Original subtitles

On the last episode of Ink Master Shop Wars, as more hard-hitting veterans return.

Representing Black Cobra Tattoo, Matt Oba, and Katie McGowan.

Don't let the nice vibe fool you.

Something crazy is probably going to happen.

I can feel it.

The alliance retained control.

All that would be too much in six hours.

This is a canvas from hell.

If you were going to become Ink Master, you should be able to accommodate me.

Your technique of doing, we haven't been able to finish.

You dropped the ball, man.

You're supposed to be cool, calm, and collected.

Don't tell me how I'm supposed to be.

This is my shop.

This is Black Spade.

Damn, there's a lot to do here.

But ultimately, their strategy backfired.

It took somebody years of their life to paint this thing.

You guys got six hours.

Doom and Aaron, I love you both, but what the ?

Today is that day where one of the strongest teams can go home.

In the elimination, Unkindness Art, Allegory Arts, and Black Spade Tattoo

were the bottom three shops.

Unkindness Art.

It shows the most promise, but it looks more like a children's book.

Allegory Arts.

The skull is a vital part of this piece, and it looks unfinished.

Black Spade Tattoo.

You've saved the faces and the hands until the last 45 minutes of a six-hour tattoo.

Y'all are insane.

Black Spade Tattoo.

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

Eight shops remain to take on returning veteran shops, but only one will earn a $200

,000 prize and the title of Master Shop.

There's a six-man alliance in this house.

That's scary.

Unkindness, allegory.

And artistic skin design.

I think they're very strong.

And they have a lot of solidarity amongst them.

They think they're untouchable.

Let's just look at numbers, man.

There's four people right here.

You've got the girls.

That's six.

Matt and Katie are super cool.

And they're not stupid.

That's eight people.

I think that when we're down in the jury of peers, let's help each other out.

Yeah, that's a lot of control.

We're still going to battle.

But for now, let's work together.

Absolutely.

I think that we should watch out for Christian.

He really is good at playing the game.

He's already been a finalist in this competition and was the favorite for the win.

Is there anybody else we need to keep our eyes on?

DJ and Bubba are super skillful.

Why not just bring them in?

Why not literally have all of the strongest instead of just three with one floating around?

We're doing something sculptural.

Welcome.

As this competition constantly changes, one thing remains the same.

Only one shop will earn $200,000, a feature in Inked Magazine, the title of Ink Master, and

for the first time ever, the title of Master Shop.

Yeah.

Standing in your way is the next returning veteran.

He competed in season one and came in second place.

He's the owner of Empire State Studio, Mr.

Tommy Helm.

Tommy is a super versatile artist, and he's super solid.

The first season of Ink Master, I made it to second place, which would be known as the first

loser.

You got $100,000 at the end of this trail?

Like, I'm fighting for that, dude.

Throughout this competition, Tommy has really shined.

He's a solid tattooer, but he's lost it on proportion a few times.

The face looks like she's just been in a prize fight.

The eyes and the lips, they're wonky, man.

Tommy, that pinup got you.

Last time I went at the Ink Master, I was totally blind.

And now I'm way more prepared.

Tommy, welcome back.

Who'd you bring with you?

This is my friend Marvin.

I've been with Tommy at Empire State for seven years now.

He doesn't like it when I say he's my mentor, but I look up to him.

We're both really talented people, and we're both driven.

He's not going to let me sleep until the work is done.

I'm completely confident we can take the win.

All right, gentlemen, this week is designed to put your shop to the ultimate test.

Succeed and you stay.

Fail.

and your shop goes home as fast as you return.

For this week, we are testing proportion.

It's hard to get proportion on things like feet, hands, small faces.

Last time I was here, proportion was my weakness.

Today, you must show proportion with a classic art form that's over 20,000 years old.

That's old.

Relief sculpture.

Relief comes from the Latin word for elevated, because in this ancient art, a raised image

is created.

The whole basis of sculpting is proportions.

You define the sculpture by its actual shape.

For this challenge, you'll mix your own plaster, then apply it to an eight foot by eight foot

canvas, layer by layer, to form your sculpture.

