Original subtitles

Previously on Ink Master.

Welcome to New York City.

Ten of the best tattoo artists on the planet have been competing to determine

who's number one.

These are your canvases.

Wow. Their skills have been tested in every essential discipline.

Raw talent.

Go hard or go home.

It sucks that I got stuck with this girl from my first client.

This is a real.

debacle here today lines this is hard to do you want me to judge from this little

you did seriously did you think you were coming here and not going to be thrown

into some weird challenges it's not going to be easy period can you get emt

my clients are going to be the death of me shady i'll say that ear looks more

like a dorito chip than a tiger ear you got elements of the thing wrong just be

real if it was me i'll be real like y'all

Technical precision.

Clock starts now.

This is going to suck.

Bring it on. I know you guys are going to tear me up. This is a really, really

bad tattoo from you. You're competing for a hundred grand and you're going to

do something that's on somebody forever.

Color.

You're not hitting it. I disagree entirely.

It's a traditional tattoo that has balls and you cut the balls off.

Proportion. What happened here? You asked that like it was a negative thing.

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

I cannot believe her left hand. Jesus.

It looks like she just pulled it out of the garbage disposal.

I want to see competition.

I want to see a star.

I want to see somebody shine.

I haven't seen it.

The judges have decided.

VTAC. Jeremy.

Outfliction. Heather.

Billy. Leah.

Josh. You don't have what it takes to be a master.

Tonight, on the season finale of Ink Master, three artists remain.

James, Tommy, and Shane. Only one will earn a $100,000 prize

and the title of Ink Master.

On the bright side, dude.

Final three, man.

Final three. On the bright side.

So you're ready to get Josh coming back? It doesn't have that real natural look

to it. The eyes and the hair kill it so bad for me. It's just off.

Yeah, I definitely think Josh is coming back.

I f***ing hope so.

James in two left feet.

What? For real, this is a mistake, man.

How could you put somebody in the final three if you did two left feet?

Mr. Vaughn, you've made it to the finale.

You up for this?

All the time.

I'll shit my pants if James comes through that door.

Lord have mercy, I dodged a big bullet this time. My last two

critiques were really bad. And this two weeks in a row crap is really not cool.

I just said I'm going to shit my pants if James comes through that door. My

heart's beating like a goddamn rabbit ape.

Holy shit, man.

I know I should be, like, super fired up jumping around to be in the final three,

but I'm, like, more focused now. I mean, now it's right there. Like, I just got

to reach out and take the 100 grand.

Super excited about making it to the final three. I have a hard fight here,

you know. I got two serious competitors.

It's a little challenging right now. I can't eat.

Can't think.

I came to Ink Master because I want to win. I want to show the world who I am.

what I can do and win this contest.

You have color in your face. You didn't have color in your face before.

Dude, I was dead.

Yeah, you made it to the final. That's it.

It's just three of us now.

Congratulations, guys. You've made it to the final three.

But only one of you is to be named Ink Master.

Before that happens, your toughest challenge yet awaits.

This week, there will be no flash challenge. The judges have selected a

master canvas for each of you based on your portfolios and the work that you've

done here.

You'll get two six-hour sittings with your master canvas.

A 12-hour tattoo with the speed that I have? I'm really, really stoked on this

because I'm fast.

Now, this may be the most important tattoo you ever designed.

On making the selection for these master canvases, we really wanted to give them

something that they'd be into. We didn't want this to be one of those tricky

challenges where you have to do something that's not really your style.

No excuse for it not to be a kick-ass tattoo.

So let's meet your canvases.

I'm nervous as hell. I know James is going to do something ridiculously huge

in 12 hours because he's lightning fast, so that'll be tough to compete against.

James, meet Diana.

She's really interested in a Japanese half-sleeve, and we all agree that we

really want to see what you can do with this. Awesome. I'm very, very excited

for this. She wants exactly what I love to do. I do big, traditional-style

Japanese. It's right up my alley.

And Tommy, that's Brandon.

Brandon's looking for a Grim Reaper on the back. Awesome.

Seems like it's something you'll really be able to get into because he wants

dark and heavy. No specific style, really. I'm super psyched about the

canvas that the judges gave to me. I'm a very well-rounded artist. I don't

necessarily have a style.

I have to put together something totally shocking and insane.

Shane, meet Mark.

