Original subtitles

♪ MTV ♪

Previously on Ink Master: Hometown Heroes .

This looks like a food stall.

In the Flash Challenge,

the artists foiled the competition.

I did not want to be on a team with Matt.

I'm glad I chose. Wherever Matt is, I'm not going.

It's a hard decision because--

They show artistry in different ways.

- That's the thing. - Oh, scorpions are so original.

Do you know how many fingers and bones we got?

We can't see all the bones you have

because there's tin foil covering them.

The winner of the Flash Challenge is Team Mike.

- Yes! - We leveled up today.

In the elimination tattoo...

I can't put that on me.

So you're not gonna give me a chance?

No.

That artist over there, she's tattooing herself.

- Weird position for the leg. - Pretty crazy.

Sink or swim, guys.

Every second matters.

I might add a touch more blue just to give it a little pop.

Definitely an unexpected approach.

I'm definitely playing it safe.

In the Elimination,

OJ, Keahi, and Mike were in the bottom.

Keahi's lacks contrast. OJ's has half a bottle.

That's a big deal.

Mike's is lacking cohesion, creativity. I'm bored!

The judges have decided, Mike,

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

Ten artists remain.

But only one will earn a $250,000 prize...

This shit real as hell now.

...and the title of Ink Master.

- The man of the hour. - Angel of death.

- This room's looking small. - Yeah, it is.

I told you I was gonna fight. I told you I was gonna fight.

I knew you was coming back, my boy!

Oh my god. My heart's racing.

I'm gonna say this, it is real down there.

How was Mike during this?

Mike's whole strategy was that it just

make it as clean as possible. And it's not enough anymore.

There's literally no room for error.

You're either shooting for the top spot,

or you could be on the bottom.

Did anyone get emotional?

Look at his eyes. He was fucking watering off.

Matt, were you crying?

Yeah, but like, let's just move on.

Be grateful where we are.

And then you're all fucked tomorrow

when we start another challenge.

Uh-oh, they're back.

Welcome. Each week, the battle for $250,000

gets more intense.

It does.

In the end, only one of you

will bring home the title of Ink Master.

We all know who it's gonna be, right?

It's not over till it's over, man.

This week, the game changes.

- What? - So what are we doing?

- What is this? - This is a double elimination.

God damn!

The stress is up now.

Two people going home versus one?

- Awesome. - That mean you have to

really be the best at this point.

You got to text me that next time, bro.

I don't need you to be saying it out loud, bro.

You got my stress levels high.

This week, you are being tested

on one of the most important skills

any tattoo artist must possess.

Adaptability.

Okay, okay, okay.

Bro, you're a tattoo artist.

People are gonna ask you a few different things.

You have to adapt.

This week, you must survive a flash marathon.

- A marathon? - What the fuck?

- Awesome. Awesome. - So good!

Today, you will have six hours

to create as many four-inch by four-inch flash designs

- as you can or want to create. - Let's go.

Tomorrow, your flash sheets will be displayed,

and you will have 12 hours

to tattoo as many of those designs as possible.

- 12 hours! - This is so sick.

Oh my god!

How many people are gonna be here? It just sounds like chaos.

Canvases will flood the shop,

choosing designs based only on your artwork on the wall,

and your ability to sell your skills.

- All right. - Your boy got this.

I'm funny as hell, I'm charming as shit,

and I have a major personality.

This shit gonna be a cakewalk.

This is so fucking sick.

Fast, quick, efficient tattooing.

Get them in, get them out.

This is what I was fucking made for.

You'll probably only be working a few hours, Seth.

No one's gonna even want your tattoos.

- Wow. - You calm down over there.

- But there's a catch. - Of course.

- Oh my god. - Every canvas wants their tattoo

in an extremely difficult and painful part of the body.

Fuck!

From the head to the armpit to the butt or the kneecap,

adaptability is crucial.

Forget about your bold lines under the armpit.

Oh, I'm going bold now. Fuck yeah.

You don't know who is walking through that door,

or where they want their tattoo.

I really need to make sure

that I have something for everybody on this flash sheet.

For all I know, my grandma's book club

could be walking through the door.

You will be judged not only on how many tattoos you do,

- but how well you tattoo them. - I'm glad I'm fast.

We are looking for quality and quantity.

Yo, you gonna have to get busy.

Back in the day, even when you worked with other tattooers,

you were competing next to them.

Hell yeah.

You really want to sell yourself to these canvases,

because that's how you you're gonna edge out the competition.

