Original subtitles

male announcer: This season on "Ink Master"...

It's new artist versus veterans,

as 16 tattooers are battling it out

to prove they're the best.

On the last episode of "Ink Master"...

- [bleep].

announcer: Stakes were high in the flash challenge

as control of the game

became more important than ever.

- Oh, I'm [bleep] panicking here.

- As the first veteran in,

these fools came at me so tough,

it's gonna be the same thing week after week

if I don't [bleep] put a stop to this.

- I would love to pick those guys off

one at a time,

throw the target right on their back immediately.

announcer: In the elimination tattoo...

- [sighs]

announcer: Cleen Rock One returned.

- I am here to get my revenge.

We're gonna do hot rods and choppers

neo-traditional style.

- Dun, dun, dun.

announcer: And new artists

felt the competition intensify.

- This is screwed up.

You got these [bleep] up with this.

- Okay, do you want me to straighten that up?

How the [bleep] did she go

from liking the drawing to now having a complete issue?

- Make it good. - Make it good.

- The veterans are gonna take over,

and there's nothing these new guys can do about it.

- You're not in a house like last season

where you're gonna talk over everybody

and you're gonna bully everybody.

This is our house now.

announcer: In the elimination,

Ashley, Alex, and Chris--

bottom three.

- Alex.

- Between the issues that you had in your wheels

and the not ramped-up source of color,

it's not as solid and saturated.

- Ashley.

- It's just riddled with inconsistencies

and wrong details.

- And that's partly my fault, again, because...

- Partly? - I--I wanted to simplify it.

- So you did this?

- Chris.

- There's a lot of messy details.

The way you have this motorcycle wheel

disappearing into the eye of the skull,

it's a hard-to-read tattoo.

- Chris, you do not have what it takes

to be Ink Master.

[dramatic music]

announcer: Eight artists remain

to take on returning veterans,

but only one will earn a $100,000 prize

and the title

of Ink Master.

[rock music]

♪

♪

- I've got an idea

that I kind of want to propose to you two.

We know that there's gonna be some

really solid tattooers coming in,

so if we band together

and pick these guys off one at a time

as they walk through the door,

that gets us to the final.

- We need to level the playing field

and say, "Okay, it might be your challenge,

but we're assigning the skulls."

- When they come in,

they're gonna be cocky, and they're gonna think...

- Sure.

- That everybody in here

is looking at them as the threat.

- Oh, yeah, yeah. - Mm-hmm.

- But I think that if the three of us team up,

we're a powerhouse,

and we can pick 'em off like fish in a barrel.

- I'm down. I like the idea.

We established this house first.

It's our house. I don't--

- Our house.

- I don't give a [bleep] who walks back in here.

- Welcome.

There are still eight of you,

but this competition is constantly changing.

Two artists have been eliminated,

and two veteran artists have returned.

And it's far from over,

'cause only one of you will earn $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine,

and the title of Ink Master.

This week, you are being tested

on creativity.

- Creativity brings a tattoo to life.

If you're not creative,

your tattoo's always gonna look boring.

- For today's flash challenge,

you must use creativity

to make an extraordinary work of art

using a common, everyday item:

salt.

[dramatic music]

Gonna play with some salt on the table?

- The more limited your resources are,

the more creativity it takes

to make something incredible.

First, you must stencil your design

onto a 4-foot by 8-foot adhesive board.

Then carefully apply various grains of salt

to create your masterpiece.

Today, you will have help,

but you'll also have to compromise,

because once again,

you must work in teams of two.

♪

Last time I had to share the skull pick,

I ended up at the bottom.

- Cleen, you won the last elimination tattoo.

That means you get to assign the teams.

As you know,

who you work with can make all the difference,

so chose carefully.

- These guys were gunning for me

as soon as I walked in the house.

There's no way I'm gonna give somebody an advantage

by putting two guys that know what they're doing

on a team, except for myself.

I got to win every challenge from here on out.

♪

- Artists, one by one,

please read the number on the bottom of your skull

to determine your teams.

- One.

- Four.

- Four.

- I picked Picasso

because I've seen his artistic ability,

and this Edward Scissorhands- looking mother[bleep]

is, like, super creative.

- Two.

- Two.

- Those are the teams.

