Original subtitles

Male announcer: This season on "Ink Master,"

It's new artists versus veterans, as 16 tattooers

are battling it out to prove they're the best.

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

announcer: In the flash challenge, Cleen's plan

to give the veterans the advantage backfired.

- St. Marq's starting to piss me off.

It's the [bleep] Mark show all day.

- Not a surprise. - [bleep] him.

- The veterans need to take back the skull pick.

The new artists have had it way too easy.

It ends today.

- Don't get too crazy; You don't want white on that wing.

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

- I think it looks great.

- Three of us team up, we're a powerhouse and we can

pick them off like fish in a barrel.

- This our house; I don't give a [bleep] who walks back in there.

- Yeah!

announcer: In the elimination tattoo,

Sausage returns.

- It's getting personal. This guy's my boss.

- I will no longer play nice.

This time around, I mean business.

announcer: And the new artists were hell-bent

on taking out veterans.

- My superhero is Fame Chaser.

Cleen.

- I knew I was gonna get the worst canvas.

Can't believe he did that to me.

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

I think it was a smart pick.

- I know I did a good, solid tattoo.

It's not... - You did a bobblehead.

announcer: In the elimination, Cleen, Picasso, and Ashley

were the bottom three.

- Picasso.

- It looks smeared. It looks like this is on paper,

and it walked in the rain to get here.

- Cleen.

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

- I tried to give him exactly what he wanted.

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

- But I really follow the challenge in what was asked for

as far as comic-book character.

- I don't think any point in this competition

have we questioned your creativity,

but the technical problems

in this tattoo... some pretty big shortcomings.

- Ashley, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

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]

♪

- The lay of the land is changing constantly.

- Yeah. - It's a challenge.

It's completely a new game.

- I didn't think I was gonna be at the bottom,

but when it came down to it, it wasn't my tattooing that

got me in the bottom,

it was eight other mother[bleep] that did.

- They keep going headstrong against the veterans each time.

- So if they're gonna sit there as a pack and they're gonna try

to pick us off one by one,

I think now is the time to turn the tables

and give them a little bit of their own medicine.

- Yeah.

- Between us three, we need to

win this Goddamn skull pick, no matter what.

- We can't let them take one more.

- So if you have your eyes on anybody, who would you choose?

- I'd say Christian. - Yes.

- He's their mouthpiece.

Cut off the head, and they'll fall.

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

[industrial rock music]

[dramatic rock music]

♪

- Welcome.

The eight of you have outlasted three artists,

but in this competition, you must be ready for anything.

More veteran artists will return,

and only one of you will earn $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine,

and title of Ink Master.

This week,

you're being judged on detail.

- Detail is what makes

a very mundane tattoo look extraordinary.

- Today you must tattoo something so unique that

in this courtroom, it could be the difference between

a conviction and an acquittal:

A fingerprint.

- Fingerprints are comprised of so many little concentric lines

and tiny little details.

Putting that many lines close together can be

incredibly difficult without screwing up.

- But that is not all.

For this flash challenge, the judges aren't the only ones

inspecting your work,

because today we are joined

by a forensics expert.

Detective Adrian Gardner is a crime scene investigator

specializing in latent fingerprint analysis

and comparison.

And she's here to determine if your tattoo

can stand up as evidence in a court of law.

- This is crazy.

- At a crime scene, if a latent fingerprint

is recovered and a suspect is established,

we then compare the two fingerprints to each other,

looking for disagreement.

If any disagreement is found, then the print is excluded.

- If I don't nail the detail on this fingerprint

and my tattoo is off by one line, the forensic expert...

that's her job; she's gonna catch it.

- Let's bring in your canvases.

♪

You have each been randomly assigned a canvas.

Each of your canvases has brought in a loved one,

whose fingerprint they want tattooed.

Detective Gardner will fingerprint each person.

Then you must tattoo an exact replica of that print

onto your canvas.

If you don't pay attention to detail,

your canvas will end up with someone else's print.

- Having to tattoo the fingerprint of a loved one

definitely raises the stakes.

If we [bleep] this up, they're gonna tell us

right in front of the person that we've done it on.

- My station's right over here.

- Tattoos of fingerprints are the ultimate test of detail.

- Your husband? - Yes.

- Construction worker? - Yes.

- I know. - You can tell. [Laughs]

- I can tell.

- Every little line has to match up to every other line,

or else the analyst is not gonna recognize this

as the same print.

