Its fourth and final season is now airing on TLC, but the tattoo artists, and the shop itself, have already moved on. The famous studio has been converted into a gift shop, and customers still looking to get inked are directed to a new studio MI alumni Ami James and Chris Núñez opened up down the street in Miami: Love Hate Tattoos.

After filming ended last year, Ami and Núñez declined the offer from Discovery Communications, TLC’s parent company, to film more episodes of the reality show. “We weren’t happy with the way we were treated,” said James.

Premiering in June of 2005, Miami Ink was a breakout, genre-setting series that followed the daily events of a tattoo shop in South Beach. Co-owned by James and Núñez, the shop featured tattoo artists Chris Garver, Darren Brass and apprentice Yoji Harada. Kat Von D was brought on for the first season and “left” at the end of season two, after months of fighting and a final showdown with James.

Miami Ink featured some brilliant artwork and razor-sharp talent, but the show’s ultimate success came by altering the perception of tattoos; particularly who has tattoos, who gets tattooed and why. Due to its widespread popularity (since its premiere, the show has aired in over 160 countries), the demand for more tattoo-related programming exploded.

And then came the spin-offs. Shortly after Von D left Miami Ink and moved back home to Los Angeles, she nestled in with LA Ink, and since then London Ink, Rio Ink, and Inked on A&E have all stepped up to the plate. But not all of these shows are scoring.

Where Miami Ink, and LA Ink respectively, offer an insider’s peek at folks sharing colorful, often touching stories behind their tattoo choices while exceptional artists apply their talent to their skin, shows such as Inked take the focus off of art and concentrate on the not-so-interesting lives of the artists, much like a Gen-Y soap opera.

Shot at the Hart and Huntington Tattoo Company in the glammy Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, episodes include the receptionist deciding whether or not to get bigger tits, the show’s resident artists running amok and behaving like pussy-hounds on the Strip, and one artist who breaks up with his girlfriend because she parties too much. There is little to no tattooing, and the owners often discuss trying to expand the shop into a franchise, opening another in a Miami Harley dealership. Inked provides empty commentary on tattoos as art and instead revels in tattoos as capitalism. And so it goes.

It is rumored that Ami James and Chris Núñez have other TV projects on the table, but for now they are back to what they love and kick righteous-ass at doing: creating sick designs and tattooing … with the cameras off.

Miami Ink, RIP.

The reality show craze of the past five years has sparked a movement within a movement – reality shows centered on tattooing. Our two favorite tattoo reality shows, and TV’s most popular, are TLC’s Miami Ink and the spin-off LA Ink.

While many shows on TV portray talent-less characters searching for love or money or attention, these two shows center on truly talented artists. And despite all the drama, some damn good tattoos and surprisingly poignant stories are captured on film.

Wouldn’t it be perfect if we could simply watch talented artists master their craft all day long? For us? Yes. For the mass public? No way. These shows would not be popular if it weren’t for the tears, fights, and hookups. You know, the drama – and each show has its main character, tattooer, and director of drama. Meet Miami Ink’s Ami James and LA Ink’s Kat Von D who battle it out for TV’s tattooing title.

Round 1: The Art

Both Kat Von D and Ami James are known for their intricately beautiful tattoo designs as well as their bold personalities and looks. But as in any competition, someone has to have the upper (and better) tattooing hand. Kat rocks it out every show with her stunning black and white portrait designs that look scarily similar to the photographs she models them after. On the other hand, Ami’s designs utilize bold colors to creatively complement his Asian inspired pieces.

The amazing likeness of Kat’s tattoos to the people, animals, and photos she is tattooing from would impress any artist, and therefore round one goes to Kat Von D.

Round Two: The Look

While they are both tattooed literally from head to toe, Kat and Ami each have famous tattoos that make them easily recognizable to the public. The stars on Kat’s face combined with the large rose around her neck show her strong commitment to both art and tattooing. Ami’s beautiful snake design on his stomach is the focal point of his body art and is often visible due to his distaste for shirts.