Y'all, I'm a girly girl.

I don't work in construction, so I don't really know what to do with plaster.

Proportion is crucial, or your sculpture will be a mess.

OK.

You have five hours, and your time

begins now.

Today, these artists are going to have to create proportion by adding or subtracting plaster

to create depth and overall shape.

Perfect.

Tommy's one of the top contenders that's ever done this.

He should put a lot of fear in the hearts to competitors.

Everything's proportional on a face.

High risk is all.

This is the time to swing as hard as you can for the fences, or else show's over.

Just the way we go, huh?

All right, so perspectives.

I'm thinking, like, looking like bird's eye beauty.

I thought it was about proportion.

You show me what you're doing.

I trust my teammate.

We're just going to design this together and make it awesome.

Imagine if we had the World Trade Center sitting here.

So we're really going to push the perspective.

Yeah, bro, and blow it out.

What if we did, like, a teacup pouring out?

OK.

Because we can get, like, proportions in there.

Allison and I really need to stop riding the middle.

This would be more of our foreground, so we can, like, make, like, a transition.

I just wish we could get that jump up that we need.

I feel like it would be really easy to read.

It's such an emotional and artistic roller coaster.

And I just really, really, really want to level out.

I really don't know what I'm about to do.

just do it.

You have four hours.

Get it onto something before you start scraping it.

Doom is taking a lead on this.

If we made everything thicker, it would actually go faster.

Yeah, I'm listening to you.

It's just, this is already drying.

I've been trying to help her keep her stress on point.

Get to a place where we can sculpt it.

I don't want to.

I know you don't want to.

But she's doing nothing to really help my stress levels.

This is, I just, I'm done with this .

I don't know what you're doing, but it's not good.

Are you OK?

No.

Please don't give up.

You do what you want to do.

I am.

You've abandoned the mission.

I've abandoned hope.

I feel like everything I'm saying, like shooting me down.

And everything I say, you shoot me down.

Because you're wrong.

You are too.

No, but you're more wrong than I am.

No, that's not true.

The plasterer has broken our spirits.

So you want me to smooth out the neck so that I can just carve back into it?

Yep.

I feel like that doesn't make a lot of sense.

OK, well, it does.

Oh, man.

I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.

I'm tired as .

I'm sure Eva's tired.

You think these feathers are proportionate to the?

There's not really any feathers on the neck, but.

Why would you let me do it, then?

I think it looks good.

I'm losing my mind.

Oh, watch out.

Two hours left, guys.

Two more hours.

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore.

I don't know.

You know what?

I have no idea.

This is not easy at all.

Oh, god.

I hate this thing so bad.

It's not easy to get it smooth.

It's not easy to get it sharp.

It's just everything's falling apart.

I got to get in and start sending that a little bit.

I wouldn't even worry about it.

I mean, it looks so bad.

It looks so bad.

I'm feeling super defeated right now.

One hour remaining, guys.

One hour to go.

That looks awesome.

I love this.

I was classically trained in sculpture.

I've worked with plaster thousands of times in much bigger quantities than this.

Well, I sure am glad that you're the plaster expert.

Me and Katie are going to slay this.

Let's win this one.

How about that?

Yeah.

4, 3, 2, 1.

That is it.

Time is up.

Well, we had good intentions.

We did.

Christian's looks cool, but pretty sure your ear doesn't end at your under eye.

We got our proportions right.

All right, it is time to critique your work.

Let's start with Empire State Studio.

Tommy, welcome back, man.

Thank you very much.

What was your plan of attack here in terms of showing proportion?

Proportion?

What?

Marv, you told me it was perspective.

We were trying to show the proportion of the World Trade Center through perspective.

The Twin Towers were identical.

They are definitely not identical in your representation.

So proportion right there is lost.

Allegory Arts.

The swan is a pretty unmistakable proportionate bird.

The way I'm seeing it, the proportions are way wrong.

The shape is off because that wingspan's so big on a swan.

Judging on proportion, I don't like it.

Pins and needles.

Trying to show proportion, you want to show elements that actually can relate to each other.