This was a tough one for me because we decided on who should get what and what

would be the most suiting. And obviously, James, you know, we gave you

the big Japanese.

And this was another Japanese-style tattoo, but this one's going to be a lot

more statuesque.

See what you can do.

What the f***, man? I'm a little frustrated.

I do portraits in realism.

I don't do Japanese.

It's not my thing.

There you have it. You'll have the rest of the afternoon to consult with your

master canvases, and tomorrow, you'll have your first six-hour session.

Good luck to you guys.

Shane, Tommy, and James have made it here because of their line work, their

shading, their technical precision, their skills as tattooers. Now this is

where they really have to show off. This tattoo has to be what really sets them

apart from the other two competitors.

It's what's going to make this competition come to a head.

I'm looking to get a Japanese-style koi fish.

I'm in my comfort zone. If the judges judge this tattoo over anything that

Shane does, I'll be able to come on top.

I don't want to.

You know, do something small. I normally can do a half-sleep in six hours.

I was looking to do a battle-ridden Viking or Reaper, pretty much. As an ink

master, you should be able to conquer any canvas. So I think even if they sat

back and shuffled all three of them and gave them back out, and we all got

different ones, each person should be able to conquer the piece they get. What

I'm going to do is I'm going to put it over to the one side of your shoulder,

because obviously I can't do a back piece in 12 hours. Yeah, absolutely.

Who does the lotus?

This is bullshit.

I got thrown like a Japanese twist.

You can do a Buddha both ways, like with some bold parts of the outline so it

stands out. Or you can do it like we made it look like a statue, like dead on

realistic. I feel like James and Tommy both got handed exactly what they do.

And I'm threatened.

Nothing's guaranteed, that's for sure.

Hey, baby.

I'm a single father.

Now I have full custody of my two daughters.

What do you have for breakfast?

Waffles.

Waffles, what's there? Remember when Daddy made you blue eggs?

You silly.

It's hard being away.

Daddy's got to go to work.

I want to provide.

In the end, it'll be worth it. I love you, boo-boo.

I love you more, Daddy.

Love you, bye.

I definitely need to win.

Gentlemen. Welcome to your first Master Canvas session.

Don't forget, one of you will be taking home $100,000 and the title of Ink

Master. You have six hours to do this work, and your time begins now.

What's different about this Master Canvas tattoo is they have 12 hours.

They should be able to have the time to really put the detail in, really put the

time in, and do the best tattoo possible.

It's beautiful, man.

Like, thank God I get to actually show exactly what I do in my business.

James is a big, rock-solid, badass tattooer. The only problem I think that

James has is he puts a little bit too much into everything.

Slow it down, hit it, be clean about it, and really impress us because James can

do anything he wants to do. He's that type of tattooer.

I've got to move through it because it's a big one to get done in 12 hours, you

know?

Tommy is just a working man's tattooer. He prides himself on being able to do

whatever people want. Throughout this competition, Tommy has really shined in

a lot of areas. He's a solid tattooer. His weaknesses have been a little bit in

his artistry. He's lost it on proportion a few times. More artistic losses than

technical losses.

It's not a long sitting for me, but it's what they...

expected to accomplish in that city that is unrealistic.

Shane has a very strong black and gray fundamental.

He's a great portrait tattooer. He's technically precise. He's really good at

picking out the little nuances that make a tattoo pop and accentuating them on

the skin. It's hard to take anything away from Shane. He's good.

Three down, three to go.

Some of us in this competition have problems with dealing with on-the-spot

pressure.

I'm catered to it because I like it. I'm confident I can get this done. I got

lightning in a tattoo machine.

It will pop off.

James is a madman trying to accomplish a ton of work in a short amount of time.

The drawing looks great. His true Japanese skills are showing through.

If he finishes it, Tommy and I could really be in trouble.

Five down. That's one hour left, people.

Are you happy with this? I went home to the brownstone last night, worked until

4 in the morning on it, woke up at 7 and then finished it by 2 today.

Hey, man, at the end of the day, it's 100 grand.

That's why I was up all night. I'm realizing now that I have designed a

tattoo that is way over the time constraint. I feel like I'm way behind

schedule. I got to keep on my game, you know what I'm saying, kid?

I got time to worry about, man.

All right, guys, 30 minutes left to your first Master Canvas session.

