Original subtitles

Male announcer: On the last episode of

"Ink Master: Shop Wars"...

- I feel like the alliance

is more important than ever right now.

- Unfortunately, we're the ones

that are thinning out, and the veterans are staying.

- They're getting smarter.

- We need to do something.

announcer: With more incoming veterans...

- Representing Black Spade Tattoo,

King Ruck and E.S.

- I came to flex.

announcer: The alliance aimed to take control

in the flash challenge.

- The judges have decided the winner

of today's flash challenge is Artistic Skin Design.

announcer: In the elimination tattoo,

veteran shops struggled to survive.

- Having control over everyone

kind of makes you feel like a mastermind.

I'm into it.

- Black Spade Tattoo.

- Damn. We got hit hard.

- Think Before You Ink.

- You better think hard before you make this dumb-ass tattoo.

What's up with the cosmic gladiators?

- You ain't got [bleep] to say about it, dude.

- Oh, you had the Etch-a-Sketch wreck.

announcer: In the elimination,

Classic Trilogy Tattoo, Pinz and Needlez,

and Think Before You Ink were the bottom three shops.

- Classic Trilogy Tattoo.

- You guys went nuts in this thing,

Drastically under-finished tattoo.

- Pinz and Needlez.

- Those hands are jacked, and you put that on somebody.

- [bleep].

- I would argue that it is not as bad as Think Before You Ink.

- If I had to say which one of these three tattoos

had the most technical problems,

I got to go with Think Before You Ink.

It's hard for me to let that slide.

- Think Before You Ink,

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

♪ ♪

announcer: Eight shops remain

to take on returning veteran shops,

but only one will earn a $200,000 prize

and the title of Master Shop.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- He's gone. Ding-dong, Rich is gone.

- We've hit a groove with the alliance,

but what's our plan now that the lower tier

is starting to get bumped off?

- Don't help the veterans.

- Yeah, we're really getting a chance to see

everybody's weak points come out.

- Picasso and Lalo,

all you have to do is hit them with a big-ass tattoo.

DJ and Bubba, split them up. - Split them up.

- King Ruck and them, like, are they even...

- I mean, I don't think that they're a threat,

and I think they'll end up cutting themselves out.

- The kinks is getting smoothed out.

- We still working it out, man.

- You know how the saying goes.

The tallest blade of grass gets cut first.

We're not trying to stand out and be too wild at first.

That's really more for some juvenile

little young mother[bleep]. That's not my mode.

- That's right. - I'm a OG.

- 100. - I think right now

we keep observing. - Stay middle.

- Cool, calm, and collected till the time is right,

and then we'll strike. - I'm with it.

- We good, man. - I'm with it.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Welcome. You're here to fight for your shop.

Survive, and you'll earn $200,000,

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

Plus, your shop will also earn

the first-ever title of Master Shop.

Standing between you and the title

is the next returning veteran.

From Pensacola, Florida, he competed in season eight...

and is the owner of Boneface Ink,

Boneface and Hobo Ink.

[rock music]

- For what my skill set was going into the competition,

I made it really, really far.

But I felt like I didn't perform as well as I could.

- You have tricks up your sleeve.

You're able to put in strong color.

You're able to put black where it needs to be

to make the other colors vibrant,

but artistically you have a lot of holes in the game.

- My biggest issue is my design. I can't get this water right,

and I'm still trying to figure out

how I'm gonna hide this old tattoo completely.

- You're consistent with application.

It's just here you're really challenged artistically.

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

Welcome back, Boneface. Who'd you bring with you?

- I brought Hobo Ink back with me.

- Wait, isn't that the guy that got kicked off

the first episode last season? - Oh, yeah!

- A lot of good artists got eliminated prematurely

last season. Felt like he was one of them.

Figured I'd give him a shot at redemption.

- The last time I was here, I went home super quick.

Nobody knew my name.

Traditional tradition.

- Does that say, "Wild, free, alive," or, "Wild, tree, alive?"

I think that he's only doing one tat today.

Hobo, it's the end of the line.

- This guy came with a lot. I have a lot to offer.

You put that together, you got beef stew, you hear me?

Everybody gonna eat.

- Boneface and Hobo Ink, this week is designed

to put your shop to the ultimate test.

Succeed, and you'll stay, but fail,

and your shop goes home as fast as you returned.

- Hope you plan on getting blood on them Yeezy Boosts.

- You gonna put them on there?

- Shots fired!

- This week we're testing artistry.

- This is what I struggle with, but this time I came prepared.

- Bone admitted hisself that he's not the best artist,

but he snatched me up, and that's what I'm here for.

- Today you must create a work of art using only...

powdered velvet.

- Ohh...

- First, you'll stencil your design

onto an 8' by 4' black adhesive board.

