Original subtitles

This season on Ink Master, America's best shops are going to war.

The stakes are a lot higher than ever before.

We've never given out 200 grand.

We've never had shops rattling out.

There's a lot on the line for the reputation of the shop, but I also think this is a great

advantage.

Shops will live and die as a pair.

If they're smart and they come in with someone who has what they don't have, those are the

teams that are really going to shine.

As they face off in extreme challenges designed to expose the weak.

We're done.

Chill the out.

When you're representing your whole business, you come in here and you screw up this time,

you're not just screwing up yourself.

Do you think that he has what it takes to carry you to the end?

I'm a better tattooer than all you guys put together.

You put a .

tattoo on her forever.

It's on her forever.

Alliances will form.

If we help each other, make it to the finale, then it's like fair game.

And bonds will break.

you.

I'm coming for your neck every time.

You are not listening.

This is a $200,000 tattoo.

If you can't do it, get the out.

Tattoo myself.

One by one, pairs will be eliminated.

These teams are only as good as the weaker one.

You have to start your journey in the right direction to make it to the end.

Until only the best shop remains.

Tim, he's out.

For a team to win here, you're going to have to dance on each other's toes.

Earning a $200,000 prize, and for the first time ever, the title of

Master Shop.

Ink Master Guerras de Tiedas

It's cold.

This is a crazy maze of ice.

This is insane.

For the first time in Ink Master history, you have each come here with a fellow artist from

your tattoo shop to prove that your shop is the best.

You will succeed as a team, and you will fail as a team.

That's crazy.

Win, and you both win, but lose, and you're both out.

This is no longer a solo sport.

This is two people being able to work together.

Any miscommunication could cost us the title.

The last shop standing will win $200,000, a feature in Inked Magazine, and the title of Ink

Master.

That is a bigger prize than I was expecting.

$200,000?

We could pay off our student loans.

But that's not all.

Your shop will also earn the first ever title of Master Shop.

When you go to businesses that have the stickers that says, like, best in the city, you're

like, damn, I want to go do that.

So if we have a thing that said, we are Master Shop, that's pretty cool.

We have to win Master Shop.

It's a brand new tattoo shop.

We're putting ourselves on the map for the world.

Winning this would be a huge stepping stone to make the Marx Society a household name in the

industry.

Your first opportunity to win starts right here, right now, by winning your first Flash Challenge.

We are at the Frozen Carnival in Ice at Skyland Stadium, and you're surrounded by more than

100 tons of ice.

That's a lot of ice.

For your first flash challenge, you must create a sculpture that represents your shop out

of a block of ice.

I'm a tattoo artist.

Ice?

Pics?

Hell no.

Everything in this competition depends on you guys working together.

You're representing for yourselves, and you're representing for where you work.

These flash challenges are not made to be easy, but if you're a true artist, you can make

art out of anything.

This is your chance to get a leg up on the competition.

This is your chance to intimidate the other players.

This is your chance to bond as a team.

Start today, start hard.

Win, and you'll receive a huge advantage.

You have four hours, and your time starts now.

Let's do it.

All right, Bubba.

All right, man.

You're representing your whole business.

You come in here and you screw up this time.

You're not just screwing up yourself.

What are you thinking?

I was thinking some kind of robot in his hand up here.

For this first challenge, what we're looking for is someone to be creative and work together

and do the best they can at something they've never done before.

So what was your idea?

I'm thinking about doing a koi fish.

If these people have a problem working together right off the bat.

They shouldn't have come here together.

One of my ideas was to incorporate the logo in there somewhere.

I don't want to force anything extra.

I should mimic what you're doing on the other side, right?

Yeah, I mean, that'd be cool if you want.

We were thinking the best thing to do would be to cut out the bigger pieces first.

I got to do the top because you're all short and whatnot.

I really like working with my significant other.

Build ball and chain.

You're my ball and chain.

I like your...

That's not a good thing to say.

All I want to see is this damn fin.

And you said it's going on like that.

I'm not sure yet.

Bang is a hard ass.

