Tattoos have been around since recorded times of 3300 B.C. They have found tattoos on people’s bodies that have been preserved for thousands of years. The tattoo industry continues to grow over the years bringing over 20,000 tattoo parlors in the U.S. alone.

“Ink Masters” is a TV show from Spike that brings 16 tattoo artists from all across America to compete in challenges to win $100,000 and receive the title of ink master. There has been three seasons leading to twenty-nine episodes so far. Contestants go through many different challenges that tests all the skills it takes to be a tattoo artist. Three judges, that are either tattoo enthusiasts or tattoo artists, judge the contestants. Dave Navarro, Chris Núñez, and Oliver Peck are the three that decide who goes home after each challenge. One of the hardest types of tattoos is a precision tattoo, you have to be able to do a design of a logo smaller than a fifty-cent piece.

Some of the tattoo techniques they have to do are shading, black and grey, precision, traditional American, flash, tribal, Asian, photorealistic, celtic, biomechanical, and new school. Each of these artists are tested in all of these fields to see who will make it through each challenge.

At the end of each challenge they usually bring four people into the review room. They bring who they thought had the best tattoo of the day and the other three had the tattoos with the mistakes or problems that didn’t make them turn out perfect. The judges decide on who did the worst, sending that contestant home. They do this throughout the season to see who will be “Crowned Ink Master.”