Original subtitles

* MTV *

[Narrator] Previously on Ink Master: Hometown Heroes...

Armor up and be ready for a battle.

[Narrator] Life-changing tattoos

transform the competition.

This is a fucking feel good day.

You must transform a scar.

I'm looking to get my, sorry,

preventative double mastectomy scars

covered on my chest.

We got your back, we here for you.

-[tattoo gun buzzing] -Ah, fuck.

-I know, it's quick, quick-- -Yep.

[Narrator] Safety from elimination was on the line.

[Matt] Can you imagine trying to fix the scar

and then leaving him with a half-finished tattoo?

[exhales stressfully]

[Narrator] One by one, their tattoos were ranked.

There was a tie for the highest-ranked tattoo.

Kyra.

[DJ Tambe] Maybe the best rose that Ink Master has seen.

-[Man] Dang! -Let's go!

[Ryan] Oh, Matt!

[Nikko] How the fuck did you do that in six hours?

[Narrator] The three artists with the lowest-ranked tattoos

had to face off for their lives.

May the best man win.

Damn, I was just going to say good luck.

I don't need luck.

[Boushee] This is a test.

You better fight to the death. That's it.

I'm not fucking going nowhere.

[Narrator] In the elimination...

I really like Seth's ingenuity.

It's unique.

I also love Isnard's bubblegum skeleton.

[DJ Tambe] The drawing's super cool.

Boushee putting that lady face inside a crystal ball

was really unexpected.

But I wish there was just one

stark, big highlight that really defined that glare.

Flattens out a bit.

The judges have decided, Boushee,

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

Thank y'all for the opportunity, man.

-Your boy out of here. -[all laughing]

[Narrator] Six artists remain,

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

-All right, let's get it. -Yes.

[Narrator] ...and the title of Ink Master.

[theme music]

-How you guys feel? -Top six!

That was fucking brutal, man.

[Isnard] I'm used to bullshit already, that's all.

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, watching that was scary, dude.

Seeing all of you guys do the best pieces

I've seen this whole competition is wild.

I think you rattled a few people by doing that tattoo.

It's a good reminder that this is fucking it.

This is top six, we're fucking rolling

right into the endgame at this point.

Right now is where it really starts to heat up.

It's either our best shit of our lives or we could be going home.

[dramatic industrial music]

[surging industrial music]

-Oh shit. -[Seth] Okay.

[Joel] Welcome.

-What's up? -[mixed greetings]

The six of you have outlasted

nine other artists in the battle for $250,000.

Still standing.

But now you must fight harder than ever

because only one of you will bring the title

of Ink Master back to your hometown.

Everyone else can French kiss this money goodbye.

It's coming back to Montreal with me.

[Joel] This is your final Flash Challenge.

-Oh. -Yes.

[Joel] This week, we're testing...

[music crescendos]

Precision.

-All right. -Okay.

Precision is the perfect blend of accuracy and control.

A boxer using perfectly placed jabs and feints

can set their opponent up for a knockout blow.

[Joel] Today, you must create

a colorful work of art using only...

packing tape.

-Fuck! -[laughter]

I don't think it's gonna be easy, bro.

How can we make art with tape, bro?

Tape is tape. It's not art.

[sucks air] Fuck.

Working on a four foot by eight foot sheet

of clear Plexiglas,

you must precisely apply layer after layer of various colors

of packing tape to bring your image to life.

[Matt] There's so much tape.

There's enough for Seth to pack his bags on this one.

-Precision is key. -Of course.

[Joel] Or every crooked line, every bubble,

and every misstep will be illuminated for all to see.

Whoa. Wait.

Just gonna shine a light on every mistake.

For this Flash Challenge,

you will be working in teams of two.

Ooh.

-Okay. -Okay. That's different.

-Kyra and Matt. -Oh.

Last week, your tattoos tied for the highest ranked.

[blows raspberry]

You will now each get the power to pick your teams.

Yeah, a little bit of a reward.

Well, we can't be together.

Oh, poor you.

The picking order has been randomly assigned.

Kyra, you're up first.

Which artist other than Matt do you want on your team?

[suspensive hip-hop music]

Um. I choose Isnard.

I work really well with Isnard. He's so creative,

and he's really good at listening to my ideas.

Big dog.

Matt, you're next.

I'm gonna pick Luka.

-You're on color theory, buddy. -Yeah, color.

We've been on so many challenges together that we speak

the same language when it comes to Flash Challenges.

We got this.

That means, Seth and Keahi, you will form the third team.

-Seth, man. -Fuck, yeah.

Fucking awesome.

He's so laid back and easy to work with.

This is gonna be fucking sick.

All right. The teams are set.

The winners of this Flash Challenge

will have the power to assign all the human canvases

in the elimination tattoo together.