I had no idea that we were literally going to be doing everything together.

I'm telling you we need to start building these fins now before we go any lower.

We don't even have the fin or this.

We don't have none of that yet.

We're not there yet.

We're not on the same page, obviously.

If we're going to carve out an inch, we need to plan to have this left over for the thing.

He has this idea and this vision, and I'm just not seeing it right now.

This is going to be this.

Look at the perspective.

Two more hours remaining.

Two more.

Just remember, no risk, no reward.

We got this.

I definitely feel like we're underestimated being two females in tattoo industry, which is

totally male-dominated.

But that just puts the fuel in the fire.

I mean, if we can come out of here winning the first splash challenge.

Dude, that would be so dope.

Right?

The tail feathers can only go so far because there's only so much ice.

As long as the effect is there, you know?

Yeah.

Doom and I have only worked together for maybe five months.

We're going to be learning a lot about each other as this competition progresses.

I'm known in the industry for having a lot of detail in my tattoos.

How about we just get done everything on here first, and then if there's time, then you can

experiment.

Then we can give it a crown.

Erin is my boss.

She has a decade more experience, but your experience doesn't matter.

What matters is how you're going to navigate this competition.

I'm just going to cut in as much as I can.

OK.

And yeah.

Cool.

We'll see.

Ooh, ooh, ooh.

Oh, no.

Are you OK?

Dude, I kind of just mashed my hand.

I love working together.

He's my best friend.

Oh, yeah, I'm OK.

He's my coworker.

I'd kind of like to round this stuff off.

OK.

He's my husband.

I do neo-traditional tattoos, but I can make a clean, solid tattoo in every style.

Oh, my god.

Are they flower bugs?

Yeah, are they flower bugs?

How the did you do that?

I figured out.

that I could make some roses on the inside of the ice.

I should do one more over here, right?

I don't think we should worry about filling it, because we don't want it to be super cluttered.

I specialize in a lot of illustrative tattooing with a very strong traditional background.

With our powers combined, we could be an unstoppable force.

Four, three, two, one.

That is it.

Time is up.

No more sculpting.

A wrap.

First ice sculpture.

Bam!

Hit it.

All right, pins and needles.

It is now time to critique your work.

Talk to me about your design.

Some love goes into all of our work that we do.

We're all about heart.

I like how recognizable it is right off the bat.

There's some very small little veins and some of the ventricles up top that are nice, but

the big veins down through the center, very smooth, very well done.

This is a way to really come out swinging and start off on the right foot.

Unkindness art.

You created one large image that's incredibly readable with various textures.

You guys put everything you had into creating a piece of art that's risky.

To see what you're able to do with a tattoo machine is going to be exciting.

I look forward to seeing it.

Thank you.

Thicker than blood.

This is a strong image, and it's powerful.

And that's what we are at the shop.

Looks like it's a Hanya mask.

The anatomy is a little bit off.

There's no forehead.

And it's all chin.

Artistic skin design.

You guys really put a lot of time into the beveling, and especially you took a lot of time

or detail in the mouth to get that deep setback mouth with the teeth.

Valiant effort for a new medium.

Next up is Black Anchor.

Everybody went pretty 3D, and y'all went totally flat.

Being the first challenge out of the gate, take the brakes off.

You gotta go, man.

Go, go, go.

Everybody knows who Carlos is.

He's very popular on the internet.

I was expecting to be wowed by their ice sculpture, and it was literally a little flat.

Next up is the Mark Society.

What better than a tattoo machine?

It's super clean and legible.

But what's super impressive is how straight and precise you were able to make each line in

this piece.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Allegory Arts, how does this identify your shop?

It's clearly the logo, correct?

It is.

It's also the state of Alabama, which is where our shop is.

The creativity.

of using the shape of the state as the whole block, adding the tip and the top of the flowers

poking out through it.

The way you put the flower in the background by impressing it in so you see it from the front

is very nice.

The craftsmanship is very well done.

Wow, thank you very much.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

We're pretty much like a big nerd shop, so like everything we do is just pop culture and fun.

