Original subtitles

On the last episode of Ink Master, Return of the Masters.

Team DJ is reeling right now.

I don't expect mercy, and there will be none given.

In the Flash Challenge, Team DJ fought back.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Team DJ be totally ahead of the game with one man down.

The judges have decided the winner of today's Flash Challenge is Team DJ.

Taking shots with mother .

In the elimination tattoo, Team DJ's enemies felt the heat.

If you didn't listen to me, it comes back with something totally different than I asked for.

I don't want to do it with you.

Ah!

Precision, line work, Katie.

Do not poke the ..

In the elimination, Fame, Lil D, and Katie were the bottom three artists.

Fame.

This tattoo is just a technical application nightmare.

Lil D.

Your color saturation definitely has problems.

He dropped the ball on it.

Again.

At least you can tell what the it is.

Katie.

The line work in this thing is rough.

It is a bumpy ride.

The judges have decided, Katie, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

13 artists remain, but only one will earn a $100,000 prize and

the title of Ink Master.

That could have gone any way.

The judges really wanted you down there because you threw the challenge out of your tattoo.

If I would have realized everyone has this checkerboard thing.

Quit calling it a checkerboard thing, dude.

It's pixels.

We need you to be more serious.

I hate checkers in general, so I didn't want to put the checkers in my tattoo.

That's not what it is!

It's really frustrating as a teammate to hear you just like blowing it off.

Say checkerboard.

I'm not going to say checkerboard.

At the end of the day, there's a lot more things that you need to take seriously, like not

being at the bottom.

And I wasn't this time, was I?

Every time we have meetings and stuff, you spend 90% of it exalting yourself.

I've literally been at the top.

Disregard being at the top, because did you win the title of Ink Master?

Dude, it's not even that.

Did you win the title?

No.

I did, and I'm still not on top.

Because now I got to fight for this again.

We really got to start letting go of our egos.

And teamwork is our future here.

The big dogs took a shot at us twice now.

Yeah.

And it failed twice.

We're not going anywhere.

I'm taking three.

I'm taking three.

Welcome, guys.

This competition is constantly changing.

And to win, you have to be at the top of your game.

Only one of you will earn $100,000.

a feature in Inked Magazine and the title of Ink Master.

I got it.

Throughout the competition, you've been working side by side as a team.

But today, all of you must step aside and trust your coaches completely.

Trust me, right?

Yeah.

For this flash challenge, coaches, you will be tattooing.

I'm ready.

Oh, boy.

Steve has already won.

a head-to-head face off against myself and DJ.

I need to do everything I can to win this challenge.

This week, we're testing adaptability.

Adaptability is in every tattoo.

On different parts of the body, the skin is different.

You have to adapt to it.

You have to run your machine differently.

You have to approach the design differently.

Coaches, today you must tattoo an incredibly difficult part of the body.

Oh, no.

The under chin.

The skin under your chin is really delicate.

It's hard to pull lines on, get solid saturation.

It's hard to even lay out a design under there.

Remember, your success is directly tied to the success of your team, because each artist from

your team that you lead to the finale earns you the power to call a shot in the master face

-off for $100,000.

Win this challenge, and you'll have the power to assign all human canvases

in the elimination tattoo.

Yeah.

All right, coaches, today's the day to lead by example.

You will be tattooing from the underside of the jawline down.

Wow.

That is hitting the challenge.

It's a delicate area.

It's a painful spot to get tattooed.

It is brutal.

Yeah.

If you don't know what you're doing, it gets really, really tricky quick.

Look, I know tattooing under the chin is difficult.

but I myself can't exactly tell you why or how it's difficult because I've never done it before.

Jason, you won tattoo of the day and the last elimination tattoo, so you get the power to

assign the human canvases to the coaches.

Wow.

Wow.

Damn.

Let's meet your canvases.

Canvases, please tell us about the tattoos you'd like to get.

I want a skull.

Put a snake wrapped around it.

Roses in the background.

Realism, color.

Please don't give us this canvas.

It's old skin is going to be super hard to stretch.

It's like tattooing, like, a thin piece of ham.