Then you'll apply colored velvet powder

to create your masterpiece.

- I hate velvet... I don't even like touching the [bleep].

It's one of my, like, things I'm scared of.

- The more limited your materials are,

the more artistry it takes to make something incredible.

Win, and your shop will have the power to assign

all the human canvases for the elimination tattoo.

- What's coming ahead, you want to have the advantage.

Do not let this one slip out of your fingers.

It is going to be a mother[bleep].

- You will have five hours,

and your time begins...

now. - Let's do this.

[energetic music]

- This week we're testing these artists on flocking.

This is an artistic technique

where there's a big 4 x 8 board.

It's sticky, and they have to stencil off areas of it.

- This'll be the easiest one to do, the landscape.

- Yeah. Since the challenge is artistry,

I think we should make,

like, a nice cutout frame. - Okay.

- And then add a colored powder to create an overall picture.

- That looks chunky.

- I'm looking to see somebody really show us

that they can work with any medium.

- I think it would be kind of cool maybe

if we did a big tarot card.

- I am almost certain that nobody at home

has a flocking device that they are playing with

in their spare time.

- Hand on the bottom, and lotus and a Buddha.

- No tattoo stuff. This is art.

Get tattoos out of your head. - DJ does art

with literally every single thing he does.

I don't possess that same trait,

and so I'm letting him take the lead 100%.

What were your thoughts? - We could even...

Oh, I'm thinking all kinds of [bleep], dude.

How about... how about a kid

with a gas mask in a burning city or some [bleep]?

- If that's what you want to do, I'll do that.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Oh, I got it.

Let's do the hand of God touching and brushes...

That way we can we can ink with the tip of the brushes.

You see what I'm saying? - Yeah.

What makes Hobo and I so strong

is that he's a great artist, and I'm a strong technician.

We up against the field too, so they can't be

ABC coloring book all the way. - No doubt.

- We definitely have to swing for the fences on this one.

- This is gonna be crazy.

[rock music]

- Okay, so smoke into the red,

and then his cloak was gonna be red.

- This is going great.

Eva knows exactly what she wants to do.

I know what I want to do.

Our ideas are coming together perfectly.

- As long as I don't layer it too heavy,

I can get some blends.

- Go for it. We can figure out anything.

This is artistry at its finest.

(chuckles)

- You have three more hours.

- The pressure's definitely on, because we [bleep] up last week.

- Those hands are jacked, and you put that on somebody.

I would have quit too.

- We need to show that we can create beautiful art

and pull our heads out of our asses.

- This is what I need right here.

I need a real dark, a medium... - We, we, man, we.

Ain't no I in team. We. We need it.

Once again our two alpha male minds are clashing.

- I'll put the orange here.

- No, I got faith in you, man. I just don't want...

- No, you don't, dog.

Keep it real, man. That's all I got to say.

- Final hour. One hour left, guys.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Maybe do like a horizon line?

- No horizon lines.

That whole kind of glowing star, like, glowing between his horns.

- Yeah. - This challenge

is right up my alley!

They keep saying I'm an artist. I'm gonna show 'em.

This could be a chance for us to get back in the game.

- This, like, doesn't work.

I think that one's better, maybe.

I know nothing about flock.

I'm flocking oblivious.

This is literally impossible. - [sighs]

Freaking out yet? - Yeah.

[dramatic music]

- Five, four, three,

two, one. That is it.

Time is up.

- Like, there's a couple spots here

that it's like, that just didn't work.

Ours is the worst.

Don't tell April I said that.

Hopefully Allegory and Unkindness killed it.

We have to win skull picks.

The competition keeps getting harder and harder,

and the pressure keeps getting more and more.

Calling it. Let's just go.

- It's pretty bad.

- All right, it is time to critique your work.

Let's start with Boneface Ink. How is it being back?

- This right here, I give all y'all respect for this [bleep].

This was one of the hardest things I ever done in my life.

- Pretty clear it got away from you.

- Your hand and your cup are the things

that stick out as unfinished.

- As far as the overall concept, I don't know

if the most creative way to show artistry

is just to show an art utensil.

- You're supposed to be a threat,

and this is not threatening

in any way, shape, or form.

- Allegory Arts. - Artistically,

you did a very detailed drawing,

strong imagery and a strong story to tell.

- The fingers look great.

The details in the scythe look great.

The wood, the grain in those areas, it really shines.

- Awesome.

- Unkindness Art.

- I am a fan of tarot card art,

but to try to pull that off

with a medium that you've never used

is taking that artistic license and that chance,

and to me, that speaks volumes.

- Thank you so much. - Thanks.

- Artistic Skin Design.

- It looks very remedial.

- You guys have been super hot,

and now you're getting super cold.

