A&E Premieres New Original Series EPIC INK Tonight

A&E Network presents the new original series "Epic Ink," following the artwork and exploits of the staff at a tattoo shop unlike any other, Area 51 Tattoo, located in Springfield, Oregon. Area 51 sits at the intersection of pop culture and cutting-edge tattoo art. The artists at Area 51 specialize in hyper-realistic tattoos featuring beloved characters and scenes from favorite sci-fi films and pop culture. "Epic Ink" premieres tonight, August 20 at 10:30PM ET/PT.

In each episode of "Epic Ink," the talented staff brings comics, cartoons and fantasy to life with unique ink ranging from portraiture to hyperrealism, to geek-culture mash-ups. From closet nerds to creative cosplayers, sci-fi fans travel to Springfield from across the country to get tattoos from the artists at the shop. The Area 51 clientele even includes a few celebrities, such as Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) and the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira, who appears in an upcoming episode to get her very first tattoo. In between clients, the staff is likely to be found debating over who would win a fight - Spock or Chewbacca - or which '80s Saturday morning cartoon was best. When they're not working at the shop, this family of Misfits travels around the world tattooing at comic cons and tattoo shows to share their talents and geek out with the most hardcore fans around.

The cast of "Epic Ink" features some of the most talented tattoo artists in the world, including five of only a handful of tattooists worldwide who are licensed by LucasFilms to tattoo their properties. Chris 51 is one of the most well-respected tattoo artists around and the proud owner of Area 51, located in the hometown of his most beloved cartoon family, "The Simpsons." Welshman Chris Jones has been nominated for three-consecutive Tattoo Industry Awards for Best UK Male. Wild child Heather Maranda is a self-taught artist who specializes in hyper-realistic tattoos that appear to jump out of the skin. Josh Bodwell combines his love of geek culture and tattoo art into custom realism and portraiture tattoos and is a walking encyclopedia of sci-fi trivia. After early run-ins with the law, Lifelong sci-fi fan Jeff Wortham looked to tattooing to turn his life around and now travels the globe to tattoo at sci-fi conventions. Rounding out the group is receptionist Caroline Russell who serves as the "Nerdio translator" between the full-fledged geeks and the rest of the world.

In the premiere episode, Josh takes a client down the rabbit hole with an Alice in Wonderland tattoo. When Heather crafts an epic portrait of a beloved Goonies character, the gang is shocked to learn that Caroline has never seen the '80s classic. Chris Jones gives a client a Herculean Arnold Schwarzenegger tattoo to match his stature, naturally launching the rest of the staff into conversation over their favorite Schwarzenegger flick.

"Epic Ink" is produced by Matador for A&E Network. Executive producers for Matador are Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin, Sara Quick and Jerry Carita. Executive producers for A&E are Drew Tappon, Shelly Tatro and Evan Lerner.

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