Ink Master season 9 spotlight: Meet Erin Chance, Doom Kitten of Unkindness Art
One of these said shops in this competition is Unkindness Art located in Richmond, Virginia. Specifically, within that shop the two artists taking part in this season are Erin Chance and Doom Kitten. Is Doom Kitten one of the coolest nicknames for an artist in show history? Maybe, but it’s hard to beat someone named “Sausage” – the bar has been set high with nicknames on this series.
The story – What’s interesting about this shop is that one of the people behind it is Teresa Sharpe, a former winner from Oxygen’s short-lived Best Ink series. She’s one of the best artists on any tattoo competition we’ve seen, which we feel gives these two a huge advantage. Erin and Doom Kitten have been working in this industry for a while, and if they carry the same creativity and ability Teresa has, they’re going to be very hard to beat.
Strengths – These two have 17 years of experience between them, and they know what their strengths are coming in. Erin is a master of color work; meanwhile, Doom Kitten comes from American Traditional roots and loves to tattoo “girls with things on their heads.” Both are artists and illustrators, so they’re going to be able to draw to go along with cultivating great tattoos based on their designs. Being able to draw is something the judges hold in high regard as we saw many seasons ago when they eliminated Joshua Hibbard when they thought he couldn’t.
Weaknesses – You get the sense that there is a ton of passion that they each have when it comes to tattooing, but do they have that close of a bond with each other? There is a camaraderie that seems to be there with some other teams more so than it is here and the past few seasons the judges have really tests the artists ability to work with others. Doom Kitten mentions that Unkindness Art is reasonably new as a tattoo shop, so maybe the experience together doesn’t align with the overall experience that they have.
Early prediction – These two have some potential individually, but as a team they may have to figure out a few issues here and there. Given that Erin is a co-owner of the shop while Doom Kitten is an employee, this dynamic could produce a little more of a stressed dynamic than what is seen with some of the other artists.
Do you want to see Unkindness Art reign supreme on this season of Ink Master? Share in the comments below!
Meanwhile, be sure to click here to get some further spotlights when it comes to Ink Master: Shop Wars now! (Photo: Spike.)