You need to get back at least in midrange to stay alive.

- I just wanted to take my eyeballs out my head

and just put them on a shelf somewhere.

I didn't want to see this piece.

This piece looked like my daughter did it.

- House of Monkey. - Overall,

you definitely hit a graphic image.

It's definitely readable from across the room.

I feel like if the lights go off,

this thing glows in the dark in different colors,

and so intense and graphic.

- I just really like the simple,

bold, classic contrast that you got here.

I think it's a pretty impressive feat.

- Thank you.

- Classic Trilogy Tattoo.

- It has a very simplistic feel to it.

- Unfortunately, to show us a tool of artistry

isn't showing us artistry.

Pinz and Needlez.

- This scene falls a little bit flat on creativity.

- You guys are still stiff.

You know, it's not, "I'm amazed at this beach scene,"

and at the same time it's not the messiest thing

in the room, but it's like, this next challenge,

you guys got to go for it.

- Black Spade.

- Did y'all notice the difference between

the left eye and the right eye?

'Cause the eye on the left looks round,

and the eye on the right is far from round

with a pupil far from the center.

It's pretty wonky.

- Old Town Ink.

- Even though I do think it is

one of the more messier ones in the room,

it's very clear to tell what's going on here.

- This is one of the few pieces of the day that tells a story,

that stirs up emotion,

and that's more important than the application.

- The subtle American flag coming out of that

really deep black sends the message.

A for effort in trying to put out a piece of artwork

and not showing us tattoo imagery.

- I don't understand what the judges are thinking.

Their picture looks like a mess!

It looks like a salad with a man standing next to it.

It's very confusing.

- People are gunning for us hard.

- Is this a cover-up? - Yes, sir.

- This could send you to the bottom.

- I'm just trying to make it simple.

Please don't screw this up for us.

- I got it.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- All right, guys. Today we are testing artistry.

- Creativity is the biggest thing.

- Yeah. - And Allegory's

the one in the room to me that looks like a plan,

a follow-through, and a finish,

and I like that imagery, and I like the story

that it tells. - I do too, I do too.

- The crispness of the piece entirely is nice.

It was just when I saw something else in the room

that stood out, that kind of fell to the wayside.

- Yeah. - Old Town was the ones

that I did not expect to see that.

- It was certainly very creative.

- It was messy. It was sloppy,

but it was completely recognizable what was going on.

- A lot of their messiness isn't their strategy.

It looks to me like their plan fell apart.

- We don't always agree, but... - That's why

there's three of us. - We do have a majority.

Let's let them know.

Today some of you used artistry to create extraordinary images.

The judges have decided

the winner of today's flash challenge is...

[dramatic music]

Old Town Ink.

Congratulations, DJ and Bubba.

You really had a creative approach

to making this thing a piece of art

in terms of telling the story, evoking emotion,

and I think that you took it down for those reasons.

- Are you [bleep] kidding me?

We should have won this damn challenge.

When stuff is convoluted and messy,

doesn't mean it's artistic.

- You'll have the power to assign all human canvases

in the next elimination tattoo.

- Once again we win another flash challenge.

We're gonna take 'em out one by one,

line 'em up... [clicks tongue] take 'em down.

- You can all head back to the loft.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- What do you think about the new guys?

- Let's just keep doing what we've been doing

and giving the new guys, like, the hardest one.

- So you think Hobo and Boneface should get the hardest?

- Yeah. - You know, we still got

all these beasts in the house. - This is crazy.

I haven't been this far so far, and I've never been on top

in my history here, so it feels weird kind of.

- Don't let it feel weird, man.

It should feel good. You know, just stay on top.

- Yup. That's my plan, man, stay on top.

- 'Cause at a certain point,

people are gonna gun for us hard, you know?

All this friend bull[bleep]'s gonna stop.

- Yeah, dude, I'm so ready. - I feel like we stay steady

and make good tattoos, we're good.

- Yeah, do a badass tattoo and leave with a W again,

make it to the end, get that money.

- Yeah.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Welcome to the elimination tattoo.

This is your chance to show that your shop

deserves $200,000

and the first ever title of Master Shop.

Boneface, it's on your shop to prove

that you deserve to be back in this competition

by proving that you have overcome your weaknesses.

And in Boneface's honor, you'll all be judged on artistry.

♪ ♪

This week you must freehand a tattoo.

[all gasp, murmur]

Drawing directly on the skin without a stencil

is the ultimate test of artistry.

- Freehand here?

This is something that has a lot of room for error.

If you don't have a chance to put it on paper first

and work out all of the kinks, you're gonna have some problems.

- In this competition, you win or lose as a shop,

and this tattoo is no exception.

But you each only have one tool.

One of you will use a pen and the other a tattoo machine.

