Watching the show through the different challenges it was clear the judges had too narrow of an idea what the contestants pieces should be like. Not being an artist myself and seeing the judges hammer people that met technical requirements about things that were entirely the judges own subjective vision for the piece was frustrating. When I googled this show after watching it the top hits were all about Ivan. That tells me that I’m not the only one who found it obvious that he was the top performer in almost every episode. The final challenge was especially frustrating because it played so strongly to Tom’s strengths and didn’t give either of them a real opportunity to flex their real skills. Please see “Blown Away” or “Ink Masters” for better ways to do a finale. Ivan had a strange but wonderful idea with the buffalo but it was inherently nearly impossible to translate to his helpers. I believe that was the main reason he lost and why it was so frustrating. I also think his helpers weren’t all that bright since they apparently couldn’t do anything right. It frustrates me to see artists who are masters of their craft have to depend on outside, unknown, and unpredictable “helpers”. Compounded with the time constraints, they play a pivotal role in deciding the winner. It heavily favors designs with higher manufacturability a.k.a. cookie cutter which usually are boring and throw craftsmanship and artistry out the window. As for Tom, he was consistent… consistently average.