Let's go get it.

-You have four hours... -Whoa.

...and your time starts now.

-[Isnard] All right, you guys. -[Luka] Go.

-All right. -[Keahi] Let's figure this out.

Did you have any ideas first?

[Keahi] Uh, not anything super solid.

Precision is everything in this challenge.

I think if we just create with some straight lines,

it's gonna help us to be precise.

Tape is difficult. That shit is sticky.

You should see me try to wrap a present at home.

Making art with this stuff, it's gonna be ridiculous.

I only did the crocodile because we could layer, like,

dark leaves in the front,

and then things can get way lighter in the back.

You have to think about the time, too.

[Luka] My first thought was buildings

with the lights through the windows,

and then you go to something more mountain and sun.

That's a lot of detail. I mean, so detailed.

This is the last Flash Challenge.

I'm looking for something different, so, hopefully,

they ain't packing their boxes and going home.

What about the snail?

If we're gonna make just the snail,

let's make it, like, the coolest graffiti snail we've ever seen.

[Isnard] Okay.

Because if it's wonky,

they're gonna stop thinking about precision, right?

They're gonna be like, "Oh, you meant to do that, right?"

[Luka] So sunset, super high contrast,

and everything that is front is super dark.

Well, that's why I was thinking trees

because all you do is layer.

I know me and Matt struggled in the past.

I know how to work with him.

[Matt] Do mountains and a river.

Anything that is closer to us,

fully black, and then go full color behind it.

[Matt] Slow down on me, Luka.

I can see your lightbulb light up.

-You're not the one to tell me. -[Matt] [chuckles] I know.

I'm sure we can pull this off.

I think Seth and that are gonna do some tattoo design

-that's really clean. -[Luka] Yep.

[Seth] Maybe you had, like, a hannya mask with the eyes open

so that, as the light shines through,

the eyes are glowing.

For me, I was even thinking, you know,

how sometimes those neo-lotuses

will have, like, the light from the inside.

Oh, dude.

You know me with neo flowers, man.

I fucking love it.

Seth and I are known for being more executors

than creative leaders.

The hannya mask is cool, but if the eyes are

the only part that's interacting with the light,

then I would almost say lotus over the hannya mask.

We have to come up with something

that we can be super precise with.

I think you talked me into the lotus.

[Keahi] We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.

It's time to roll.

Think we need a ruler now. Fuck it.

[Matt] Pause, stretch, pause, stretch.

[Luka] [whistles faintly]

Dude, precision is gonna be sick.

-Okay. -[Kyra] [laughing]

Dude, it's so hard to get it fucking flat on here.

Artists! Don't get stuck.

You have three hours.

[tense music]

So we go the mountains up to here

and maybe not equal.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We gotta cut them out now.

We can't have a flat, boring fucking landscape.

We have to win by precision and color theory.

It's gonna be the water and the sky

that's gonna be translucent,

and the rest is gonna be super solid.

We've gotta push back the mountains,

and we've gotta pull out the translucent in the water.

And the way to do that is to layer on both sides.

That one line has to be straight.

There's no coming back.

-We're ripping this stuff off. -Yep.

[rock music]

[Seth] Oh, God, dude.

Dude, I am losing my mind.

I can't get this fucking tape off the glass.

It is so sticky.

I'm trying to peel off corners. Nothing is working.

Damn, this shit is crazy to work with.

[Kyra] It's easy for us to see the line work

when we know the shape.

It is so hard to line up this tape.

[Isnard] It doesn't matter, actually--

[Kyra] It doesn't actually matter.

If we cover it with line work, we're safe, right?

[Isnard] Uh-huh.

There's so many layers to this piece.

All right, I'm gonna shake this.

It's like fixing mistakes as we go.

So I think, like, throw an eye there.

[Kyra] I'm getting the idea. If we get the thick line work,

it looks so cool and comical.

There are two hours left.

[Matt] Yeah, we gotta move.

[tense music]

We gotta do the mountains first. I reckon we do a tree each,

and we do mountains each, and we go over the top.

-So, white? -Yep.

[Keahi] What else do you think we need?

Do we go just, like, two small orange ones?

Like, one, two?

I'm gonna let you make the decision.

It's definitely a struggle not having a very big creative voice

in this Flash Challenge.

It's like we put the two, like, workhorses together,

and it's like, "Ah, shit."

Because our image is a little bit more simple,

we really need to make sure

that we're applying it as clean as possible.

It's fucking looking good, dude. Crushing it on that side.

-There is one hour left. -Fuck.

Better book ass now.

[Keahi] They all have full boards.

Yeah. Fuck.

[Kyra] We gotta finish this background.

[Isnard] I thought it would be cool to do a lot of them,

-but I think it's too much. -There's not enough time.

It has, like, a stained glass kind of feel.