- Your prints are pretty soft, so I'm gonna see if I can

blow them up and get some more detail.

My canvas is an older gal,

and I'm completely screwed because of it.

Her skin is much more elastic, and her fingerprints

are nowhere near as defined.

- Sit over here, but have your shoulder kind of off.

It's really important for me to get back on the horse.

The judges think I don't have any technical ability.

They're mistaken.

I'm gonna get this as perfect as I can,

show them I'm not just an artist; I'm a tattoo artist.

- You have one hour.

- Are you as nervous as I am?

- I'm gonna challenge myself with this one and

make the fingerprint as close to size as I possibly can

without losing the detail.

Looking good.

I need to win these skull picks so I can personally

hand the veteran artists the worst skulls.

Hey, Mark, um,

eat [bleep].

- I love you, sweetheart.

- You go ahead and just jump around and fidget

as much as you want.

I'm doing this heart because I just can't get the detail

that everybody else does, but I can win points on creativity.

And my canvas is gonna walk out

with the coolest tattoo in the room.

- I like how you shaped it like a heart; Awesome.

- I've started an alliance with two of the strongest players.

If I can't get this skull pick, hopefully one of them will.

The last thing we need is a veteran getting control

of the skull picks, especially Cleen.

- This challenge is extremely difficult.

Most of my tattoos, there's room for artistic interpretation.

It's easy to hide little mistakes.

But in this challenge, there's no room for error.

If I mess up, I can't hide it.

And I'm gonna go around and, like, thicken up some lines

so it really looks just like the print.

- Five, four,

three, two,

one.

That's it.

Time's up. Machines down.

No more ink.

- That looks exactly like it. [laughs]

- It's got his scar in there and everything.

- You like? - Yeah.

- Good deal, thank you.

- Christian's trying to camouflage his crappy line work

with a bunch of extra garbage around it.

Why are you doing that on a detail challenge?

- All right, guys, time to critique your work.

Alex.

- The lines are very crisp, very clean, very smooth.

It's a pleasing tattoo to look at.

- Detective Gardner, after your analysis, what do we got?

- This print does have a lot of detail that is in agreement,

but there is a bifurcation here.

If you were to follow the ridge down,

it meets what we call the delta.

On this print, it's actually supposed to be inside.

Because he did this,

all the points are shifted by one ridge.

We could call it an exclusion.

- We do have a discrepancy here, and we are off by one line,

and that one line is the exact thing that, basically,

identifies that person in that mark.

- In terms of detail, a little bit short.

St. Marq.

How does it feel to have your fingerprint immortally placed

on your son forever?

- I feel very honored.

- Looking at it very close, the detail seems very exact.

This is probably about the exact size, I guessed,

that it would need to be.

- I wondered if a little smaller would be possible,

but after we got into it, you were exactly...

- It's a lot of details. - It really is.

- Detective Gardner, in terms of detail,

would this be a 100% match?

-There is enough detail

in agreement to make an identification.

I would call it a match.

- Christian.

Obviously, you went with a sacred heart design.

- I knew that I didn't have the level of accuracy that

some of the other prints had, so I started thinking,

you know what, "I'm gonna give Mike a badass tattoo."

- Just looking at the known print, you can see this one

is a little bit more challenging.

- As people age, the ridges lose elasticity,

and that was the case here.

Doing a side-by-side comparison,

there's not enough detail.

I wouldn't say this isn't hers, but I wouldn't say it's a match.

- Inconclusive. - Inconclusive.

- This is not a creative challenge.

You [bleep] up the fingerprint.

You can't hide it by putting a heart with flames in there.

That's not what this challenge is about.

- Sausage.

- It didn't have any discrepancies.

It's definitely a match.

- You did this thing meticulously.

You really hit the details spot-on.

And it was a nice, clean, good, professional job.

- Cleen.

- It looks very clean; There's a lot of very small details.

There's actually the texture of the waves...

gives it a real, authentic fingerprint look.

- Detective Gardner, your analysis concluded?

- This print was definitely a match.

He got all the points dead-on.

- Anthony.

- Every ridge was right on point.

This print was definitely a match.

- Definitely looks like a strong tattoo.

It looks very crisp,

especially for the smaller size you went with.

- It seems like you had a little time to spare,

so you went ahead and gave this man a present,

aside from the fingerprint.

Great craftsmanship and a real keen eye.

