Original subtitles

Male announcer: On the last episode of "Ink Master,"

eight new and veteran artists were battling it out

to prove they're the best.

In the flash challenge, Cleen is out for blood.

- The only one I'm trying to help right now is myself.

We gotta win this one, Marq. This one's for the veterans.

- I'm starting to see Megan as more of a liability

than an asset. - Yeah.

I'm concerned about what you and Cleen have going on.

- Whoa, dude.

- I would be very careful if I were you.

announcer: In the elimination tattoo,

Jime Litwalk returned.

- He's no joke.

This competition just elevated tenfold.

[dramatic music]

announcer: And the new artists fought to turn the tables

and send a veteran home.

- New school is definitely not an area that I live in.

- I don't want you to rush through it, man.

- No. - I want you to take your time.

- It's time for St. Marq to go home.

Pack your bags, buddy.

- I [bleep] up on it.

- You are the biggest [bleep] hypocrite of all.

- [bleep] terrible, and you know it was terrible.

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

- If there's ever a time to inflate your balls,

like, you better stand on the pump, buddy.

- Yeah. - I'm gonna fight to stay here.

announcer: In the elimination,

Megan, Alex, and St. Marq were the bottom three.

- Alex. - Your drawing, from a distance,

you see a huge head, weird little body.

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

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

- Megan Jean.

- This tattoo is definitely weird.

As a composition, it's not a well constructed drawing.

- St. Marq.

- You just didn't capitalize on the color.

- I don't want to go home on this [bleep] tattoo, man.

- Your colors are least attractive of the three.

St. Marq, 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 bet it's a blood bath down there right now.

Oh. - Oh.

- Hi, Megan. - Oh!

- Marq or Alex.

[dramatic music]

all: Oh!

- Got him. - Wow!

- Man! - [grunts]

- Oh. - Whoa.

- They sent Marq home.

- Know what I'm saying? - Wow.

Good job, buddy. - Wow.

- Marq had it coming, dude.

- I think we can officially change

the tattoo god to tattoo fraud now, huh?

- Yeah. both: Ooh!

- Wow.

- It was definitely worth being on the bottom

just to watch St. Marq's ass walk out.

First veteran gone. The rest should be scared.

- This is a little vindication. I feel good about it.

We're here to stay.

- Well, good luck.

[dramatic music]

[driving electronic music]

♪

[dramatic music]

- We doing here?

♪

[truck horn honks]

There's Dave getting a truck ride.

♪

- Welcome. The longer you survive,

the more intense it gets as we close in

on the strongest group of artists

this competition has ever seen.

In the end, only one will earn $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine, and the title of Ink Master.

- Yeah.

- This week, we're testing composition.

- Composition is how you take all the different elements

and put 'em together to make something that's cohesive.

- For today's flash challenge, working in teams of two,

you must use a power washer to strategically blast

a massive design onto a 53-foot semi.

♪

- These trucks are huge.

That's a lot of ground to cover for just two people.

- Oh, my God. - That's crazy.

I got into tattooing specifically

to not do manual labor.

- Every mark you make counts,

so plan carefully and keep a steady hand,

because there are no second chances.

Sausage, you won the last elimination tattoo.

That means you get to assign the teams.

Be strategic.

- I do not have an ally in this house.

I have to play this game on my own.

- This is gonna be a real telltale skull pick.

If Sausage tries to screw me over,

I'm gonna know where his loyalties lie.

Artists, one by one, please read the number

on the bottom of your skull to determine your team.

- Team number one.

- Three.

- One.

Me and Sausage both have a great solid knowledge

of the inner workings of this competition.

It's gonna be a great fit.

- Three.

- I really feel that Megan and Christian's alliance

is kind of crumbling.

I don't think that they're gonna work really well as a team.

- Two.

- Two.

- Four. - Four.

I got paired up with Alex Rockhoff.

This is a big, manly project, man,

and this dude is half of a man.

- 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 create a dynamic composition on a semi,

and your time starts now.

[dramatic music]

- I thought of, like, a Medusa or something.

- These trucks are very long rectangles.

The artists are gonna need a lot of different elements

to fill up this whole area.

- Oval, landscape.

- The white truck with the design in the center.

- Dude, yes.

- Composition is everything.

If it's not put together well, it's not gonna be appealing.

- I don't know if we need the whole truck.

We just need smaller elements that create a bigger image.

Even if we only did this much,

at least we're creating what the rules of it are.

- We don't feel that we have to blast off 53 feet

in order to win.