It's a big, cool, fun image.

You really got the shape of the ice to become what it is, and that really stands out, and

it's bold and strong.

Tri-Cities tattoo.

I could definitely tell it's a fish, but it is a little bit hard to see exactly what's going

on.

Seems like there's a lot of ice that you just took away and then a lot of ice that you didn't

use.

Gotcha.

Tri-Cities look like a damn beached whale.

I don't know what the hell they were going for.

Today's first flash challenge, the stakes are a lot higher than ever before because we've

never given out 200 grand.

We've never had shops battling out.

There's a lot on the line for the reputation of the shop, but I also think this is a great

advantage.

If they're smart and they come in with someone who has what they don't have, those are the

teams that are really going to shine.

I was pretty impressed with Allegory Arts.

You know, they really used a lot of different techniques.

They did a couple little trick effects that just really set them apart.

I also think that pins and needles did a great job with the anatomical heart.

Their piece was probably the most legible piece.

One shop that did a really great job in terms of using the entire block of ice was Unkindness

Arts.

That is a sculpture, a bird from every angle you look at it.

We're all pretty agreed, yeah?

Yeah.

Got it.

Let's let them know.

Today at Skyland Stadium, some shops made a strong first impression.

The judges have decided the winner of the first flash challenge is Allegory

Arts.

Rad.

Use a lot of different techniques, and it really spelled out your logo to the T.

Congratulations, Ulis and Eva.

This week, your shop is safe from elimination.

Oh, they're safe?

That sucks.

Everything about their sculpture was half thought until they did that cool little trick there

at the end.

But tricks don't get you through this competition.

Throughout this competition, you'll see that the flash challenges can drastically affect the

outcome of who goes home and who lives to fight another day.

And that's why we're putting you to the test right out of the gate, because your day is not

over.

Load up.

We're heading to your next flash challenge right now.

Oh, my god.

Another one?

I don't even feel my hands.

Damn.

I'm tired.

I was ready to go home and defrost.

Let's hit the road.

What is happening?

Are they trying to kill us?

Yeah, .

If you can't draw, you don't stand a chance.

Oh, .

If you can't get the proportions right, it's a no go.

We're doing what?

Why'd it have to be snakes?

All right,

Allegory Arts, your shop won the first flash challenge and is safe from elimination.

Awesome.

You will not compete in this challenge.

All right.

Hopefully, that lit a fire for the rest of you, because the next flash challenge starts right

now.

We're cold.

We're covered in ice.

But on kindness art, we're going to soldier on, because that's what we do.

You must make a sign that says your shop's name in custom lettering out of metal.

Lettering can go wrong real quick.

If everything is not consistent, the lines are shaky, if it doesn't have a nice flow to it,

it's not going to look right.

First, you'll create a mold by carefully carving your design into plaster.

Then you must pour hot liquid metal into the mold to make the sign.

What is happening?

Are they trying to kill us?

It's day one.

Definitely want to see your shop's name, but we definitely want to see some design elements

with it.

Come out really showing art.

Be different.

Stand out.

We expect to see more than what we're used to.

Two heads should work better than one.

Hell yeah.

Win, and your shop will also be safe from elimination.

What do we get on this?

You have three hours to create a custom sign.

And your time starts now.

Lettering is definitely difficult in general.

You got to make use of the whole space.

Don't worry about that.

Trust me.

But to have to carve it into plaster and then pour metal into it.

I'm totally like digging like the West Coast style script.

All right, cool.

This is a challenge that could come out great or go sour really quick.

We're doing multiple sketches this time.

OK, that's fine.

Let's see what you're thinking.

Our strategy is show people what classic trilogy is.

80s mixtape.

Exactly.

Like, that is us.

We are children of the 80s.

That's nostalgia.

Did you like it?

Yeah.

Tom and I work well together, because we're like an old married couple.

He's the grumpy old man, and I'm the nagging wife.

Less is more.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you remember that?

I've been tattooing for 12 years now, and I've been an artist my entire life.