- As much as I want to talk bad about Anthony, I freaking can't.

He makes me nervous in this competition because

he has not been tattooing very long,

and he is swinging for the fences.

This kid has come to play.

- Megan Jean.

- All the points in this print

were 100% in sequence with each other.

No discrepancies at all.

- Just using clean lines instead of showing the textures:

Smart move.

- It makes for an interesting art piece,

and the legibility on this is great.

- Picasso.

- It is a lot of line work

very close together that, down the road, would be

more likely for some of the lines to start to butt together

and to darken up.

- There was a little bit of a discrepancy.

There's a big void here, but, in the known print,

there's actually a little island.

Also, here we have a ridge that was supposed to continue to go,

and he ended it.

- Damn it! I'm disappointed.

I really wanted to be on top this time.

If this next challenge doesn't play to my strength,

I could be [bleep].

- Tables are about to turn.

- In this house, you're either prey

or you're a [bleep] predator.

- You better do a good job.

This is do or die.

Don't care who leaves or how they leave,

just as long as they leave.

- Stressful.

- Today we're testing detail with fingerprint tattoos.

- So many people really rose to the challenge

and did some immensely detailed tattoos.

- What I like about Cleen's tattoo is that he was able to

pull out textures in the actual fingerprint, and he did it

in a technical way where that tattoo will hold up

and stand the test of time.

It won't turn into a black blob.

- Anthony's was definitely one of my favorites of the day.

The lettering he put in there was super slick.

And he did some of the best detail

at some of the smallest size.

-Megan Jean, I liked the fact that on her client she decided

to go really bold and open and airy; It's smart.

That tattoo, also, I feel is gonna hold up.

- We have several very accurate matches.

The one who did the most aesthetically pleasing

tattoo out of the accurate matches should get the nod.

Want to let them know?

- Yep. - Let's do it.

Today you're being tested on detail with fingerprint tattoos.

The judges have decided.

The winner of the flash challenge...

Is Cleen Rock One.

all: Whoa.

- The way you showed the texture in the finger but still have

the legibility and breathability gives you the nod.

- Cleen, you'll have the power to assign all human canvases

for the elimination tattoo on your own.

- This is the first time a veteran artist

got the skull pick.

And you know what, I came back for revenge.

These new guys, they need to get out of here.

And I'm gonna make it happen.

- Head back to the loft and prepare to find out

which veteran artist you must face next.

- Yeah.

- The veterans think they've already won

and that we're gonna take ourselves out.

- I think the tables are about to turn.

I haven't really done the best tattoos

I could possibly do here,

and you haven't either.

Does that put us at an advantage?

- They're not really gonna focus on us.

They're gonna focus on the bigger dogs,

but they're gonna look around

and all of a sudden go, "Where'd you come from?"

- They're gonna wonder why they're...

- Yeah, I'm not worried anymore.

- I think they're definitely going to give

the harder skull picks to the people that

have been winning these challenges.

- I think they're gonna go after Anthony.

- He's kind of sliding under the radar.

- Yeah, he's smooth, smooth brother.

I've noticed that in this house, you're either prey

or you're a [bleep] predator.

From this point on, I'm a predator.

[industrial rock music]

♪

- Welcome to the next elimination tattoo.

Another "Ink Master" veteran is back for revenge.

To make it to the end, you must defeat him.

- Let's do it.

- Our next veteran was a dark horse

whose consistency and fine detail earned him a spot

in the finale.

- Who's that?

- Matti Hixson.

- Oh.

- Suspender game on point.

- I thought I smelled sausage.

- The votes are tallied.

The artist who you think deserves to be in the final two

and one step closer to the title of Ink Master is Sausage.

[cheers and applause]

Matti, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

- Matti Hixson feels that he should have been up there

neck and neck with Scott, but America had my back.

I beat him once. Now I'll beat him again.

- That slippery little wiener made it back.

I'm coming back, and I'm ready to

compete with these assholes and win it.

There's no way I'm going

back home without the title of Ink Master.

- Every detail in the actual choice of the way

that the design was put together has a great look to it.

It's just very dynamic.

You just livened it up with really bright colors

that make this thing vibrant.

- Thank you.

- Hey, I know this guy.

Matti: He's one of those guys who wants to fly under the radar

and then stick you in the back when you're not looking.

Definitely somebody to keep your eyes open with.