The winners of the flash challenge

will have the power to assign all human canvases

in the elimination tattoo as a team.

You have four hours

to show creativity

using only salt,

and your time begins now.

- Let's do this.

- I'm gonna run through ideas with you.

- We got to figure out subject matter.

- Today's challenge is out of the box.

And that's the whole point that we're testing them on it...

- If we did, like, a badass skull,

the eyes would be super white.

- Just to see what they'll come up with

in a completely unfamiliar environment.

- Our shadows themselves are really cool,

and if we do the silhouette of, like, a sexy woman--

- Megan...

- And you can make, like, a really cool, like--

- Megan, that's [bleep] awesome.

- If somebody's not a good artist overall,

this is gonna be a tough day.

- Megan Jean is making a silhouette of herself.

- So you tell me what you think.

- I pictured, um, the skyline.

♪

- Everybody else is gonna do the skyline.

That's not creative.

How do you think that would work for creativity?

I won the last flash challenge.

I need to get Anthony to agree with me.

Something bigger to work with will be better.

The first thing that came to my head was

a dope, like, skull

with a huge headdress.

- Okay, I just need to come up with a drawing.

- If you've got some ideas,

I really like your design stuff.

- Yeah. - I mean, I trust you.

The new artists have had it way too easy

for way too long.

It ends today.

- I was thinking in my head

I would do, like, this gnarled-out,

like, spray can with a face and a long nose

with wings on it, flying over New York City.

Maybe put a planet up in the topside.

- That's [bleep] ridiculous.

We're doing a koi fish.

- I hope they don't eat us up for creativity.

- I think we're showing creativity

on how to use our medium.

There's definitely some friction

between me and Alex.

- Dude, I don't care.

- He needs to be on my team.

♪

- Two hours to go, everybody.

Two hours.

♪

- [whimpering] I am so salty right now,

I want to die.

- There, that looks rad.

- That does look good.

- That's dope.

All you really need is some lines.

- That's it. Scrape out some lines.

- We need a couple of finger waves just like those.

- I think you're underestimating the time

it's going to take to salt this thing.

- It won't matter. - You sure?

- Yeah.

Hey, man, it's a team challenge, right?

- [bleep] Mark show all day.

- Is it? - Not a surprise.

- [bleep], man.

I hate koi fish.

It's a played out design, dude.

- One hour remaining,

final hour.

[suspenseful music]

♪

- We're doing a skull

with a candle on the top,

with a moth being attracted to it.

Don't get too crazy.

You don't want it white on that wing.

The only problem is,

once you put the salt on, you can't get it off.

- Let's give it a good cleaning.

- This guy's just throwing salt like it's a set of French fries.

Remember you want contrast.

You want nothing lighter than the flame behind it.

There's salt everywhere.

This is the worst challenge of my "Ink Master" career.

♪

- Five, four...

- Need more time!

- Three, two,

one.

That is it. Time is up.

- Think it looks great.

- I'm really proud of it.

I think it's a great piece of art.

- I still wish we did something a little different.

I think he could be tossing this challenge in the trash

just to put Marq in a really bad position.

[dramatic music]

- Artists, it is now time to critique your work.

Alex and St. Marq, whose concept was it?

- It was mine.

- Alex, what specifically did you work on here?

- I, uh, cut out the wave.

- I cut all the waves out. - [bleep] are you talking about?

- He was having some problems with the heat.

- Oh, by all means, tell 'em what I did.

I thought it was a stupid [bleep] design.

- You seem a little hostile, Alex.

- When I would start doing something, he'd be like,

"No, no, no. Don't do that."

- I had to redraw the waves. - I can go hang out.

- Dynamic duo here.

- The anatomy of the koi is way off.

The spine starting at the head

really throws a dent into the flow

and the shape of the actual koi itself

and makes it really short and fat.

The realistic eye is also a big miss hit.

- You drew that, buddy.

- Don't [bleep] touch me, you douchebag.

- It's just lacking creativity, and that's the word of the day.

- Megan Jean and Christian,

I'm really super impressed with the figure there

and how you were able to get the flowing garment

so beautifully enhanced like that.

- The use of shadow gives it

a different style of art look.

It doesn't look like a painting.

The contrast is amazing.

