‘Ink Master’ exclusive: Mike McAskill on elimination, head tattoos, what he’d change

There have been some close eliminations on “Ink Master” season 8, but we do certainly think that Mike McAskill’s was one of the closest. The judges struggled to make up their mind up until the last minute, and you can easily say that he went home without producing a bad tattoo.

Following his exit, we had a chance to ask Mike a few questions about his time on his show, the challenges he faced, and what he’d do differently if he had a chance to compete again.

CarterMatt – The judges were divided on sending you home this week, what was your feeling when you heard your name?

Mike McAskill – I understood why they sent me home, I felt I had mediocre tattoos that week and the week before, I thought I was safe at first cause they said sketchy had the worst tattoo of the day but I guess it averaged out. I was bummed for sure, but a little relieved, my back was hurting a lot.

How much more difficult is it to do a head tattoo over anywhere else on the body?

I don’t find head tattoos that difficult at all, they’re actually really easy to tattoo, I just had a bad design with the gears and I missed the puzzle piece, all my mistakes I believe were from being so d-mn tired and in pain.

What was your favorite challenge this season?

I liked the tape challenge and the welding challenge. It was kinda like arts and crafts day, they went a little long but still really fun!

Was there a style of tattoo that you wanted to showcase but didn’t have a chance to?

I don’t think so, I guess my style is more traditional than anything. I don’t think I represented my style at all but that’s how it went I guess. I still don’t know what to say when people ask me what my style is.

If you had a chance to come back into the competition is there anything you would do differently? 

If I could do the competition again I would just do tattoos that I thought looked good, I would not take any advise from anyone, I did that too much. I would just draw the tattoos how I wanted to do them and make sure I’m not being swayed in any direction. I would also speak up a little more. I feel like part of the reason I went home was because I just accepted it. I understand it’s a TV show and I was probably a little too reserved for TV. I left my back rehabilitation to do this show and my back was not in the shape it needed to be in to go there at the time. I would also invest in some ear plugs so I could sleep at night and not have to listen to Nate Beavers snore!

Did you find that working with the female alliance helped you in the competition?

Working with the girls did not help me at all, they tried to give me a good skull and I screwed it up myself. It’s all about how good you tattoo I really don’t think the skull picks matter that
much. Gian gave me a bad skull in space day and I did fine.

If clients want to book you for a tattoo, what’s the best way for them to do that?

If someone’s wants to book an appointment with me just email me at [email protected].