- As a veteran, you fought through this competition once,

so now you are calling the shots.

Matti, what is the next elimination tattoo?

- Bring it.

- We're gonna do Venetian masks.

- I don't even know what that is.

- Why Venetian masks?

- Venetian masks have a lot of detail...

- For sure.

- So it's something that's really gonna test everybody.

- Bad choice.

- Matti, go ahead and take a seat.

You heard Matti.

Today you must show detail by tattooing Venetian masks.

Wearing masks is a centuries-old tradition

in Venice, Italy.

It started during Carnevale,

when people would eat, drink, and party.

They wore masks to hide their identities so that

they could be whatever and be whoever they wanted

without anybody knowing.

Remember, you are being judged on detail.

Let's meet your canvases.

Cleen, you won the flash challenge.

You now have the power to assign the human canvases.

And this competition is always changing,

so seize this opportunity for control.

- Got to take control of this.

I'm gunning for the newbies.

They've been trying to screw me over since I got here.

Now it's payback.

So what are we doing?

- I want a Venetian mask that's nature inspired,

that has butterflies and flowers all around it.

- What are you looking to get?

- A horror-themed Venetian mask tattoo,

with barbwire incorporated, flames, and demonic eyes.

- Wackiest idea I've heard in my life.

Makes no sense at all.

- Good luck with that.

- I would like a Venetian mask

with roses incorporated in dedication to my aunts.

- Okay.

- I want three roses because I have three aunts

who have cancer.

- Black-and-gray, color? - Color.

- This is a tough canvas,

and she's too emotionally attached to her concept.

She's not gonna be easy to work with.

- You guys, let's switch.

Let me see which one you got again.

Okay. All right.

- Okay, canvases, one by one, please read the artist's name

on the bottom of your skull.

- Alex. - Hello.

- Cleen Rock One. - Ooh, that's me.

- Megan Jean.

- Matti.

- [laughs] - [bleep] yeah, dude.

Barbwire all day, bro. - Oh, just wait, buddy.

Obviously I'm gonna get the

barbwire, flame, skin-ripped zombie mask.

This is the only one that I was afraid of.

- You picked it, bro.

Matti has an advantage because he's probably the

only one who's ever done a Venetian mask, ever.

So I'm gonna make sure that I stump him right off the gate.

- Picasso.

- St. Marq.

- Sausage. - You and I.

- Anthony.

- Mm. - Yeah.

- This canvas wants full color.

With her complexion and the challenge being detail,

it's gonna be a muddy mess.

Aw, Cleen, you're smarter than you look.

You got a little bit of strategy; Good job.

- Christian.

- Yes.

- Remember, guys, after the elimination tattoo,

the human canvas jury will vote on the tattoo that they think

is the worst and put one artist up for elimination.

- Dun dun dun.

- You will have six hours to tattoo a Venetian mask.

Based on your work, one of you will close shop.

Good luck.

- Venetian mask is very detail-oriented design.

- You want the actual mask to look like wood?

- There's a lot of different styles and a lot of

very explicit details that you can put into these masks.

So the artist can really be creative.

- Three roses for your aunts, right?

- Yes. And their initials in each rose.

- It's gonna be busy, and then I'm thinking about time.

- Just so I know that each rose represents...

- You can separate them. - For each aunt.

I understand that it's a memorial tattoo,

but I need to change her mind because it's a competition.

This [bleep] will get me sent home.

- I'd like to incorporate barbwire kind of, like, around,

like, maybe, like, the eye area or something.

- I'm not sure about barbwire mixing in with this too well.

- I think flames would look cool in a mask.

- I don't think there's one person in 6 billion

on the planet that's ever done

a Venetian mask with barbwire and flames.

- Halloween's my favorite holiday of the year,

so I was thinking, like, a horror element,

so when someone sees it, they're like, "Oh," like,

they can tell, like, this guy's into, like, horror stuff.

- I just got here, and I'm screwed already.

[tense rock music]

♪

- Tell me about this Matti guy.

- I was so bummed when I saw him come in the door.

- Really?

- He put me through a lot of turmoil.

Him and Scott Marshall joined forces.

They were always trying to figure out a way

to just knock me out.

- He's almost kind of like your rival.

- I can't say that if I get the skull pick

that I wouldn't be handing out a little bit of vengeance.

- I don't know the Matti guy, but I'm not gonna take sides.