- Oh. - [bleep].

- It's up to you who draws and who tattoos,

but once you decide, there is no going back.

- It's incredibly difficult for someone to draw it

and then somebody else to tattoo it.

I'm not in his mind, and he's not in my mind.

- The first artist will have three hours

to freehand the design on your canvas,

and the second artist will have six hours to tattoo it.

- You guys have some tough questions to ask yourselves.

Who's the best artist on paper,

but then who's the best technician to apply the artwork?

Because it all counts.

This is where we put you guys to the test on,

"Okay, let's see what you can whip up."

- Let's meet your canvases.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Old Town Ink, your shop won the flash challenge.

That means you guys have the power to assign the canvases.

Use this advantage wisely.

- Yes, sir. - Everybody here already knows

that we're a huge threat in this competition.

- Don't [bleep] it up. - Pfftt!

- We're gonna keep doing what we've been doing.

What is it you wanted to get today?

- Colorful phoenix on my left thigh.

- Black and gray raven midflight on my back.

- I want colorful flowers on my right butt cheek.

- Oh, that smells nice. - In a bouquet of flowers,

you can't show too much artistry doing it,

but I don't mind a nice piece of butt every now and then.

- A bull carcass on my lower right arm.

- What are you thinking for today?

- Turntable and headphones on my left arm.

- Holy [bleep], that sounds so freaking hard.

Freehand perfect circles and turntables?

Don't give me that one!

- I want a watercolor octopus on my neck.

- Whoa. - What the [bleep]?

- Neck's definitely

where you wanna get... - No budging?

- Absolutely. - Pretty ballsy.

- A watercolor tattoo in this competition

is never good, especially not on somebody's neck,

especially not in a freehand challenge,

and most especially not in an octopus shape.

Too much!

- Yes. - I'm 1,000% sure

Old Town Ink is gonna screw us over.

I can see it in their eyes. I'm watching them.

- [whistles] - I won't be surprised.

- This part of this [bleep] don't bother me.

- What? - I'm always cool

with whatever the [bleep].

[dramatic music]

- That was a hard one, everybody. Sorry.

- Canvases, one by one,

please read the artist's name on the bottom of your skull.

- Black Spade Tattoo.

- Pinz and Needlez.

- A bull carcass.

- House of Monkey.

- Old Town Ink.

- B-b-b-b-butt cheek.

- Classic Trilogy Tattoo.

- You're welcome, Thom. - [clicks tongue]

- I'm just sick of Classic Trilogy's boring tattoos.

They're only capable of one thing, and it's showing,

you know? Let's see what they got.

- Allegory Arts.

- Artistic Skin Design. - Cool.

- [bleep].

- Unkindness Art.

- [whispers] That's true.

- Boneface Ink.

- [softly] Called it. - Mm-hmm.

- [whispers] Gonna see what you guys are made of.

- No, it's all good. We can handle it.

Old Town Ink's strategy is to give us the hardest canvas,

but I know the game.

I'm gonna turn this thing around,

and it's gonna come back to bite them.

- All right, guys, you'll have three hours

to freehand your designs and then six hours to tattoo.

Based on your work, one shop will be out,

and your drawing time starts now.

- What's up, buddy? - Picasso. Nice to meet you.

- No stencils, everything has to be drawn directly onto the skin.

We're really pushing the limits of the artists' artistic skills.

- Lalo, what's our strategy?

- I'm very excited to tattoo. - Okay.

- I think you're amazing at drawing.

- The big twist is one artist has to draw it

and then take a backseat

while the other artist does the tattoo.

- So you're gonna be the drawer, and I'm gonna be the tattooer?

- Uh-huh. - Okay. I'm putting away

my drawing stuff.

- There's gonna have to be a lot of teamwork.

If one artist just draws it and then leaves the room,

the other guy's left in the dark with just a scribble.

- To give you the best tattoo,

I'm going to design your piece, and Ulyss will tattoo it.

- There's an advantage to having a partner in this competition.

The name's back in lights, baby.

Hobo is a pretty solid artist. He's gonna draw.

We can do a watercolor, but if you don't want

some [bleep] that's just gonna look like a blob on your neck,

we got to do some type of line work to hold it together.

Anything watercolor in this competition will send you home.

- Could you do, like, drips of paint kind of?

- Definitely. - So, like, it would be, like,

all line work for the octopus

and then just random drips. - Definitely. Definitely.

- I gotta do the dopest drawing

so I can Brett Favre this to my man.

He can catch it and run off with it, baby.

- You gonna kill this [bleep]. They tried to give us

the hardest one. - Joke's on you, mother[bleep].

I am not going home, you get me?

- Yeah, skulls and stuff, I'm definitely down

with that [bleep]. - You like more dark imagery?