I would definitely say we probably have the most lines in anyone here right now.

I specialize in new school, so you really are going to get something that pops, something

that really stands out.

Yeah, go for it.

We're coming into this.

Guns blazing.

It's about time some nerds want.

Yeah, there we go.

That's a big-ass lion.

Everybody else seems to just be focusing on the font.

Nobody else is doing an image.

I love lettering, and I feel like I can kill it, but I'd rather go for creativity today.

Vang doesn't see the design the same way I see it.

Tri-Sitters needs to be legible.

It needs to be, like, in your face.

If this is how she's going to be, then we're in trouble.

All right, guys, two more hours.

We're real behind.

I know.

We will have to, like, split sides and get this done.

Doom and I have different strengths and weaknesses.

He's better at lettering than I am, but I'm better at spelling than he is.

That's so true.

I fully trust your abilities.

Well, that makes one of us.

It's easier with both hands.

Artistic skin designs is a street shop.

We're already used to taking whatever somebody throws at us.

You've got to be quick on your feet.

I specialize in hard work, working to get whatever needs to be achieved.

I have more of, like, a realistic illustrative style.

Me and Dana are pretty good at everything.

Make sure you do it down there, too.

This is your final hour.

This is tricky.

This is the most important part, so let's go.

I think it's a ladder base that we've taken.

You cannot really tell how it's going to come out.

You're working blind.

Go, go, go, go.

That's it.

Molten metal.

Sweet.

I know we got the .

in the bag. I know we got the .

in the bag.

All over here.

Relax, easy.

Well, that's awesome.

Well, that's not good.

That is not what we expected.

My heart drops.

All I see is this giant chunk of drywall.

Uh, how the hell are we going to get this thing out of here?

Lord knows, man.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That is it.

Time is up.

I'm out.

Yeah, we're .

All right, artists, it is now time to critique your work.

Pins and Needles.

It looks like you had a really rough time.

It lacks consistency.

The filigree is haphazardly thrown in there.

I wish we had more time.

Yeah, definitely.

Time is the killer.

Artistic skin designs.

So much of that background makes it a little bit harder to read.

Halfway through, we were like, maybe we made it a little too busy.

What I really like what you did here is you used the shape of the sign.

And in the lettering, it is very consistent.

It just got a little lost.

Thicker than blood.

Pretty illegible.

The N on than is backwards.

And it looks like it says blue.

The number one rule of signage for a business would be legibility.

So this one is just the opposite of what we'd want to see.

Black Anchor Collective.

Nothing's worse than misspelling your own shop name.

I know we messed up, man.

We should have caught that.

Yeah.

On a positive note, the anchor's the best headmanship and craftsmanship we've seen so far

out of any of the pieces.

Unfortunately, it just doesn't say what you need it to say.

Like, for real, do you know how to spell black?

Black.

The Merc Society.

The bottom filigree is really, really nice.

The top right filigree just looks like y'all ran out of time.

It was definitely a pain in the ass.

If you don't have time to finish it, don't even start it.

Unkindness art.

It does not look like you struggled with this at all.

The line work in the filigree looks seamless.

The lettering is not the typical tattoo style lettering.

Stepping it up a notch is a good thing.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

Oh my god.

So what you don't see is an old 80s cassette tape under there.

Just something happened pouring the molten where it got infused with the drywall.

He totally botched it.

There's nothing really to judge.

I think the saying that we have here is go big and go home.

Tri-Cities Tattoo.

It's very legible, very sign-worthy from a distance.

You can read it.

I like the way that the actual face looks.

It has a pounded metal sculptor feel to it.

It reads well.

Well done, guys.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Generally, after a flash challenge, the judges go and deliberate to give out a win.

But I think today, it's pretty clear who took this one down.

The judges have decided the winner of this flash challenge is unkindness art.

You guys really had solid design to start with, good concept, and very clean delivery.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That means unkindness art and allegory arts are both safe from elimination this week.

For the rest of you, that was your last chance to gain an advantage.

I'm pissed.

We needed this.

It's not fair.

