Ink Master, Season 3: Who the Hell Are These Guys?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGhDayAqu4hQbuUSuGefc3y4dVHWhGy9Qj34Lad27iYOUvkAnudrS92AxRR_cGRSHptwg6u0fSuX4i295HSlKGWZCn8LHn1QpmCp7I-c-y-KJZppBERepjtGlgrLZhEG62HZcoAVLpl8/s1600/im3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGhDayAqu4hQbuUSuGefc3y4dVHWhGy9Qj34Lad27iYOUvkAnudrS92AxRR_cGRSHptwg6u0fSuX4i295HSlKGWZCn8LHn1QpmCp7I-c-y-KJZppBERepjtGlgrLZhEG62HZcoAVLpl8/s640/im3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Say what you want about "reality" tattoo competition shows, but they are relevant to tattoo blogs, regardless of how you feel. Personally, I find them fascinating on so many different levels.<br /><br />The third season of <a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master">Ink Master</a> premiered this week and, while I won't run down the entire roster of this season's contestants, I do want to note that a couple of them have had their work showcased on Tattoosday previously.<br /><br />The first person who jumped out at me was Craig Foster, from <a href="http://www.skinwerks.com/">Skinwerks Tattoo & Design</a> in Carrollton, Georgia.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/press/files/2013/05/InkMasterS3-CraigFoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://www.spike.com/press/files/2013/05/InkMasterS3-CraigFoster.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Craig had two pieces appear on Tattoosday in 2008. This one:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTqrgjxqQ5_zNi8UkAHKDBVARUELxdUKAOtLfxoWu7Pxk9EDvOTDv4_JlVvjm5pxWn6kxceXc9DCAx9mAstMBKwmSmtWTsPzlZLW56hoslsdEjXkSjIZ4XzefBKk345TddNYANz3zl8I5/s1600/knife1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBTqrgjxqQ5_zNi8UkAHKDBVARUELxdUKAOtLfxoWu7Pxk9EDvOTDv4_JlVvjm5pxWn6kxceXc9DCAx9mAstMBKwmSmtWTsPzlZLW56hoslsdEjXkSjIZ4XzefBKk345TddNYANz3zl8I5/s640/knife1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read about this tattoo <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/08/chris-wears-his-knife-on-his-sleeve.html">here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>and this one:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN98fDeFAsepaPCKXO2MFRQAQo-1sTLrSblVTbKgvhJWX8vxTl8J2qgJqIml2dmd1MjbTzwuvSxoDP5wPRVbTI4NzSlUIWRAff4zmvqFEKQxDKRSb_ovGy-xiiPQ1P4tUGrE_fJigke_4D/s1600/100_7675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN98fDeFAsepaPCKXO2MFRQAQo-1sTLrSblVTbKgvhJWX8vxTl8J2qgJqIml2dmd1MjbTzwuvSxoDP5wPRVbTI4NzSlUIWRAff4zmvqFEKQxDKRSb_ovGy-xiiPQ1P4tUGrE_fJigke_4D/s640/100_7675.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read about this tattoo <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/06/syndys-windjammer-in-honor-of-nanny.html">here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>Many of the names are familiar, and we all remember <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tatu-Baby/123664287702407">Tatu Baby</a> from season 2.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.spike.com/press/files/2013/05/InkMasterS3-TatuBaby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://www.spike.com/press/files/2013/05/InkMasterS3-TatuBaby.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />I featured one of her more recognizable pieces back in 2011:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzyPCEz_PH8tJaJlrWGMnB3J9PPDx5z0FAqli47o5R5S2p1KIEu7ByM9X7WoH46khoK05SD3TraqmjIyE6fwJ-cN7EzkVcttjm9NUj8aHDvpd9fYsNV6018goEwvDK86AD-DiU_2FXtY/s1600/blood+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzyPCEz_PH8tJaJlrWGMnB3J9PPDx5z0FAqli47o5R5S2p1KIEu7ByM9X7WoH46khoK05SD3TraqmjIyE6fwJ-cN7EzkVcttjm9NUj8aHDvpd9fYsNV6018goEwvDK86AD-DiU_2FXtY/s640/blood+money.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read about it <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/12/vickies-pin-up-has-blood-money.html">here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>Something about one of the other contestants rang familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The artist with the moniker <a href="http://thinkbeforeyouink.com/site/artists/made-rich/">Made Rich</a> had my ink-sense tingling and then, I realized, I interviewed one of his clients just a few weeks ago at the <a href="http://www.nycurbantattooconvention.com/">NYC Urban Tattoo Convention</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.images.spike.com/images/shows/inkmaster/im_s3_bio_richard_parker.jpg?width=267&quality=0.91" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://1.images.spike.com/images/shows/inkmaster/im_s3_bio_richard_parker.jpg?width=267&quality=0.91" width="400" /></a></div><br />Based out of the Queens shop <a href="http://thinkbeforeyouink.com/site/tattoo-studio/">Think Before You Ink</a>, one of my favorite pieces of the night was this thigh tattoo on a woman named Taylor:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJ3gW0uVA4_rCwIioMfS8Z0DBVrbo_2WMmRGtObYqpGBGi-nkjvIjqTih0P4wZaXcAFKnb_Ehk4yhXgXk-GxoLYLMW1Jfe7m75iwkLZwbKnt8hzXl8s-Sngh896KNz6BXUz1117ZAyhA/w357-h658-no/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJ3gW0uVA4_rCwIioMfS8Z0DBVrbo_2WMmRGtObYqpGBGi-nkjvIjqTih0P4wZaXcAFKnb_Ehk4yhXgXk-GxoLYLMW1Jfe7m75iwkLZwbKnt8hzXl8s-Sngh896KNz6BXUz1117ZAyhA/w357-h658-no/photo.jpg" /></a></div><br />I haven't published this one yet, but I'll retroactively link it once it's done.<br /><br />So I'll be tuning in this season just to see how these three artists fare, along with the others. The judges, Dave Navarro, Oliver Peck, and Chris Nunez, are hyper-critical in their assessments, which lends a certain degree of authenticity to the show's claim to find the best tattooer among the bunch to crown Ink Master.<br /><br />Keep an eye on the three artists above, because I think they have a good chance of going deep into the competition.<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.</span></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-793fe941-f712-ac03-b632-89500b022309"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />

Ink Master, Season 3: Who the Hell Are These Guys?

Say what you want about "reality" tattoo competition shows, but they are relevant to tattoo blogs, regardless of how you feel. Per...

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