- We're succinct, smart, and efficient.

- I think so too.

We're gonna go smaller with as much detail as possible.

- What I was thinking is doing, like, a big cobra.

Over here had a big dagger. Let's throw some bones in here.

- Bones is good.

- It's taking me back to my train bombing days

right here.

- Cleen has a graffiti background

and he's had the most skull picks in this competition.

I would be stupid not to follow his lead.

- You want me to take the reins and get it laid out?

- Yeah.

- It would be nice to have a little help around here.

Alex is a tiny little guy; I don't even think

he has the strength to hold the pressure washer.

- Like, how this turns on more.

- Oh, your hose is kinked.

See how it's kinked right there?

I'm gonna have to work twice as hard

'cause I'm gonna have to pick up his slack.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Two hours remaining, everybody, two hours.

- Well, I think you're the [bleep] star of this today.

- My arms are gonna be so sore tomorrow.

- Go quick, don't be so precision with it,

otherwise we're gonna be here all day.

- All right. - Like, a little rounder.

It's a little football shaped there.

- Oh, okay.

I was expecting Matti to be kind of an asshole,

but we're working well together

and everything's coming out really good.

- Oh, yeah, that's [bleep] good!

Guess what, Sausage, you get skull picked

and you [bleep] yourself.

We're gonna spank you like a [bleep] little baby.

- I don't know what that is.

- I don't know what it is either.

- It looks like a jellyfish eating the city.

Me and Anthony are busting our asses

to do 55 feet of artwork, and Sausage and Jimmy

are doing a piece of broccoli about 3 feet wide on theirs.

Sausage, you dropped the ball.

- My arms, man.

I'm getting pretty frustrated 'cause I'm doing everything.

[bleep] ladder. Hang on.

No, just let me handle it. I'm fine with ladders.

Christian's having a super hard time

getting any sort of bold or confident line or shading.

- Ooh, yeah.

- You okay?

- Yeah, just not as good at this as you are.

- I just want to give up.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time is up.

- Phew. - We did it.

- I feel good. - [bleep] awesome, dude.

- We got a lot done. - A lot of it.

- Lot of detail.

We covered the whole entire truck, man.

Dude, Jime and Sausage are screwed.

What happened over... oh, wait, here it is.

They're not even using the whole truck.

We did the whole truck, we didn't do...

- It's not my fault you bit off more than you can chew.

That's your fault. - 1/3 of it.

- It's not about the size.

- First rule of composition... fill the frame, bro.

- It's time to critique your work.

Alex and Cleen.

- You guys definitely used the entire space

and that's commendable.

I like the flow of the snake a lot.

I like the way that it plays in and out of the bones.

- I'm stoked to see a large-scale piece,

but when you get up close, you can see how messy it is.

The bones don't really line up as they go through.

Dagger looks a little wonky. The detail is minimal.

Kind of falls short.

- Christian and Megan Jean.

What exactly are you guys showing us here in this design?

- It was Medusa we went with.

- What are these elements on the sides of the truck?

- Stone wall that you can see Medusa through.

- It looks like an angry turtle.

It's a little bit hard to tell what exactly is going on,

and I feel like some finer details

could have just made these images stand out.

- The balance, composition is nice.

I feel like you just miss it with the tools,

and that's what really was a tough break today.

- Jime and Sausage. What exactly did you do here?

- What we tried to create is some cool buildings

that were up front, but if you stand back,

and you see the overall picture, that you see the skull

and a nuclear cloud. - Like an apocalyptic scene.

- It's disappointing that you didn't

just attack this whole trailer.

You're already starting off at a deficit.

- Bigger isn't always better.

- I think that giving you a 53-foot canvas

is a pretty clear suggestion

that it's supposed to be a large piece of art.

- Jime is like, "What are the rules?

How do we do things to what the judges said?"

Blow it out your ass and do a piece of good artwork.

- Matti and Anthony.

- Doing landscapes is a great way to show composition.

You didn't use up the entire truck,

but compared to the people that did use the entire truck,

you have a lot more concentrated details.

Getting the texture in the tree, getting the waves in the water

by the arc of the pressure washer.

- You have some really nice areas in the foreground...

this big rock with the dark shadow to play off of the water,

and I really love the silhouette of the bird dead in the center.

It gives it a great focal point,

and you did use the whole truck in my opinion.

That stuff doesn't come off on its own.

You worked from one side to the other,

using 53 feet, the way I see it.

- How [bleep] hard is it to do a [bleep] mountain?

- All right, guys, today we're testing composition.