This thing stands out.

- Really clean, very straightforward.

The creativity really shows in this challenge.

- Anthony and Ashley.

- The headdress doesn't really come off as such

without any detail in the feathers

like you have in the skull.

The composition is pretty weak.

The way the moon is just sitting right on the chin

of the skull--

- If you would've maybe positioned the moon

behind the feathers up top,

it would've made it look a lot stronger.

- Picasso and Cleen.

- I expected a lot more.

You have a skull silhouette,

and that's pretty much it.

- We tried to go for different textures,

three different elements, light--

- Doesn't seem very creative.

It's really lackluster on this challenge.

- If you don't like it, you don't like it.

- You just weren't feeling it.

- I thought-- I thought we were feeling it.

- Yeah, I know.

It looks like a moth taking a [bleep] on a skull.

Ours is gonna win.

- All right, guys, today

we're testing creativity with salt.

Two of our most creative artists,

Cleen and Picasso,

turned in a very underwhelming design hit.

- We've seen such great illustration from Picasso

so far, and we've always seen

such smooth technical application from Cleen.

And I don't feel like I got either.

- Alex and St. Marq, creatively,

they dropped the ball.

- It's a very uncreative approach,

and I think that their teamwork was nonexistent.

- The drawing sucks. - Correct.

- Let's move along to somebody

that we all thought was very creative,

Christian and Megan Jean.

- They had a great approach.

It showed creativity from the start.

They had some nice technical applications

and just looked like a big art piece.

- Anthony and Ashley,

there were some layout problems with that.

- I thought that it was pretty stale

and a weak composition.

- Being able to do what they did

in comparison to some of the other art

that we see here today,

they fared in the middle of the pack.

- All right, guys, should we let 'em know?

- Yeah, let's do it. - All right, man.

♪

Today, one team used creativity

to make an extraordinary image.

The judges have decided that the winners

of the flash challenge...

are Megan Jean and Christian.

- Definitely, the creativity is what stands out the most.

You took an artistic approach, and even from a distance,

it does look like a finished art piece,

which is nice for this challenge.

I'm doing great.

- Megan Jean and Christian,

you will have the power to assign all human canvases

for the next elimination tattoo as a team.

- Megan and I are gonna screw these veterans

and put them down in the bottom where they belong.

- Head back to the loft and prepare

for the next elimination tattoo.

And find out which veteran artist

is back for blood.

- Yeah.

♪

- If you're gonna take out a power player, now's the time.

This is more than just a competition at this point.

It's getting personal.

- I hate being the best guy in the house

'cause you get [bleep] on the worst.

[whispers] Oh, my God.

[dramatic music]

♪

- I think this is a really good position to be in today.

If you're gonna take out a power player,

now's the time.

One thing that bothers me is, I think Marq's getting

a little dug in.

He's a silver-tongued devil.

- I don't like the guy,

but at the same time, like,

it's not smart to make an enemy

out of a strong artist.

If Marq feels like I [bleep] him over on purpose,

if he wins a flash challenge,

he's gonna use it to really try and screw me.

- Marq knows I'm after him.

Throw me under the bus on that. I'll take it.

We just need to keep winning flash challenges

and stay in control, really.

- So far, this is going pretty well.

- Yeah, which scares me.

In this competition,

the minute you think you're on top

and you're feeling safe,

that's when you really need to watch out,

so we need to watch out for everybody at this point.

They're gonna come gunning for us.

- Yep. - Be ready.

- Welcome to the next elimination tattoo.

The fight to the end is vicious.

- Absolutely.

- Only one of you will win $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine,

and the title of Ink Master.

- I did one tattoo,

and I took best tattoo of the day.

- The next artist standing between you and the title

is known for his technical ability

and his versatility,

which took him all the way to the finale

in season four...

- Oh, my God.

[suspenseful music]

♪

- Sausage. - Get the [bleep] out of here.

[rock music]

- Yeah.

You didn't just cookie-cutter it together.

This is what we're looking for.

We are looking for someone

to really do something above and beyond.

- Thank you guys very, very much.

I've been working side by side

with Joey and Sausage since their shop opened.

This is more than just a competition at this point.

It's getting personal.

I was targeted because I was a strong competitor,

and I really had to fight.