Here we go.

Set yourself up for success by doing designs

that will be versatile enough

to fit on these hard parts of the body.

And really think about time when you're designing these pieces.

- You have to be efficient. - Yes.

Slap the Vaseline, stick those ink caps down,

and ride this thing out.

Some people are gonna start crumbling.

But there is one more thing you should know.

- Why wouldn't there be? - Fuck!

Your tattoos must speak for themselves,

because these tattoos will be judged together

as a complete body of work

without the judges knowing who did which design.

- Fuck yeah! - That's awesome!

I like the fairness.

The judges will then rank your complete body of work,

and the two artists with the lowest rankings

will be eliminated.

- Damn! - That's rough.

Just like that. Out, out.

You have six hours to create your flash designs.

- Good luck. - Oh boy.

It's too damn quiet in here, man.

I thought y'all was my family. We can't let this divide us!

It's not gonna divide us,

but it's gonna throw some people home, man.

How many birds do y'all think Matt is drawing?

Oh, Matt, please tell me all of your flash has wings.

I should do that, though.

Small tattoos aren't easy.

When you've got less lines and less detail,

they expose more problems. So it takes a skill

to know what to put in and what not to put in.

What style you going, Seth?

Just a few different ones.

Oh, that's very vague.

Coming from a street shop background,

I used to design flash sheets all the time.

We had walk-ins every day.

Maybe a few Neo, maybe a couple American Traditional.

I'm doing flowers, I'm doing lady faces,

I'm doing big traditional cats.

These are tattoos that have been done a million times,

and they have to be done right.

- Luka, where you at? - Going hard, man.

I'm not too sure if I go super different every flash,

so I could get more people.

I'm gonna make sure I make the design pretty small,

so I can do more. They want quality and quantity.

I can do a lot of them if they want to get tattooed.

- OJ, what's up, my boy? - Chillin'.

OJ got a couple of oranges over there.

I'm doing some delicate designs,

I'm doing some bolder designs.

My strategy is to appeal to as many people as possible.

You got to put the cornucopia basket.

- I should do that. - Ha!

Probably add some Polynesian pieces just to mix it up.

Trying to throw me off my game, man.

I'm going to be like, "I'm flexible. What do you want?

All right. Realistic? We'll mix styles. I don't care."

I think I'm just stressing out 'cause, like, with my...

like, line work.

I think it's easier to pull thicker lines than thin.

That's kind of what I've been trying to think about,

like what are my favorite liners and fastest ones to use?

I love that one that you're doing right now.

I've already got ten done.

How many are you gonna do?

Dude, I'm a fucking beast.

I'll do as many as I want.

That's his special move.

Boushee putting his sales hat on today.

Hell yeah. Come over here. Come over here. Come over here.

Oh, here they come.

What's up? Come on, take a little step down this way.

I specialize in everything, man.

Fast, clean, solid tattoos.

We got, you know, just some simple stuff.

I'm kind of limited, but, you know.

- What do you specialize in? - Black and gray. Photorealism.

What do you specialize in?

Anything with colors. Black and gray. Whatever you want.

I can see you got really great stuff, man.

You know where to find me now.

Yeah, I do know where to find you now.

What's your background in?

Polynesian and Japanese, mostly.

- It's all about the flow, babe. - Yes! I was looking at this one.

- Or this one. - That'd be sick.

As you can see, I do like, a lot of

heavy black and gray, super saturated work.

I did a bunch of different designs to,

you know, accommodate a bunch of different people.

And then from them, we can go either black and gray.

We can go color. I do both. I can show you a bunch of stuff.

I'm watching you sell it.

I want to know how you're selling it.

I got you first. I got you second.

If you need me third with the cake, let's do this, bro.

Artists, you've got 12 hours to prove your adaptability

in a flash tattoo marathon.

And your time starts now!

- All right, let's do it. - Let's go.

Flash tattoos are meant to be wham, bam, thank you, ma'am

Just look straight. Perfect.

They're banging out as many as they can,

while keeping that quality.

This is a double elimination.

That looks sick.

You got to not just tattoo today,

you got to be able to hustle.

Oh, that's fucking dope.

- You ready? - Let's do it.

- How's that? You OK? - Yeah.

Nice and easy. OK.

- I'm ready to work. - All right.

I'm focusing more on quantity than quantity,

but I definitely need to do a fair amount.

It's also a double elimination. It's like, no one's really safe.

How did you get into tattooing?

I was 11.