- For me, Sausage and Jime dropped the ball.

This is a clear-cut composition challenge.

It's about putting elements together

to make an appealing image,

and their design is maybe 8 to 10 feet at the most,

and looking at it from across the parking lot

even now, I don't see a skull.

- Megan Jean and Christian had a rough outing as well.

- I would not have called it out being Medusa.

- Never.

- I just don't think it was a well composed layout.

- Let's talk about Anthony and Matti.

- They were able to lay down a beautiful landscape,

amazing composition.

All of the painterly tricks we see here,

using a pressure washer and a little ingenuity.

- Cleen and Alex also utilized the whole canvas.

- Cleen's artistry prior to this was graffiti.

It really gave him a sense of how to lay out a huge area.

It's not the cleanest, most detailed look,

but from a distance, I think it's all right.

- Should we let 'em know?

- Yeah. - All right.

[dramatic music]

- Today, some of you used composition

to create striking images.

The judges have decided,

the winners of the flash challenge...

♪

Are Anthony and Matti.

- The execution was spot on,

and getting to the word composition,

undeniably you hit it out of the park.

- Anthony and Matti, you'll have the power to assign

all human canvases for the elimination tattoo

as a team.

- This feels like a long time coming.

I'm about to shake up the competition.

I can take care of a few people who I need to take care of.

Matti can take care of the rest.

- Head back to the loft and prepare to meet

the next veteran artist standing between you and the title.

- This could be couldn't have worked out any better

if I'd tried.

Now one of my alliance members is in the driver's seat,

and we've got control of the skull picks again.

This is perfect.

- This isn't really a vets versus newbie thing anymore.

I'm going after Sausage.

- I don't even know what this challenge is about.

I'm freaking out.

I'm so frustrated and I don't even know where to start.

[dramatic music]

- I gotta tell you, I'm going after Sausage, man.

- You guys got unfinished business.

- Yup.

He's been trying to put the screws to me the whole time.

I want him outta here, man.

- I'm glad you mentioned that,

because he comes off as an awesome dude,

but his motives are...

- He's cloak and dagger, dude. - Polar...

- He's doing [bleep] shadows. - Polar opposite.

- This isn't really a vets versus newbie thing anymore.

I think the vets are just all out for themselves, man.

They're trying to push me down to the bottom.

- They've been on you tough.

- And they don't have that kind of respect for you guys.

- Right.

- I think we should show

that we're gonna [bleep] totally screw 'em over.

- Well, whatever we gotta do, brother.

- It's pretty obvious to me that you guys, being new here,

don't really have a refined strategy for this.

- Yeah. - You're kind of winging it,

so if I can coach you guys along...

- I'm all ears.

- If we could pick a larger pool of people

that we're getting hooked up with,

we got better chances.

- Who'd you have in mind?

- You and Christian. - Yeah.

- If it's not one of us that wins, it's him,

and if we hook him up, I know he'll pay us back.

- I'm on board.

[dramatic music]

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- Welcome to the elimination tattoo.

Every veteran artist who enters this competition raises the bar,

because to make it to the end, you must defeat them all.

- Yup.

- Only one artist will win $100,000,

a feature in "Inked" magazine, and the title of Ink Master.

- Yeah.

- Our next veteran made it further than any other

female artist in the history of this competition.

- Girls can tattoo?

[rock music]

♪

- Sarah Miller.

♪

- The judges have decided the best tattoo of the day

goes to Sarah.

- You did exactly what we're looking for...

clean, solid, bold, bright color.

Did a great job.

This is definitely your best tattoo up here.

- Thank you, guys. I fought really hard to be here.

Every single day, I would push myself to do one step further,

and I'll continue to fight.

- It all comes down to this. The judges have decided.

Steve, you do have what it takes to be Ink Master.

[cheers and applause]

- I am a different animal than I was

when I competed before.

I'm stronger as an artist. I'm stronger as a competitor.

I want to be the first female Ink Master

more than I've wanted anything in my entire life.

- All right, Sarah, welcome back.

This week, you're calling the shots.

What is the next elimination tattoo?

[dramatic music]

- Today, we will be tattooing a surrealistic female.

- A what?

- Surrealism is the juxtaposition

between dreams and reality.

You can include any surrealistic elements

to distort or warp portions of the face.

- What the [bleep] are all these big words they're using?

- 75% of the face has to show.

- Sarah, why did you choose this as your elimination tattoo?

- The female face is one of the most difficult portraits.