And this being a teacup versus an unknown flower, there's really no test of proportion in

this.

artistic skin design.

You definitely did a lot of work today.

As far as proportion goes, that's a huge eye and a small body for the size of the head.

I don't know that you chose the right thing to nail proportion.

Black cobra tattoo.

We felt like a bird would be a good way to show proportion.

You do an excellent job creating the raised surface off of the board, because in these relief

sculptures, anywhere that you can create a hard shadow through lighting, it really defines

the image.

The bird's in proportion to itself, so I think you guys hit the challenge.

Thanks, y'all.

Old Town Ink.

Guys, I really like it.

I love the jovial, creative take on it.

I think the nose up top with how much depth you put in that, and it's not dribbling out as

cool.

Nice job.

Thanks, guys.

Basilica tattoo.

Keep losing on this one, man.

It looks like the beadwork on top is from a straight-on view, and the face is from a three

-quarter view.

Choosing to do a kind of a lifelike face makes it really difficult.

Dude, it's a good god damn thing we can tattoo like we do, because we suck at flash on.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

Cute little figure.

You made up the proportion so it's whatever it is.

What I can judge you on is that one arm is not proportionate with the other arm.

One wing is not proportionate with the other wing.

After the whole praise of going outside of your comfort zone last week, you're back in it.

Unkindness art.

You lose it at trying to show proportion, because you have trees and a face, two elements

that obviously this is not the correct proportion for.

The shape of the face is weird.

The mouth gets away from you.

It shows a heavy struggle.

It shows indecisive direction of what your outcome is going to be.

I'm losing my mind.

I'm starting to wish that I'd never even come to this competition.

Why would you cover her tits with an ax?

I'll just redraw it.

I'm stupid.

I just want to make a tattoo.

Let's stay away from this section.

This is going to be the end of us.

All right, guys, today we're testing proportion.

Tommy Helm back in the competition.

A weird entire cityscape totally out of proportion, but trying to be in perspective.

If something's in a hard, hard perspective, there's no way to tell if that's the right proportion.

If you look at Black Cobra, the depth that they got really put that cast shadow and that nice

dark off to the side of the white of the plaster.

The head versus the body versus the feet versus the tail looked correct.

The bird sitting on the branch is believable.

Creatively, I really like what Old Town did.

I love the big, goofy face.

I'm much more interested in a crazy, dramatic face than I am just a bird.

Want to let them know?

Yeah.

Let's do it.

Today, you were being judged on proportion.

And the judges have decided that the winner of today's flash challenge is Black Cobra

Tattoo.

Awesome.

You have something that's in relationship to itself.

I think you guys hit a home run on that one.

Congratulations, guys.

You'll have the power to assign all human canvases in the next elimination tattoo.

We're going to kill them with the skull tape.

Of course we'll kill it.

We know how to play the game, so this is exactly what we needed.

Absolutely.

I mean, we're coming in strong.

Let's do this.

We can all head back to the loft.

The priority with this skull pick is to make sure that we totally lock down the best canvas

possible for us.

Right.

As far as who we're going to target.

I don't think there's one shop that I can pinpoint to get a hard day.

But there's also nobody here that I'm trying to protect, either.

How do you feel about Basilica?

He wants to form an alliance with us.

Yeah.

I don't know that I'm.

to shake hands with the devil.

I just got here.

Right.

Let's try to feel some out.

First and foremost, you and I have a stronger bond than anybody else in the house.

This is our alliance.

Right.

Welcome to the elimination tattoo.

Your shop's honor is on the line.

If you fail, you'll lose your shot at $200,000 and the first ever title of master shop.

Tommy, as a veteran artist, it's on you to prove that you deserve to be here by overcoming

your weaknesses.

I can only imagine what's coming.

In Tommy's honor, you'll all be judged on proportion.

There's no better test of proportion than what, Tommy?

Than a pinup.

A pinup.

Last time I was here, I had a pinup that looked like she got hit with a hot bag of nickels.

This is trouble.

You must tattoo your pinup from head to toe, including her hands and feet.

Not only must the head, hips, and chest strike the right balance, but tiny body parts like

fingers, eyes, and hair must also have appealing proportion.