And I saw my big brother getting a tattoo,

and I just thought it was the best fucking thing ever.

I became completely obsessed about it,

and did this now for 18 years.

Ever since I was a kid,

I've struggled with the feeling of doing enough.

Now, critiquing my own work, it's never enough.

I have this reach for perfection.

It takes a lot of balls to do what you do.

It takes something, for sure.

Here, everything on steroids, the bar gets lower,

so it fucks with my head a bit.

- So good. - You like it? I'm good?

If I can stop the little voice in my head

telling me that things have to be perfect,

I think I can go a long way.

Sorry if I go into my zone a little bit here, babe.

Oh, go ahead.

Literally from the moment I get one inch away from the skin,

I realize how shaky my hands are.

I'm trying to do the teeniest fine line

in the ditch of an arm

with the most uncontrollable shakes of my life.

I'm just trying to wing it through this,

and hope that my shakes calm down.

I don't know what the fuck is going on with me.

I hope you guys have at least one tattoo done.

There are ten hours remaining.

Does anyone want to get tattooed?

I feel like maybe a skull might match with what you have.

I don't think so.

I feel like the mushroom theme you were going with.

You know, I have, you know, you've seen them.

But then if you think about quality,

these guys just don't do it.

Okay, okay, Montreal.

Are you gonna sway me? I was kind of looking at this one.

- Awesome, awesome. - But it's the armpit.

Yeah, perfect.

- OJ, are you gentle? - Gentle?

OJ, gentle? No, let me tell you something.

- OJ is the butcher. - No, no. What?

Are we kidding?

OJ, you want to go? I don't want to wait.

Ooh, look at this!

- You want to do it? - Let's do it.

What you looking to get? What placements?

- One on my butt. Spooky. - Spooky.

Spooky butt.

- The poison apple. - Let's do the apple.

What are you going to do when you win?

I would definitely give, like, a large chunk to my parents

to help them pay off the house.

Initially, when I told my parents that I was

getting into tattooing, they were on the fence about it

because they're very traditional.

Work your job, get your paycheck,

save for your retirement.

Why, why, why did I put all these lines in here?

I hope that them just seeing me here is enough

to really prove that I have what it takes to be a great artist.

For me, everything is a surprise. I love it.

Since I was a kid, I used to draw everywhere.

The walls, the floor. My granny gave me a sketchbook,

and then everything started.

That's it, girl. All in. Love that.

You've got eight hours.

I always feel like I have to prove myself as a new artist.

Who's the competition here, other than you?

I would say probably the most experienced artists, you know?

But I'm trying to give them a run for their money.

Dude, fight me. I'm an aggressive little Asian girl.

I do love pit bulls, so if that helps.

This is a tough tattoo to have on your butt.

Ah, so happy.

This is my first memory of a tattoo.

As we walked into my dad's shop,

it's the first flash sheet there.

And that's, as a kid, that's the first thing I saw.

Every piece of flash on the wall was a story to be told.

Like, my dad would have tattooed this, like, thousands of times.

My dad passed away,

so it's kind of cool to be able to do a tribute like this.

Taking something that he was well known for,

that was lost as he got sicker and sicker,

and to come back around

and use tattooing to make it positive again,

to, like, heal everyone else as well.

I think that's really cool.

That's the coolest thing I could put on my butt today.

We are halfway there. Six hours.

- How are you, man? - Good, man.

No one available right now?

I don't know. I haven't gone over to check.

Man, there's still so much more to do, man.

- There's five hours. - It's crazy.

My daughter's 11. She gonna say,

"Daddy, when I get older, I want to get a tattoo."

Goddamn it, you gonna wait.

This 'S' on my chest stands for my daughter.

I gotta carry her everywhere I go.

And I want her to understand that,

you know, if your daddy can fight to survive, you can too.

I was thinking black and gray scale for the dagger.

And then, like, some color added to the leaves.

I had to rob opportunity, and take the shit

that he was gonna give to somebody else.

Right here?

Like, where you'd smack it.

Yeah, right here.

I'm determined and I'm fighting for the life

that my family deserves.

Why you not tattooing?

Go sell that shit. Be cool, be funny.

Go tell them some jokes. Tell them you got kids.

Go do something. Bro, you better go live.

Artists, there are four hours left on the clock.

I really like her.

See? The bond.

Last week, I tattooed myself.

I felt really defeated after feeling like

I wasn't worthy of tattooing somebody.

I feel all this pressure now.