You have to have perfect blend, perfect saturation,

and precision. - Damn.

Of course she's gonna choose something like this,

'cause it's only her that understands

what she's talking about.

- Have a seat.

- Did you get all that, Megan?

- Mm-hmm. - You excited?

- [laughs] - No.

- Today you must show composition

by tattooing a surrealistic female.

Because you're combining a female face

with other elements, great composition is crucial.

Let's meet your canvases.

- Anthony and Matti, you two won the flash challenge,

so you now have the power to assign the canvases.

Your choices can alter the entire competition,

so don't take them lightly.

- Let me show you assholes how to pick skulls.

Obviously, every new artist that comes in here

is gonna get the worst skull pick.

Guess what, Sausage, you get the second.

I'm gonna put that Sausage in the microwave

until he bursts.

- Surrealistic woman's face

blending into a post-apocalyptic Philadelphia skyline.

- I want a surreal-looking mermaid

that blends into an ocean-themed background.

- The mermaid's awful.

The texture of the skin is very loose.

- Gothic Virgin Mary with a celestial background

and a crow coming out of her.

- Oh.

- Gorgeous woman with her hair blending into constellations.

- I want a beautiful woman's face morphing into a wolf.

- This chick wants a wolf and a woman morphing.

What the hell does that even mean?

- Okay.

Matti's definitely learning how to play this game

as a smart veteran.

There's three people that go to the finale.

Matti can be one of 'em, so why not help us

take these other guys out?

You guys think I'm quiet,

but I hope you're ready for what's coming.

- Canvases, one by one, please read the artist's name

on the bottom of your skull.

- Megan.

- Alex.

- Jime.

[dramatic music]

- Sarah.

- Aw, [bleep].

Go ahead and bring it, give me whatever canvas you want.

I will take whatever lumps come my way.

I'm here to win.

[laughter]

- Christian.

- Matti.

♪

- Sausage.

- She wants a full body underwater scene.

- Fudgsicles.

This is a really difficult piece

and it's really difficult skin to work on.

Matti wants to prove that he is better than me.

I'm gonna prove to him why he was

taken out of the competition.

- Anthony.

- Cleen Rock One.

- Should I just pack my stuff now?

- Okay, guys, remember, 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.

You'll have six hours to tattoo a surrealistic female.

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

Good luck.

- Sarah has chosen surrealistic faces.

It'll be a face with an object melding together.

- Atom bomb going off in the back,

and, like, half of the city's torn down already

and the outside's still pristine.

- The woman's face right in the middle,

just kind of looking forward.

- The composition is everything in this tattoo,

because taking two things and constructing them together

is gonna create a lot of flow

and a lot of movement on the canvas's body

if you do it right.

- I kind of liked your idea. It's a... 'cause you...

tell me a little bit more about it.

- The Virgin Mary, but as a gothic figurine

with a crow in the background

and have, like, a sunburst behind her.

- The Virgin Mary with a crow?

This girl doesn't want a surreal tattoo at all.

She wants a prayer candle.

I need to talk my canvas out of this idea.

I want to play with this a little bit.

You're dreaming about this beautiful woman,

you know it's the Virgin Mary.

All of a sudden, she just starts melting

and breaks apart into crows.

Like, that's a surrealistic element.

I'm going to turn this around to my advantage.

This is my challenge.

Like, I have to just knock this out of the park.

Come over here and stand up real quick.

- Yes.

- So this part is female, on my face, right?

- Yeah.

- And then this part will morph into a wolf head.

- A wolf morphing into a girl's face,

which to me, I think is the stupidest idea ever.

The only thing close between a wolf and a girl's face

is they both have eyes.

- I still want it to look feminine.

- This, you know, it's not my... not my forte.

This is super difficult right now,

'cause I'm going up against somebody

that's internationally known for doing surrealistic faces.

I'm not good at doing surrealistic [bleep].

I don't even know where to start.

[rock music]

- Hey, thanks, guys, for throwing me under the bus.

- Oh, you don't like it?

- I don't even know what this challenge is about.

My canvas wants a wolf and a... oh, what does she want?

- She wants the face turning into a wolf.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- So what do I... just do a face turning into a wolf?

- Like a morph.

- What the hell does that even mean?

Like, how do you morph a wolf into a woman?

- You can't morph.

- Why don't you get her to do a face with a wolf on top?

- Sarah clearly said the face of the woman...

- 75%. - Right, so you can't morph...

- 75% divided by six minus four with a three-drop water system?

Like, dude, I'm freaking out.

