Ink Master season 11 episode 10 review: The freehand tattoo battle
Before we got around to that, though, we had another reminder that the artists are still not on the level of the coaches. That seemed to be the basis of the first challenge tonight, as some artists could earn their safety by beating the opposite coach in their strongest overall style of tattooing. The producers almost wanted to issue them a reminder tonight given that nobody actually pulled this off. (We do actually think that Teej and Tiffer did a rather good job here, though, and we would’ve been fine given each one of them safety moving into the next round.)
As much fun as it was seeing the artists freehand various designs after the fact, we’re not going to lie here: This was a pretty predictable challenge. Jess Cavazos took a bit of a risk from what he often does, and tried to freehand something traditional and interesting. It wasn’t a bad tattoo by any means, as it did have a lot of color to it and it popped from a distance. Yet, at the same time it did have a few issues that kept it from being as good of a tattoo as it could have otherwise been. It was clearly the weakest in the room in the eyes of the judges and with that, Jess was sent packing.
We don’t actually think that he has anything to be sad about here, though, since it feels like Jess is the sort of tattoo artist who does better outside of the competition than in it. He’s a self-admitted slower tattoo artist and we think that in some ways, that’s a great thing — having an artist that will take their time can produce great work. It just doesn’t always work here.
With Jess’ elimination, though, the teams remain fairly even both in terms of talent and numbers. That does set the stage for some good battles coming up.
CarterMatt Verdict
Overall, Ink Master season 11 episode 10 delivered overall a great battle of creativity — in some ways, seeing the freehand work was great since it allowed the artists to think without concern over themes or specific ideas handed to them by the judges. We love challenges like this, even if the elimination tonight was one that we could’ve seen coming a good mile away.
Now, we just have to hope that there’s a little more drama moving forward since, save for the first challenge, this episode was rather devoid of it.
What did you think about Ink Master season 11 episode 10 overall? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: Paramount Network.)