My only concern is that the Buddha and Lotus, even done perfect, it's just not

as impressive as, like, practically a full sleeve that James is working on.

And that girl's sitting like a freaking rock, so I know that he's going to

finish it. Five minutes.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

Machine's down.

No more ink.

I'm stoked. I'm happy with what I've got done. I think it laid out really well.

I am

definitely behind.

I am so excited to see this.

When I see the other guys' tattoos, I know that it's getting really serious.

They're coming out awesome.

I'm worried.

I have a surprise for you.

Oh, my God.

I know it wasn't over.

This is what it all comes down to. This is it.

Somebody's leaving with a hundred grand and two people are just leaving.

How do you guys feel about yourself?

I feel good.

You couldn't have been handed a better setup, man. Like exactly what you like

to do.

James is bringing his A game and I'm going to really have to work hard. He

can pull this title right up from underneath me.

As soon as he said, like, Food and Lotus, Japanese style, I was like, dude,

how do you eat mine at all?

The guy never said he wanted it statuesque. I kind of, like, just went

in that direction.

Shane is kind of taking the comfortable route. Each piece is really met up with

what he does typically at home.

This is all I'm getting for the final. I got to go with what I do and try and do

some realism in there. That's the ink master.

You have to be able to conquer it all.

All right, guys, six hours down, six to go.

Your time starts now.

We're in, kid.

These three are the last men standing for a reason. They have proven

throughout each challenge that they are competent and they have what it takes to

take it to the limit.

For being one shot, we got a lot done.

The winner of Ink Master has to be the person that is the most savvy in all

fields, in all different areas that this competition has gone. I'm looking for

overall performance, and I'm looking for who's going to wow me in this finale.

So have you been enjoying the competition?

Yeah, it's been pretty cool.

This is the final challenge. I mean, this is it, like, to seal the deal, so I

got to go for it. I plan on doing a lot of detail and really smooth shading, and

it takes time.

I got to try and tattoo fast.

I have almost six layers in this tattoo.

Top water to bottom water to koi fish to flowers.

You know, it's pretty busy, the one James is doing, but either way, it's

impressive. Like, it's big.

I'm glad I'm in the finals with this tattoo, and I really think this is one

tattoo that can actually take down Shane.

That's three hours left. You got three down, three to go.

That blade just hurts like ten times more than I've ever felt in my life. My

client is totally struggling right now. He's levitating off the table every time

I hit him with the tattoo machine.

In working on him for six hours previous to this, he's still bruised underneath.

It's not totally healed. My back is just starting to... I really don't have that

much time left, and I have a lot more work to plan.

Hold on.

Ooh.

Yahtzee. Everything's on the line with this tattoo, and I hope I pull it off.

15 minutes to go.

Almost there, man.

Almost at the end of this whole entire thing, kid.

Five seconds.

All right, that's it. Time's up. No more ink. Machine's down.

Amazing, isn't it?

I feel like the Buddha, it's done as good as it can be done. It just doesn't

pop. It gave it as much realism flair as I possibly could. I had to run with

that. I just completed a really big tattoo.

I don't think anybody could have done that much work in that amount of time.

Today was a brutal day.

We have finally made it to the end, and I am finished, man. I'm done. But I'm so

happy with what I did for this last piece. I'm going to grab that top spot.

I'm very proud of the tattoo I did on today.

You know what I mean?

The 12-hour tattoo, that dragged me through the mud.

I was like hammering, trying to get it done, dude.

I kept thinking, there's no way I'm finishing this.

I kept thinking of all the other sections I still had to do. I was afraid

to turn his arm over.

Thinking, I'm on schedule, I'm not on schedule, I'm on schedule, I'm not going

to finish, god damn it.

I'd like to see if it was laid out, the square inches of everybody's tattoos,

how big James's would be.

I can't believe how much work you got done. I'm so happy I got this done. I'm

ready. I'm going to win this one.

I wanted to keep it big, bold and technical.

I'm nervous as hell. I mean, this is it. Somebody's winning and two people are

going home pissed off that they just spent all this time here. I did a good

tattoo for the final one, but I'm nothing but nervous.

This week we gave you 12 hours to tattoo a master canvas selected by the judges

based on your portfolio and previous work done here at Ink Master.

Before we continue, I have a surprise for you.

We will not be judging your master canvases tonight.

Instead,

you'll be given a second master canvas.

Oh my God.

