Ink Master is full of interesting characters and even more interesting tattoos. Some of the tattoos are works of art while others are just... well, to put it bluntly, complete and utter failures.
The thing about tattoos is that they are permanent. While some of the human canvases on the show get works of art on their bodies, other people are not lucky enough to receive the same fate. From disfigured faces to misshapen animals and tattoos with either too much or too little detail, these are 10 of the worst tattoos on the show.
Jamie Davies' Pheonix Tattoo: Season 2
In season two of Ink Master, tattoo artist Jamie Davies was randomly selected to create a fire-breathing phoenix shooting fire out of a woman's unmentionables. Met with a bit of resistance but no fear, Jaime attempted to conquer this strange request for a tattoo.
Not only was this Pheonix tattoo in an unusual spot, but, unfortunately for Jaimie and his canvas, it didn't end up looking like a phoenix at all. Though the person being tattooed requested a fire-breathing phoenix, she ended up with what appeared to be a peacock across her pelvis.
James Vaughn's Two Right Feet Tattoo: Season 2
James Vaughn is a well-respected tattoo artist with a large fandom and following, but even he makes mistakes. One of his greatest tattoo failures was when he tattooed two right feet on his human canvas.
There's no denying that hands and feet are challenging to draw, that's why it's not as surprising as other errors that artists have made in the show's past. Not to step all over this man's reputation as an artist—pun fully intended—but it's obvious that James wasn't paying as much attention to his canvas as he should have when working on his failed masterpiece.
Jennifer Love's Koi Fish Tattoo: Season 11
In Ink Master's eleventh season, Jennifer Love's koi fish was yet another animal tattoo gone wrong. As soon as Jennifer got to work, it became apparent that she was just winging it. While in the middle of tattooing, Jennifer even admitted that she never worked on Japanese style tattoo art before.
The result of this was a complete catastrophic. Unfortunately for Jennifer's canvas, this koi fish wasn't very koi-like at all and ended up being shaped like male genitalia. This phallic creature had fins and scales, which only made it look worse. Fingers crossed that the person tattooed was able to get this one fixed!
Tatu Baby's Hindu Goddess Tattoo: Season 3
Tatu Baby was tasked with an extremely detailed tattoo from a client with high expectations and tons of demands. The tattoo was of a Hindu Goddes with eight arms sitting on top of a lion. This tattoo was meant to be completed in just six hours, and Tatu Baby was feeling the time crunch.
Given the time restraints on this tattoo, Tatu Baby suggested focusing on the Hindu goddess in all of her glorious detail and adding in the lion later. However, her canvas rejected this idea without a second thought and decided to go for the full tattoo right away. The result was less than fascinating. Tatu Baby's lion ended up looking more like a cartoon instead of a majestic jungle cat.
Cee Jay Jones' Corinthians Tattoo: Season 2
What could be worse than a poorly done tattoo? A tattoo with a spelling error, that's what. Imagine getting a tattoo only to find out later that the finished product is spelled incorrectly once revealed. This would be the ultimate disappointment for many, especially people whose pet peeves are grammatical errors and misspelled words.
Cee Jay Jones really dropped the ball with his Corinthians tattoo. Rather than spelling it properly, he was completely off when he spelled it "Cortnthans" instead. Mistakes happen to everyone, but, with spelling this off base, it's obvious that Cee Jay Jones didn't spell check before tattooing, which should be every artist's number one rule when working with permanent ink.
Kyle Dunbar's Portrait Tattoo: Season 4
When a canvas came in with her elderly mother, she asked for something quite reasonable: a portrait of her mother to remember her by. What she got, however, was completely different and slightly horrific.
Kyle Dunbar's execution of this woman's portrait was not wrong in theory. As a tattoo artist, it is important to capture the details, but Kyle ended up capturing too many. His canvas's mother had quite a few wrinkles on her face, but, rather than focusing on softening the woman's face and highlighting her beautiful features, Kyle painted every... single... wrinkle. This resulted in a tattoo that was less than appealing that his canvas has to wear on her skin for a lifetime, and, even worse, remember her mother by.
Mark Matthew's Pin Up Tattoo: Season 2
This not-so-pretty woman was Mark's first average-sized tattoo. Unfortunately for him and his canvas, it did not go as planned. Rather than creating something with detail, Mark ended up covering his own detail with even more detail.
Not only was this tattoo poorly drawn onto the skin, but it was so shaded in that it lost its design and appeal. The lines weren't clean, and the tattoo itself was too dark. Though this was a ten-hour day for Mark and he broke his thumb before coming into the shop, the judges weren't buying into his excuses.
Roland's Acid Cat Tattoo: Season 4
Definitely not inspired by a Disney Character, Roland's Acid Cat tattoo is one to remember. Created in a six-hour challenge where artists were meant to tattoo as many canvases as possible, Acid Cat was the result.
Though Ink Master fans debate on the artistry of this tattoo and highlight both it's strengths and shortcomings, the judges always have the final say, and their opinion is that the tattoo is "nothing other than an atrocity." To the common eye, this tattoo is scary, patchy, and slightly disturbing, but Roland argues that his art is subjective.
Tim Lee's Hulu Girl Tattoo: Season 5
Tim Lee disappointed fans, judges, and, most of all, his canvas with his Hulu Girl tattoo. Not only was his initial sketch terrible, but his canvas noticed and Tim simply did not listen. Instead of fixing his design, he complained about his canvas.
Tim's sketch featured a hula girl with facial features that were squeezed together. The result was a very strange and hideous portrayal of what should have been a beautiful woman. The tattoo had some positive sides to it with some nicely drawn details, but these well-designed components do not outweigh the bad ones.
Matt O'Baugh's Victorian Throat Tattoo: Season 6
Matt O'Baugh's canvas hoped to get a victorian lace throat tattoo to mimic a dress her grandmother wore at her wedding, but what she got instead was what judge Oliver Peck described as "a big black mess."
The tattoo lacked depth and used too much dark ink. The lines on this tattoo were harsh, thick, and messy. Though Matt argued that the tattoo's dark spots would fade over time, the judges made it clear that his crooked lines would remain crooked forever. Now his canvas has to live with this terrible blob on her neck for a lifetime.