The drastic and slightly harsh look of Kat’s face tattoo doesn’t compare to Ami’s powerful snake. Round two goes to Ami James.

Round Three: The Clients

Now that the tattoo taboo is shrinking, celebrities are opening up to the public in a different way – through body art. At the Miami tattoo shop, Ami tattoos an array of models, dancers, and beautiful women in general. He has also tattooed comedian Craig Ferguson and actor Johnny Messner. After leaving Miami Ink and moving to Los Angeles, Kat’s tattoo shop has become a celebrity hot spot. She has tattooed major celebs such as Eve, Jared Leto, comedian Margaret Cho, and Bam Margera.

Kat definitely takes round three.

Round 4: The Side Projects

Ami’s signature tattoo designs translated beautifully onto the Motorola Raz’r, providing the phone with a funky new look and an appeal to younger generations. Ami’s crazy clothing line DeVille has also been very popular nationwide thanks to his love for art and focus on detail. Kat designed a makeup line for beauty store Sephora which she based on her personal tattoos and individual style. Kat’s personal style is almost as popular as her art, which has made her makeup line wildly successful.

Round four has to go to Ami for his many entrepreneurial endeavors.

Round 5: The Big Picture

Kat Von D’s understanding personality, funky style, and huge celebrity following make her a star in her own right. Her move from Miami Ink to LA Ink launched her into the public eye and made her a favorite prime-time TV character. Ami’s killer looks and smooth ways with the ladies do not come close to overshadowing the fun antics and amazing talent of Kat and her LA crew.

And the winner is: Kat Von D with LA Ink.

Check out why we think Kat Von D is one of the hottest females in Hollywood here: Top Five Hottest Female Tattoos in Hollywood.

Kat Von D of Miami Ink

She’s the queen of portraits, and quite possibly one of the most talented artists alive today. She did her first tattoo at age 14 and started working as a tattoo artist at the young age of 16. Just take a look at her work…it’s absolutely phenomenal.

Miami Ink’s Kat Von D is the one who sees the realism behind the ink and uses her skill to successfully make that realism stand out. Her amazing photo gallery is saturated with portraits of others, far surpassing other artists at the ripe young age of 24. All the way from California, Kat Von D’s love for realism comes through strong when she is tattooing lifelike portraits.

Not only does the young artist come to Miami Ink saturated with her unique brilliance, Miami Ink’s Kat Von D also juggles a heavy touring schedule, as well as her own clothing line. Check out her work here: www.katvond.net.

Miami Ink is a huge success as both a television show and tattoo shop mainly because every tattoo enthusiast has a unique story behind the ink they are looking to get. The show takes the viewer deep into the history and process of body art, exposing the culture to those who normally wouldn’t be interested in tattoos.

Kat Von D of Miami Ink

Located at 1344 Washington Ave. Miami, the show has sparked the interest of thousands of people all across the US. More people than ever want to get ink done, and they’re not just looking for a little butterfly on their lower back. People are taking body art to another level looking for full sleeves and full back pieces, looking for originality and new, unique styles.

The shop has opened a gateway into the tattoo industry, bringing the average person with no tattoos an open interest into the industry.

On the other hand, Miami Ink gives the viewer the impression that anyone can just walk into their shop and get tattooed. The show portrays people coming in, few cars on the street, and a nice, open atmosphere. In reality, hundreds of people wait months to get tattooed at the prestigious street shop, and only few are accepted throughout thousands of applications.

Why would anyone put themselves through that, when they can find just as great an artist, maybe even a better artist somewhere local where the wait and price will not be nearly as high?

Commercialization is the answer. Viewers see it on television and they want it for themselves.

The bottom line is this: if every talented tattoo artist had a reality show about the shop they worked in, more people would be able to see that just because a shop is portrayed on television doesn’t mean they’re the best.

It just means that shop is the only one they’ve been exposed to.