I know it wasn't over.

I'm exhausted, man.

For these canvases, the design is completely up to you.

This is your chance to tattoo exactly what you want. You'll have six hours to

tattoo. And then we will critique both your 12-hour canvas and your six-hour

canvas. This is what it all comes down to. This is it. One more sleepless

night, one more badass tattoo out of each and every one of you.

You guys have this last chance to walk out of here with a hundred grand, man.

And I'm talking to you like a pep talk from hell.

Cause I know that you thought you were done, but I promise you tomorrow it's

over. Somebody's leaving with a hundred grand and two people are just leaving.

Let's meet your new canvases.

Quite the surprise.

Canvases. You guys are here because you said that you would get anything from

these artists. You understand what they're capable of, and you're willing

to give them six hours of your life for them to prove to us who's going to walk

out of here with the grand prize.

And artists, this is your time to do whatever you want to convince me and

them that you're leaving here as the Ink Master with a check for 100 grand.

So if you've proven something or if you haven't proven something that's going to

tip or not tip the scale, this is your chamber and that's your bullet.

Now you just got to load the weapon and shoot.

Artist, this is your time to do whatever you want to convince me.

And them, that you're leaving here as the ink master with a check for 100

grand.

These canvases, the design is completely up to you.

If you haven't proven something or still need to prove something, this is your

chance. As judges, we want to see as much representation and skills as we can

before we make a final decision.

If you just give us more of exactly what you've already given us, maybe that's

the best way to go about it. Maybe it's not.

It's make it or break it time. In the original master canvas, everybody worked

within their regular comfort level, their one particular style.

I hope to see something different.

Everybody think about that when you're coming up with what you're going to do.

You'll have the rest of the evening to meet with your master canvases.

Tomorrow, you'll have six hours to tattoo.

Good luck.

Good luck and hard work.

We don't want to make our final judgment on the winner of this contest solely

based on one tattoo and one style and one particular theme that they did. So

we're going to have them do one more six-hour tattoo with no limitations.

They can do any style they want.

Can I see the outside of that canister?

That's the spot.

We found three human canvases crazy enough to come in here and get six-hour

sessions with guys they've never met. They have no idea what it's going to be.

I got to prove a point, you know, I got to do something else. It'll be color for

sure. I'm taking this opportunity to do a badass color piece and just seal the

deal, you know, put my name on the check.

Skull. Probably a little whacked out in color.

Yeah, I'm into color. The turn blank canvas, it gets me a little nervous

because you don't know what to expect.

I think I have an awesome plan.

Flowers. Snake.

Cool. Giving James complete control of what he wants to do on my body. I am.

Pretty nervous about it. This is totally ludicrous because I am absolutely

exhausted. I really like to do this beautiful woman with a sense of life in

her hands. I think holding an apple, it would just be almost like an

illustration of a beautiful woman.

That's interesting.

It doesn't matter what you say anyway, so there you go.

Dude,

that was the most insanely stressful moment of my life.

I almost dropped to my knees in anger, stress.

I'm tired, dude. You're sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting. What

the f*** is the decision?

I knew they were going to pull some s*** out of you.

Lord have mercy.

What are you going to do? What am I going to do for a tattoo?

Japanese. You do a portrait.

I ain't going there.

What are you going to do?

Flowers and a snake.

A snake, huh? Pretty stupid.

I really don't understand James' choice of doing another Japanese piece.

I mean, he just did a three-quarter sleeve Japanese.

Beautiful. Why do another Japanese piece that you're not showing anything?

It just makes things easier on me.

I'm doing a woman holding an apple. They always rip me off from my hands and my

woman's face, so I'm going to tear it up.

I'm going to do a woman with the middle finger bent, two right feet, and a Rocky

Marciano nose.

So now he's rubbing it in. Talking now.

Morning, guys.

Remember, if you feel you have anything to prove, now is the time.

Make sure this tattoo is tight. One mistake.

Could cost you $100,000 and the title of Ink Master.

You have six hours to do this tattoo.

Your time starts now.

This is the grand finale.

It's all come down to this. These guys have to show off what they can do

because two guys are going home with $100,000 and one guy is going home with

$100,000.

Let's see it.

This is basically what I came up with.

I feel that the design I came up with focuses on a lot of different elements

of all my critiques through this competition.

It's my same style. It's my comfort zone.