- Yeah, absolutely. On my back where I wanna

get this, I have my first tattoo I got when I was 13.

I was looking to get it covered.

- He wants a cover-up.

I don't want to do the cover-up, dude.

- Pretend this isn't here.

- You can't. - Yes, I can.

- Okay, but I can't when I'm drawing it then.

That's what I do. - When you draw this,

you can't pretend that's not there?

- I'm just saying why are we doing that if we don't have to?

- The skull's gonna be all right here,

and then this bird is gonna be to here like that.

- So you want to go pretty big then.

- Nothing scares me, man.

- There's so many things about this tattoo

that I'm so uncomfortable with.

If I mess up the drawing, that could throw everything off.

I'm so stressed out right now.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- How big is that tattoo?

- To be fair, this is smaller

than the last couple tattoos that we've done.

- Remember how we've been doing these giant tattoos,

and they're not getting done, and they look unfinished?

- Yeah, no, I know. I know. - I don't wanna be

pressed for time.

- Clean, simple, not trying to move

a whole bunch of craziness, you know what I'm saying?

We in this together. - Yeah.

- Other than background, I wouldn't go crazy.

We don't need to overcomplicate it.

- Oh-ho-ho.

Oh, look who's talking about overcomplicating.

- I'm just trying to make it simple.

- Me too.

- My approach is to do something simple

and very readable for Lalo to tattoo.

All he has to do is follow my lines

and really make this amazing.

- All right, guys,

you have six hours to tattoo,

and your time...

Starts... now.

- Let's go. Let's do it.

- This week the tattooers are being judged on artistry.

Freehanding is something that I want to know

that an Ink Master's gonna be able to do,

drawing straight on the skin,

going directly to your outline with your machine, no stencils.

- [as April] I'll be done when the time starts.

I promise. - You shush!

- Did you say that? - He's killing me right now.

- The person who's drawing has to quarterback the tattoo

throughout because they see the vision,

and they have to translate that in the person that's inking it.

- Every time you do something I don't like,

I'm gonna go... [hissing]

For this challenge we decided it's best if I just walk away

and let Lalo do his thing.

Sometimes we don't work very good

when we're sitting over each other's shoulder.

Do us proud, Lalo.

- Don't worry your pretty little head. I got it.

- Please don't screw this up for us.

- You ready to do this?

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- Can you just tilt it a little? Perfect.

- All right, all right. - You called this one.

- What, is this a cover-up? - Yes, sir.

- When you chose this, did you know it was a cover-up?

- I didn't know it was a cover-up, but, you know,

we were talking about it first,

and then I was like, "Let's just cover it," you know?

- Since you're doing a cover-up,

you're still gonna get judged on the ability to cover it.

- This could send you to the bottom.

- I know I can cover this. I have nothing to worry about.

- Not there, but on the tip, yes.

- I have to work off Derek's freehand,

but I'm only taking it as a loose interpretation.

I'm gonna do my own thing.

There's probably gonna be a little bit peeking out,

'cause there is a shadow, you know what I mean?

A little black there.

- Not there. That's all plum.

What are you doing, Thom?

I gave you a straightforward,

traditional piece to follow,

but you're not following the game plan,

and you're going right back to the style

we're getting called out for.

This one here is not black. I wouldn't...

No, that'll be green. - Yeah, you're right.

- Hobo drew it on. I get to tattoo.

I'm confident in my tattooing.

- You need me to rework anything, let me know.

- You iced the drawing. That's all I needed.

- Yeah, yeah. - He gets to watch

what the pressure of the competition is like

before he has to ever tattoo.

That is a great advantage for us.

- Four hours to go.

[dramatic music]

- Yeah, but see how it's, like, darker gray there

and then it fades out? - Oh, I see what you mean, yeah.

- Yeah, so, like, just fading it out...

- It's a little bit lighter off that shoulder.

- Wow, did you do this? - Mm-hmm.

- Jessy drew the full rendering of this image.

It's like I'm working off a stencil.

I feel like we're gonna bounce back from last week,

so I'm ready to get it done.

- It looks [bleep] good, man. You're killing it.

[indistinct] and make a realism artist out of you yet.

I'm like a proud mama right now.

- This is a complete turnaround from last tattoo challenge

where everybody dropped the [bleep] ball.

Today everybody's kind of holding on to it.

- Who has the potential to win?

- Maybe Unkindness. - Nothing hard line.

- Just fade it down a little bit...

- Yeah. - I can do that.

- Then you got Boneface.

- If he does his solid application...

- I like that tattoo.

- It could be the cleanest one of the room.

- I'm a little disappointed in House of Monkey

only because I know Picasso's just a [bleep] monster.

It's cool, but he's just so much better than that.

- Picasso? - Yeah?