Like, oh, do good. Show your hometown what's up.

As long as you're happy with what you're doing,

- that's what really matters. - Yeah.

I'm pretty sure that I proved

some fucking adaptability last week.

And I'm ready to show some more.

- You did three? - Three. How many did you?

- Five. - Five. Yeah.

We're gonna go back in strong.

I work fast, and I'm extremely gentle.

You guys are good, right? Locked in.

- What number you on, OJ? - Not a lot.

My wife has a business of her own,

so to run that and then also have the girls with her

kind of takes a toll.

Being away from my wife, it's tough.

But I'm also here to pay her back in a way.

Being a young tattooer,

she was always there to kind of support me,

when my career wasn't as strong as it is now.

This is a chance to really show her that it was all worth it.

I love it.

Yeah. Glad I got to do that for you.

Oh, yeah. We still got over three hours, man.

- We got plenty of time. - You're not beat?

No. With everything that we have on the line, man,

12 hours ain't shit.

If they told me to tattoo for 24 hours, I would do it.

Each of these tattoo flash designs,

I know that I could get done in an hour and 15.

Time is not an issue today.

So you excited to win all that money?

Oh, dude, you have no idea.

First thing I'm doing is buying my wife a house.

This is the longest that my wife and I have ever spent apart.

Just knowing that she's there and she's so supportive,

that drives me harder than anything.

- I know. I'm behind. - No, no bullshit. After him?

Come on. All right? Don't make me come back over, bro.

Time has always been my enemy since being here,

and today is not making that any better.

You can tell, like, you're very, like, cool, calm, collected.

Relaxed.

And you know, it's so funny because this competition is,

like, the complete opposite of that.

Keep hustling, guys. There's only two hours left,

and there are canvases out here waiting.

How much do you want it?

Just say, I'm gauging, I'm gauging. Ooh. Ooh.

Calm down. Okay!

Oh my god. Are you looking at the cat?

- I'm looking at the cat. - Oh my god.

Come on. She's moving on, she's moving on.

Yeah yeah, go look, there's some trash traditional right here.

Go on. Do that one. Get a tiger. Get a tiger!

I'm not into traditional.

Ooh, it could be Neo. You can move it.

Ooh, your style just got fucking shot down!

Aaahhh!

- Last chance. Last two hours. - I just want to tattoo.

Oh, you've got her. Get away from it. Ooh!

Who are you going to get tattooed by?

- Boushee. - Oh what the fuck? Fucking hell.

How do you think you've been doing so far in the competition?

- I think I've been doing good. - Nice.

You know, the reason I came here, you know,

'cause I think life is about experience,

and I think anything that's worth anything

is on the other side of fear,

and if I would have let my fear got to me,

I would never have even made it here.

My hands have stopped shaking.

It must have been a nerves thing.

The last couple of days have been really hard.

This is actually the longest I've been away from home, ever.

I'm really, honestly, I'm missing my kids.

They are so fucking proud that I'm here.

I don't want to let anyone down, you know?

My dog would be, like, very pleased with me

if I came home with a tattoo of him on my ribs.

- You can think about it. - I'll think about it.

You can stew on Boushee for a while.

- So hurry up. Wrap it up. - I am. Shut the fuck up.

Are you not done? They're all waiting on you!

They waiting on me?

Yeah, they're waiting on you. Girls are loyal to Boushee.

You can't get them. You can't get them. You can't snake them.

I hope you can get one more in. You got one hour left.

You gonna do it? It's for your dog. Come on.

- He's stealing me? - Do it.

- Are you switching up? - I'm bringing you a new person.

You got another one, though, instead.

All right, all right, all right, all right.

We got one hour.

We're probably gonna have to do this thing black and gray.

I'd rather do a black and gray tattoo

than an unfinished tattoo.

I'm just worried about time.

I don't know if we'll finish this, because it's--

Can we try? I waited a long time today.

Uh...

I really wanted something, like, bigger on my knee.

Yeah. I got you.

Oh, man. We are cutting it close.

It's all right, though. It's all right.

30 minutes left.

I'm fighting time right now. Let's go.

Nearly done. Damn! Surprising myself at this point.

- Hell yeah! - 120 seconds.

Couple more lines.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up! No more ink.

All right. We're done.

- Did we do it? - Yeah, we did.

That was crazy. Oh my god.

- We did it. - Yes.

Awesome.

Didn't see that coming, did you?

No. You're a talented little Aussie

Anybody in here feeling nervous?