I have been nice as [bleep] to you.

- I'm not gonna hand you a piece

that you're gonna win tattoo of the day with.

- So this is how the game's gonna be played?

- Survival of the fittest.

- The judges have decided.

Scott, you do have what it takes to be...

[cheers and applause]

- You might have thought that I was nice on season four.

For season seven, watch your back.

I'm gonna fight tooth and nail

to get the title of Ink Master.

- Welcome back, Sausage.

- Thank you.

- This week, you are calling the shots.

- [groaning]

Okay, come on. Let's do it.

- What is the next elimination tattoo?

- Today, we're gonna be tattooing my favorite...

[suspenseful music]

Comic book characters.

- Oh, I knew it.

- The catch is...

- Ugh.

- You have to capture your canvas's likeness

in the comic book character.

all: Ohh!

- Man.

This will definitely separate

the veterans from the rookies.

- Remember, you are being judged on creativity.

Let's meet your canvases.

♪

Megan Jean and Christian,

you won the flash challenge.

You now have the power to assign the canvases

as a team.

The lay of the land is constantly shifting,

so use this advantage while you have it.

- Hell, yeah.

- As these veteran artists return,

I don't want them thinking that they own the place.

We have to give 'em a tough skull.

What superhero would you like to be?

- I want a pastry chef, and I want, like,

her weapon to be, like, a whisk and a rolling pin.

- What?

- Somebody that protects against people getting bullied.

- My superhero is Fame Chaser.

- [whispering] Oh, my God.

- Loves the spotlight, cameras,

paparazzi, the whole nine.

- Oh, come on.

- I would like to be a sin eater.

- Yeah, that's cool.

- I would absorb the sins of other people

so that they would be free

to enjoy the pleasures of the world.

I want him in a three-piece, Victorian-style suit.

- What's a three-piece, Victorian-style suit look like?

- [chortling]

- Christian is my employee,

Do I have a strong enough ally in Christian,

or is he gonna play the game right off the bat?

- Okay, canvases.

One by one, please read the artist's name

on the bottom of your skull.

- Megan Jean.

- Alex.

- Anthony.

[suspenseful music]

♪

- Cleen.

- I knew I was gonna get the worst canvas.

- Ashley.

- Christian.

- Sin eater...

♪

- St. Marq.

- Can't help if the spotlight finds me.

Can't help it.

Megan and Christian think

I am hell-bent on making this canvas work for me.

Just wait and see.

- Picasso?

- Sugar.

- Sausage.

- This is a perfect piece.

I got this one in the bag.

Yay.

- Remember, after the elimination tattoo,

the human canvas jury will vote on the one tattoo

that they think is the worst

and put that artist up for elimination.

You'll have six hours to tattoo

the comic book version

of your canvas.

Based on your work,

one of you will close shop.

Good luck.

- How's it going, dude? - How's it going, man?

- How you doing?

- Sausage chooses comic book superheroes.

On top of that, you also have to use

your canvas's likeness.

It's gonna take creativity

to blend those two things.

- Anti-bullying. - Yes.

- Cool.

- I was bullied as a child, so I want to have a superhero

have the power to have that bully not do it.

- Okay.

- You were saying your special power is,

you're gonna collect sin.

- Yes.

- It's befitting you're getting something of this nature.

You got St. Marq, huh? - Yeah.

- Taking a crazy idea

and turning that into a cohesive design

- I want him wearing a Victorian-style suit.

- He wants a full-body superhero,

and I'm not gonna do that.

I'm already imagining... - Yeah?

- Since this has to be you,

I'm gonna try to really focus in on--

on your face, like--

- Okay.

- That way, I can get a lot of detail in that.

As soon as I start to draw for him,

I got him right where I want him.

- Yeah, I really like the design of this.

I think we have a winner here.

- Think, uh, you can incorporate, like,

having a hot chick in there?

Maybe, like, standing on a red carpet and fly suit.

walking the red carpet,

paparazzi taking pictures.

There's no way I'm gonna have enough time to do it.

- Just want a hot chick, man.

Like, the--the groupie look. - Yeah. Yeah.

- The girls are running to me like, "Ahh."

- That is not a superhero, dude.

I don't even know where to begin.