- Want to take a look?

♪ ♪

- He is going crazy.

That color palette makes no sense whatsoever.

- Don't be nervous. It's a good day at House of Monkey.

- We were supposed to have a nice amount of black

and a simple color palette.

We didn't need all this blue.

Lalo, you had one job!

The colors, man.

♪ ♪

- Final hour remaining, guys, one final hour.

- A little bit of purple. Purple up in here

in these corners? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Just move that blend out.

- Oh, E.S, just stop.

- Tap it with water, just wiggle out.

Don't go circular.

- I don't have time to finesse.

I'm the one doing the tattoo.

I got to move on this now, and I wanna stick to

the technique that I'm used to.

I know it starts from the drawing.

If he had simplified it,

I wouldn't even be in this situation.

[rock music]

- Five, four,

three, two,

one. That's it, machines down.

time is up, no more ink.

- Yay.

- What do you think, Marvin? - You got it.

- You into it? - You got it, yeah.

- That looks awesome. - Like it?

- I'm stoked, awesome. - Yeah, man.

- How did it feel for you? - Feel good.

I did a big-ass tattoo, perfect lines.

What didn't you like?

- No, no, it... I would have... there's just

a couple things I would have did different, but, you know.

- Of course. - You're in the driver's seat.

- They start gunning for you right out the gate.

- It was a smart strategy though because [bleep], I would want

to get you out of here before you develop any rhythm too.

- Yeah, true. - But we on they ass now though.

If we can get DJ off that tattoo machine

and get Bubba on it, they cooked.

- [laughs] - That's first line of business,

get rid of they ass.

Y'all took the easiest one, and it backfires.

- That's ridiculous. - Dude, you [bleep] yourself.

- What does this have to do with art?

- You can art your ass all you want.

I'm here to win.

[dramatic music]

- You guys, you were trying to get bonus points

by doing a cover-up, and you [bleep] yourself.

- I love my tattoo. I'll stand behind it.

- Your tattoo looked like [bleep].

- DJ, I respect you 'cause you do good work.

- Yes, but not this time.

- But this tattoo, you defending this tattoo is bull[bleep].

- I think everybody's holding you to the flame

'cause you guys had skull pick and picked the cover-up,

- I hate skull pick. - When you gave skulls

to everybody, you just were like,

"Well, [bleep], just give them this, that, give them that."

Y'all didn't strategize at all. - We said, "Screw it, let's just"

give ourselves the hardest." - I felt like y'all took

the easiest one and it kind of backfired,

you know what I'm saying? - That's ridiculous.

- Did you try to [bleep] people or did you not?

- What d... what does this have to do with art?

- I'm not a artist. I tattoo.

I tattoo. - That's the [bleep] stupidest

thing I've ever heard in my whole life.

- I tattoo for money in real life.

I don't give a [bleep] about the art part of it.

- Art is serious to me. This is my whole life.

- You can art your ass all you want, bro.

I'm here to win.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Today you had to prove your artistry.

Boneface and Hobo Ink,

this challenge was designed to test your weaknesses.

Boneface Ink, you're up first.

Hobo, you drew. Boneface, you tattooed.

- You all went pretty crazy with this tattoo,

didn't really show the whole octopus,

but it still is very clear as to what it is.

- The drawing itself has a nice movement and a nice flow.

This is a lot of tattooing in a really tough place,

and it looks smoother than some of the regular

shoulders and stuff we've seen throughout the competition.

- Overall, man, this is a tough challenge,

and it came out strong.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- Allegory Arts.

Eva drew, and Ulyss tattooed.

- This design shows strong artistry.

What I do like is the lion head.

What I don't like are the roses.

The inside has a tulip shape.

It doesn't even have a rose shape to me.

As we whittle down now to the stronger artists,

it's gonna come down to that,

like, "Oh, they did a nicer rose than you, you're out."

- Well, it's a artistry challenge.

I wanted to get creative.

- I head the guy say, "I want a lion and a rose."

- That's true. - The guy got a lion and this.

♪ ♪

- Black Spade Tattoo.

E.S. drew, and Ruck, you tattooed.

The amount of phoenixes that we have seen

that actually look like phoenixes are very few,

so I like the drawing a lot.

- The drawing's very solid.

I like the idea of the negative flames coming up,

but we zoom into the bottom.

This right here is very rough.

You can still see your scratchy washout lines.

The color blends between one color and the next

is not smooth.

This quality of work is not gonna last.

I can tell you that right now.

- Artistic Skin Design.

April drew, and Dane tattooed.

- I like the basic structure of the drawing.

There's lots of detail.

- You guys have a little bit of problem

in the bridge of the nose.

There's a slight offness to the left eyes,

and I think the lips are in too high to the nose.