It's amazing.

How long does it take you to draw something like this?

Seven hours.

I really need to show judges what they thought I couldn't do throughout this

whole competition, and that was women's hands and women's faces.

During this competition, those were my weak points.

I was like, I hope I get a hole in his face. I want to show that I can do that.

This time, though, I have to pull it to a whole new level.

Two hours down, four to go.

Color is messy.

No wonder I love doing black and gray.

This will prove, without a doubt, that I'm totally well-rounded in every style.

Look at you.

I started off angry, then I got excited.

At least I get to show some color, you know?

Shane is doing color.

Smart boy.

Smart boy.

If he pulls it off, this will be a true testament to his all-around tattoo

ability. My only concern is what the other guys are going to do. Tommy just

did a great tattoo, and he has a great idea for this piece, and I'd love to see

him drop the ball, but I don't think he's going to. He's very focused right

now.

I want to do a woman for you guys and prove it. Prove myself here.

Tommy decided to do a woman, so he's...

kind of putting it back in our faces, and I love that.

One hour remaining.

There's a lot on the line for me to do something where I don't feel

comfortable. I'm not trying to go out looking like a dick because I try to do

something I don't do a lot, you know. I know they said I could do anything I

wanted to. I'm pretty comfortable in my Japanese that it will shine.

I always say if you want to try to show someone your best work, enjoy what

you're doing.

We want to see a pinup girl with regular feet and a pretty face.

This girl's got two right feet. For real, this is a mistake, man.

I wish James would have done a pinup girl and been like, here, guys, you very

much.

15 minutes, everybody.

In making our final decision on who takes this whole enchilada, having these

two tattoos, as opposed to just only judging on one tattoo, it's going to

give us as judges a lot more to consider as far as their skill level and talent.

Last five minutes.

Tonight's decision is going to be the toughest one of them all because whoever

walks away with this money really earned it. But the other guys, they worked just

as hard and they're going to go away with nothing. This is going to be a bad

one tonight.

Five seconds left.

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

Oh, my God.

You're amazing.

Yeah, dude.

Yeah.

Might be one of the best I did the whole show.

It'd be fucking ironic if the best piece I did the whole show was color.

This was your time to really get after it and really fight these guys.

Today you coasted. No, I didn't coast.

You went kind of on autopilot.

I'm kind of glad we got to do another.

I'm real glad because I didn't get a chance to do any color piece, you know?

I thoroughly enjoyed my first master cams. Which Japanese piece did you enjoy

most, dude?

What I wanted to do, you know. If you would have done something else, what

would you have done?

I'd like to have done, like, a Tibetan skull.

That's still your style, though.

Can't be dropping a ball, dude.

We all want to be the Ink Master. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to

win the competition.

You've endured grueling tattoo sessions and harsh critiques, but you've all

produced impressive work.

This week, we asked you to tattoo two master canvases. One was selected by the

judges based on your portfolio and the previous work you've done here. The

other was your chance to tattoo whatever design you felt would showcase your

skills.

James, you're up first.

Let's talk about your 12-hour tattoo.

I wanted to focus on all the aspects of shading, blending, line work,

depth, and show that I did learn and do what I know I can do in that amount of

time. Dude, you're an amazing tattooer, man. You bang out big work.

Not a lot of tattooers could have done this amount of tattooing in the two

sessions that you did.

The detail around the glow of the ohm, the color there, the line work is spot

on. By far the best tattoo we've seen from you.

That's what I'm inspired to do every day.

All right, James, let's talk about your six-hour tattoo.

Japanese in style?

Yes. Then we just kind of do this? I know that we were told, hey, do what we

want to do. I love flowers. I can do flowers every day of the week. I love

them. But, James, this isn't every day of the week. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're up for $100,000.

It is a lot on the line, and I wanted to do my best.

I didn't want to step out of my comfort zone and look bad.

I feel like instead of staring it back in the face and going, F you, I'm going

to go at this and I'm going to do it. And you went, I'm going to go to my safe

place instead of competing.

As far as the snake head goes, this snake head seems like it's just a part

of a different tattoo.

I mean, maybe there is a snake out there somewhere that has these traits that I

just haven't seen yet.

the belly why not outline every plate instead of two solid lines and then

train track type across doing these big tattoos you're shortchanging yourself in

one department or another i mean we're here last day you made top three why not

put bells and whistles on everything man if i would have been you i would have

done a pinup it would have been the slap in the face back for you to nail it and

do it the way you know how and kill it

Shane, you're next.