[techno music]

- Honestly, after skull picks,

I was like, "Why did we give Sausage,

"like, a perfect canvas?

Christian's, like, friends with this guy."

Maybe he has this whole other agreement with Sausage.

- Are we really keeping that same vision we had,

you know, us three in the finale?

- Absolutely. My word is my bond.

- I just wanted to clarify.

- You're not gonna knock Sausage out

on a comic book challenge.

Why waste a bad skull pick on somebody who's gonna kill it?

Although I know Sausage outside of here,

he had his shot; he's a vet;

he's an intruder in our house.

And eventually, I want to knock him out.

This is the only alliance I've got in this house.

[dramatic music]

- All right, guys.

Sausage called the shot today.

You have six hours to use creativity

to transform your canvas

into a comic book character,

and your time begins...

now.

[claps hands] - All right.

- Man, let's do this.

- That's gonna be awesome.

- If these artists don't come up

with a strong concept, it's gonna be painfully obvious,

and they're gonna be out of here.

[rock music]

- It hits on all cylinders,

and it does exactly what the challenge is asking for.

I'm extremely thankful

for being given another chance to come out and...

- Absolutely.

- Prove my worth, because I know

what kind of a competitor I am, but it's tough.

This time around, I mean business.

I will no longer play nice.

I will stand up for myself,

because I have to.

Love me, because you're gonna have a good tattoo.

- You're a superhero, Sausage.

You're, like, Super Summer Sausage.

- [laughs] You know, I try.

- You have four hours remaining.

♪

- Hey, hey, hey.

- Hey.

- Oh, so you didn't go small.

[laughing]

- Megan and Christian definitely have it out for me.

I have to do a whole back piece

for all the crap that this guy wants to put in this thing.

[whispers] Oh, my God.

Megan and Christian are on my [bleep] list.

♪

- What your guy's special power?

- She looks so dope.

- You like it so far? - Yeah.

- Awesome.

I gave up everything when I started tattooing.

I stopped going to art school.

I dropped out with a semester left.

My parents even stopped talking to me.

I just want to prove to everyone

that I'd made the right choice, and here I am.

- Two hours left, guys. Two hours.

♪

- Competition is not exactly lightweight on this season,

especially with all these guys coming back

from previous seasons.

- Anyone you've been going head-to-head with?

- St. Marq, tattoo god.

- [laughing] - Exactly. Exactly.

What are you working on?

- It, uh--

he's sort of a, uh, collector of, like, sins.

- I don't know who St. Marq thinks he is.

I think he's an arrogant prick,

and I'm gonna out-tattoo this ass[bleep].

♪

You've heard that.

- What's this?

You're throwing color in it, buddy?

- I definitely have a target on my back,

but if they think handing me a [bleep] skull pick

is gonna intimidate me,

they obviously haven't seen me in action.

Man, I am really happy with this.

♪

- I just want to let you know you got 22, okay?

- Oh, boy.

If you're gonna do something,

go big or go home.

- Five, four, three,

two, one.

That is it. Time's up.

Machines down.

No more ink.

- I love it. - You love it?

Hell yeah. It came out on point.

- Cleen's tattoo is ugly.

It's ridiculous, and it doesn't follow the credentials

of being a superhero.

Bye. It's time to go home.

- Gangsta, son. I'm loving it.

- Did I not saturate? Did I not put lines--

- Did you give a guy a [bleep] up back [bleep]?

- I think you're gonna get crucified.

- It looks like this is on paper,

and it walked in the rain to get here.

- You're tripping. You're freaking out.

- I hate this tattoo.

[dramatic music]

- I think you're gonna get crucified, dude.

You stuck his ass.

- I'm not gonna apologize for giving you that skull pick.

I think it was a smart pick.

You're just... - So you--so you--

- Too hard to beat technically.

- So that's a compliment. - You're a great tattooer.

- He's been going after me since I goddamn got here.

- I mean, you know you're gonna do the same thing.

I'm not gonna give the weakest guy in the house

the crappiest skull pick.

I'm gonna give it to one of you guys.

You're a monster tattooer.

- I know I did a good, solid tattoo.

He wanted to be the lady-killer superhero.

- It wasn't a superhero.

It didn't look anything like a superhero.