Color, realism, all-seeing eye, crying blood.

What?

Well, they say it's a special for us.

Goddamn.

Want a great horned owl in black and gray?

Realism.

If I had to pick one, that would be it.

An owl?

I do, like, seven of these a week at home.

It's a whole killer thing.

Yeah.

OK, Jason, go ahead and assign the skulls.

Oh, man.

Benefits of winning tattoo of the day.

I'm going to ruin some lives.

Canvases.

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

Steve.

Right here, man.

Jason gave me the most difficult skin in a room.

Whatever.

I'm the OG in the house, man.

You're not going to trip me up.

I'm good.

Anthony.

You have good hands, brother.

Got you, man.

Get that, bro.

DJ.

All right, coaches, you have six hours.

And your time starts now.

Steve.

Nice to meet you.

Come on over, Emma.

Everything about tattooing the underhand of the throat is tricky.

Do you want the snake and the roses?

Do you want skull and rose?

Do you want skull and snake?

All three of those things are going to be real hard in a very tiny area.

Where experience really plays is being able to be adaptable and tattoo every part of the body.

Getting that nice triangle right here is tough on a throat.

If you've only been tattooing a few years, you haven't done hundreds of tattoos on every part

of the body.

I want to use as much negative space as I can, but be smart about it.

You know what I mean?

Without that experience, you're not going to be able to do everything as efficiently as someone

who has been.

Stretch your neck.

Tip your neck off a little bit.

I'm glad that my canvas only has one chin.

I have a feeling I have to freehand this.

I'm trying to lay a stencil nice and flat and even.

It's going all over the place.

It's sloppy.

I'm going to have to adapt and simplify my design, and hopefully it looks good on this really

weird, hangy skin.

I have to freehand it.

Freehand, man, sir.

So he's not willing to give the canvas the tattoo the canvas wants.

Right.

I can hear you, douchebag.

Sometimes it's your canvas is tattooed.

Listen, you keep running middle of the road.

I didn't know second was the middle of the road.

Be second at the finale, too, Siri gotcha.

Someone gets real grumpy when people start talking to him.

You're not talking to me.

You're talking about me.

It's a difference, bro.

See what the hell I'm doing.

Everything's swelling up.

I can't see what I'm doing.

I just have to go off instinct and follow my gut and my intuition.

Oh, that's my neck.

If I drop the ball, my team does not get the advantage.

And I've pretty much proven to these other coaches that I can't compete with them going into

the master phase office.

Do you have time?

What do you think about a tiny, like, light gray shade?

I don't have light gray anything on the neck.

It will not hold.

I mean, light gray wash.

Listen, I gotta get this done, bro.

Let it rock.

Let him do his thing, huh?

Steve, if you came off the black with this and dipped it in this, it would look dope.

A dope blend.

Dude, I don't, I got this much.

I'm not blending, you know what I'm saying?

Jeremy, it's his day he's tattooing.

Like, if he doesn't take our input, then he's not taking it.

This is your final hour.

Maybe just peppering just a little shading off those blacks up, give a little skin just to

fill that gap just a tiny bit.

Get through that, get it solid, get it clean as .

Oh, that sucks.

I'm dropping my machine.

It hit the tip.

I just got to rewrap it and everything.

I haven't dropped my machine in like 10 years.

I'm not sure why I'm nervous right now, but people behind you telling you different things

to do, it kind of gets in your head.

You want to try like that blueberry color, which is like a deep purpley red.

It's real, real pretty.

Josh might be a little bit too hands-on at the moment.

No time.

Just going to go with those ones?

Yeah.

Cool.

No worries.

Josh needs to realize that this skull pick is everything to me.

I've been on the line the last three times, so I'm really hoping he leaves DJ alone.

So the only other thing I was thinking, DJ, is, like, with your spacing that you have there.

All right, Josh.

I'm done.

I'm done.

I'm done.

Three, two, one.

That's it.

Machines down.

Time is up.

No more ink.

Holy yeah.

Yeah, you absolutely crushed this, bro.

Nice.

Hopefully, bro.