[Seth] Yeah.

[Luka] Starting to panic.

[Kyra] Oh, chill.

It's coming.

From the sounds of it, we're not the only ones feeling the heat.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up. No more tape.

-Shit. -Good stuff, man.

-[Keahi] Sheesh. -Simple, but precise.

[Keahi] Dang, you guys went for it.

-We tried to do too much. -We did way more

-than we should've. -Nice thing for us.

We're gonna have to sell the cleanliness.

Sell the shit out it, yep.

How long does it take to use tape?

-Forever. -[blows raspberry]

[Joel] All right. It's time to critique your work.

Kyra and Isnard.

We chose to do a snail,

and, honestly, I think we snailed it.

I like the snail. Looks fun.

I like the precision in the shading in the shell.

It's cool that you put different layers of purple.

[DJ Tambe] The shell having that light source

and then jumping to the snail's body,

I think it flattens out. I would have liked to see

some kind of texture in the snail.

I do like the crumpled-up effect on the snail's belly,

how it's all weird snail texture coming up,

forming that cool little shape.

But that doesn't repeat anywhere either.

I don't know really what's going on with the mouth.

[Isnard] It's like little antennas.

It looks like you got his mouth like,

you know, I don't know, like making a face or something.

[DJ Tambe] You guys tried to do

this nice black outline around it,

but I don't think it's super precise.

Is this snail a fail, or will this snail prevail?

I guess we'll find out.

[Joel] Matt and Luka.

There's precision all over the place in this.

Using the black as the tree silhouettes

in the foreground was so smart

because they can be absolutely solid.

You've even brought some texture into the trees,

almost like the light is hitting it.

I love the sunset colors in the background.

Even though it's flat lines of tape,

it gives the effect that it's not.

It's very smooth-looking.

I love how you precisely created the reflection

of the mountains and the water,

which is really cool with tape.

I never thought I would say I liked a landscape,

but I think you guys hit precision on this one.

I think it's really boring.

Damn.

But it's very precise.

[Luka] Good job, dude.

-Yeah, I had so much fun. -[Joel] Keahi and Seth.

I like how precisely it's cut out, man.

It's so clean.

[DJ Tambe] The way you cut out these lines

in between everything to create an outline, that was smart.

Using a perfect circle is really impressive.

I love how precise you were in the shapes of the shadows

that you put in the purple.

I do think it should have been symmetrical.

That leaf on the bottom left is missing.

[Ryan] It just looks a little lopsided, a little unbalanced.

[Joel] It does do something that's interesting to look at,

which is the cast shadow that it creates on the floor.

[Nikko] It almost looks better in the reflection.

That's a really cool touch, different from what we've seen.

There's nothing going on. It's just like a sticker.

Judges, it's time to determine

the winner of the flash challenge.

[Ryan] On a day where we're testing precision,

the snail can escar-go home, guys.

[all chuckling]

I enjoyed looking at the snail more than the others.

-[Ryan] What? -I did. It was more fun.

I mean, I thought there was a lot of precision

in Seth's and Keahi's piece.

You know what I mean? As far as cutting it out

and, like, the gaps in between the petals.

The lotus definitely had more precision.

But I do think it was missing a petal on that left side.

And you have to be precise with your composition as well.

For me, the landscape showed precision all over the place.

[Nikko] The precision in the trees I thought

was really cool in the silhouette.

Everything had texture to it, and it was different textures.

To create that with tape was pretty cool.

So my vote is absolutely for the landscape.

Awesome.

My vote's for Matt and Luka.

They created a foreground, middle ground, background,

and had a lot of precision shown in their piece.

Good job, bro.

My vote is for Team Seth and Keahi.

The cast shadow needs to be recognized.

No one else did it.

And I think that feature was strong enough

to put it over the line.

[Matt] Congratulations.

That's two votes for Matt and Luka,

and one vote for Team Seth and Keahi.

Cool.

My vote is for...

[dramatic music]

-...Matt and Luka. -Thank you.

-Yes. -Good job, buddy.

The judges have decided

the winner of the flash challenge

is Matt and Luka.

-Last one together, mate. -Yeah, last one.

Congratulations, Matt and Luka.

You will have the power to assign all the human canvases

in the elimination tattoo together.

-Ooh. -That's going to be interesting.

Feeling cheeky.

[Joel] Head back to the shop

and get ready for the next elimination tattoo.

-Yes. -All right.

Now I'm finally back on top.

[Kyra] Good job, landscape boys.

You do not want to be on the other side

of those skulls this week.

[tense music]

The last skull pick.

This feels like the most important moment

of the competition.

Absolutely. Everyone is strong.

Isnard's one of the biggest threats

just because he's one of the strongest.

He's creative.

And I think he can adapt to most challenges.