Head to the shop and get ready for your first elimination tattoo.

And for one shop, it will also be your last.

It's dope.

Pins and needles up on a wall.

This is crazy.

Two of us in one chair.

Oh, that's interesting.

Hey, guys.

Hey.

Come on in.

Have a seat.

Welcome to the Ink Master Shop.

Allegory arts and unkindness art, you've each won a flash challenge, so your shops are safe

from elimination.

But the rest of you, based on your work today,

One shop will lose their shot at $200,000 and the first ever title of

master shop.

For your first elimination tattoo, you must draw your tattoo using only live reference.

What the ?

Let's bring him in.

Oh my god.

Holy .

I'm afraid of snakes.

Why did it have to be snakes?

Oh my god.

Get the out of here.

Are you serious?

A hawk?

Really?

You better keep that thing on a leash.

Whoa.

Wait, wait.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Don't be moving.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Gators, seen plenty of them.

Don't want to get near them and draw them.

You will have six hours to tattoo in any style you choose.

And your canvases are completely open.

But you must use one of these animals.

and no other reference.

Only using live reference?

It's so unpredictable.

You can't draw what you see if it's moving constantly.

The strength of your shop as a team will determine your success or failure in this competition.

And for this tattoo, you will be tag teaming.

Your shop will create one tattoo on the same canvas.

Only one of you can tattoo at a time, and you must switch artists every hour.

We're doing what?

Me and Dave have never tag teamed on a tattoo.

Oh.

Dave has his style, and I have my style.

My heart just dropped a little bit.

Based on your work.

One shop will be packing their machines.

We're judging this as one finished piece.

We're going to judge the overall tattoo like one person did it.

Today, what I really want to see is who can actually look at these things and make a beautiful

tattoo directly out of them without telling me it's new school or it's my style.

I'm not interested.

I'm just being honest.

Are we able to add more elements, like textures or different coloring that we're not seeing

in our reference?

Show me you can draw.

Let's just say if you want to make the head

and push the body towards the back.

I don't need to just copy the same reference.

If you stretch it all out because you can't get the proportions right, it's a no go.

Your canvases have been randomly assigned.

Head to your shops and get ready.

We'll send them in.

Good luck.

For the first elimination tattoo, it's all about their artistic abilities.

No tracing, no photos, artist, hand, pencil, paper.

Being able to draw something from life, you should be able to do it or you shouldn't be here.

Can you hold the head?

It's eight times harder to draw animals.

Animals do whatever the hell they want to do.

Stupid bird turns his head this way, turns his head this way.

He's got his head backwards.

He's got his head tilted.

Stay still, stupid bird.

I'm trying to draw you.

Like, we do the snake.

We twist it, attack you.

I curl the body a bit.

Attacking, or you want to do it like the reference?

You got to have that in mind.

No, yeah, but I will use the reference.

I'm just going to show up a bit more.

I trust my teammate.

And if he thinks the snake is going to impress the judges, then I'm going to go with that.

My strongest suit is definitely black and gray realism.

But

I like doing everything.

I mean, Snake, I do that back home all the time, you know?

All right, got it, got it, got it, got it.

I'm known a lot by a neo-school mixed with a neo-traditional style.

We want to do a piece that tells who we are.

I have to trust my guts.

All right, guys, you have six hours to tattoo, and your time starts now.

Let's go, let's go.

Drawing is everything in this competition.

Today, I'm hoping that somebody can actually draw from life and show me details.

These are cool.

I'm cool.

Yeah, I can do that.

The hardest part about tattooing when you are a team and you're tagging in and out every hour

is who's micromanaging.

No, no, I'm just bringing it up right here.

Who's backseat driving?

Who's in control?

Well, a little bit right there.

They're going to have to be on the same page to come up with a drawing that they can both

execute.

Michael, I believe it's in your hands, bro.

Let's find it again.

Yeah, you're good like that.

Our shop deserves to be Master Shop because we're considered to be one of the best portrait

realism shops in the world.

Yeah, and we're just awesome people, so, you know.