I don't know how I'm gonna morph...

I don't even know where to start with this?

How are you morphing this?

- Was that one of the rules, morphing?

- Maybe it's got a face of a woman and an ass of a wolf,

I don't know.

So back to this morphing thing.

Are there, like, certain rules?

'Cause I have to do a wolf...

- Uh-huh. - I have to do a face.

- It's more than just a wolf and a face.

What surrealism is is more dreams becoming reality.

- Okay. - All right?

It's your subconscious

that's taking a problem that your conscious mind has,

which then will have input

from whatever that you've watched, so...

- You're using too many big words.

I can't even talk to you right now.

I don't know what I'm doing.

- All right, guys, Sarah Miller challenged you

to tattoo a surrealistic female.

You will have six hours to tattoo.

Your time starts... now.

- All right. - Let's do it.

- Come over here. Let's do the stencil.

- Nice.

- With surrealism, you're pretty much

opening the door to anything from the imagination.

- Go big or go home.

- With this strong group of artists,

I expect to see great tattoos.

- I already messed up one challenge.

I'm not gonna mess up this one.

My canvas originally wanted a full-length mermaid,

but I was able to talk her into a very beautiful face

with pearls and a headband.

Any tattoo on the thigh has to be pretty big,

and this is difficult skin.

- Hey, Sausage.

Look at that. Triggerfish, right?

- It's not... - No?

- I don't think it's a triggerf...

I want to say it's a butterfly fish, but...

- Okay, 'cause I'm usually right.

- Matti's trying to slow me down in this competition.

I mean, who are you kidding?

It's a really tough crowd and you have to fight.

This should prove to Matti that I'm no one to mess with

and that I'm a better tattoo artist than he is.

- After all the [bleep] I gave Sausage in season four,

I know he's gunning for me.

We're gonna duke this out and may the better man win.

- And it would not hurt my feelings if he went home.

I left my daughter to be here

and I need to come back a champion.

There's no point in wasting time.

- Hey, Marq, how's it going?

Of course I'm gunning for the veteran artists,

they gotta go.

- You need to bring a platter and an extra pair of pants

'cause your ass is about to get handed to you.

- No.

But maybe we'll keep Matti around.

Matti's a great artist. He's strategic.

- We are in a really good spot.

- Good job.

- We definitely handed 'em out right.

- He understands how this game works

and he's actually helping us take these other guys out,

and that's [bleep] brilliant.

- Four hours to go, guys.

- It is, man.

As soon as we get done with these buildings,

I'm gonna move to her.

My canvas wants a surrealistic setting

of Philadelphia being blown apart by a nuclear bomb

along with a girl's face.

I'll be using my girlfriend as reference.

She's hot. It'll work.

- [bleep] Cool.

- Thanks, man. I'm having a good day.

This mother[bleep] might be going home.

Last week, knocked out St. Marq.

It would be gigantic if we could take out another veteran.

I'm expecting something good here.

- All right, mister.

- What are you thinking, dude?

- Um, man.

I think Alex should've done a different face.

- It's just awful.

- Little sci-fi action.

- My canvas asked for a side profile of a woman's face

morphing into a galaxy.

This is not something that I do a lot of.

Actually, I don't do it ever.

to be a versatile artist that I dand beathe chops

some of the best competitors in "Ink Master's" history.

- You have two hours remaining.

[dramatic music]

- Out of everybody here, I think Megan is

the only person that is really a threat in this challenge.

This is what she does.

I don't think anybody else understands

exactly what surrealism is.

I wanted to give these guys something interesting to do.

- You definitely did that.

- [laughs]

- How are ya?

- I'm good. How are you?

- I'm all right.

I'm really at the end of my rope with this aggressive,

competitive, weird strategy and bizarre flash challenges.

- It's some kind of morph business we got on over here.

This is Megan's [bleep] right here.

- If I was in a better mood.

Hanging out with Cleen is sort of my only motivation

to stick around.

If this wasn't my style of tattooing today,

I'd probably already have left.

How do you feel about it?

- Super cool. It's big.

- I'm definitely concerned about Megan.

I don't want her emotions clouding her judgment

and stopping us from doing what we need to do.

I'm really hoping that Cleen goes home today.

It'll take away that distraction from Megan

and bring her back into the fold.

- Really working that texture there, huh?

- Uh, I figure it's a wolf, you know?

I think Sarah Miller picked surrealism because it's crazy,

and so is she.

Well, we got a long way to go still.

Oh, my God. [bleep] mad dog on a leash.