On precision day, we know that, sometimes,

Isnard is lacking in the technical side.

Yeah. Then we go for Seth.

Seth's pretty precise in what he does,

but then with a bad skull pick,

it could be pretty fucked.

We can be so naughty with this. Oh, it's going to be so fun.

Oh, it'll be fun.

[dramatic music]

-Welcome. -What's up?

[Joel] As the number of artists in this competition falls,

the pressure rises.

Ain't that the fucking truth?

In a competition this tight,

even the tiniest misstep

could send you home empty-handed.

I hope some people start tripping the fuck up.

Today, you must tattoo not one,

but two micro-realistic postage stamps.

-Oh! [laughs] Fuck!

Oh, you're fucked!

Micro-realism is very hard.

Not only is realism by itself

one of the hardest styles that you can tattoo,

but now you have to do it with really teeny tiny details.

For this elimination tattoo, each of your postage stamps

must be smaller than two inches by two inches on the forearm.

-Oh, my goodness. -Damn.

Two by two is like the tiniest thing

probably I ever have done in my life.

It's like this size.

Oh, my God.

Micro-realism requires you

to use really tiny needle groupings.

The tinier the needle,

the more likely you have to rip up the skin.

Bringing the scale way down and having

a real legible, readable tattoo at the same time,

it's difficult.

You got to keep it simple, clean,

and make sure not to over detail.

[Nikko] Just make sure these tattoos

don't send you like the postmark home.

Oh, shit.

Honestly, I don't feel great about micro-realism.

I'm used to doing these huge, elaborate sleeves,

and this is the exact opposite of what I do on a daily basis.

I'm so happy to have skull picks for stamps.

-Such an advantage. -Zero room for error now.

Remember, the artist that wins tattoo of the day

will join the judges' deliberation

and have the power to help decide

which three artists to put up for elimination.

50-50 chance of being in the bottom right now.

Let's meet your canvases.

[thrilling rock music]

Matt and Luka, you won the flash challenge.

You have the power to assign the canvases together.

Wow, that's going to be so fun.

[Joel] Make sure to aim with precision

or your shot could go undelivered.

Awesome.

We've got the power,

but I have a fucking memory like a goldfish.

For my first tattoo, a jaguar.

And for my second tattoo,

a Scottish castle with a storm rolling in.

I don't know what's harder, this micro-realism tattoo

or having to remember all this shit that they want

in these little tattoos.

Black-and-gray pyramids in a desert.

And a cityscape

with some mountains in the background.

Mount Fuji covered in snow with a red torii gate and a pagoda

and Whistler Mountain during winter.

That's a good one, yeah.

A Hawaiian beach sunset with sea turtles,

palm trees, and hibiscus.

And a European deli meat window display.

[Luka] You can have a couple of ham,

maybe a salami, but you're definitely not going

to get the whole market.

Black and gray London street scene with pops of red.

And for my second, a colorful rocky mountain scene.

Some pine trees in there, like a stream going down.

A color realistic Maui beach sunset.

Damn, that's cool.

For my second one, a ornate Thai Buddhist temple.

You good?

I'm going to send the worst tattoo to the best guys.

All right, that was a blur. I don't remember anything.

[Luka] Yeah, it's tough.

Isnard, Seth, for sure they're going to get the worst pick.

[Matt] Yeah.

-And if you want to save Kyra... -[Matt] Yeah, I'll save Kyra.

-[Luka] Go black and gray. -[Matt] All right, let's go.

Let's see what we got.

[Luka] Kyra and Keahi,

we're going to give them really good skull picks.

-[Matt] Black and gray. -Black and gray, yeah.

If Keahi and Kyra's tattoos are good.

-[Matt] Maui beach. -Yeah.

Isnard and Seth have nowhere to hide.

[music crescendos]

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

-on the bottom of your skull. -Matt.

-Kyra. -Hi.

No, Luka, Matt.

You fucked me.

I really don't want a black and gray tattoo.

That's what I've been doing

predominantly throughout this competition.

And that could definitely send me into the bottom.

I thought I was throwing a bone there on that one.

-Luka. -Yes. I'm excited.

Seth.

Yeah, awesome.

He's a silly sausage. He deserves it.

-Okay. -Isnard.

What up?

Ugh!

There's a lot of little detail.

But, again, I'm going to prove them wrong and I'm going

to do something so kick-ass, they'll be like, "What?"

-Keahi. -How's it?

[thrilling music]

You will have six hours to create two perfectly precise

postage stamps on your canvas's forearm.

Hell, yeah.

Sign, seal, and deliver expert precision

or you'll be packing your machines.

[exhales stressfully]

Good luck, guys.

[rock music]

All right. I'm Kyra. Nice to meet you.

You want to come with me? Let's talk about your ideas.

The Egyptian pyramids and the other one, Vancouver.