- So if Jason Clay Dunn came back to this season,

how do you think that you would feel?

- Yeah, I can see where you're coming from.

- As much as I want the veterans to make it to the end,

I can't say that I wouldn't want to make Matti's trip

a little bit tougher.

- I get it.

- All right, Matti called the shot.

You have six hours to tattoo a Venetian mask.

And your time...

starts...

now.

- Awesome.

- Just look straight ahead for me.

- This week we're testing the artists on detail.

There's basically endless amounts of different styles

of Venetian masks and different details

they can put into these tattoos.

- Yes, I am.

- Each week this competition gets tighter and tighter.

It's anyone's game.

- Relax, okay?

- I know it's a competition for you, but I just want

an awesome-ass design.

- My canvas wants barbwire, flames, and zombies.

I talk him into a Venetian mask with one of those long noses

that's a little bit more fantastical and creepy.

- As long as they have a cool, like, dark-theme look to it,

I'm satisfied.

- No problem.

Cleen is a moron.

Why the hell would you give me

the worst canvas when I come in here?

If Cleen was smart, he'd be gunning for Sausage right now.

He is a rule-abiding, manipulative, little shyster.

- Go big or go home.

- Go big and stay here. - Go big and stay here.

Matti's after me, but I'm not worried.

This will be one that you'll definitely want to show off.

I'm in the top of my game, and I'm here to win.

I don't mess around.

- Tell you what, you better do a good job.

We haven't been able to take out a single veteran yet.

It's starting to look bad for us,

and we need to break this trend.

See what this crazy bastard's doing.

- We are killing the detail.

- Yeah, not too bad, for a beginner.

This is do-or-die.

Don't care who leaves or how they leave,

just as long as they leave.

- Four hours remaining, guys. Four more hours.

This is stressful.

As each new veteran comes in, I'm not really able

to find my footing.

They're coming in with all the advantage.

They're finalists. These people aren't jokes.

They've tasted a win; they want it;

And they know how to play the game.

What's happening over here?

- Oh, boy.

- Came over to make fun of you.

Cleen and I have actually kind of found each other.

- Thank God we stayed up late practicing our traditional...

- I know.

I didn't get to do that cool snake, though.

- That would have been awesome.

- If Cleen wants to flirt with me

and lighten the mood sometimes,

that's fine with me.

Have fun. - I'm going to.

- Cleen seems pretty rad at this point.

- What up, buddy?

Not only do I have to defeat everybody here, but I also

have to battle the demons in my head.

- Are you loving it? - Yeah.

Today it just has to be another tattoo to me.

Can't get caught up on the fact that I've never

done of Venetian mask or that there's a lot of detail.

I just have to nail it.

- Two more hours. Two more hours.

- How was the artist that was next to you?

Some of these guys they start out, and they only want to

tattoo their style; but, I mean, that's the thing.

I'm not shocked by anything that's thrown at me.

I won the flash challenge.

Now I'm gonna win the elimination tattoo.

I got so much detail on this tattoo,

there is not one single

person crazy enough to do it like I'm doing.

Give me any style, I'm gonna rock it.

I got a list of people that I hope mess this thing up.

Matti, Anthony, Christian.

They suck; They're like... [moaning]

I hope they all drop the ball.

Turn that thing up, Anthony.

Sounds good from here.

Cleen's definitely out to screw me over,

but it's not gonna happen.

Come around and take a look.

She wanted initials in the petals for the three aunts,

but we didn't want to, like, explode them on

and then just some bulb initial on the petals.

- I only have six hours to do this, and I'm not trying

to shoot myself in the foot.

So we're simplifying this completely.

I'm gonna finish the mask on this side

before I start the other two rows and background.

- Very good.

- I might do this shadow a little bit more on the flower

because it is kind of settled.

This tattoo has to be awesome, but I got the guy

who wanted the redwood tree, a mask, and a flower.

[sighs] - What kind of flower is that?

- A Phoebe flower.

It's a hard canvas; it doesn't make any sense;

And I don't want to do it.

I hate this challenge.

Detail, detail.

Hope I put enough in.

- Alex just bitches, bitches and bitches and bitches.

I can't take it anymore.

I just want this little dick to go home tonight.

- Five, four,

three, two,

one.

That's it, machines down. Time is up.

No more ink.

- I love this tattoo.

- I dig it.

- Awesome job, man. I love it.

- Matti's Venetian mask looks like crap.