All I can say.

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

Let's start with Steve.

It's a tough tattoo.

You made a smart choice just doing the skull and the roses.

You've got a lot of really solid, dense black in that soft skin.

And then you also contrast it with the really bright red and the roses.

It looks symmetrical.

And I like that you went down and covered the whole throat.

You did a killer job.

Thank you so much.

Ah, Steve's tattoo sucks.

The overall design is just ugly, man.

Thanks, bro.

Good job.

DJ.

I like the strength that you have in the simplicity.

It was a super tough area, especially a triangle.

That was why I was so fumbled up.

It happens.

All tattooers falter.

But how you get back up from the slip, that is what I'm talking about.

You made a really strong, clean outline.

You really toned back the eye.

You really went with a simple color palette.

Simplifying the design, great example of adaptability, especially for that spot.

Thanks.

DJ's canvas wanted an eye crying blood.

And he did one little measly teardrop.

I mean, that's a cop out if you ask me.

Next up is Anthony.

The smoothness and the quality of the black and gray, that reminds us why you're sitting as

a coach.

Beautiful side, beautiful entryway to the piece in the center, beautiful exit, and the precision

of that beak dropping down to a perfectly sharp point dead center.

Everything's dark and breathable.

This tattoo's absolutely gorgeous, but I don't think it met the challenge.

He dodged the one place that you had to tattoo, the under chin.

Judges, it is time to determine.

the winner of this flash challenge.

As far as adaptability goes today, I really like what DJ did and the way that he went along

the jawline, brought this design so it's readable from a mile away.

My vote is for DJ.

Anthony, to me, went above and beyond.

Doing big black and gray, we always see people do it too dark, where they lose the contrast

or they lose the shape.

Anthony's figure is very dynamic.

Vote for Anthony.

We have one vote for Anthony, one vote for DJ.

Chris.

Today, Anthony.

The judges have decided the winner of today's flash challenge is Anthony.

Thank you, guys.

This feels amazing.

I don't have as much experience as these other coaches.

I pretty much smashed them.

That's what I needed.

Congratulations, Anthony.

Thank you.

You will have the power to assign all human canvases in the elimination tattoo.

Yes, I knew it.

I handed out those skulls, and I chose exactly the way that it needed to be, and our coach

won.

You guys can head back to the loft.

Thanks.

We got multiple targets, and we're going to come for them.

My canvas will not stop twitching.

That's just that there's one spot.

He might have caught that dude.

That could be a huge game changer.

Good job, man.

Congratulations.

Good job, bro.

I don't know, Steve.

You do skulls all the time.

To me, that one was a little bit sketchy.

I chose that style for a 59-year-old dude that works in structure, and I know to be bulletproof.

I think the only place you wanted to look at that was from across the room.

It fit him well.

It looked good on him.

You were walking around saying he doesn't even listen to a word you say, and you were storming

around.

There he goes again, misconstrued .

He's trying to stir up drama, and that's what he's doing right now.

You sound like a dying seal, dude.

All day, dude.

Welcome to the game, baby.

We'll squash it this way.

There's no problem with me or my team.

Whether you guys like it or not, I don't give a .

Welcome to the elimination tattoo.

Based on your work today, one of you will lose your shot at $100,000 and the title of Ink

Master.

you must prove your adaptability by tattooing the undead.

What?

From oozing wounds and rotting skin to decomposing hair and nails, you must

use adaptability to turn the living into the undead.

Tattooing the undead is definitely very hard because you need to know the skeletal structure,

the muscular structure, how things actually rot to create that rotten and dead effect.

Be artistic.

Do something to push the envelope.

Go further.

Work with your coaches, especially over there.

That's the dead guy.

Get some tricks from the dead guy.

Yes.

This is our coach's specialty.

Basically, all he does is dead .

We're going to kill this.

Remember, coaches, after the elimination tattoo, you must deliberate and choose one artist

to put up for elimination.

Let's meet your canvases.

Anthony.

You won the flash challenge.

You now have the power to assign the human canvases.

Remember, every advantage in this competition is critical, so make it count.

Got it.