- You went too big.

The headdress could have been a lot crisper.

It could have been a lot better.

- I was intentionally going for

a lighter kind of whipped look for it.

- But what you got is a messy look.

- Unkindness Art.

Doom, you drew, and Erin, you tattooed.

- The composition and the artistry here really works well.

- The details in the headphones, very precise.

It looks like you literally just used his hand for the reference.

- We told him to put his hand on my sketchbook

and he was... like he does, and we just drew it from that.

- It has that motion,

and you can see it pressured onto the record.

You all came up with a great piece.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- Appreciate it.

- House of Monkey.

Picasso did the drawing, and Lalo tattooed.

I liked the drawing a lot,

but my only problem with the tattooing is the colors.

- The problem with this tattoo

is this big, scratchy baby blue bubble at the top

and this light green that's not finished in these cactus.

It's not solid.

It's not smooth, just a lot of sloppiness.

- Old Town Ink.

Bubba, you did the drawing, and DJ, you tattooed.

- I think the drawing is just not the right drawing

for a cover-up, and the artistry in this thing

had to be different to work more to your advantage.

You can see this cover-up.

- I don't feel like there is any areas

of just deep, rich, saturated, solid black.

It's all muted throughout the whole tattoo.

This tattoo came out poorly

just because you got shook by the canvas.

Your downfall today is that pick.

- Pinz and Needlez.

Jessy drew, and Allisin tattooed.

- It's a very clean, very deliberate, beautiful drawing.

I love the detail in the feet and the tree,

the face of the vulture, the soft shaded background.

- You guys did a great job here. Welcome back.

- Thank you, guys. - Thank you, guys.

- Classic Trilogy Tattoo.

Derek drew, Thom tattooed.

- The black dahlia flower really muddies up this whole piece.

I don't think it's her fault for choosing a black dahlia.

I think it's your fault for the way you colored it.

There's a lot of solid saturation,

but you have basically paint-by-numbers feel to it.

- You guys need to now break out

and show off something because everybody today

did a good tattoo, and somebody's going home.

♪ ♪

- All right, guys, it's now time

to announce best tattoo of the day.

- Favorite of the day are definitely Pinz and Needles

and Unkindness.

- I really like what Unkindness Art did.

- This is the most well-drawn. This is my winner of the day.

- But the team in the room that

has the most cohesive design would be Pinz and Needlez.

Everything on their piece, it all works.

That's why I lean with the girls.

- I love this tattoo.

I got to go with Pinz and Needlez as well.

The judges have decided that the best tattoo of the day

goes to Pinz and Needlez.

- [bleep].

- As the jury of peers,

you must now all deliberate

and put one shop up for elimination.

Head on back to the loft.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- First thing y'all said was

there was no strategy in the skull pick.

- I didn't say that. - Does the military

tell their strategies?

Isn't that the point of a strategy?

- You're not owning [bleep].

- My tattoo was not the best today... owning!

- You wish you could have drew that mother[bleep] yourself

and applied it. - Of course!

- Everybody... - We all do!

- I don't, 'cause I trust my man.

- I trust him to draw it.

- You damn near wanted to throw him under the bus.

- Oh, man. - You wanted to so bad.

- We'll see that. As the competition goes on,

we'll see you throw him under the bus.

- All right. - But me and my man,

we gonna ride or die together. - Solid.

- You guys can come at us

'cause you had a better critique, not a better tattoo.

- You corny, bro. - I know you're not an artist,

and you don't know what critique means, but...

- I'm man enough to admit that I don't [bleep] draw every day.

You own up to something. - Bitches be tripping. Let's go.

[bleep], them's big!

Big nuts!

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- We are here as the jury of peers to determine

which shop should be put up for elimination.

- Is it safe to say that everybody is leaning towards

Black Spade and House of Monkey?

- Yeah. - We hit the artistry.

- The color palette does blow though.

That is my least favorite part of the tattoo.

- I feel like it being an artistic challenge,

Picasso's drawing was a lot stronger than Black Spade.

- In my defense, I took a little more risks than their design.

They played it really safe. - I'm gonna have to say no.

- I'm gonna have to challenge that.

- You also have saturation issues.

- I don't feel like it's as bad as his.

- Your saturation is scratchy

like a [bleep] cat did it with the nails.

- No, it's only choppy on the bottom

because I didn't get to it.

- I'm just frustrated.

You guys haven't seen me flex yet.

[dramatic music]

- All right, guys, big day today, artistry.

- I think it's fair to say the two roughest bottoms are

Black Spade and House of Monkey.

- A steer skull, we've been tattooing them

since the beginning of time. - Sure.

- But this one's just really flat.

- This light blue is just [bleep].

- Next to this, Black Spade looks amazing.