You go to the beach, you can see downtown.

You can see the mountains.

Mountains, a beach, the city skyline.

We need to simplify.

I do like how you want to represent Vancouver.

-The planes are kind of cool. -[Man] Yeah, the sea planes.

-Sea planes? -I've been on a sea plane.

-That's pretty cool. Okay. -I like that a lot, actually.

Black and gray is the hardest part.

[Seth] The one was the delicatessen.

What was the other one?

Like, a Hawaiian sunset beach scene.

Okay.

And then sea turtles, palm tree, hibiscus.

Because it is micro, each one has to fit within this.

If you try to put too many details in too small a space,

the details can blur together. It won't be that good anymore.

This Hawaiian tattoo is really for my mom

and I think the hibiscus represents her the most.

[Seth] Oh, okay.

[Woman] If we have to pick, like, one element, it's that.

-for sure. Yes. -Yes.

[chuckles]

[Isnard] You say you want a London.

I would like it to have a taxi in there if possible.

And then also, of course, that iconic telephone booth.

Don't forget, if you start

putting a lot of things, it looks like a mess.

Oh, okay. What happened to the turtle?

She said the hibiscus is more important.

I would have done the turtle, personally.

I would have done the turtle.

[Woman] Does he always talk that much shit?

Oh, yeah, his ego does the talking for him.

-All good, Isnard? -Yeah.

Just thinking about the...

Yeah, it's all good.

-Oh, you sound nervous. -Pssh.

Let the games of the mini tattoos commence.

[surging industrial music]

No one else is doing black and grey.

It's crazy to me that something so small takes so long.

I'm just gonna start pouring out some colors.

We're at the point now where it's like

even good tattoos go home.

It's like, "Oh, shit."

Artists, you have six hours to deliver

two perfectly precise postage stamp tattoos.

And your time starts now.

-Here we go. -All right.

Okay, this is the moment.

Hopefully, these artists are wearing

their prescription glasses today,

because they got a two-by-two square to work with.

Oh, that's a lot of lines to decipher.

Don't freak me out like that. [laughs]

Micro-realistic tattoos are hard.

Just got a little smudgy at the bottom.

You're taking something

that would be in a highly detailed big image,

and you're shrinking it all the way down.

[Keahi] Today is not a good day for smudge.

[Man] [chuckles] No.

So you gotta be mindful of where to put that detail

and when to take it out.

Here it is, man.

If you're an artist that likes doing these huge back pieces...

[Matt] I love the detail of that face. It's weird.

[DJ Tambe] Get ready.

Today, you're creating a back piece for a hamster.

-[Man 2] Perfect. -All right, let's go.

[rock music]

Starting with the more technical, detailed one.

[Man] I noticed that, yeah. Make sense.

Just to like fucking make sure we get it, you know?

With bigger tattoos,

you have a little bit of wiggle room.

You can hide some of your mistakes,

but the opposite is true for micro-realism.

You have nowhere to hide with this tattoo.

Mr. Montreal over there, he does realism.

So, if anyone's gonna be comfortable, it's probably him.

[tense music]

[Matt] How much have you got done, Luka?

80% done on the first one.

-[Matt] What? -[Isnard] Nah.

We've not even hit one hour.

Okay, just come on now.

I'm gonna put every realistic trick that I have

into this piece.

Folds, rips, because I want

to show the judges that I can be on top.

What?

You're going for it already. Take it easy.

The other one's gonna be more tricky.

This is what I do, so if I end up in the bottom

for something like this,

that would feel fucking horrible.

It's so small.

Artists, there are four hours left on the clock.

[tense industrial music]

The micro part of it is the part that is like,

-"Whoa, this is intense." -[tattoo gun buzzing]

I've got to fit in all of these cheese wheels,

organ meats, sausages hanging like garland,

all within this tiny little space.

It could go wrong really quickly.

Oh, dang.

You got the meat market. Tiny, tiny, wow.

-Little sausages. -[Seth] Precision, right?

Precision, man. Right on.

[Seth] I mostly just wanted to get

the German deli stuff done first,

and now the flower's gonna fly by.

There's no fucking way I'm going home on a deli tattoo.

[Man 3] Nervous right now? Is this like--

[Kyra] Absolutely not.

I do realism, so I can do micro-realism.

Yeah, I guess it's just like realism,

but on a smaller scale and more detailed.

[Kyra] Yeah, kind of like that.

I'm really worried that I'm at a disadvantage.

Color, kind of, like, to the eye, beats black and gray,

so I have to do the best black and gray I can possibly do

just to get that edge, I guess.

And then you kind of warped one a little bit?

Yeah, I just didn't want things to look so static.

To actually do a tattoo

representing my hometown is really cool.

"Vancouver girl wins Ink Master."