We believe in you.

Team DJ has some of the strongest artists in this competition.

It's a no-brainer.

We are gunning for Team DJ.

And when we shoot, it's pretty much to kill.

What do you want to get today?

I want an undead koi fish on my right arm in color, Japanese style.

I can see myself getting the koi fish.

I want an undead lion.

on my shin and watercolor.

I was getting that one.

The shin is a really hard place to tattoo.

The skin is so thin, any mistake is going to lead to a blowout.

An undead wolf on my calf, black and gray.

That's cool.

I'll do that, too.

I want an undead raven on my right arm.

He's darker skin, too.

It's hard enough to do a raven tattoo and then to try to make it look undead.

That's almost impossible.

I'd like to get an undead statue of liberty on my left arm, traditional.

Traditional.

They're going to give me this.

Undead mermaid on my left thigh, full color.

This is a doozy.

That's a hard ask, because you have to incorporate so many details to make it look like a

mermaid and not just a regular zombie.

So there's a whole bunch of room for mistakes.

Traditional?

Yes.

Undead one?

Shin?

That's where I want it.

Pull that one off here.

You going to stay there?

Yep.

You think that's our team?

Oh, yeah.

Completely.

Time to be head to head and see who's got it.

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

Juan.

Got you, bro.

Jeremy.

Hey, boss.

Gary.

It's me.

That watercolor line.

Deanna.

The shin is the hardest place to get tattooed because it hurts so badly.

I'm set up for failure at this point.

Mike.

Got you, man.

Daniel.

That's me.

That is tricky.

Josh.

Right here, my man.

Trying to pull off a raven in a tattoo in general is really difficult.

They're a jet black bird.

So achieving contrast and depth with a complexion like this, and it's going to get even trickier.

A little deep.

That's me.

Amanda?

Right here.

Broly?

Got you, bro.

Frank?

How you doing?

That's shot fire.

There's so much detail in a mermaid's tail.

It's going to take away from the gore and special effects I can do to meet the challenge.

Fame.

How's it going?

Jason.

Let's see how this plays out.

You'll have six hours to prove your adaptability by transforming the living into the living

dead.

It's up to you to kill it, or you will be out.

Good luck.

In this challenge, these artists have to show adaptability to take the ideas that the canvases

want and turn it into the undead.

It'll still be readable as the Statue of Liberty through, like, you know, the crown.

We really want to see these artists enhance the image with their artistic abilities.

But it still has to be recognizable as that original image.

It'll probably be a little bit more illustrative, because the traditional, you're not going

to be able to get a lot of that, like, texture-y type stuff.

I've done a lot of lions.

I know you said you wanted watercolor.

Yeah.

To me, watercolor means it's not bold.

It doesn't hold forever.

That's something you do have to keep in mind.

Well, I do want watercolor in it, so.

Not on the side, not on the back, on the shin.

OK, just want to double, triple check.

Shin is tough.

I can take pain.

Do you promise you'll be able to sit six hours on the shin?

Yeah, it's what I want.

For what my canvas is wanting, there's no way of playing it safe.

And he's not budging, so I'm kind of screwed.

Undead mermaid, definitely rib showing.

Some of the skeletal structure of the tail, very, very colorful.

We only have six hours to do this, so I'm going to try and play smart.

I'm very hard-headed.

I very much want, like, what I want.

If we were doing, like, you know, a bust type thing, then I can definitely get more detail

if we do less actual lower half.

If I can't talk her into this.

Then the entire tattoo is going to fall flat.

I'm going to do a great mermaid, but there will be nothing undead to judge.

Definitely want some of the tail showing.

Just like a skeletal structure of the tail.

The only thing undead about this tattoo is going to be me going straight to the bottom.

You're going to make me work today.

Yep.

So my canvas wanted a traditional Statue of Liberty, undead.

Even though American traditional is my wheelhouse, it needs to be black and gray so I could

show a little bit more tricks, like skin rips, cuts, maybe some bite marks.

And then just going in and embellish certain things, like that ditch on her cheek deep in

it with black right here.

Yeah.