- Not a superhero. - It's not--

- You did a Bobblehead. You dropped the ball.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today, Sausage challenged you

to transform your canvas

into a comic book character.

Sausage, let's start with you.

- You had one of the toughest challenges,

but giving your canvas exactly what they want

in an amazing, creative way,

that's one of your strongest skills.

And this tattoo shows it.

As far as the likeness of the canvas,

nailed it.

It's a perfect comic book rendition of her.

- Foreshortening in the tattoo speaks to the superhero.

You give it that exaggerated hand

and the punch.

Overall, it's a sticker.

You did a great job.

♪

- Megan Jean.

♪

Tell us what superhero your canvas wanted to be.

- This is Amp Man.

He's got a amp built into his chest

if he needs to turn the volume up.

He's got little dials on his battery pack to do that.

- With the body and the composition,

you hit the superhero look.

But the portion of his chest

where this is what you're magnifying

to be his superpower

falls really short.

- I thought the logo was more important.

- I don't think you went above and beyond

to give this guy something out of the ordinary.

- You think I played it safe here?

- This is one of the least creative.

You just kind of fell flat.

♪

- Christian.

♪

Is the reason you picked this canvas for subject matter?

- Yeah.

He just really wanted himself portrayed

as an old-school hero

that had the power of lightning.

- It's very evident you had problems

with the color saturation.

That light yellow and that white

is pretty scratchy in his skin.

- Darker skin, you want to make it graphic.

You want to make it strong, bold,

rich, saturated, dark.

It's what's gonna wear well.

- And you had the advantage. - Yep.

- You got to pick your own canvas.

It didn't really work out for you.

♪

- Cleen.

♪

What comic book character did your canvas want to be?

- He wanted Chasing the Fame.

- This is a hard one.

I'm just not a fan of the drawing of this tattoo.

There's areas of technical ability

that's the same old Cleen approach:

big areas of solid color, well applicated.

But really, when it comes down to the fundamentals

of the drawing this thing, I just don't like it.

I don't like the girl's hand.

It's wadded up on his side.

I don't like her feet. It's rough.

♪

- Anthony.

- [exhales sharply]

- What comic book character did your canvas want to be?

- He really wanted to portray a military medic.

- I like this tattoo a lot.

Think the drawing is awesome.

There's a couple areas where I really get

that comic book feel from,

and a lot of that is that hatching

in some of the shading.

And then in terms of just details,

like particularly in the scarf,

going over each one of those folds in that fabric

is so intensely amazing.

- So far, I like everything I've seen you do.

You've been consistent.

That's what it takes to just run this thing to the end.

I think you did a hell of a job.

♪

- Picasso.

♪

- You captured her likeness.

You've got a great drawing.

It really even has her personality in it.

But her lips, her nose, her eyes are scribbly.

It looks smeared.

It looks like this is on paper,

and it walked in the rain to get here.

I'm gonna be blunt with you:

with technical tattooing like this,

you are not gonna make it very far in this competition.

- But the thing is, I have the technical abilities.

The time that's getting to me.

- Where did you start coloring in this tattoo?

- Her hair.

- That's where you started,

so that's where you were at your most comfortable.

At your most relaxed moment, you still weren't on.

- I have never done work that looks like this.

- Creativity, you're through the roof, man.

Technically, I find a lot of problems.

You got to pray that somebody behind you

dropped the ball.

♪

- Alex.

What comic book character did your canvas want to be?

- She wanted to have the power

of bringing all the negative energy

from everybody in the world

and pushing it out into positive energy.

- In terms of creativity,

you did a good job here

trying to portray that characteristic.

Your use of the negative

and positive elements on the hands

and the energies flowing through it

and almost creating this infinity symbol

at the same time is a very cool, creative process.

I think you did a great job.

- Thank you.

♪

- St. Marq.

♪

What comic book character did your canvas want to be?

- Um, he wanted to be a sin collector.

- In terms of creativity,

you came up with some cool ideas here.

I do like how you put those souls

floating around this thing--

something haunted, something spooky.

- Overall, it is a super slick tattoo.

It's got a lot of little, tricky details--

the glow and the shine in the gem,

nice, smooth, soft fades of color transition.

- I'm a big fan of the monochromatic look.