That sounds kind of nice, yeah?

[tattoo gun buzzing]

You feel like they threw you a bone a little bit, though,

with giving you Hawaii and all that?

You know, working in Waikiki, we've definitely done

a few of these little sunset tattoos.

But that temple's the one that got me.

'Cause it's so intricate on such a little scale.

I'm in the top six right now.

I've fought every step of the way

to keep myself in this competition,

but I still haven't won tattoo of the day,

and I'm really pushing for it with this tattoo.

I need to make Hawaii proud

and prove that I deserve to be here.

[tense music]

Wow, is that the smallest little animal portrait you've done?

-It's 100% the smallest. -Wow.

[Matt] I have to do a castle,

and what they are made of is fucking bricks.

Thousands of them.

I try not to overcomplicate it.

When it's so small, you've got to pick your battles

on which bricks you want to pull out.

There's so much room for error to not know what it is.

It can be a fucking muddy mess.

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do

with the edge of the paper.

I just gotta make it look real.

You've got two hours for two stamps.

[dramatic music]

How is it working with this tiny stuff?

Man, like, I'm, like, uh, freaking out.

My normal style, I draw lines to give some dimensions to it.

In realism, you don't have no outlines anywhere.

This is wild for me.

I was just worried about finishing this one,

but I'm finished now. I'm familiar with this.

[Ryan] Is that a little tack holding it down?

Yeah, I was like, "How can I stand out?"

[Ryan] Yeah, half of you guys

are going to be in the bottom today,

probably on good tattoos.

Thanks for the positivity, you guys.

Well, no. Just a friendly reminder.

[chuckles] Oh, my God.

I'm going to nail this.

There is precisely one hour left.

[Seth] Hey, guys, remember when we all said

we were going to be done in like a few hours?

Yo, I don't remember saying shit about that.

[laughing]

-[Man 3] I love the red. -[Kyra] Right?

[Man 3] It's like so subtle, but it's so good.

I can't believe that half of these artists are going

to have to be in the bottom three this week

because I don't see a single bad tattoo being done.

[DJ Tambe] This one's going to be real hard.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, who's going to make it to their destination?

Who's going to get lost in the mail?

-You know what I mean? -Send with a kiss.

You good, Luka?

-[Luka] No. -[laughs]

[Matt] Here we go.

[Luka] Oh!

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

-No more ink. -Yee-haw!

Done, buddy.

-That is micro. -[Man 3] Sick.

[Woman] I can literally just like pluck them off

and put them on a piece of mail.

[laughs]

[Woman 2] I absolutely love it.

-[Isnard] Yeah! -[Woman 2] Yep. [chuckles]

Final five, here we come.

Did you see Isnard's?

From what I saw, it wasn't looking realistic.

He went more illustrative.

So maybe it was a good strategy.

-[Matt] Yeah. -[Luka] We'll see.

[surging industrial music]

[dramatic music]

Today, you had to show precision

with micro-realistic postage stamps.

[exhales stressfully]

Let's see how you did.

All right. Here we go.

Matt.

[Matt] Far out, straight out of the gate.

I like the edges of the stamps.

That perforation and that realistic stamp edge

tells the story of it being a stamp

without having to explain it too much.

This portrait of this jaguar, all these cool textures.

You pulled off this detail.

Tiny. It's really amazing.

The castle and the hills on top are really nice.

I like the water.

[Ryan] I mean, talk about precision.

You have actual little blocks indicated in there.

These tattoos are awesome.

You fucking crushed.

Seth.

[tense music]

You had one of the hardest asks doing all this meat.

You know, you pulled it off successfully.

It reads as like, you know, sausages and meat and cleaver.

[Ryan] The little wheels of cheese,

I love the gray tones in them to really make them look white,

bright, and pop.

But the flower could have been a little punchier.

Some of the greens get a little washy in areas

and doesn't have that solid vibrancy.

One thing that I don't love is the fold.

It doesn't look realistic to me.

It kind of just folds over completely.

It's a little exaggerated. It loses that realistic feel.

Kyra.

[industrial music]

These remind me of old stamps.

The realism part is the red stamp on top.

That is just like the perfect little addition

with the little half of the city's names on there.

The depiction of Egypt in the bottom is super cool.

It's super successful.

These camels have shading in them and textures.

I love the reflection of the shadow of them walking.

It's just a great little photo.

The plane reads really well.

I do see that the top one's a little skewed,

warped a little bit. What was--

I curved the whole stamp at the top

because I thought it would be fun and different.

[Nikko] It kind of takes away from it a little bit.

[DJ Tambe] But you killed these tiny details.

Super precise. These are great tattoos.

Thank you.

Keahi.

[industrial music]

That little temple is very, very impressive.

Cropping it and choosing

a really recognizable view of this

was the smartest way to go, and you crushed.