The hood is caved in. This thing has a huge flat spot.

He definitely dropped the ball, big time.

- Awesome, man. - Thank you.

- Nobody can tell what the [bleep]

is going on with this tattoo.

- This could send you home.

- Get the [bleep] out of my face, you [bleep].

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

What's up, mother[bleep]?

[tense rock music]

♪

- I think that was a pretty fun challenge.

I was super stoked the minute I heard it.

- I got kind of chucked a tricky canvas right off the bat.

- Right when you walk in, like, you did not carry yourself

with a real air of confidence.

You think your season kind of broke you down or something?

- Well, I don't really feel

like I was not confident when I came in.

- I'm just seeing you as kind of being scared and broken

from your season, and I like that.

- I don't have to sit here and bark and say,

"I'm better than this mother[bleep],"

because when it comes down to it,

you got to do the tattoo that's better than theirs.

- The new people have been on top from the beginning.

The only one of you guys who hasn't been on the bottom

right off the bat was Sausage.

So maybe you guys have a little something to learn, too,

or maybe something you should remember

from before they broke you.

- I'm not [bleep] broken.

- That's just my perception, dude.

- Perception's [bleep] up.

- That three out of four vets that came in and just fumbled.

[both chuckle]

[industrial rock music]

♪

- Today Matti challenged you to tattoo a detailed Venetian mask.

Let's start with Matti.

Tell us why you chose Venetian mask.

- I really like the look to them.

Unfortunately, I had to do something a little off the mark

from what you would expect to see.

- You're just another one that came in, had what you thought

was an advantage, and it doesn't work out.

- Getting a tater in the tail pipe on the first day

is not really nice.

- This tattoo is very challenged.

The details in the mask are not vibrant.

They don't stand out strongly as to exactly what they are.

If we zoom in to the bridge of the nose, the eye,

we're lacking that definitive,

strong sense of outlined details.

For the hair that comes out above the eyebrow,

doesn't really look like it's attached.

In the detail part of the challenge, really getting

strong, clear details, I feel like you missed a mark on that.

- Christian.

- This tattoo is really, really clean.

It has a lot of nice areas to it.

- One of the areas I think you show off:

Your ability to highlight details

is just in the lips and the nose

and the divot above the lip and that little shading in the chin.

It is very explicit detail, and I think you pulled that off.

- Cleen.

- This tattoo has so much detail that it looks like I could

take my finger and run it across;

And I would feel all the bumps,

and I would feel all the ridges.

- The shadow from the vine that cast onto the mask,

amazing little touches of detail there.

The details in the rose,

the softness of the shadow all around.

The main challenge was detail, and you hit it.

- Anthony.

- There's not an overabundance of a lot of detail on

this tattoo, but what detail is there is very nice.

The little indented, recessed areas under the eye

of the mask, the multiple shades of gray with just

the right amount of tiny white highlights.

But this is a first time that I've seen any kind of

problems with the technical aspect.

There's a couple of lines

in this tattoo that got a little rough.

- This room will really start to heat up as we compare

good tattoos to each other.

Don't out yourself by making a silly, sloppy mistake.

- Sausage.

- I see a lot of problems with this tattoo.

The feather detail: Very weak. The rose just looks muddy.

You've got problems with the smoothness of your shading;

You got problems with the saturation of your black.

- Trying to get comfortable with the competition, but because

there's so many good artists that are back behind me

and I'm competing with them, it can be a little shaky.

- This quality of tattooing, it could send you home.

- Megan Jean.

- This tattoo's very confusing.

Is it hair that's coming off the top of it?

Is it a weird receding hairline?

Is it part of the mask? Is it part of the face?

Nobody can tell what the

[bleep] is going on with this tattoo.

When you look at any part of this tattoo really close,

there's not a lot of crisp line detail.

- I thought I did a good job with the details.

- Look at the quality of tattooing that you do

in that filigree; it's not competitive.

- Venetian masks, they are, actually, really choppy

when you get up close, they're not clean lines.

- You're lawyering.

You can't come and compete and be like,

"Oh, I did [bleep] messy 'cause it's messy."

Because of what you did here, for me, you're definitely

in the bottom three.

I will see you at the end of the day.

- Picasso.

- It's a very strange tattoo you have today.

There's nothing really about this drawing

that's blowing me away.

Looking at the details,

there's still a lot of problems with your outline.

You're not cleanly pulling lines.