This is definitely a risk, and that's how I live my life.

I started tattooing when I was 18 years old.

That was a risk back then, because it wasn't socially acceptable.

And that was just our generation of tattooers.

We weren't afraid to gamble.

So today, I'm going for it.

OK, artists, you have six hours to tattoo the undead.

And your time starts now.

All right.

Let's go.

Stay right about there.

OK, stand straight again.

The good thing is no one in the world is going to have this tattoo.

In order to do a successful undead tattoo, you're going to have to be really good at texture

from fur to slime to bone.

Oh my god, I love it.

It's going to look so nice.

If the textures all look similar, the tattoos are going to look really messy and muddy.

These things can go awry quick.

I'm standing right here like I know exactly what it is.

Exactly, right?

The problem with these things is people get so crazy they muddy them up.

I have the best coach for this challenge.

At home, I would cover this thing in blood.

But here, I don't know if I would.

We have a huge advantage.

You know, this is Steve's .

This is what he's good at.

You'd be doing nothing but scary like me now.

It's fun and .

There's a big sacrifice to be here, sacrificing time with my kids.

They're my motivation.

The way I feel right now, nothing is going to distract me.

Nothing is going to stop me from achieving my goal.

So you have a boy and girl?

Yeah, man.

Boy is six.

The girl is two.

My canvas has young children that can't be scared by this tattoo.

He doesn't want any realism.

So I'm going to give him a beautiful, new school, undead teacher zombie.

That kid?

Yeah, I got two daughters.

I had a son, but he passed away.

Oh, god.

He had a heart condition.

It's hard to lose a kid, man.

I'm sorry to hear about that.

I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't have my daughter, though.

There's been a lot of loss in my family.

I feel like that's why I'm here.

I'm here to win.

My family needs a win.

Picture there actually being like a water here.

You know, so your body's halfway in it.

My canvas finally settled on a compromise.

I'm doing a high angle, looking down at the mermaid.

And that way you can see all of the gore and the guts and the face and the body, but also

get the tail in there and all the .

mermaidy things.

Maybe if it's just like the idea of the tail, just so you can kind of tell where it comes

from.

I'm worried about the fin because I don't know if it actually reads to everyone else the way

I feel it does.

It's like a sticker right now, so I'd leave it.

My team has always had a target on our backs.

And right now, none of us are looking safe from elimination.

Four hours remaining, guys.

Four more hours.

Nope, I know.

It's just that there's one spot.

I know how to handle this complexion.

I've dealt with it hundreds of times.

But right now, two or three lines just kind of cut open a little bit.

If this whole tattoo turns out like those couple lines did, his whole arm's going to look

more undead than this raven.

There's nothing I can do now.

The trauma happened.

It's in front of me.

I have to do the best tattoo I could possibly do, because the judges have one reason to send

me home, and I'm not going to give them another.

You might have cut that, dude.

I'm telling you, the part that's lying, if I pour water on this

the water will run down, and run right in that rib line.

That could be a huge game changer.

Oh, whoa.

I have no control of my leg right now.

It's just like...

My canvas will not stop twitching.

Yeah, let's finish this top line.

I've been waiting just because I know it hurts, but...

I mean, tattooing this canvas is basically tattooing during an earthquake.

Be careful.

Josh has, like, three gouges.

You just make sure what you do is one pass.

Be gentle, you know?

I'm 100% self-taught.

I learned off anything I can get.

You know, magazines, pictures, studying every single night.

you up, dude.

It's a little bit heavier from the waist, yeah.

People say I have an ego, but I work for this confidence.

You know, I don't just get handed anything.

Do you think I have confidence when I'm just in jail for a year, when I'm living in a car,

when I'm broke and hungry and starving?

Do I have confidence then?

No way.

I earned everything that I deserve.

Two hours left.

That's two more hours.

Remember, where there's open skin, leave a lot of open skin.

Break down shapes instead of how you would do it traditionally.

You can come up quick these days.

It's super easy to learn how to tattoo.

You can get anything you want off the internet.

When I was a kid, finding a tattoo machine was like finding gold.