Yeah, there you go.

I specialize in photo realism.

That includes color and black and gray.

Darken it up.

No, I know.

I'm just trying to bevel that out a little bit.

I've been tattooing for 26 years.

I specialize in kind of everything because I've been tattooing so long.

You're going to want to buy a pet alligator after this, dude.

We got this.

Four hours remaining, guys.

Switch artists.

All right, here we go.

As far as, like, the lining, go with your instant, man.

My favorite thing in the world to tattoo is birds, so I'm super stoked right now.

Most people would know me for bright colors, smooth blends, really super soft black and gray.

Can you pour me some more of that red violet?

Thanks, honey.

You're welcome, dear.

The cool part about having a teammate.

I'm not feeling super confident in this challenge, but I know Jessie's awesome at this.

We're like a yin and yang.

I'm mostly known for new school.

What's unique about my new school is that I have a nice, girly touch.

Definitely moving a little slower on this rose than I expected.

better to take your time, do it right.

I mean, you're running out of reference.

I don't want you to go past what we're drawing.

I'm really aiming to show the judges that we have a better concept over everybody else's.

I mean, I don't want to, like, waste time just, like, not doing anything.

Well, it's better to not do anything than to do what doesn't need to be done.

For the most part, I do black and gray, but at the end of the day, I want to do whatever technique

works best to tell my client's story.

Hold on, let me run you this new script real quick.

Dave is changing the sketch.

Why are you doing that?

We had a plan.

Let's stick to it.

Well, it was never finished, so.

People doubt me because I'm a young black female.

I don't have that many years of experience, but I'm here to prove everybody wrong.

Just let people know, like, hey, because of the .

Two more hours to go.

Switch artists.

Lunchtime, buddy.

I did not expect to see, like, live animals walking in.

No, dude.

That was the last thing I expected.

I've been tattooing 17 years.

I am known for the realistic black and gray, high contrast, photorealism style.

Think you got it?

I do.

Mike's my boss.

He owns the shop, so there's a lot on the line.

I have been tattooing approximately five and a half years.

My style is illustrative, bold, bright, colorful.

When I'm weak and he excels in, we're a perfect match.

There is no reason we can't win this.

Absolutely.

You're killing it, brother.

I'm proud of you, huh?

We're a big family.

This is my brother from another mother.

Yep.

Probably a bit more black right in that area, just to push it.

At the end of the day, I want to show my family that here in the United States, you can make

your dreams come true.

We're here to win it.

This is a good tattoo.

This is the best thing out there.

4, 3, 2.

One.

That is it.

Machines down.

Time is up.

No more eggs.

Very, very confident.

For sure.

That's awesome.

Tri-Cities and Thicker Than Blood.

Should be worried about going home today.

John and Bobby Ari's tattoo looks like a weird space worm.

And Tri-Cities tattoo just looks like just a tube with a head.

It's just bad in a different way.

Definitely one of a kind.

It didn't look good.

Your snake's an impossible snake.

It's completely anatomically impossible.

You totally it up.

That was rough.

Not fun.

The curve ball was no references.

We had a reference.

It was the animals.

Exactly.

There's still reference.

A real ink master knows how to draw a lot of references.

But I mean, everybody else was doing a lot bigger stuff.

Your guys just was dying.

It's not about size.

We had a ball on.

You should have had more detail in your drawing.

There's some people in here right now that feel comfortable that shouldn't.

Yeah.

If anyone's in the bottom, I think it might be you guys.

Yeah.

Literally, Nunez says, no new school.

So if you were going to do new school just to spite him, you should have nailed that .

But I don't think that pizza was so new school.

New school, old school, still look bad.

Today, you had to prove the strength of your shop by creating a tattoo using only live reference.

Based on your work, one shop will be the first to go home.

Let's see how you did.

Thicker than blood.

This, to me, doesn't look like the snake that came in.

For me, it looked like a snake, and everybody else here knows it.

Look at the top line of the head.

Look how it goes across all the way to the back of the body.

See that hard line you put in?