I'm not even going for the win right now.

I'm just trying not to mess up,

because I don't want to go home over this tattoo.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

That is it, time's up. Machines down, no more ink.

- Take a look, man.

- That's awesome, man. She's gorgeous.

- Good?

- Definitely good.

- Oh, my God. I love it.

- Cleen's, it's flat, it's unappealing.

It's so ugly.

This is the worst tattoo I have ever seen on "Ink Master."

- Yeah. - Killed it.

- Yes. - Mm-hmm.

- My tattoo is technically...

- Your tattoo was run over by a truck.

- You're nuts.

- WTF? These rays are totally [bleep].

Composition, [bleep].

Outside shape that you created is totally [bleep].

At this point, any single person can go home.

[dramatic music]

♪

- My first tattoo that I gave was a little rough.

- You came in with your own challenge and got mopped on it.

- If I had gotten either one of your guys's canvases, man,

I would've crushed that. - But you didn't.

- She did 75% who knows what and 25% face.

- It was 90% dark as [bleep]...

- Yeah. - With 10% white in the face.

- I'm not going home, because you had

the worst tattoo of the day.

- My tattoo is technically...

- Your tattoo was run over by a truck.

It was dead. - Applied flawlessly.

- Like, what the [bleep] was up with that fur texture, man?

That was not wolf fur. That was rat fur.

And, Jime, the aesthetics of your tattoo are just...

- You know, you come to this challenge

doing a tribal tattoo. I ain't worried.

- Seriously?

- I did better at your forte than you did.

- Oh, God, no.

- At least it looks like something instead of [bleep].

- Seriously, your design is completely unfortunate.

- You're nuts.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today, Sarah challenged you to show composition

by tattooing a surrealistic female.

Matti, let's begin with you.

There's just nothing surrealistic about this,

but it's beautiful.

Where it sits on the body is part of the overall composition

of this thing, and I think you've done a nice job here.

- The fox outdoes the girl.

Fox has a lot of detail, the fur looks like fur,

but her hair is like muscle structure.

Take your time and line that stuff out.

It will make this not stiff.

Right now, your design is just stiff.

Just a few little changes and you're looking at a win.

- Cleen.

- My first note on this tattoo is WTF.

- The skin rip thing up top is crazy.

- I tried to think outside the box

and do something that has never been done.

- Definitely did something that hasn't been done.

- Composition on this thing, for me,

I just don't like the way it's laid out.

I don't like the shape of the skin rips,

I don't like the shape of the hair,

I don't like the dimensions of the face.

I don't know if it's surreal, but it's definitely unreal.

- Jime.

- The composition just fell flat.

That black crescent moon shape is off-putting.

- The space, for me, is a little remedial.

If you would've coupled your own style...

new school space... with this face and this rich, black background,

you would've had very dynamic tattoo.

- Sausage.

- She's got a beautiful face.

I just don't think your blacks are really rich enough

to make this thing have a lot of heavy contrast.

The bubbles are jacked up, they're all out of wonk.

The outlines are jagged.

- They weren't supposed to be perfect circles,

but I mean, it's like, just the idea

that they're just kind of drip... you know.

- They look pretty beat.

- Alex.

- 100%, the most surreal face of the day.

I don't know if that's a good thing.

- I understand that you used your girlfriend's image

as reference.

The photo that you use, she's at an angle

that's tilted like this. - Right.

- I don't feel that you interpreted that angle well,

and you created a face that has

more of a traditional alien shape.

- I think when people look at it, they'll get the idea.

- I don't know if they will.

You didn't get that depth, you didn't get that perspective.

I saw the photo.

Looks like a beautiful girl in the photo.

Looks like a freak of nature on the tattoo.

- Christian.

- I got a lot of problems with this tattoo.

- It's surreal.

- It's "sur-really" [bleep] up.

Chariot's pretty weak, the horses are pretty weak.

The composition and the flow of the hair

just coming from her chin out,

I would rather have more of a feeling

that it's flowing around, coming off her shoulders,

instead of just all coming out of her throat.

One thing you do have in your favor,

it is a beautiful face.

For hitting all the challenges of composition and surrealism,

it's pretty weak.

- Anthony.

- The subtle way that you put the timepiece into her cheek,

I commend you on that.

It's tasteful the way you did it.

All the accents you did in the chin, very nice.

The shading in this thing's great.

The darkness in this thing's great.

When this thing heals, it's gonna be awesome.

- Thank you.

- Next artist up is...

- [whispering] Please not me, please not me, please not me.