Pin-ups are one of the hardest things to tattoo.

The thighs, the hands, the feet, everything has to coincide with one another.

And if one full woman and turn her into an ugly beast.

Tattoo your shop, one tattoo on the same canvas.

And you will switch artists every 30 minutes.

Are you ?

I thought switching every hour was difficult.

But switching every half hour, this is going to be crazy.

No hiding.

No letting one person do the hard stuff.

It needs to look fluid.

It needs to look like one person did it.

What we really want to see is that both your teammates are strong.

Let's meet your canvases.

Black Cobra Tattoo, you won the flash challenge.

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

You can change the course of this competition.

So choose carefully.

OK.

Let's do it.

What are you wanting to get tattooed?

A law enforcement-themed pinup girl on my forearm.

We definitely have a couple targets.

I want a Lady Justice pinup tattoo on my back.

We're trying to send a huge message.

We're not here to make friends.

Matt and I came here to win.

Tell us what you want.

A winged Valkyrie pinup on my ribs.

His ribs?

Do you have any wiggle room on that placement?

No.

You pretty stuck to that?

Yeah.

Good to know.

God.

Oh, ribs.

One of the worst places for a pinup girl.

God, it makes me all nervous.

And this dude, angry as hell.

Nobody wants that.

I'd like to do a barbershop-themed pinup girl.

Nice.

Yeah, that's a good one.

On my butt.

Oh.

God damn it.

Are you flexible in placement?

Not at all.

Tattooing someone's butt is like tattooing a water balloon filled with cottage cheese.

That placement does suck.

No, thank you.

I want to get a fire-eating circus pinup seated on a carousel horse on my bicep.

OK.

All these pinups are a challenge.

But the fire-eating circus lady sitting on a carousel horse?

You have to be kidding me right now.

So I want to get an Amazonian-themed pinup.

I have another tattoo here, but they're all elements.

This is the water.

I have air, and I have some Peruvian symbols, because that's where my family's from.

She has to be the most complicated canvas on the line, and I want nothing to do with that.

Who's difficult?

I don't feel the ribs now.

It's the kill shot.

With this face, you can tell that dude's flexible.

I really hope Black Cobra nails the cool kids club with the rough skull pics.

I'm tired of their attitude.

Pack it up and hit the road.

All right, canvases, one by one, please read the artist's name on the bottom of your skull.

Black Cobra tattoos.

Basilica tattoo.

Valkyrie on the ribs.

Old Town Ink.

Black Cobra definitely screwed over Old Town.

That's awesome.

It's not going to hit me, is it?

This guy's going to wrap DJ up like a hot dog and eat him.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

Pins and noodles.

Carousel fire eater.

Someone they don't like is getting that one.

Unkindness art.

Matt Oba and KD whatever your last name is, I hereby throw the gauntlets down.

Barbara Butt.

Allegory arts.

God damn.

This is going to be a hard-ass tattoo, pun intended.

Artistic skin design.

They're shooting for allegory, unkindness, artistic skin.

Black Cobra, you're doing it right.

They need to go home.

Empire State tattoo.

How are you?

Good.

Awesome.

Now I'm about to do an Amazonian lady with a ton of things to put into it.

We're screwed.

You will have six hours to tattoo a pinup from head to toe.

And based on your work, one shop will be out.

Good luck.

Matt, good to meet you.

We both done a ton of pin-ups before.

Pin-up day in the competition is always exciting for me.

Ready to do this?

The people that are good at it can really do great, beautiful tattoos.

But it's also a day where we see a lot of fumbles.

So you wanted a Valkyrie girl?

Yeah.

Showing proportion in the pinup can be tricky.

We want to see that the arms and the legs and the neck all are the right shape, the right

length.

She could be, like, naked and green.

We're looking for beautiful aesthetics.

As far as black and gray versus color, I think we would be cutting it super close if we did

color.

We think with black and gray, you would get a better quality tattoo.

We can move right along versus, like, trying to rush.

I really don't want it black and gray, though.

My biggest concern is her skin type.

There's wrinkly skin, and it's super hard to pack color.