So you just took that thing's head, and you just took its body, and you went and broke it

there.

So it's already got a snap spine.

It's completely anatomically impossible.

You're not showing us that you can draw from life.

Try City's tattoo.

The big question is, what's going on with this in and out of the skin thing?

The snake is sitting on top of sand.

Part of it is going in sand, and part of it's going out of the sand.

To me, it doesn't look like it's going in and out of anything.

It just looks like it stops and starts.

We drew exactly a boa constrictor, and that's what the challenge was, to draw from the reference.

You're drawing from life.

You're putting in the details from life to show that you can draw what you see.

This does not convince me of that.

The Mark Society.

What was your plan of attack here?

To figure out how to incorporate both our styles.

I normally do a more of a realistic style.

And I actually drew all the frame and the little medallion.

This is the farthest from a realistic alligator ever.

What you guys needed is the details in the body.

You miss those textures, and you miss the length of the snout.

One of the two of you, you've got to be able to see that something's off.

We try not to step on each other's toes by doing that.

For a team to win here, you're going to have to dance on each other's toes.

Black Anchor.

The drawing itself and the detail you guys were able to capture off of something that was

moving, it did prove that you can draw.

It doesn't have a flat look.

It has a 3D textury look.

If I run my finger across it, I can feel it.

That's the check mark for the Ink Master box.

Thank you.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

100% I could draw this from memory.

You don't need a live bird in the room to do it.

That part of the challenge is a little bit lost here.

If you look at your rows of feathers,

There's hardly a feather there that has a solid amount of color in it.

There's muted grays and browns and almost yellows that turn green.

That's not going to get you that far when people in the room can color.

Pins and needles.

My eyes are playing tricks on me.

I look at the face.

And I'm in focus.

I look at the body.

I'm out of focus.

I get back to this bright, glistening rose that's back in focus.

Behind the bird is out of focus leaves.

If you guys are able to pull the entire hawk off as clean as you pull off those little details

in the face, it would have looked a million times better.

Artistic skin designs.

I really love the tattoo.

I like the fact that you can still see the entire anatomy of this bird.

And the talons, especially, are really strong.

A lot of technical application in here that came out really strong.

A lot of outline, a lot of color blending.

I think it's a great job.

Appreciate it.

All right, guys, time to determine who had the best tattoo of the day.

I think it's between artistic skin designs and black ink.

Artistic skin designs fits the body.

They didn't put useless elements in.

I feel like ours is more consistent throughout.

Also, the specific instructions was from drawing from life.

Are you saying that these guys didn't do that?

They could have probably drawn that, like, without looking at the live model.

Exactly.

I couldn't.

I couldn't have.

I like the black anchor alligator.

I like the texture you put in there.

I think that the trickiness inside the actual snout, all of that texture that's in there was

a bitch to pull off.

I'm black anchor.

But artistic skin designs just played it smart by picking an animal that they could show the

whole anatomy of.

My vote is for artistic skin designs.

Final decision, Oliver.

My vote's for artistic skin designs.

The judges have decided the best tattoo of the day goes to artistic skin designs.

Congratulations, guys.

All right, guys, head back to the loft.

One Shop is about to be the first to pack their machines.

Overall, you know, like we did a good tattoo.

From jump, the design direction is where you are going to go down.

I don't think so.

The boy constrictor's head is like this big.

The body is like this thick.

Y'all head was like this big.

Y'all body was this big.

Just like that, your tattoo look like it was cut in half.

Our tattoo could be cut in half and set on fire, and it would still be safer than y'all tattoo.

Ours was pleasing to the eye.

We weren't confused at what the we were looking at, the colors.

Well, you guys weren't confused working as a team.

We worked together to get the job done at the end of the day.

It didn't look good.

It didn't work out for you guys.

The judge is not going to say, oh, you're mad.

He can say anything you want.

He's mad.

Bye.

You can walk out the door and take .

flight back home too, bruh.

I'm crying real tears.

Bye.

Today, the artist had to draw from a live model.

How'd they do overall?