Yeah, as usual. I expect the worst.

There's no middle anymore. You're either on the top,

or you're in trouble of going home.

Y'all definitely just fucked it up for me,

- and my confidence is over with. - No, no, no.

All right, judges. The artists had to prove their adaptability

by competing in a flash tattoo marathon.

12 solid hours? Yeah, it'll weed out the week really quick.

- Damn. - This is a double elimination.

As a group, the artists created 71 tattoos.

- 71? - That's crazy. 71?

Good job, guys.

So we gotta critique 71 tattoos.

To be clear, none of us have any idea who tattooed what.

Let's see how they did.

Who's first? Who's first?

Bring up the first artist's body of work.

- Wow. - Seven designs.

- That's me. - A lot of different styles.

The traditional tattoo looks super traditional.

I like this dagger, the way it fits the head.

All of those colors play so well together.

Cool little deer. I like the illustrative, bold shadow look.

I love the way the antlers are done.

- I love the outline around it. - It's so basic.

Same kind of style. Big blocky shadows, heavy outline.

Cool little tattoo that's gonna age well.

I love armpit tattoos. They're fun.

I do like this scenery. The mountains look cool.

I like the light source.

Little birds. It's classic.

They fit good on the body.

This artist killed two birds with one machine.

Had to go there.

It's a rose. Lacks a little contrast.

The center looks unfinished to me.

Every time I was touching the skin,

it was getting super crazy red.

Pizza? Who doesn't love pizza?

I like the outline. I like the colors.

I like the melty cheese dripping off it.

I think this is probably my favorite one in the group.

I like all these, except for the rose.

I'm super happy 'cause I thought they would

- fucking destroy everything. - You can breathe now.

All right, let's see the next artist's body of work.

God damn it. It's me! Shit!

It's a wide variety of stuff.

Shows some colors, some black and gray.

I'm not shocked that two people chose the UFO 'cause it's cool.

Oh, look, the alien.

It's cool that he's hiding in there, you know?

I love how they brought in the red from the lights

inside to put it up against the beam that comes out.

It's cool to see it in black and gray.

I liked it better in color for sure.

I like the expression on the little cat's face.

But man, this line work is not good.

It gets fatter and it just wobbles.

The eye is rendered so well.

It's a cool tattoo for the armpit.

The placement is so good.

The purple spiral is kind of cool.

I'm impressed, being able to do these nice gradations

- without anything. - Is this no lines?

There might be, but they're hidden really well.

I don't even do color.

This one's cool. I like the contrast in this piece.

I like how heavy the blacks are. It's really bold and dark.

I don't like the shattered glass.

- Is it a heart? - It is a heart.

For me, it's gonna look like armpit hair.

- Oh my god! - Next.

- Boo! - It looks like a cabbage.

It doesn't have any kind of highlights.

This one just goes dark, dark, dark,

and then a background in there that's dark.

Looks like this person has a bruise on their ass.

I'm pretty sure you fought over me to get that last rose.

I did, and I regret it.

Aaah!

- Let's bring up the next artist. - Who's it gonna be?

Oh, shit. That's me.

I like how it has one color palette

that goes across all of these different designs.

Yeah. I want to see these up close.

Thick lines, solid.

Teeny, teeny, tiny little thin lines

on all the rope and everything are just as solid.

Another flower box.

I like the way the rope stands out.

It's really clean and delicate.

I think this is my favorite one of the flowers.

I like how they shaded that dark background into the flower.

- Off to a good start. - Yeah.

If you're gonna do a black-and-gray panther,

solid, dark, clean, bold, this is the way to do it.

- It's super readable. - Yes!

I like the mouth of this tiger. This tiger is badass.

I really like the flip in the tongue. Super dope.

I love this one.

Solid saturation, cool color palette.

These classic designs are so cool.

That little bit of pop of red in the cheeks,

simple gray shading with a bold-ass line.

Absolutely on point.

- I got an adrenaline rush. - Good job, Seth.

Thank you so much.

All right. Moving on to the next.

- That's me! - Black and gray and color.

It shows adaptability to all styles.

- Spider on the head. - The web is too thick.

Spider webs are not black. They're white.

You can do it with tight lines in gray.

I ain't never did a spider before.

For real?

- Another spider. - More webs.

Literally nothing changed.

God damn it.

- I like it. - It's a cake.

The strawberry seeds need help.

There's shading on the top of one, not on the bottom.

They just look like

they've been in the fridge for a week.