I know you really want color.

We just want to make sure you get the best tattoo possible.

I really want it to have color.

We're .

You would like a barbaress pinup?

Yeah, I would like for her to have red hair, green eyes.

And I would like a barber pole.

Since you want to get it, like, on your actual bum, something linear is not going to fit you

proper and look right.

Maybe she's sitting side-side on the barber pole.

Like, it doesn't have to be straight.

The barber pole can be off to a side.

I think her sitting on the barber pole is a really good idea.

He's really easy to work with.

He's got good ideas.

And then?

Out comes the ass.

Got like a good butt exposure here.

It's like someone poured this guy's ass out of a bag.

Me and you are going to be real good friends.

It's just so hard to tattoo an area that doesn't have any elasticity.

Let's stay away from this section.

This is going to be the end of us.

Here, Rips.

So I can't have the ax covering a tip, so that's what the whole thing's all about.

Why would you have an ax in front of her tits?

I don't get that.

Well, her tits are right there.

Only little part of it's covered.

Do you understand what I'm saying, though?

Why would you cover her tits with an ax?

Yeah, I mean, if you want me to redraw the whole thing, I'll just redraw it.

Everything's fine.

Just move the ax to up.

I can't.

It changes her whole shoulder.

It changes this.

You weren't set on her tits before.

You were like, I don't care about the tits.

No, I said I don't want them too big, but I don't want them covered.

Well, this is darn no good.

I wouldn't block tits with an ax on a pinup.

That's stupid.

I just want to make a tattoo.

OK, artists, you have six hours to tattoo a sexy pinup with appealing proportion.

And your time starts now.

All right.

Let's do it.

Do this.

Today we're testing proportion with Ink Master's favorite, pinups.

Go ahead and take a mirror.

I want to make sure you like where it's at.

These artists need to make sure that her proportions are all voluptuous and sexy.

There is one spot of this tattoo.

It's gonna hurt so bad.

Today we're gonna make these artists switch every 30 minutes because we want to see that you

can do it all.

If you came with a strong teammate, then you shouldn't have any worries.

All right, Mika, let's rock and roll.

This girl has dark skin.

She wants tons of information put into this piece.

Going big's a risk, but there's no other option here.

If we go too small, it'd be very dark and heavy.

I'm feeling really competitive.

Really competitive.

I like that.

I don't want to move.

No, we're not going to lose today.

Now I'm really nervous.

I do not want to go home on the first challenge.

Whoa, this is cool.

Ready to redraw it?

He doesn't like it?

Ready to put the ax in his hand.

Time started already.

I mean, we haven't even started tattooing yet.

I'm losing my mind right now.

Let me just do what it'll look like tomorrow.

You can't waste much more time, dude.

We're already not tattooing.

And switch on it.

Wee.

You OK?

Yeah, I gotta be or it ain't getting done, right?

We're definitely just feeling the pressures of things with our canvas not working with us

and not budging on the black and gray.

The color's definitely taking a long time.

There's that skin tone there, you know what I mean?

Oh, that is more of a skin tone.

I just wish we would stop getting dealt canvases.

I'm so jealous you guys got the cowgirl.

Pins and needles is tattooing a weird, unattractive lady wearing, like, a big, oversized hat

and a meat sack.

Strange.

Yeah, that looks awesome.

We're already late in this thing, so we're both panicking right now.

So right now, whoever starts ends.

Yes.

We might be completely in this challenge.

Ready?

Four hours remaining.

Switch it up.

All right.

30 minutes.

This isn't nerve wracking or anything.

Takes the heat off.

Our canvas originally wanted a fire breather sitting on a carousel horse.

But that is impossible to tattoo in six hours.

So we got her down to just a fire breather sitting in a ring.

And we're killing it.

But right now, the rest of the alliance definitely seems like it's going to implode.

Do you want to put any, like, blush or any pink or anything in her face?

Yeah, I want to give her, like, purplish, maybe.

I've done a Medusa, and I've done a pinup, but combining these things, we've got to make sure

that the snakes are not too big or too small on the head itself, so it's another way to show

proportion, also another way to screw ourselves.