- Megan Jean. - Damn it.

- What's going on?

- I hate being here right now.

I'm completely over it. I want to go home.

I am tired of living here and I'm tired of tattooing here.

- I don't appreciate that attitude,

because we all have families at home,

we all have lives at home,

and I don't think that you're respectful

to the people behind you or the people in front of you.

If you don't want to be here, we can take out

the worst tattoo of the day and send you home.

Should I critique you or are you done?

You throwing in the towel?

[dramatic music]

- No, I'm not throwing in the towel, I'm just crying.

I figure I'm just gonna have a couple of [bleep] days

and then, like, get over it.

♪

- This is probably the most surreal tattoo of the day.

I think you hit the surrealism challenge

better than anybody else.

Also, it's my favorite composition of the day.

Lot of open skin, it flows really well,

you keep your realism down to a small amount,

and then you have all this fantastical stuff around,

and it just played really well.

- I was hoping that this would be the wind in your sail

to move you forward, not for you

to fall on your sword in front of us.

It's tough. You can be tough, don't break.

- Thanks.

- Sarah.

- These rays are totally [bleep].

Composition of the rays are [bleep].

It doesn't have that light ray illuminating glow,

which I know you can do,

and this thing is a contrast nightmare.

In dark skin like this, you've gotta leave

large areas of open skin

next to really dark, saturated blacks

to let this image be legible.

- You tattooed this thing like you were tattooing

on the palest person on the planet.

You abandoned the sensibility of who you were tattooing

and just did Sarah.

Cater to them, to their skin, and their needs, not you.

- All right, guys, who has the best tattoo of the day?

- Looking at who met the challenges,

surrealism and composition, Megan Jean stands out.

I gotta vote for Megan Jean.

- To me, there is no other front-runner

that takes it as clearly as Megan Jean.

Judges have decided.

The best tattoo of the day goes to Megan Jean.

The human canvas jury is deliberating right now,

and their vote will put one artist up for elimination.

Head back to the loft.

One of you is about to pack your machines.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Honestly, Megan, to have this opportunity

and to just throw it out the window...

- Well, I didn't throw it out the window.

I'm just being honest about what the [bleep] I'm feeling.

It's hard, dude.

Mentally, this [bleep] is totally nuts.

- Me, I took it as a punch in the gut,

because I know what I left at home, I know Jime's got kids.

To me, it's just...

- Dude, I don't give a [bleep]

if it offends you how the [bleep] I'm feeling.

- I just know what I bring to the competition.

I know that I'm excited to be here,

to provide for my family, to make a name for myself.

- Look, you're in this competition,

and it's all about you against everybody else.

That's the difference between us.

I'm not paying attention to what they're doing,

and that might get me kicked out of here,

and I don't care.

- Wow.

- Whew.

[dramatic music]

♪

- All right, today we're testing composition

with surrealism tattoos.

- So many people dropped the ball.

- Even Sarah.

The rays tear this thing apart and ruin it for me.

Those are bad composition choices.

- As technical as Sarah is,

she did a tattoo that can go home.

- Yeah.

- Is it safe to say Alex is in the bottom today?

- Yes.

The drawing itself, the composition is terrible.

- Worst face of the day. - Oh.

- And the sad part is that I saw the reference,

and it's an attractive girl.

- And he did not capture it.

- Yeah.

- Who else is in the bottom today?

- I say Cleen. This thing is just ugly.

- The left side of the nose, it goes into the wolf pattern,

it makes that area of her face concave.

He dented her face in.

- But there's cleaner application on Cleen's

than there are on Jime's. - For sure.

You look at that space scene,

you can see full-on skin breaking through.

It's just not colored up to the line.

- And this cheesy, children's coloring book style space,

it's scribbling. - It's a miss.

- We still have to wait and hear from the human canvas jury.

Their vote's gonna throw somebody in the bottom.

Could be an interesting day.

- We're here to determine who had the worst tattoo of the day.

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

- It's extremely too dark. both: Yes.

- I mean, for your skin tone and everything.

- You would never see Virgin Mary out of that...

- No. - Which is what we knew

you wanted, and those things coming out

makes no sense then.

- They're not even centered, so...

like, I think she tried to frame it in such a way,

but it just looks really weird in the corner.

- But I like it.

- This is my tattoo. My artist was Alex Rockhoff.

- Her one cheekbone is definitely

a lot higher than the other one.

- It's not a very pretty face. That sucks.

- It's almost like a scary woman's face.

- Yes. - Yeah.

