Ink Master Recap: Finale Part 2

By Derek Paradis

Season 14 has officially come to an end. To get you caught up, after ending last week in a cliffhanger, DJ earned the third highest in the marathon meaning Angel was eliminated from top 4. So the top four artists Gian, Jason,  Bob and DJ had a grueling task and that was to create a 24-hour backpiece tattoo in 2 back-to-back 12-hour sessions.

Gian created a neotraditional lady face with a tiger head; Creepy Jason created an awesome story of an illustrative wizard with a naked chick and a dragon with a silhouette castle in the background; Bob created an illustrative Japanese/biomechanical mash-up of a dragon with ceramic china where the scapes of the china are broken off to tell the story of his goal of perfection; DJ went above and beyond with a black-and-grey realistic zombie face with color illustrative rainbow and other fantasy objects to explain his story of being in the dark and tattooing bringing him into the light. 

Jason’s final tattoo

Angel Rose and Anthony Michaels became a jury of peers to vote one artist into the top three. The judges then deliberated which artist was eliminated. Angel and Anthony voted  for DJ and the judges eliminated Jason for focal point issues because your eye is drawn to the background rather than the subject matter. The judges then eliminated Bob because though he had some amazing illustration, some contrast was lacking. 

For the first time ever, the judges voted were landlocked announcing a winner between Gian and DJ (Nikko and Ami voted Gian for legibility and DJ’s being unfinished but Ryan and Joel voted DJ for creativity and versatility). To break the tie, the eliminated artists casted their vote and they came back 3-1 with the majority voting DJ. 

DJ Tambe’s final piece

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a THREE-PEAT!!!!!! Third time is certainly a charm, congratulations my man DJ on a well-deserved victory. Thank you all for an amazing Inkmaster season. Can’t wait for a new one and I want my chance as a canvas. 

DJ Tambe