The top sunset is sick.

You nailed the tones in it and the reflection.

It looks like a postcard.

[DJ Tambe] I love the tear.

Really tiny detail, but it looks realistic.

But coming off of that tear,

the stamp gets a little unrealistic.

They look like they're too close to the skin tone.

[Ryan] Paper is white.

You have the white in that little three cents.

So if you show white in one area,

it makes the border of the stamp look flat.

[Nikko] You hit precision in the centers of them,

but, on the outside, they could have been a little bit

more clean and just deliberate.

Isnard.

[suspensive music]

I love the color and the white and the balance

of gray and everything that you put in those borders.

It's awesome. The landscape is great.

The trees and the reflection are really, really lovely.

Pulling off this intricate phone booth shows precision.

That's a lot of little details to render that small.

I like the way the red repeats itself from the phone box

to the stamp to the pin.

That little thumbtack is crazy realistic,

even the little metallic stem that goes in.

I personally think you hit the ball on this one.

Solid, clean, colorful.

-You did a great job. -Thank you, guys.

-Pushpin! -[imitates light pistol fire]

-Luka. -[industrial music]

You put in so many little tricks to make the eye believe

that these are folded and crumpled and torn,

which is really impressive.

I really love the mountain.

The color with the shadows

looks really cool with the trees.

The top one, Mount Fuji, I feel like I'm there.

It has that perfect lighting.

I love the perforation.

It has a really realistic look to it,

like a stamp would be.

I guess if I'm being honest, the safety pin just kind

of gives me the creeps because it looks like it hurts.

Maybe that means it's really good.

This is what it means.

[laughter]

The fact that I look at it and keep going like, "Ah..."

[DJ Tambe] It does look like there's a bump, right?

It looks like it's red, right? It looks like it hurts.

-[Joel] Good job. -Thank you very much, guys.

Judges, it's time to determine

who had the best tattoo of the day.

I think Matt's was pretty amazing.

The closer you get to that Scottish castle,

the more you're like, "Holy shit!"

Every single brick

is absolutely indicated, and it's near perfect.

-[DJ Tambe] Yeah. -Matt's a killer, man.

It definitely looks more stylized

than realistic, though.

Luka hit micro-realism in the folds and the glares

and the perforations and the shadows.

My vote for tattoo of the day goes to Luka.

-Thank you. -My vote is for Matt.

This is a hard choice,

but my vote goes for Luka.

It's a little bit closer to micro-realism.

That's two votes for Luka, one vote for Matt.

Both super precise, great tattoos.

Going back to the challenge, micro-realistic.

My vote is for Luka.

Thank you very much.

The judges have decided the best tattoo of the day goes to Luka.

[Matt] You got one in the bag, buddy.

That means, this week, you will join the judges' deliberation

to help decide which three artists

to put up for elimination.

Matt's gone.

[laughter]

Everyone else can head back to the lounge,

and we will call you back when we have a decision.

[Keahi] Good job, bud.

[surging industrial music]

[Keahi] Everyone is so good at this point.

It's only going to get closer. It's only going to get harder.

I'm not ready to go home.

My wife is super strong.

Like, she's holding it down for us.

My girls are pretty young. I miss them.

I'm sure they miss me, but it's like--

I knew you missed them.

I miss them so much, but if I were to go home

and not accomplish everything that I set out to accomplish,

I feel like I would have wasted the time

that I'm away from them.

That's the whole reason I'm here, to get this money,

to give them a better life.

It definitely reminds me of my own dad.

My parents provided so much for me,

and like, growing up,

the Asian stereotype around tattooing, you know how it is.

Yeah, always kind of a toss-up if we're going

to get our parents' backings.

When I said, "Hey, look, I'm going to tattoo,"

-they actually supported me. -Wow.

I want to prove to my parents that I'm going to be okay,

that they didn't make a mistake by trusting me.

Yeah.

[Kyra] That's why I'm so competitive.

I want to prove to them that I made it here,

but I also made it to the end.

-It's getting real, man. -Yeah.

[rock music]

All right, so, today, the artists had to do

micro-realistic postage stamps.

Luka, who would you put in the bottom?

My brain goes straight away to techniques and fundamentals.

Technically, Keahi maybe was lacking a bit.

It's a bit light on the outside.

-I could see that, too. -I see that.

In that top one, he's got

all this really punchy, nice, bright color.

It makes the bottom look really washy.

I just don't see the confidence in Keahi's

on the outside of the stamp.

-[Joel] The outlines? -Yeah, they just look too light.

I'm leaning towards Kyra.

The top stamp is skewed in an entirely unrealistic way.

[Nikko] Inside, they're really successful.

Really realistic black and gray.

How come she didn't do that on the outside?

Yeah, there's a big difference

between the borders and the inside.