- Yeah, this tattoo, the colors are well chosen, but if you look

at the bottom, they can't stand on this technical application.

- Let's talk about Old Town Ink.

They've been riding high a lot of this competition,

and today was a big exception. - I mean, to me

they had their pick of the litter, and they stunk it up.

It's a cover-up, and it looks like a cover-up,

and you can still see the cover-up.

- Would you put Old Town in the bottom before Classic Trilogy?

- I would. - The Classic Trilogy tattoo

has a strong outline consistently throughout

and that's it, but Old Town, it has tricks,

and it's got a lot of [bleep] going on.

- Well, it's gonna interesting

to see how the jury of peers votes.

Let's see how this thing plays out.

- I'm nervous. I know we're at the bottom,

the [bleep] place to be.

- Always nervous to be in the bottom.

That's the worst part about this whole thing.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- All right, jury of peers,

who are you sending down for elimination?

- As the jury of peers, we have decided to send

Black Spade down for elimination.

- All right, we're gonna see Black Spade Tattoo,

House of Monkey Tattoo,

and Classic Trilogy Tattoo.

We'll see you and everybody else downstairs.

- I knew that was coming. I feel like we're the underdogs.

- All right, let's get down there.

- All right.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Today you had to freehand

directly onto the skin with no stencils.

Based on your work, one shop will be packing their machines.

Let's hear from the jury of peers.

Why did you vote Black Spade Tattoo to the bottom?

- A lot of the fundamental

technical issues were called out.

- And we felt that House of Monkey had a stronger overall

design than Black Spade did.

- All we needed was a few more things

to make this crispy and complete.

I think that what they made might have been more

of a mess than what you're seeing here, man.

- It's a tough debate. I feel like House of Monkey's,

it's a strong line drawing, but there's just a lot of peach,

a lot of baby blue,

none of which is really applied very well.

- Was Classic Trilogy in the vote?

- We didn't even talk about

Classic Trilogy's tattoo, actually.

- These guys are doing the same static thing.

- We wanted to make a complete tattoo,

but time-wise and all that, this definitely could have

been more dynamic with a little more planning.

- The one word y'all need to add is versatility.

- Either [bleep] or get off the pot because what's coming

over the next few weeks is gonna knock you guys out of the box.

- So basically we're between Black Spade and House of Monkey?

- 100%.

When I see the phoenix from a distance, it's very clear

what it is, and the color theory is nice, but when I look at

the cow skull, the color theory is all over the place.

- Color theory can be fixed.

- Cool, but you have blue behind the tattoo, and it's not solid.

- That's easily fixed.

- How is that gonna be fixed?

To fix that blue background, you got to make it bigger.

- The challenge is artistry,

and we're damn near closer to it than they are.

- They can see our tattoo from far away.

It's... it's all... - If you pour a whole thing

of orange on someone, you're gonna see it.

That's why vests and road signs are that color, dude.

- [laughs] - You're out of control.

- I mean... - It is true, dude.

- That's the sexiest part of a woman, and you ruined it.

- She loved it. She loved it.

- [growls] - What was that? I'm sorry.

- All right, it is time to determine who is going home.

♪ ♪

- All problems aside, I got to go with which one

just looks the worst.

♪ ♪

My vote's for House of Monkey.

- You know, it's tricky.

I admire the artistry in House of Monkey,

but the color play within Black Spade is more pleasing.

♪ ♪

My vote is for House of Monkey as well.

- House of Monkey.

- The judges have decided.

House of Monkey, you do not have what it takes to be Master Shop.

- I respect you coming back trying to make it,

but for you guys, as artistic and free as you are,

this place is too restrictive.

- Please pack your machines and move out.

♪ ♪

- I don't think we deserved to go home right away.

It was our first time at the bottom.

I felt like Black Spade could have went home before us.

- That tattoo is not even good in the '80s.

[bleep] this [bleep], man. - I feel like we got robbed.

- "We didn't even got to flex, bro."

- Yeah, we didn't get to flex.

We got judged on artistry,

and both of those artists did not do anything artistic.

- Picasso and me, we're stronger

on our own right, but together we just couldn't work.

Let's get the [bleep] out of here.

[tattoo machine buzzing]

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

- I'm tired of being middle of the road.

- Definitely. - We're gonna break

this little cool kids club up. I want that money.

- Standing in your way is the next returning veteran.

He made it all the way to the finale in season seven.

- This is a $200,000 tattoo,

and if you can't do it, get the [bleep] out!

- I think that background's too much.

- Dane is losing his mind. I feel very insulted.

- You can be as insulted as you want.

- Scratchy lines, scribbly everywhere.

- We ain't proud of this piece.

- You didn't pull through.

- My gut is to send this tattoo home.

♪ ♪