- They do. - Or out of the fridge.

I didn't know what the fuck I was doing

with that piece of cake.

The cowboy is a lot different.

That looks like it's on paper. Super nice. The teeth are sick.

What's up? Yo.

Dagger with a rose?

Yeah, I think it's a dagger with a rose,

but I can't tell what's going on.

The silhouette is camouflaged

with these leaves in the back.

We got to go past this rose shit.

Traditional skull and rose.

The leaves could have definitely been

in a more flattering shape. It looks like it's on a platter.

- Damn, son. - Goldfish.

The scales get a little weird.

They should be more uniform. Flush it.

Damn!

The scorpion.

It looks metallic. The lights and darks are awesome.

I like the tail.

The way the white highlights kind of follow the body.

It's a really good-looking scorpion.

It's cool that they didn't pick it up,

the scorpion, with the four legs.

- It was three, right? - No, it was four.

- Oh, each side? - There's four!

Don't worry about it. We're moving forward. There's four.

- That was their favorite one. - Don't bring it up.

All right, let's see the next artist.

It's me.

This is a fun group of tattoos.

And three tattoos were repeated.

- Wow. - The skulls are cool.

I really love the color palette.

Teeth on it's cool, right?

Losing that one eye throws it off a bit for me.

Do both or do none.

I thought it was really cool to do the cyborg kind of thing.

- Oh, that's on the butt. - Woo!

I like the stem a lot and the line weight on it.

But the red is not packed in there.

Great.

Comparing apples to apples, I like this one better.

This thing pops.

Everything looks a lot more intentional.

Even the contrast with the shadows.

- Thank you, Nikko. - Cool little cat.

I love the shape of those planes going up the forehead.

I like this one better. The nose is cute.

I like the green eyes.

They fixed all the little mistakes.

The bandages.

The scrape is cool, like the way it's bleeding through.

I like this little stoned devil.

It's like a cereal box character.

I'm putting all my money on Isnard.

Damn.

We haven't seen black and gray from Isnard before,

if it is Isnard.

That's my favorite one up there.

He was just here playing it cool the whole day,

knowing he had all this shit in his pocket. Come on, dude!

I'm not gonna wait for anything.

I'm just gonna throw everything on the table

and be like, "Hey, guys, that's it."

Let's bring up the next artist's work.

That's me. Rip the Band-Aid off, please.

This artist only did black and gray,

which is interesting.

- The people pick what they want. - I like the sparrow.

I think a clean, bold, traditional sparrow is classic.

I like the boldness, the heavy black.

- Thanks, guys. - It's a cool flower.

The flips on the petals themselves,

they don't make too much sense.

It looks like a color tattoo

that doesn't yet have color in it.

Damn, that was rough, guys.

And this design's not my favorite.

There's a lot going on.

If you're gonna go with those slightly heavier lines

down the middle, you should go around the outside.

- Goddamn. - Another Mandala.

This one looks better to me. Like, there's more black.

Sometimes the second time around,

you make better decisions.

But are they missing lines

on the right-hand side on the leaf?

I was rushing.

Quick little rose banger. I really like the placement.

- It frames the kneecap out. - Nice shading in the rose.

All right, thank you.

Woof. Every single one of those legs are super choppy,

super wonky.

Hopefully this centipede doesn't cent-him-home, you know?

I wish I didn't put those mandalas on there.

Why do you do it?

I feel like I forgot the whole placement thing, you know?

At some point, the line work

is gonna catch up to you, you know?

All right, let's bring up the next artist's body of work.

- I guess that's me. - Six tattoos.

Looks like two people got the rat.

- It's not. - Oh, on the neck.

The neck is so curved,

it makes the snout look really short.

That's why you're getting more of a rat vibe.

This is more foxlike.

I like the browns in the fox.

Real smooth, nice transitions.

- Cobra! - On the head!

I wish the pattern on the top of the head

was a little more uniform.

The way the tongue crosses, I don't love.

I wish they would have been separate.

- I like that part. - Tribal turtle.

It has some style to it. It has some flow.

It's a hard place to tattoo the armpit.

You know, to get these lines

this clean and the gaps that perfect.

Whoever did this does these a lot.

- I think I have a guess. - Maybe in Hawaii?

Another turtle I like.

The face in the middle is drawn really well.

And it looks like it has volume

and doesn't have no shading in it,

which is really cool to pull off.

- I like it. - Really cool placement.

I like how the horns

perfectly fit up the sides with the tendon.