You doing portraits now?

Tattoos weren't as acceptable as they are now, so I've been beat up for having tattoos.

The new generation of these computer tattooers will never even see any of that.

I am the one that carried the torch for them to tattoo today.

So you're welcome.

That's an ugly bastard, dude.

Yeah, I know, right?

Don't go around those eyes.

No?

No.

And your little dots of white like on the maggots.

Mm-hmm.

Stipple of white in the nose.

Yeah.

Tongue.

The wet stuff, right?

Oh, yeah.

I was really expecting that goat to be the tough one.

But man, it is.

Pretty weird.

But is it a white goat?

Is it a black goat?

Is it a goat?

I think it's a goat.

It's a goat.

It's a goat.

It's a weird goat.

Three, two, one.

That's it.

Machines down.

Time is up.

No more ink.

All right, dude.

We're all set.

I love this.

Of course.

That little halo stuff really, really set it off, huh?

Dude, my pleasure, buddy.

What do you do about Josh's tattoo?

It looks like he tattooed that thing with a pickaxe straight up.

I think what he wants to do is give that 3D effect where the ribs are sticking out after it

heals because of the scar.

He's already said it a few times.

He's not here to do his best work.

He's here just to stay in the middle and go home.

So he's doing it.

What's your excuse for overworking it?

I'm not playing this integrity game.

This is a terrible drawing.

It is hard to tell what the is going on with it.

You guys need to pick up the pace.

If you traumatize the skin, you go home, right?

So Josh caught his mistake.

Daniel's tattoo had a little bit more trauma.

I had irritated skin.

It was sensitive skin.

I've been in the top three every single time doing smooth tattoos.

Admit that you up.

You put yourself on that pedestal, and you just fell off it.

I have been middle of the road and faltered a bit.

Guess who just fell harder?

What are you doing?

Are you playing in the middle of the road?

No, I'm doing clean, solid tattoos that don't give them things to tear apart.

So if you played it safe, then what's your excuse for overworking it?

The needle, for whatever reason, happened.

I threw the needle away.

Well, that sounds like an excuse.

So if he'd have played it safe like you, he probably wouldn't have up.

Now who deserts go home?

That tattoo was beat up.

All right.

It's a defense.

Oh, you are high.

I'm not playing this integrity game.

This is chess.

This is not chess.

Y'all.

Today, you had to prove your adaptability tattooing the undead.

Let's see how you did.

Team DJ, you're up first.

Deanna.

For the most part, I like this tattoo.

I love the detail you have in the mouth.

I love how the fur around the mouth looks blood soaked.

As far as the structure of the lion, if you follow up the bridge of his nose, it's just pretty

random, these bumps and shapes.

It doesn't really have the real shape and real dimensions and real believability that this

is a portrait of a lion.

Shape and real dimensions and real believability that this is a portrait of a lion.

Lil D.

From a distance, it definitely looks like the Statue of Liberty.

But there still needs to be some line work in this thing.

You're losing so much of what could make this thing stand out.

I feel like you missed texture on the robe, on the hair.

The actual definition it's calling for, I don't really see you hitting that.

Frank, when I think of a mermaid,

I think of a woman's torso and the tail.

I wanted to make sure I could do really cool things in the body and the face and not waste

a lot of time on the lower parts of that.

It looks like there's a crazy, weird, unrecognizable shape lingering behind her shoulder,

which is not connected to her in any way.

It is hard to tell what the is going on with it.

Josh.

I like this tattoo.

I love the little details in the mouth and the little sickness coming out of there.

You did a really great job leaving a lot of open skin so that it's very legible.

No questions about it.

This is a bird that's rotting on the ground and came back to life.

But there's multiple trauma spots.

The lines on the rib cage, you can actually see there's trauma there.

I'll definitely own up to it 110%.

That little nick happened, and I had to adjust quickly, and I had to make sure it didn't happen

again.

But this is the best tattoo that's been done this whole competition.

I would wear this thing, dude.

That's been done this whole competition.

I would wear this thing, dude.

Next up is Team Anthony.

Daniel.

I really dig this illustration.