Thank you for lining it. I appreciate that.

- Thanks.

- Ashley.

♪

How did you arrive at this design?

- My canvas is a pastry chef.

So she wanted to depict a superhero.

- In terms of creativity,

I think you got a lot of nice elements in here.

But there are some anatomical issues

with the way she's posed.

- I did try to give you that action shot.

- Her left leg, the way that's coming out and bent back,

there's some perspective issues with the drawing itself.

- We have a big, awkward, square, cardboard cutout arm

coming off this girl's body

that doesn't look like it's coming at you.

It just looks flat and square,

because it doesn't have any depth.

Let's look at the quality of the tattoo,

of the line work in the banner.

Very weak.

You've got to be able to produce

more solid, more clean, more fluid line work.

I mean, the people that are standing behind you,

if you don't match up to them, then you're out.

♪

- All right, guys.

Based on creativity,

who had the best tattoo of the day?

- By far, the tattoo that stands out the most to me

is Anthony's.

- I have to agree, man.

Anthony really turned in

a nice, solid, beautiful tattoo.

I do have to say in the same breath

that I do like what St. Marq did.

I do like what Alex did.

And I think that overall,

it was a pretty good day, artistically speaking.

- Speaking of creativity,

Matching up looking like his canvas,

Sausage probably did one of the best jobs of the day.

I got to vote for Sausage.

- Best tattoo of the day for me goes to Anthony.

♪

- I'm gonna go with Anthony.

- The judges have decided the best tattoo of the day

goes to Anthony.

♪

The human canvas jury is deliberating right now,

and their vote will put one artist

up for elimination.

And the canvas will be here

to tell us why.

Head back to the loft.

One of you is about to pack your machines.

♪

- I think Cleen had the worst tattoo of the day.

- Nah, your tattoo is super rookie.

Super rookie.

- I met the challenge.

If you don't meet that,

you should have points penalized for that.

- You're the least of my worries

as far as competition goes.

- The hand on your girl was jacked.

It didn't look like the dude.

- Did I blow out lines?

Did I not saturate? Did I not put lines in?

- Did you give a guy a [bleep] up back piece?

- Did I not make that [bleep] solid as goddamn hell?

- Did you give her a [bleep] up female that was unproportional?

- You can talk all you want.

- You're right, and I'm getting ready now

to do it downstairs in front of the judges

if I have to.

[rock music]

- All right, guys, today we're testing creativity

with comic book characters.

Cleen's Fame Chaser--

creativity-- the frogs are kind of, like,

a nice way to show paparazzi.

It doesn't hit the mark in terms of

it looking like a comic book character.

- I hate this tattoo.

- Next up.

- The outline in this thing is nervous.

She just was like, "Oh, [bleep], here we go."

The hat itself... - How is it even sitting there?

- What a mess.

- Picasso turned in another great drawing,

but it looks like watercolor.

- Rough execution, rough outline.

- There's areas where his shading and color

is outside of the line.

That is not taking care or being precise.

- It kills me.

- The human canvas jury

is deliberating right now.

It could go in many different directions.

- That's my tattoo.

My artist was Megan Jean.

- Hold on. His name's Amp Man,

but why does he have a microphone?

- This is a weapon of choice.

- That's not the type of plug

a microphone would use.

So your weapon of choice is to be plugged in?

- That's a weapon.

That's not just for plugging into a speaker.

- But you're saying if you're not near a wall outlet,

you have no power.

- No, no, no. I'm always charged up.

- That's my tattoo, and my artist was Cleen.

- Doesn't look like a superhero.

- It looks like a guy wearing a suit with a cape.

- I don't get cape. I get trench coat from that.

- Yeah. - Right.

- She doesn't look happy to be in your arms.

- Yeah, she's confused right now.

- I think she looks sexy.

- Her nipples are so weird.

- She supposed to have huge breasts.

- She got a bad boob job.

- I just wanted something different.

- Well, it's different.

- This is my tattoo, and my artist was Picasso.

- What's that thing coming out of your head?

- It looks like a hand holding a skull.

- That's my staff.

- It looks like your hand's, like, way back there.

- And the staff looks like it was almost colored in

with a crayon.

- Wait a minute. Where is the left hand?