Let's talk about your 12-hour tattoo.

The shading in the face especially is so soft.

The use of the negative space in the chin and the really dramatic heart

outline. This thing looks like a carved statue.

I've seen a lot of these done, and it is so easy to just jack these things up. To

give it this dimension and the way you made this thing look, how it was kind of

statuesque, you really excelled with this. Thanks, man. Appreciate it.

Shane, let's talk about your six-hour tattoo.

You threw in color.

I had an opportunity to show color, so I had to take it. The thing I like about

this tattoo is the texture. The actual bone-like ripples and fractures and

stuff. My complaint about this tattoo is I don't feel like there's enough solid

black in this thing to make this thing really contrast up.

I think it's just like a deep richness that you get by a harsh contrast between

totally dark and totally light.

There's so much detail in that skull head.

The filigree is so simple. It's a little bit flat.

If you would have just put some extra line work in there, that would have

changed the whole feel of this tattoo.

It looks like it's just kind of lacking the snap in those areas.

Today you coasted. You know, you went kind of on autopilot.

No, I didn't coast. I was struggling to do the six hours. I had thought numerous

times about putting more thin lines. I felt like I was going to get my balls

busted for going too realistic in this go.

So I was hesitant to go even more realistic with the filigree.

You came in for the kill with the color, but you used up on the detail a lot.

Tommy.

Let's take a look at your 12-hour chart, too. This is a big, impressive, dark...

piece i really like the outcome of it the thing i love about it the most is

how much black you got in there this tattoo could have gone south so easily

too much color and not enough black this tattoo would just look weak the way to

make these light colors stand up is put them against something dark all the

detail you did wrapped around the horns and in the helmet set this tattoo apart

you really hit this on the head Man, Tommy's tattoo's badass.

Like of any tattoo we've seen this entire contest, this is probably the

most badass one.

I can't say the word badass enough.

Tommy, let's talk about the six-hour tattoo.

She's gorgeous.

Hands are beautiful.

The face is soft.

Fabric wrapped around her, I can see through it. She's pretty breathtaking,

dude. You got the nose. You got the lips. You got the eyebrows.

You got the hairline. The skin tone, smooth and soft.

The bit of natural highlights in the skin tone that you left in there, damn,

they're flawless.

Good job taking things that beat you up in the past and not shying away from it.

I wanted to rise in this one for you guys.

It's definitely, definitely obvious that you came out today to fight, but you

came out to slap us back.

I can do hands. I can do faces.

I can do the damn thing. This is my favorite tattoo that you've done here,

and actually, I'm going to tell you it's my favorite tattoo of the show.

Wow. Smartly played. You're definitely fighting, buddy.

Thank you so much, man. Good job. I appreciate it.

Head back to the brownstone.

We'll discuss your work and decide who will be named the first ever Ink Master.

My heart's beating out of my chest. Tommy came on strong at the end. I mean,

he did two amazing pieces.

I was more confident yesterday than I am right now. I'm more nervous than I've

ever been in my life.

Tough one.

Really tough.

Let's talk about the 12-hour James. This tattoo, for me, has so many elements.

packed into it that it became stiff.

I can't focus. I don't know what to look at. My eyes are everywhere.

I'm disappointed in the six hour tattoo because there's nothing I can say about

this tattoo that I didn't say about the other one. If I had to pull two people

that I think where the battle royale is raging over, it's going to be Shane and

Tommy. Let's talk about Tommy's six hour.

One of the better tattoos we've seen.

Your favorite of the competition.

Absolutely. All right. A couple of points that we didn't bring up. Are the

eyes slightly cross-eyed?

The highlight on the right eye is a little bit farther back and set back

more so than the one on the left. It takes one dot to throw off an entire

expression. And I'm also seeing if you look on the right side, there's no ear.

It needed the lobe and like an ornate piece of jewelry hanging from that lobe

would have set that tattoo on fire.

Let's go to Shane's 12 hour. You guys never brought this up, but wasn't there

a question about this thumb?

Yeah. Look at the right thumb and then look at the left thumb.

Oh, it's definitely wide. They're different thumbs.

Slightly off. He missed his mark on that one.