Definitely captures the fierceness of the wolf.

The whole mouth being ripped open gives it that zombie feel.

But my biggest problem with this tattoo is that left eye.

Definitely got away from you.

You can see the area where this thing is pretty rough.

Everybody was quick to call out Josh for a couple lines.

Compared to this, I think it's uncomparable.

You can go up to any.

They're both damaged.

So what?

Go up to any of the stringy skin part hanging from that skull to the wolf.

It's rough.

Chiseled.

I get it.

He was trying to save Josh by telling my.

Chiseled.

I get it.

He was trying to save Josh by telling mine's worse.

This thing's jacked.

Point of it is, man, it's rough.

Mike.

This is a terrible drawing.

The anatomy of the goat is totally out of control.

The way the eye sits in the skull is.

Does that look like a tongue to anybody?

I think it looks like a tongue.

You do?

And I think it looks like a goat.

To me, it looks like a dog with horns.

Amanda.

The tattoo looks aesthetically pleasing in the sense of the technical aspect to it.

But I don't really see any undeadness.

The little bit of drool doesn't really portray any gore.

You have to give us something that hits the challenge.

Juan.

First thing on this guy is the face.

He looks like he lost his dentures.

I was going to put teeth to it, but it really looked like a snake.

I don't see the actual coy aspect.

I see it from the gill down.

I guess I just expected a really tough, crazy face.

Jason.

This, to me, reads like a really cool Viking that's been through battle, but I don't get the

undead sense from it.

There's so much fun you could have with this thing.

You can rip it open, have the flesh hanging.

I see you guys just taking these images but not putting your heart into what you're taking.

You guys need to pick up the pace.

Team Steve, you're up.

Gary.

No doubt this is an undead samurai.

Your strength here in this whole tattoo is lighting that face up.

Heavy blacks, open skin, it gets the point across really easy.

Thank you.

Jeremy.

I like the illustration.

Your drawing is super cool.

You showed adaptability and just the little elements within the drawing, the chalkboard, the

eraser, the chalk, the apple on the desk, and just the tools stuck in this guy's head.

It's a killer tattoo.

Thank you.

Roli.

The actual quality of tattooing, it's smooth, it's buttery.

But in the fur texture that you create, there's not a lot of separation.

I definitely wanted to get a lot more texture.

This is not the place to keep them guessing.

You have to state your point to win.

Fame.

There's a lot of great technique in this thing.

The deep inset cuts and cracks of the face look like a vampire getting hit by the sun and

cracking and dying.

Dynamic features, man.

I think it's really smooth.

All right, guys.

Time to determine who had the best tattoo of the day.

For me, Josh is on top with just the imagery.

That's my winner, but what about skin trauma?

Jeremy did a nice tattoo.

Fame did a nice tattoo.

The face is so dynamic.

Is one out of the running?

Adaptability-wise, I think I hate it because I try to keep it in the style of Japanese traditional

and all of that while zombifying it.

Go with one.

I'm going with Fame.

Fame.

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

Great.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Remember, coaches, you must deliberate and put one artist up for elimination.

You can all head back to the loft.

Josh is definitely in the bottom.

Definitely.

If you cause trauma to the skin, you go to the bottom.

I just know that anyone gets a little chance to take a shot at Josh, they're going to take

him out.

You also got to remember, too, he takes shots at everybody.

To be the Superman, then you got to take shots, too.

I don't come at people blindly.

You made yourself one of the top dogs.

You guys made me one of the top dogs.

You came in this entire time saying, I don't have to try as hard because I try as hard because

I've seen everybody else's work.

How the ?

I'm not talking .

There are people that I know I am better than.

There's people in this house you know you're better than.

But I'm not going around saying I don't have to try that hard.

I didn't have to try that hard.

I said I'm playing safe.

What the is the difference?

I think Josh's attitude is getting to everyone, and it's working.

Why doesn't everyone worry about their tattoos?

If he was worrying about his own tattoos, he would have gotten tattooed the day.

And everyone wants to jump on him.

Because he jumps on everybody else.

He said himself.

He did it himself.