This right here needs to be mixed.

You have to make a mid-tone.

Okay.

Final hour, guys.

Switch artings.

You're on boots next, right?

Yeah, I'm going to do her shirt and boots, finish the rest of the water.

The Cool Kids Club is scrambling and struggling for their lives, and we're sitting here on

Easy Street.

That looks sharp.

Dude, this thing is just coming together.

Just coming together.

Black Cobra did a good job.

They gave the worst skull picks to the alliance.

The veterans are going to take control of this thing.

This Cool Kids Club is in a little more trouble than they realize.

Oh, I don't know how much they got left in me.

Light at the end of the tunnel, bud.

Butt tattoos, definitely not the most fun.

I feel like I'm moving a lot.

His skin is starting to become highly irritated.

It makes the line work look shaky and wobbly.

It's actually just swelling, and we're starting to worry about it.

This guy can stand up, and it could be completely jacked.

Four, three, two, one.

That's it.

Machines down.

Time is up.

No more ink.

You're good.

There you go.

Go check it out.

Yay!

Thank you.

Done.

Oh.

I love it.

That's amazing.

Nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Holy moly.

I love it.

The talent pool here is that ridiculous.

There are some pieces that I looked at today that I was like, holy, wow.

We have to keep up for sure.

We're just warming up, you know what I mean?

So I just hope we don't go home or, more importantly, get bashed.

We can all sit around and sing kumbaya, or we can all sit and compete for $100,000 each.

Hold on, Grandpa.

Really?

I can't believe you guys tattooed it the way you tattooed it.

And you thought this is going to fly?

Then you committed suicide.

After being in the bottom last week, do you feel like that was a good comeback at all?

Because I was pretty unimpressed.

I don't have anything to worry about.

No?

I can't see how that piece doesn't go to the bottom.

But it was also on a flabby ass.

That face was totally unsaturated.

And that has nothing to do with ass skin.

The face is this big.

That face was .

No.

Yeah.

Let me ask you, who's your bottom three?

You guys, the girls, and Dane and April.

Ah.

Horse got some busted in that thing, but we're not going to the bottom.

Oh, I don't know about that.

There's zero chance that tattoo's going to the bottom.

All right, guys.

You can see that we're short one judge.

Oliver has had a medical emergency, but he's going to be fine.

In the meantime, Chris and I will be serving as your sole judges for this critique.

Today, you had to tattoo a pinup.

Tommy, this challenge was designed to test your weaknesses.

Empire State Studio, you're up first.

The tattoo itself, it is readable.

But what I don't like about this is it's so stiff.

Her back shoulder, the way it comes off behind her chin, it's not powerful.

She's just holding on to her staff for dear life.

Also, the way that her left ass cheek.

eventually curves around and connects to that front leg is pretty askew.

This is a proportion day.

That's whacked out of proportion.

Basilica tattoo.

I like the perspective on the tattoo.

I think overall the composition is great.

It's a really cute face.

I love the detail in the shirt.

I love the background and the foreground with this fish.

This is what I expected to see.

Thank you.

Allegory Arts.

How was this for you?

No pun intended, I'm bummed about it.

When he was laying down, everything looked to me to be exactly where it needed to go, and

now things look like they've shifted a bit.

Your outline just reeks of wobbly, not well-stretched skin.

There isn't a well-pulled line in the pack.

I've tattooed a hell of a lot of asses, and there's only one way to get them done.

You take that person, and you bend them into a ball, like straight up.

And you tilt them on his side, and you make that ass tight as a drum.

I don't care how saggy it is.

I'll make that thing tighter than the table.

I can't believe you guys tattooed it the way you tattooed it.

You committed suicide.

Classic trilogy tattoo.

Overall, the tattoo's appealing.

And because you opened that slit in the dress and showed that leg coming out, this is a very

long, exaggerated, in the right way pinup.

I like, overall, the way you guys shaded this thing.

It's got a very soft look in the dress.

This tattoo is strong.

Artistic skin design.

I really like this tattoo a lot.

At first glance, it's interesting, and it's dynamic.