It's solid, though.

And I think it's a better tattoo than Seth for the technique.

[DJ Tambe] The flower could have been way more punched in.

Lacks tons of saturation.

The fold at the bottom kind of killed the realism for me.

[DJ Tambe] Yeah.

There's something I can't place that's missing.

I think we don't know if it's stamps or photos.

[DJ Tambe] Yeah, I think they could be postcards.

[Ryan] If you're not going to make it look entirely realistic

with all of the textures, and the rips, and the folds,

something has to indicate that they're stamps.

It's very hard to try and split hairs here.

[Ryan] Half of the competitors are going to be in the bottom.

And all six tattoos are awesome.

All right, Luka, why don't you go get them?

[tense music]

The judges have decided

that the three artists up for elimination are...

Keahi.

Kyra.

Seth.

Fuck, I didn't see that last one.

-I'm shocked. -You fucking struck lucky, huh?

Somebody had to go, so...

[Isnard] Hey, guys, good luck.

[Matt] Good luck.

I have no idea what's going to happen.

[dramatic rock music]

Today, you were being tested on precision.

Yep.

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

Good luck, fam.

Good luck, guys.

Keahi, the reason you're on the bottom three

is because the outside border wasn't readable,

didn't seem as confident as the inside.

That outer border definitely got away from me a bit.

I thought it would be kind of weird to just pack white.

Just having, like, an outline on the bottom

would have really helped in just putting white

as, like, a beveled edge.

Realism, it's not something that I do very often.

But I definitely put a lot

into the micro-realism portion of it.

It's not bad tattoos, man. Just missing those little parts.

Kyra, you're in the bottom today because the choice to skew

the top stamp was a little off when we're testing realism.

Maybe I was just trying to be a little too creative,

especially when I should have just stuck

to what I knew as a realism artist.

You also outlined the entire top stamp

and made it look like it has an illustrative sort of effect.

I do stand by this piece.

I do think it'll stand the test of time.

And if I was to add a drop shadow,

I feel like I could make this make sense.

Seth, you're in the bottom because of your lack

of saturation in that top stamp.

[Seth] I was a little bit surprised.

Even though there was some issues with the tattoo,

I don't think that this was bad enough to send me home.

It's a hair between you guys right now.

[Joel] Bottom three.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Judges, this is not going to be an easy decision.

All three of these are good tattoos.

Seth's reads as the most realistic.

You obviously know it's a 3D paper object

that's sitting on top of skin.

[DJ Tambe] I totally agree.

Looking at Kyra and Keahi together,

the problem is the outside border.

[Nikko] Keahi's, the bottom outline on the top stamp,

it's not even consistent. At least Kyra's looks confident.

[DJ Tambe] But it doesn't look realistic.

[Ryan] Why would you skew a rectangle

to make it have a shape that it doesn't actually have?

[DJ Tambe] They don't look like realistic stamps

stuck to the skin,

like you pulled them off an envelope.

[Ryan] Keahi's has some of

the coolest micro-realism tricks

that were done today. The rip at the bottom.

The corner folds up on the bottom.

Whereas Kyra tried to make her tattoo unique.

It looks like the stencil

got fucked up when it was placed on the arm.

Why would you do that?

[thrilling music]

My vote is for Kyra to go home.

My vote is Keahi.

He executed the colors and the pictures

in the stamps really well.

But the borders of the stamps, they get lost.

Keahi's decisions to lean

more into realism hit the challenge more.

My vote's for Kyra to go home.

[Joel] That's one vote for Keahi and two votes for Kyra.

Look, I'm at that point where I'm splitting hairs.

My vote originally was going to be for Keahi.

But I will agree that that skewed part of Kyra's

makes me wonder what's going on.

My vote

is for Kyra to go home.

[dramatic music]

[Joel] The judges have decided,

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

[indistinct]

But, yeah, I mean, I'm just happy

to have competed.

This was like the challenge I wanted.

And it was so cool to have it at this point in my career.

You're a beast.

You did some of the most amazing tattoos in this competition.

But it only takes one challenge to take some of the best out.

I wish you all the luck in your career.

-Keep doing what you do. -Thank you.

Please pack your machines and close shop.

[Kyra] I learned a lot during this competition.

I'm coming back to Vancouver a stronger artist.

I mean, I'm six years in.

You don't want to see me six years later.

Don't worry. I got that big dog in me.

I still got it. [chuckles]

[Narrator] On the next episode of Ink Master...

[DJ Tambe] Who wants that finale spot that bad?

[Man 4] How's the pressure been this season?

Pretty fucking rough.

This is the first time I feel like I can go home.

[laughs]

There is one last thing you should know.

-Didn't see this one coming. -Holy shit.

There's no fucking way that I'm going home.

[rock music]

[music]

[music]