- This is a great tattoo. - The dragon's so cool.

- Thanks, man. - That dragon is nuts.

It was solid.

Let's bring up the next artist's body of work.

- Oh, these are cool. - That's mine.

Eight tattoos.

Two people chose the seahorse.

I like the line weight on it. It's real heavy and bold.

The shading's really solid in there.

This is a really nice tattoo.

Black-and-gray seahorse.

I really like the control of the grays.

The chest is cool, too.

Just that solid black, kind of bring your eyes through it.

A little sacred heart.

It's bold, clean, straight to the point.

- It's a sticker. - That was my favorite.

It's a great face. Look at that cool hair!

I like these exaggerated, whimsical curls.

It's a really cool stylized tattoo.

- Triple sevens. - I really like

how the tip of the seven overlaps the body of the seven.

That's my least favorite part of it.

What?

The one all the way to the left

doesn't look like that overlaps as much as the two on the right.

I did that for DJ, too, so that's funny.

Three different people chose the butterfly.

Fine line. Delicate.

I wish there was some more punchy black in there.

They'd get away with all of it

if they had the eye really feel like it was a thing.

This eye just feels not important enough in the design.

Shit.

Just adding that punched-in heavier color,

it looks a lot better.

The third time's a charm, you know?

It gets better each time it was done.

I still feel like I'm going home.

Come on, the seahorse is good. Shut up.

No, actually, the seahorse looks much better

than I remember it looking.

Let's bring up the next artist.

Oh, shit, that's me.

These tattoos are tough.

Nothing but tough tattoos up there, you know?

The skeleton's trippy weird.

I love that eyeball. The teeth, they're great.

This thing is wonky and weird, and I like it.

I like it. It's not Japanese.

- Panther. - Just black and open skin.

I think that was the way to go on this one.

This shows adaptability and versatility,

working on darker skin.

- Snake head. - I love the flames.

Nice line work. I like the scales.

Classic weird pit bull head.

I love the contrast between all the shading

and the face of the dog and then this flat collar.

It makes the collar pop.

I can't believe I did three pit bull tattoos, though.

That's insanity.

This one's cool. I don't like it as much.

This one to me gets a little tiger stripy.

Portrait style. He did a straight-up realism dog.

- What? - This thing's sick.

I like the texture of all the folds.

Talk about adaptability. This is so different

from every other approach that they've shown us.

I've never tattooed it, and being able to do it

three times in one day was a nice moment.

Yeah, but you also did it fucking good.

Holy shit. Every one of them was solid.

Let's bring up the next artist's body of work.

- I wonder who! - Oh yeah.

This one's definitely more feminine.

Got a bit of a girly touch to it.

Let's see this fish.

None of the line work is consistent.

There's absolutely no areas of solid black.

I was shaking real bad.

I definitely prefer this one to the black and gray.

The body is the most confident part, where it comes

off of dark black and then fades up and shades around.

I'll take this fish.

This is a peacock feather, yeah?

I don't know, because peacock feathers are longer.

The actual head of the feather is confusing,

because it almost looks like a tiger eye or something.

That's what it's supposed to look like.

If you're gonna do a feather like this,

at least bring in those thin feather lines

to create some sort of texture inside the feather.

See, I like this.

I like the heart. I like how dark it is.

I like the contrast within it.

- The jewel looks cool. - My problem is in

all of the other stuff cluttering up the skull.

They stuck a random thing in the forehead

and put some flowers around it.

They shouldn't just be stuck

like they're glued to the skull. It was a bad move.

And a flower.

It has nice flow, fits the ribs really nice.

Delicate, smooth, soft gray in there as well.

Definitely my favorite tattoo out of the pack.

That was not fun.

When I started that first beta fish,

I could not stop shaking. My hands were like this, man.

I think this challenge got a lot of us.

No excuse.

All right, that's it. Ten artists, 71 tattoos.

Yeah!

Two artists are going home.

Judges, it's time to rank the tattoos.

I wonder how they're gonna score this.

Artists, we'll call you in

when the results have been tallied.

- Oh, man. - There's two people going home.

Feels surreal.

Sometimes, even if you feel like you did enough work,

you don't know if it's enough for them.

So, uh, I'm still stressed.

This week, you had to prove your adaptability.

Tough challenge.

Based on your work,

each of your tattoos have been ranked by the judges.

The two artists with the lowest-ranked tattoos

will be eliminated.

Please reveal the highest-ranked tattoos.