I also like the spots on this thing.

It just adds a nice detail, a nice otherworldliness, and it also helps guide the sinew of

the body and the musculature of this figure in a really positive way.

This would be the one that I would love to have had.

I really, really like this tattoo.

Old Town Ink.

The elements within the tattoo are clean.

I just don't know if it nails the proportion aspect of this challenge.

The back leg is just entirely too small.

Your anatomy is totally off.

Her chest lines to the right, and then her stomach's all the way to the left.

That turn is an impossibility.

Just a huge miss on the body.

Unkindness art.

The action of her sitting in the ring looks really great.

And I really, really like these legs.

The way they're shaded, the position, I think they're beautiful.

She has a pretty manly upper body.

Also, it looks like she's missing a breast, and she just has a bustier.

It takes this character from being in the main tent and puts her in the sideshow.

Black Cobra tattoos.

I really like this tattoo.

It's really clean, it's really simple, and it tells the whole story.

I love the details in it, the shoes, the leather you have coming up to the top of the calves.

Really, really nice, clean outline, no wobbles.

Overall, technically, best tattoo of the day, by far.

Thank you.

Pins and needles.

It's not the most attractive pinup.

The skirt looks more on the side of a dripping petal or lunch meat, anything other than fabric.

We've got to talk about these legs.

The back leg is just one width, one thickness, all the way up.

Wait, which one's the back leg?

That's the other debate.

When you thought this is going to fly, then you guys are crazy.

All right, Chris, it's time to announce Tattoo of the Day.

As far as I'm concerned, there's two really standout tattoos.

Black Cobra.

And Basilica.

I got to be honest.

If Basilica punched in the color the way Black Cobra did, that's bulletproof tattooing.

But I would argue that the proportions in Basilica are more spot on.

Yes.

My vote is for Basilica.

I'm going to agree with you.

I'm going to go Basilica because of the proportions.

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

As the jury appears, you must all deliberate and put one shop up for elimination.

Head back to the loft.

That's completely not true.

If it has nothing to do with personality in the Cool Kids Club, why would you not vote the

strongest team out?

You're basically telling us how to play the game the way that you do.

In that case?

If you were playing smart, wouldn't you want to get rid of the best one?

Hold on, Grandpa.

Show me a little respect, bro.

We can all sit around and sing Kumbaya, or we can all sit and compete for $100,000 each.

We're here as the jury appears to determine which shot should be put up for elimination today.

The word of the day was proportions.

I personally think of old town.

The proportions were janky.

I think what hurts it proportionally is the legs.

She has a real kind of stubbed feeling.

But it's technically in there, so.

Doesn't make it right.

It's just big to me.

Like, I've worked 20 years to pull the cleanest line I can.

We all have.

This terminal uniqueness thing, dude, guess what?

You're not the only guy who's worked his ass off the guy here.

If it was technical application, you guys nailed it, but it's proportions.

But I just can't even consider Old Town over Empire.

That loincloth goes into her leg and just stops.

There was a concern by Dave and Chris about the loincloth on the back of the butt.

And I think they were thinking that that was her other cheek.

But it wasn't.

It was actually the loincloth.

It reads that way.

It does.

I know.

In technicality, we could discuss their pinup on the butt.

There's only wrinkles in the lines.

where there's wrinkles in his ass.

I think my biggest issue actually was the hair.

Her hairline is a little off, but that's all I see.

I don't really consider this one to be, like, on the bottom.

But we're all allowed into an opinion, not just the cool kid club here.

Hi, Chris.

Today we're testing proportion.

Empire State Studio back in the house.

I don't see Tommy lined up for a win today.

I think he has some definite proportion issues.

For me, it's all in that back leg completely out of proportion.

Tommy has a swing and a miss coming out of the gate.

Yeah.

Old Town Inc.

Another dropped ball in terms of proportion.

If you take a line and go from the Adam's apple to the center of the sternum and then trace

back cross body to where that navel ends up, you see that it's completely out of whack.

That throws the shape of the legs.

This might be the poorest outing from Old Town.

I would also say that pins and needles had a rough day.

Proportionately, it seems completely crazy.

