Ink Master season 12 finale: Who won: Laura Marie or Dani Ryan?
CarterMatt was at the finale in Vegas and we had a chance to interview Laura, Dani, and Jason in hopes of getting more insight from them as to what it took to put these tattoos together, and make no mistake, they all put in incredible effort to make their tattoo a winning piece. Think about the hours, the detail, the research (remember that Dani had never done biomech or a back piece before!) and the creative vision that went into all of them. Yet, for Jason tonight he found his back piece to be a little bit different from what the original ask was — or at least that was the reaction from the judges. He was supposed to deliver a black and grey realism piece, but it was leaning a bit too much into illustrative. That being said it was nice to have him in the finale, as he is one of the most talented visual artists that this show has ever seen. Are we surprised that he’s not the winner? Not so much, mostly because if you look at his past placement, he hasn’t always been at the top of the leaderboard. Sometimes, cumulative performance does come into play during the final episode with the judges.
With Laura Marie, meanwhile, you’re looking at someone who really had only been in danger once the whole season, and when you looked at her traditional Japanese piece, it was easy to see why the judges loved it as much as they did. It was a visual wonder, and we know from speaking with her that she studied extensively, interviewed artists who do the style regularly, and poured a lot into nailing the authenticity. She’s been the favorite all season long and now, Laura Marie is your Ink Master season 12 winner.
With that spelled out, let’s also give some love to Dani Ryan who killed it with her tattoo! While she didn’t win, her biomech piece was intricate, creative, and incredibly impressive when you consider that she’d never done the style before entering the finale. There was no way to know if she would deliver, but she finished in second place and for a while it really looked like it could’ve gone either way. Oliver was the deciding vote and he really had a hard time choosing who was going to walk away with the title.
As for the coaches…
Ryan Ashley, at least in our mind, made pretty sure work of everyone as she dominated this and got herself a nice chunk of change. DJ Tambe finished in second, and these two will be spending a ton of time with each other moving into Ink Master: Grudge Match when it premieres on October 1.
Related News – Be sure to get some other news, including further details on what the show could be doing moving forward
What do you think about the Ink Master season 12 finale?
Did the right person with the competition at the end of the day? Be sure to share now in the comments, and remember to stick around for some other news. (Photo: Paramount Network.)
This article was written by Jessica Carter. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.