Oh, shit. Thank you.

- Wow. - Dang.

I did not think that these were yours for fucking sure.

Three pit bulls out of the whole sheet.

- For me, that design is like a-- - Classic.

It's a classic, right?

You showed us three completely different tattoos

where every single aspect was rendered differently,

and on a day where we're testing you on that,

I think that's really fucking cool.

As you walked into my dad's first tattoo shop,

it's the first flash sheet you'd see.

It's like my earliest memory of a tattoo.

So, I was just like, "Dude, this is so fun."

Congratulations, Matt. You are safe from elimination.

Big Dog's back.

There was a tie for the second-highest-ranked tattoos.

- Damn. That's crazy. - I didn't expect a tie.

Please reveal the first artist

that was tied for the second-highest-ranked tattoos.

- Yes, sir. Good job. - Big dog.

- Thanks, guys. - These tattoos are sick, Seth.

All these are really consistent and really nice.

Congratulations, you are safe from elimination.

- Welcome to safety. - Yes.

Please reveal the second artist that tied

for the second-highest-ranked tattoos.

- Hell yeah. - I love these.

Every single one of these tattoos is fun, vibrant, bright.

Each one was cool and unique across the board.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Isnard. You are safe from elimination.

- Thank you. - Good job, Isnard.

- Well done, well done. - What's up, big dog?

Please reveal the fourth-highest-ranked tattoos.

Luka can do traditional?

You showed us everything on the entire spectrum.

Traditional, black and gray realism, full color.

It was amongst the most versatile.

Thank you very much.

Congratulations, you are safe from elimination.

Big Luka...

- I didn't know that was him. - Big dog, what's up?

Please reveal the fifth-highest-ranked tattoos.

- Ooh... - Oh!

Yes, ma'am.

You killed it. Solid line work, nice shading.

Just an overall cool vibe throughout all your pieces.

Congratulations, Alli, you are safe from elimination.

Please reveal the sixth-highest-ranked tattoos.

Boom. Stop playing with me, boy!

I knew it! I knew it!

What y'all talking about? Stop playing.

I knew it was you because of the dagger on the ass.

- Sound about right. - Eight tattoos in 12 hours?

This whole set shows a ton of versatility.

You adapted to the challenge really, really well.

This is a win, man!

Congratulations, Boushee, you are safe from elimination.

What? Hey, what? That's what I'm talking about!

Six artists are safe from elimination.

Four artists remain.

Two of you will be packing your machines.

It's now time to reveal the artists

with the lowest-ranked tattoos.

The artists whose tattoos appear on the screen

will be eliminated.

I seen it coming.

I just got so in my head about which way to go with everything.

In this competition, it's really hard,

because we get thrown things that we never do.

This is something that I'm sure you don't do

back at home with doing walk-ins.

This competition's a bitch, dude.

It takes a lot of good artists out before their time.

It's been an amazing experience, and that, for me,

was the main thing that I wanted.

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

You're an incredible artist with an immense amount of talent.

Thanks, Ryan.

Please pack your machines and close shop.

Not without a hug.

I think I definitely got in my head,

but I don't believe in regrets.

And it's better to regret something you've done

than something you haven't done.

- Love you, Teneile. - See yous.

I'm excited to get back home, to take everything

that I've learned and start applying it.

I'm gonna become an even better artist

than I was before I left to come here.

OJ, Kyra, and Keahi, based on your tattoos,

one of you will be eliminated.

It is now time to reveal

the artist with the second lowest-ranked tattoos.

The artist whose tattoos appear on the screen

will be eliminated.

Oh, man.

That means, OJ, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

You know, it sucks to go out on something like this.

I had a strategy of appealing to as many people as possible.

It didn't work out the way I anticipated. It's tough, but...

you're not going out on bad tattoos.

This was a tough challenge.

Keep killing that black and gray, man, and just do you.

Please pack your machines and close shop.

This competition definitely

takes you out of your comfort zone.

I'm proud of myself for even coming.

I did something I never thought I would ever do. Ever.

I love you guys. I'll see you.

I know I have the skill, and I know I have the vision,

and I know I have the confidence now.

Whatever challenge comes next in my life,

I'm ready to take it on.

On the next episode of Ink Master .

I didn't know it took three brains

to fuck something up!

I'm about to make you eat sand.

Oh my god!

How about you come do the highlights?

I don't trust you doing this.

They over there tripping.

- Artists, the heat is on! - Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

- I mean, I seen that coming. - Fuck!