That hand on top of the hat is just, it's not a human hand.

No.

Allegory?

Absolutely.

There's not a single straight line on this female anywhere.

It was a mess.

The artists are about to put one shop up for elimination, so that could be pretty revealing.

Let's see what they do.

So who has the jury decided to put up for elimination?

The jury appears has voted to put Empire State Studio up for elimination.

All right, we will see Empire State, Allegory Arts, and Pins

and Needles.

Let's do this.

Today, you had to tattoo the ultimate test of proportion, a pinup.

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

Let me go to the jury of peers.

All right, jury, why did you vote Empire State Studio to the bottom?

We put Empire State Studio to the bottom for a lot of out-of-proportion parts.

I also voted for Empire just because I feel like 50% of it is technically applied very badly.

You can't ignore it.

It's technically unsound.

But design-wise?

I'm pretty proud of it.

I'm very proud of it.

The design, though, is the part that throws me.

From the shoulder up, the tattoo's fine.

It's got a cool headdress.

It's got cool feathers.

When we come down is where you get the anatomical problems.

I still argue this is the more appealing face.

Put your thumb over that face and tell me what that tattoo is.

Yeah, exactly.

I have no idea.

Ours didn't even deserve to be in the bottom based on proportions.

You know, you guys debate on how proportion or how well or how good these lines are, but look

at the wobbly left cheek coming off the red.

All you had to do was really pull clean lines.

Do you think if I would have put this tattoo on a forearm that we'd be having this conversation?

Honestly, you guys have had some rough outlines in this competition.

I would say that we could be having this conversation 100%, or you could have had a great

day.

Hins and needles.

There's a slew of problems that I have.

The feet on this, the legs on this.

You guys are just drawing at straws here on shading this tattoo.

Ours definitely does have some issues, but I feel like stuff that they had going on kind of

stood out a little bit more.

Yeah.

Do you not see the same issue with some of Allegory's piece?

Absolutely.

But I mean, I got to say Allegory is the least challenged on the anatomy side.

I cannot get past the face.

Hold on.

You OK?

Oh, maybe not.

You all right?

You all right?

I can't stand up, and I got it bad.

You OK?

You're all right.

You're all right, bro.

Let me get yourself.

I might go outside for a second.

Hey.

Don't stand up.

Don't stand up.

Don't stand up.

Don't stand up.

Just sit down.

Sit down.

Just sit down.

Yeah, just sit, dude.

Oh, .

Take a deep breath, bro.

No, I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I do this all the time.

No, you don't.

Yeah.

Your wife says you don't.

You got any tingles?

Take this off really quick.

Let me just let me sit for a second.

Yeah, don't get up.

I'm just a bit hot, strong.

When you're ready, we've got a chair for you.

Thanks, brother.

All right.

He's shaking it off.

Sorry, y'all.

You're OK.

I'm good, man.

However, unfortunately, somebody's got to go home.

I think there's equal technical challenges.

My decision based on proportion is pins and needles.

You know, my vote is always based on what just looks right.

My vote is for pins and needles.

The judges have decided, pins and needles, you do not have what it takes to be master shot.

You guys built a brand, and you really put some shining work out there.

You guys definitely gave the big dogs a run for their money.

Thank you.

Please pack your machines and move out.

That blows.

That sucks.

I don't feel like our tattoo was the worst of the day.

For being the youngest and being the least experienced, I'm proud of us.

Yeah.

Hell yeah.

Hell yeah, dude.

Nobody realizes how hard it really is to be here and to do the things that we do.

I miss this shop, though.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Right.

on the next episode of Ink Master.

This is the last week a new shop will enter the competition.

The alliance is in trouble.

This is a numbers game at this point.

If we're going to take control, we need to take control.

I'm fine riding the middle of the end.

I know the .

You haven't rode the middle.

You've been in the bottom.

Be precise.

Your future depends on it.

Join our alliance, and then slowly but surely slice out all the mediocre.

This one's a rough one for me.

No sugarcoating this tattoo, man.

Just a huge head shaker.

Float as a ship or sink as a ship?

Today you're sinking.