Some people drew what they were supposed to draw, and other people drew who knows what.

Well, let's start off with Tri-Cities tattoo.

They did get some details out of the live snake that was here, but this black and gray shading

is not smooth.

At least Tri-Cities looked at the snake thicker than blood.

Was there a fourth animal that came in that we didn't see?

The shape of the body is so broken in so many spots.

It got ran over.

But the ugliest thing in the room is that Mark Society tattoo.

Did somebody step in a puddle and take off their shoe and draw eyes on their wet sock?

Definitely has a wart growing out of the center of its forehead.

Its nostrils are off to the left.

They definitely fail.

All right, let's bring them down here and see what they have to say.

All right.

Oh .

All right, guys, in the bottom, we've got Tri-City Tattoo, The Mark Society, and

Thicker Than Blood.

We'll see y'all and everybody else downstairs.

God damn.

Hats off, guys.

Good luck.

Go for it, guys.

Today, you had to prove the strength of your shop by creating a tattoo using only live reference.

Based on your work, one shop will be the first to go home.

The reason we brought these animals in here is so you could actually

Show us that you have the ability to translate what you see onto paper and then onto skin.

If this is the best you can do, then you're not going to make it very long.

The people that are safe went the extra mile in the drawing.

I feel like with this one, less is more.

Dang, you're not hearing.

If you do a life drawing, less is not more.

This is a silhouette with some stuff in it.

The other two shops, they did a tattoo where there can be no corrections with our tattoo.

We can add on to it.

At least we show creativity in our tattoo.

And we show potential.

We're not talking about creativity.

We're talking about the lack of detail.

Since you guys are chiming in now, let's move along to your tattoo.

This tattoo, for me, has a lot of problems.

It does not look like the life study, which then tells me that you're challenged in drawing.

Also, the quality of tattooing here is not top notch.

I'm not saying the tattoo was perfect, because it was not.

So you acknowledge that you did a bad tattoo.

We acknowledge that it didn't meet the challenge.

It didn't meet the challenge.

Thank you.

I mean, we got a lot to show here, and we can prove it.

Thicker than blood.

I don't see the snake that came in here marked society.

I don't see the alligator that came in here either.

It just wasn't easy.

You had choices.

You picked the alligator, and you totally .

Yeah.

All right, guys.

Who's going home?

Tri-Cities, as much as it has nothing that I want to see, still looks like what it's supposed

to be.

So would you guys say Tri-Cities is safe?

I would.

Yeah?

Yeah.

So now we're looking between marked society and thicker than blood.

We didn't make the challenge, but we show a lot of potential in that tattoo.

As far as drawing, these guys' snake is questionable.

Your guys' gator is questionable.

So now we've got to get down to tattooing.

Application versus application.

There's a clear victor.

My vote's got to be for Thicker Than Blood.

Thicker Than Blood.

My vote is also for Thicker Than Blood.

Thicker Than Blood, the judges have decided we do not have what it takes to be master shop.

You guys got a lot of heart being here, man.

Keep going, learn, and grow from it.

Please pack your machines and move out.

Our piece was on point.

If you see how it all is neat, bro, my kid can do something better than that.

I'm disappointed, dude.

But we going home because we're more creative than other people.

I promised my wife and my kid, bro.

Your kid will be proud of you.

I can tell you that.

Nobody got to see what we really do, bro.

We did a killer piece, bro.

Yeah.

And this is not the last thing you'll see for us.

We got each other, brother.

On the next episode of Ink Master.

Every time a shop is eliminated, another shop will enter the competition.

What?

Ready to fight for the title of master shop.

Every time you cut a head off, another one springs up.

We're done.

That looks sloppy as .

Chill the out.

It's been a hell of a day today.

I think you guys just thought you weren't going to get caught.

And then it gets you in the ass.

We're going to defend what we're doing.

Your lines are terrible.

You ain't pulled a clean line since you've been here.

I'm going to eat the out of your tattoo.

Yeah, eat it up.

This is a bottom tattoo.

This is a game.

You wasted your time.