So this thread is 3-1/2 years old already.

I'm under the weather with a summer cold, so I'm surfing around and landed on a full day of Ink Master.

I love the art of good tattoo's. I have one I designed, with cleanup from the tattoo artist. It's nice but not great. Over time I've come to appreciate good art.

I find Ink Master rather interesting for character study. The first and foremost trait is arrogance. Personally I hate it in any context. If you are the worlds best, I don't want to hear from you how great you are. Being humble speaks wonders. Arrogance blinds. Everyone of the arrogant guys was blinded to their work. They sucked. The artwork spoke for itself. Of course there were more quiet artists that sucked too.

Another thing I found interesting were the clients blindness. These folks were totally buying into their commissioned sucky work and defending their art and artist. Wow.

So, what have I learned? First, this show not about the client. It's about the artist and the competition. also I've watched enough of these reality shows to realize everything is manufactured. The way they edit, add dramatic music. It makes for enticing viewing, but it's far from real.

The other thing I learned... I've got another tattoo in mind. I cannot get one at this time, because of my blood thinners (I have to wait a year). But when I do go, I'm going to interview artist, but more importantly look at their body of work. Like I said... The art speaks for itself.