Reason that everything looks scribbled and sketched in

is because it is...

- I didn't scribble anything in there.

- Scribbled and sketched in. - I pulled my lines.

- See that left hook of the horn on the top?

See that line?

There's, like, a thousand pickups.

You have all these weird, misshapen lines everywhere.

- Feel like this is the best one I've done.

- If you're competing for your life in this thing,

then you just don't want to leave anything suspect

or to question.

- Alex.

Talk to me about what your canvas asked for.

- He wanted to get a Venetian mask with

a redwood tree, and then he wanted a Phoebe flower,

'cause his daughter's name is Phoebe.

- The way these three elements

were put together was just very strange.

- I feel like there's a way to portray a redwood tree

that's not one curved stick

coming out a mask and going to nowhere.

- He thought it perfectly represented a redwood, so I was

like, "Let me just do it; I'll probably get [bleep] on for it."

- You are correct, sir.

- This being a redwood tree, which is supposed to be

the largest type of tree that we know,

you're not pulling it off.

- St. Marq.

- Not a lot of great examples of detail.

The edges of the mask where it swirls up and bends around

is just pretty weak.

Details in the little leaves inside,

lot of weak little scratchy outlines.

Honestly, man, nothing about this tattoo is really impressive

or screaming that you're competing with

the top people in the room today.

- I thought that the roots

gave me opportunity for a lot of detail.

- You can say whatever you want.

This thing is one of the weakest drawings

of the day, by far.

You have to overcome bad ideas with good art.

- All right, guys, it is time to determine

who had the best tattoo of the day.

- Hitting the challenge, hitting a Venetian mask,

also hitting the detail... obviously Cleen has one of

the strongest tattoos of the day.

- Runaway train.

Going with Cleen.

- The judges have decided that the best tattoo of the day

goes to Cleen.

The human canvas jury is deliberating right now.

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.

- Feel like I'm being forced into doing tattoos

that don't look like St. Marq did them.

I didn't even try to break the rules!

I'm a rule-breaker.

What the [bleep] am I doing following the rules?

- I don't know.

- Yeah, I don't want to go home on that piece of [bleep].

- So you think that you would have the same attitude

going down there if you got Alex's critique?

- What do you mean?

- Would you act the same way? Would you...

- Oh, towards the judges? - Yeah.

- No [bleep] way.

- The less you respect them,

the more you've punched your ticket to go home.

- I agree with you.

- I mean, you guys are building my critique

like I strung them up.

- You just disassociate with the whole thing.

- I [bleep] up; I get it.

- If you can just go down there and just listen...

- Shut the [bleep] up, you douchebag.

- You're not even respecting him right now.

We're talking about a level... a lack...

- [mocking] I'm not even respecting him, right now?

Is that not what I'm doing?

- A lack of disrespect. - A lack, a lack of...

Get the [bleep] out of my face, you [bleep].

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

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

- If I sneeze, you're gonna [bleep] fly across the room.

- You're tough; You're tough. I got you.

- [bleep] pussy!

- Love you, too... - Why don't you bring it, bitch?

- Love you too, sweetie.

- I stood up first, mother[bleep]!

I'm ready when you are!

- Today we're testing details with Venetian masks.

Let's talk about the bottom of the field.

- I made no bones about it. I want to see Megan down here.

- It takes a lot to try to figure out what's going on.

And from any amount of distance,

none of this detail separates itself.

- And I'm thinking I can't get past Alex's design.

It is the most uncomfortably placed collection of elements

put together in a very strange way.

- Nobody is gonna look at that and be like,

"Oh, yeah, redwood tree." - [laughs]

- Alex has a challenged artistic eye,

but he's more technically skilled than Picasso.

- It's scratchy. It's messy.

They're areas of it that are reminiscent

of his other weak, muddy tattoos.

- It's a big letdown.

- The human canvas jury is gonna vote on an artist, too,

and their vote's gonna send someone to the bottom.

- We are here to determine who has the worst tattoo of the day.

- That's my tattoo, and my artist is Anthony.

- The detail just isn't quite there...

- It's a detail challenge, and there's not a lot of detail.

- It's like he put more detail into the flowers

than he did the actual mask.

- I'd like for the mask to pop out more.

Doesn't really, like, stand out.

- That's my tattoo. My artist was St. Marq.

- It almost looks like scales.

- Supposed to be like cracked porcelain.