Here's the thing is that it seems so close that at this point it's

nitpicking. Well, I think that Shane in his 12-hour tattoo totally killed it

with a black and gray piece, which was no surprise to any of us because

throughout this competition he has done prominently black and gray everything

he's done.

He's kind of got an easy ride on this whole thing doing what he does best.

Tommy, his best two tattoos of this entire competition are right now.

If I was judging solely on what we've seen today, it'd be hard not to put him

high in the running.

We've seen the same two guys rise and not fall.

Tommy took a tumble and redeemed himself right here with a pinup.

This is about being well-rounded, and we've been preaching this the whole time

we've sat up here. And I think we have two tattooers that are really well

-rounded. So you guys are pretty locked in to where you want to go with this?

We've got to call it like it is.

I think it's a tough call, but it's a call we've got to make.

You want to get them? I'm ready.

All right, man.

How's everybody feeling?

Y'all ready to do this?

Let's take it up to the shop.

Seconds away. Very nervous. Very nervous.

This is it.

One of you is about to have his life changed forever.

The winner will receive $100,000, a feature in Ink Magazine, and the title

of Ink Master.

It's been a pleasure to watch all of you guys work and to watch all of you guys

battle it out.

All three of you are great artists.

This was not a landslide victory between the three of you. There was points where

it could have gone either way.

Shame.

You've been consistent the whole ride. Your line work is always on point. Your

shading is always smooth.

Your outline, flawless.

You've proved that you can put in color. You're an all-around, well-rounded

tattooer, man.

James. Yo, Billy.

Kick-ass tattooer. You do stuff that a lot of people couldn't do.

Technically, very solid tattooer. Line work, color, even your shading.

Nobody can deny you did some awesome tattoos here, man.

You operate as a true professional, solid tattooer. You know the styles, a

task comes your way, no second guessing, you know what to do with it. You're

bulletproof, your color is solid, your style comes through, and you have a very

unique style at your own.

Let's get to it.

James, please step forward.

The judges have discussed your work, and James...

You

do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

Today, in this final judging, this was your time to really get after it and to

really fight these guys.

I just would have liked to have seen you come harder. I feel like you just laid

down a little, man. That's why you're in third.

In this last challenge, we wanted to see a little bit more versatility.

If this was a competition based on what you do best, you'd be hard to beat.

I understand.

Proud to be here.

If it was judged on the 12-hour tattoo alone, I know I would have won. I really

wished I would have stretched myself a little further. I should have went

totally out of my element and pushed myself.

But hindsight is 20-20, you know.

And then there were two.

Shane and Tommy.

Please step forward.

This was the toughest decision.

You two have been at each other this whole ride.

Shane, artistically, man, you have a good eye. Every tattoo you've done here

shows that. Even the tattoos that Mr. Mark on that exact challenge were still

artistically sound.

You make it look effortless.

Tommy, you're an amazing tattooer, brother.

The effort.

that you've put in drawing every night, doing your studies, doing your homework.

It shows that tattoo today showed.

I said it's my favorite tattoo of the competition.

I appreciate that.

We went at it on this one. We went back and forth. This was the toughest

decision for us.

Shane, after discussing your work,

The judges have decided.

You have earned the title of Ink Master. Congratulations, man.

Thank you. Congrats, man. Enjoy this victory.

You came in the final hour and packed that color in. Now that sealed the deal

for it. Everything you did, you pulled off.

Thanks, man. Thank you so much.

It's awesome. It's an awesome feeling.

It's just going to blow my career up. It's amazing. I can't believe I

accomplished it. I made it here on my own, and I made it through this

competition and gave it 100%, and here I am, the Molotov grenade master.

Talk to me, Tommy.

I feel like a piece of shit, man.

No, no, no.

I'm actually, I'm so excited I was part of this.

Call it like it is, man. That pinup got you. I know. Because the only thing that

kept it different is the fact that he's never been down here.

That's it. I didn't see another way to be fair. It was the report card.

You were all A's and a B. As a competitor in this, I would have loved

to be the winner. But the experience here at Ink Master was awesome. I

learned so much from all the other artists I lived with. I learned so much

from my critiques. My work is going to take a new jump for the better. I'm

super happy with this whole entire experience.

Shane, how do you feel right now?

It hasn't really sunk in, man. I can't wait to call my family.

All right, Shane, once again, congratulations.

Thank you.