- The hand--

- Is that supposed to be a hand at the bottom?

- Yeah.

- That doesn't look like a hand.

- I think this is the worst one so far.

I'm sorry.

- I have to disagree with that one.

- My tattoo's the [bleep].

I don't think my artist should be in the bottom, period.

- Cleen missed the mark.

♪

- I'm ready to face the music.

- I hope I don't have to face the music.

- Nobody is safe.

- Yeah, I mean, if I go home on, uh--

on the canvas, I mean, pfff,

give me a break.

[suspenseful music]

- Oh, here we go.

♪

- All right, the judges want to see...

Picasso,

Ashley,

and Cleen.

See you all downstairs.

- Let's go.

- Give 'em hell, girl.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today, you were judged on creativity.

Based on your work,

one of you will be packing your machines.

It's time to find out who the human canvas jury chose.

[suspenseful music]

♪

Cleen, you're here because the human canvas jury determined

that you had the worst tattoo of the day.

- I don't agree with that at all.

- Jay, why did the jury

vote Cleen to the bottom?

- They just said overall

I didn't look like a superhero.

I was just shocked.

I had no idea that I would end up being down here.

- Was the jury voting based on

the superhero aspect of this

or the technical way in which the tattoo was applied

into the skin?

- Not the technicality, yeah, just overall the look.

- The idea. - Yes.

- In my opinion, I think it does look like a superhero.

I didn't see one thing that I didn't like wrong with it.

I love it, man.

- Jay, thank you so much for joining us.

- All right, thank you guys. - Off you go.

Thanks, buddy.

- I tried to give him exactly what he wanted,

so my guy is chasing the fame, being a lady-killer.

On Ashley's tattoos, I've seen nothing but technical flaws.

It's a tattoo competition,

and technical ability's got to be the main thing

that we're looking at.

- Picasso can draw better than almost anybody

I've seen or I know.

But he's here because of the way

that it lands in the skin.

And there's just a vast divide

between the two of you together and Cleen.

- I'm not gonna argue that.

- You ain't going home.

That's for damn sure. Not today.

- I've been in my head this whole [bleep] time.

I let the [bleep] get in my head,

and I'm [bleep] blowing it.

- Here's where I'm having a problem.

The gems--look at the trail that you have of red

that runs right off the top,

like you just took a line and went, "Brrr."

That is beyond nerves. You're tripping.

You're freaking the [bleep] out while you're tattooing.

- I'm ready to [bleep] get out of my head.

I'm ready to [bleep] stop

trying to impress you with complicated drawings.

I'm ready to [bleep] tattoo.

♪

- All right, it's time to decide.

Cleen, you're not going anywhere today.

This is between Picasso and Ashley.

- From Ashley, we got three outings in the bottom.

- Three out of three times.

- We have Picasso down here for the first time.

- I'm actually pretty decided. - What do you think?

- To go home. - Yes.

- Ollie?

- Ashely, if your tattoo today

was a little bit more technically sound,

you might be a little safer.

And, Picasso, if you hadn't had such great drawings so far

that we've already got this look of promise from you,

you'd be out.

My vote's for Ashley.

- Ashley.

- The judges have decided.

Ashley, you do not

have what it takes to be Ink Master.

- Three challenges for you just haven't really hit home,

and three strikes in the bottom

is what's really against you right now.

- Please pack your machines and close shop.

♪

- This pisses me off. Cleen's tattoo is ugly.

I was the most creative person in the house

that thought of the box.

They wanted a comic book. I gave them that.

I gave them a superhero.

And I'm going home, and it's bull[bleep].

♪

announcer: On the next episode of "Ink Master"...

- You must tattoo something so unique

that in this courtroom, it could be the difference

between a conviction and an acquittal.

- I think it's time we take some of these rookies out.

- If you take out the heart of the lion...

- Cut off the head, and they'll fall.

- Now it's payback.

- I wouldn't underestimate these guys, okay?

- He put me through a lot of crap.

He's almost kind of like your rival.

- You have to overcome bad ideas with good art.

- Nobody can tell what the [bleep]'s going on

with this tattoo.

You're not pulling it off.

- I'll [bleep] knock your fat ass out, bitch.

- Lack of disrespect. - What's up, mother[bleep]?