St. Marq coming in and throwing some further limitations on it. His task was significantly harder than many of the other newbie artists to the show, and in the end he found himself the first person eliminated from the season.
We had a chance to talk to Corey about his experience, the flash challenge, and what he thought about the controversial twist this season.
CarterMatt – Were you surprised when Dave Navarro called your name as the first artist eliminated from this season of Ink Master and who did you think should’ve gone home?
Corey Davis – It was definitely a shocker when the judges announced my name, especially considering St. Marq was the one to design the rules for the challenge but completely failed to excel in any way. Being sent home so early kind of hurt because I never really got the chance to show America or the judges what I’m capable of as an artist.
When Christian gave you the head tattoo, what were your first thoughts?
I felt like he was definitely gunning for me… The way he cut his eyes towards me while he handed out skulls, everybody felt it.
In the flash challenge the artists had to build their own machines, do you feel that a master should know how to do this and why?
Definitely, part of being a professional is knowing the in’s and out’s of the machinery you use. But it’s been ages since I’ve had to build a traditional tattoo machine since I’ve converted over to rotary machines, which don’t require any tuning or building. But I was truly upset at myself for not studying machine building more before entering the competition, although I was able to get my machines running, they could have been running a lot better to complete the flash challenge.
What do you think of the twist this season to bring in a new veteran each week?
I actually really enjoyed that twist. I knew there was something fishy going on in the beginning after noticing there was only 7 other contestants. I really admire and appreciate the work of some of the returning artists, and if I’m going to be competing, I want to compete with the best. It also created somewhat of a natural alliance between all of us newbies.
If you had a chance to be on the show again, is there anything that you would do differently?
I would definitely compete on Ink Master again… I don’t think I went in with a solid enough strategy, I treated my canvas like I would treat a paying client at my own shop. Now I know Ink Master is not the place to take any risk, period! I probably would have been better trying to tattoo myself than tackling a tattoo on a head.
If clients want to book you for a tattoo, what is the best way for them to go about doing that?
They can find me in Atlanta, GA at City of Ink. Give us a call at (404)215-9155 from 1-10PM for booking or email me at [email protected]
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We want to thank Corey for taking the time to chat with us about his time on the show. It’s always hard being the first boot, but in these circumstances it has to be frustrating for Corey. We hope to see him back on the show in the future.