- I wanted a beautiful woman's face.

- It's very wicked witch.

- I gotta live with this forever, and that nose is...

[bleep]. - Yeah.

- I think that there's a good chance

that they could pull more than three this time,

just because of the fact that we don't know

what the canvas jury's gonna decide.

- I don't think anybody liked mine.

Pretty sure that I'm probably going down in the bottom.

[dramatic music]

♪

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

Alex...

Cleen...

Sarah...

and Jime.

See y'all downstairs.

- [sighs]

- Well, want to go face the music?

- We should get to it.

- All right, you're a pro at it.

- Good luck, you guys.

- Defend your art.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Today you were judged on composition,

and based on your work,

one of you will be packing your machines.

Now it's time to find out who the human canvas jury voted for.

♪

- Aw, [bleep] that.

- Alex, you're here because the human canvas jury determined

that you had the worst tattoo of the day.

Nick, why did the jury vote for Alex?

- The shape, the cheekbones are too pronounced.

The eyes are off level.

The nose is butchered, that's [bleep].

- That tattoo I put on you is dope.

- Really? Everyone in the room voted for it.

It was unanimous that this was the bottom.

To come on "Ink Master," I expect

perfection and greatness, and this is by far not greatness.

- I apologize on behalf of everybody here.

- It's not my first bad tattoo.

- [bleep]-A, dude. - Thank you.

- It's a [bleep] kick in the nuts.

I like my tattoo.

It's unfortunate that Nick doesn't.

I thought my tattoo was fun and colorful.

I mean, her tattoo was pretty much butchered,

it looked dark as [bleep],

and then Cleen's tattoo is messy.

I really didn't think my tattoo would be even close to that.

- It's unanimous that the tattoo,

the face itself is unappealing,

from clients, your peers, definitely from us.

- [sniffs]

- You know, Alex, even with the bright colors

you were able to put in that skyline,

just the shape of the face, it's hard to get over.

- [sniffs]

- And the same with Cleen.

This tattoo, it's just unattractive,

the shapes, the design.

- I got dealt a stinker again,

but I'm still trying to push my artistic abilities.

I'm here fighting, man.

- People know they can't trip you up

with skin tone or body placement.

The target on your back is for the weird ideas.

- Is there room for improvement?

Of course, but I mean, I'm not gonna go cry in the corner.

- Jime. The face in this is actually really nice,

but the space seems a little remedial.

- If you would've done your style...

Jime Litwalk's face on top of this face...

you probably would've had the best tattoo of the day.

- But I don't know when to do my thing.

The idea of being on a competition like this

is to show people that you are versatile,

that you can step out of the box.

- Play the game to your own advantage.

Don't get yoked up in the noose.

- Sarah, you had a great challenge laid out,

but it's hard to read, it's confusing,

it doesn't tell the story of what it was supposed to be.

It's just a rough one.

- I tattooed like I was working on lighter skin.

I didn't take the skin color into consideration.

- How would you not take skin color into consideration?

You completely put yourself before you canvas,

so you were my pick coming to the bottom.

- Do we have a decision as to which artist is closing shop?

- For me, Alex's is the most unrealistic face of the day.

- Cleen's, Jime's, and Sarah's tattoo face is attractive.

I don't see that with Alex's tattoo.

- Gotta vote for Alex.

- My vote's for Alex.

- Alex.

- Judges have decided.

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

- Came into a season that is the best of the best.

This looks like a finale, and you're here with them,

so you made it far, man. Don't bum out.

Head up, always head up.

- Please pack your machines and close shop.

- Okay.

I still feel like I had the most wearable tattoo

down there,

and that's why I'm a little perturbed.

The tattoo was solid,

and if anybody wants to knock me for it,

you can kiss my [bleep] ass.

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

- We need to make a change.

- She's gotta get out.

- Yeah, I think it's clear.

- All right, ready?

- A warrior never shows his fear,

especially when he's in battle.

- My tattoo is [bleep] fantastic.

- Bull[bleep]! - I [bleep] nailed it.

- We need to shake the ground some more.

- Throw everything we've got at Sausage.

- This thing is getting so out of control.

- It is not precise. That's a problem.

- Of all the tattoos today, yours is hard to look at.

- I think Cleen gets a pass a lot of times.

- How is he getting a pass?

- Yeah, what's up, Christian?

- At least I got the balls to say it.

You want to get mad, I don't give a [bleep].

I'm a [bleep] grown man and I'm gonna say what's on my mind.

[rock music]

♪

- ♪ Original