Because he's a beast.

He's a beast.

If he stays, he's wiping everybody out.

Not even close.

Big ass roll of toilet paper, bro.

All right, guys.

We're here for the coaches meeting to determine the bottom.

So it's got to be one of the two traumas.

Daniel's screwed up, man.

The whole thing is road rash.

He's not sure where the shading's going.

He's not sure the tones of the shading.

That comes down to experience.

I just think that Daniel's fits a lot of game.

Josh does too.

You can't compare this tattoo one little bit to Daniel's.

He had some trauma-sized areas.

He had way darker skin to work with.

He handled it.

Now I'm at a crossroads.

Do I sit here and be like, oh, I'm going for someone who's not on my team?

Or do I go stick to my guns and my integrity, and which one has more trauma?

All right, today we're testing adaptability.

Who is in the bottom?

For me today, Little D, other than her wearing the crown, it would be tough to really know

what that was.

No eyebrows, no separation between the skin and the fabric.

But I think the ugliest one of the day, hands down, is Mike's.

Nobody would think that looks like a real top.

It's really bad.

And it trips me out because he's talented.

We had a few instances where there was trauma to the skin.

Are those guys up for elimination?

There was some discussion about Josh's tattoo.

I love this tattoo.

I really looked at it close, and I think it's probably going to heal fine.

I looked at Daniel's really close, and it is chiseled in there.

It's going to be interesting to see who the coaches put up for elimination, because they're

deliberating right now, too.

Yeah.

I apologize about being slightly lighthearted when other people know that they're in a bad

place, because it's a different animal when you're facing death himself, for sure.

That's my apology.

I'm not real good at them.

All right, coaches, which artist are you sending down for elimination?

Coaches have decided to send Daniel down for elimination.

All right.

We'll see Daniel, Mike, and little D in the bottom.

See you and the coaches downstairs.

I'm shocked.

I'm shocked.

Hello, biz.

Today, you had to turn the living into the living dead.

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

Let's check with the coaches.

Guys, why did you vote Daniel to the bottom?

Technical application and trauma.

It's a fundamental mistake.

This is one of the strongest illustrations.

But I feel like this was the most traumatized tattoo of the room.

What happened?

Basically, her twitching a lot and whatnot and bringing a lot of sensitive skin.

This screams inexperience in one way, but it screams you just moving too fast.

You're a little too confident.

Be humble, because humble learns.

I'm him 20 years ago, but I'm humble enough to try to come here and learn some stuff.

You tried something totally different, and it ended you up in the bottom.

I'm going to be honest, man.

I don't want to see you down here anymore.

You're pretty much in a box.

There's no staying in your niche here.

It's versatility, and you know that.

At the same time, I don't think this was the worst one of the day.

Mike.

What is this?

What's going on?

I just maybe overshot this.

Something is awry in what caused you to produce this tattoo today.

I mean, I had that bad experience with the canvas before.

And I really just wanted to work with the canvas.

I just apologize for the disappointing in the illustration, because I've been drawing forever.

All right, guys.

Time to determine who's going home.

Mike's is my least favorite to look at.

Daniel's has some trauma.

Lil D, I think that you've missed the challenge.

Got to vote for Lil D.

Lil D.

The judges have decided, Lil D, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

I respect y'all, and it's been awesome.

What a great honor to do this.

You've done tattooing a service by coming here and letting it be known that just because you've

been doing the same thing forever doesn't mean you're not open.

You came in here, and you're learning.

And I appreciate it, man.

Please pack your machines and close shop.

Thanks, y'all.

My generation carried tattoo ink to where it is now.

Playing this competition, I took a risk, but I don't regret any of it.

I'll always be tattooing.

I'll be little D till I'm dead.

Next episode of Ink Master.

You've outlasted half of the competition, but your fight is only getting more intense.

I can't lose another artist.

I'm over here stressing the out.

In the end, we're both mutual enemies of Team EJ.

It's one shot, one kill if you miss, man.

But if you hit.

Both are big ifs.

All you guys want is me to .

If you thought I was an asshole before, it hasn't even started.