- Like, it almost looks like it's a lizard

instead of cracks.

- Proportion to the tree doesn't really fit.

It kind of looks like one big bush on top of a mask.

- That's my tattoo. My artist was Alex.

-There's too many little, random things.

The flowers randomly coming out of the...

it looks like it's coming out of the tree?

- I did want more flowers, but he talked me into just one,

which I thought was fine.

- It kills me because it looks like it's just

coming right out of the tree, which doesn't make much sense.

- Which is the detail, which is the whole idea of what

we're supposed to be doing.

- Who's nervous?

- Well, I know I'm going down there.

Chris promised me a date.

- That's the first time I've ever heard him say,

"We'll see you down here later."

- I have a feeling that I'm going home.

- Here we go.

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

Megan,

Alex,

Picasso...

And Anthony.

- [bleep].

- See y'all downstairs.

- Taking four?

- Let's go; Get down there and get this [bleep] over with.

- Good luck, everybody.

- Yeah, good luck.

- Today you had to show detail

by tattooing an intricate Venetian mask.

Based on your work, one of you will be packing your machines.

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

Anthony, you're here because the human canvas jury

determined that you had the worst tattoo of the day.

- I can't comprehend that.

- Ebony, why did the jury vote Anthony to the bottom?

- They said there was lack of detail

because there was no color, and they felt like there wasn't

enough symbols within the mask itself.

- I don't agree.

I put everything I had into that tattoo

to give you what you wanted.

- I appreciate what you did. And I am totally satisfied.

- Thank you so much, Ebony.

- They know that this is the detail challenge.

Realistically, your tattoo is one of the ones

that has the least amount of detail.

- Considering her complexion, I didn't want it to be

too busy to where you can't even tell what it is.

Thought I made a good choice.

- I don't agree with you being down here.

The tattooing is clean, and your craftsmanship shows.

- Megan Jean.

- I told you I'd see you.

Your tattoo, it's hard to read.

- I do want to give you guys

really clean, beautiful tattoos,

but I needed to give you guys a lot of detail.

- You got to think about the overall aesthetic

of the tattoo, 'cause if it's an unpleasing image,

it's definitely going home.

- Alex.

- You know, Alex, I really wouldn't have been surprised

if the human canvas jury picked yours just because the fact that

the tree disappears into the top.

- I'll do things that don't make a whole lot of sense

proportion-wise, but there was texture in it,

smooth shading and the saturated color.

- What this lacks is artistic flow.

- I could spend a little bit more time with my composition.

I could spend a little bit more time just working on things,

letting it flow!

I can do some solid tattoos,

and I can make them look astoundingly awesome.

I really can.

- Picasso, whether we like the artwork or we don't,

it's got to have that smooth execution.

- From the last challenge, I did make some improvements.

The next one, you'll see even better.

- From a distance, people are gonna not know

that this is a mask.

If your details were super crisp,

and your outline looked bulletproof,

it'd be a different story.

- I know it was a weird design.

Tried to do something different, as always.

- So now we have stronger tattooing from Alex,

but then we have stronger drawing from Picasso.

It makes for a really tough decision here.

- Time to make a decision, guys. Who's going home?

- Just going upon the quality of the tattoo,

I got to vote for Picasso.

- Artistically, I'm more in line with Picasso.

My final vote is for Alex.

- With a heavy heart,

my final vote's for Picasso.

- Judges have decided.

Picasso, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

- We see your artistic ability, and it's amazing.

You had a really rough start,

and the ball just really didn't get rolling for you, man.

- Please pack your machines, and close shop.

- Tattooing, to me, is like a [bleep] dance.

I'm not wondering what three people are gonna think

of what I'm doing.

I guess I just can't tattoo under these kind of conditions.

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

- It's the badasses versus the nonbadasses.

- I'm really bummed that there are

more veterans than us right now.

I'm starting to see

Megan as more of a liability than an asset.

- Well, obviously...

- I'm not the only one thought it was a little whack.

- Well, can you listen to me, dude?

- Now it's just time for a strategy change.

- [groans]

- This guy will not sit through what I have to give him.

This is bull[bleep], yet again.

- You're letting down the veteran artists right now.

- If you can't produce a more dynamic drawing,

you don't have a hope of winning this thing.

- This is it, man. I... I want to be here.

- It's not about surviving. It's about winning.

- It's a game, and that's the way it crumbles, man.