Original subtitles

Ten of the best tattoo artists on the planet are competing to determine who's

number one.

On the last episode of Ink Master, six artists were left in the competition.

Each week, we've been testing you on the essential skills needed to become an Ink

Master. This week, these are your canvases.

My shark attack survived.

I had to actually fight the shark to get away.

Oh, my God. This is intense.

I hope I'm not going to die.

The artist's color skills were put to the test in the Flash Challenge.

The one artist we feel won this challenge.

I'm definitely pissed off. They're not going to rip Shane apart no matter if he

takes a s*** on his leg or if he does a great tattoo.

I don't know what the f*** else I can do.

In the Elimination Tattoo, Josh proved his color skills are top notch.

Nice. And Billy's cockiness became a problem.

Anytime I do a clock, I put it on the same time.

It's the time I was born.

That's pretty egotistical to put the time of your birthday to someone else's

tattoo. I'd say pack your shit after you finish that tattoo.

Kid, I am egotistical. I don't give a shit.

At the elimination, Billy and Leah were the bottom two.

Billy. There's no traditional tattoo that has opaque gray and a wing.

That's straight brown. Whatever it is, it's straight wrong.

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

Leah, the whole composition of this tattoo is just painful for me.

This has been the toughest deliberation that we've been faced with yet.

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

This just blows.

Five artists remain, but only one will earn a $100,000 prize and the title

of Ink Master.

Oh, that's a surprise.

Oh, look at that again.

How'd it go, guys?

It was horrible.

I can't believe I'm here because Billy is so good.

Leah definitely had her worst going today.

I feel like she's on the hot seat. That's good news for me.

Billy was such a good tattooist that it's good he's gone.

There's no traditional tattoo that has opaque gray and a wing.

That's brown. That's brown? That's brown. That's straight brown. Whatever

it is, it's straight wrong.

But it wasn't meeting the criteria. That wasn't a traditional tattoo, and that's

the bottom line. Well, I mean, I learned my lesson on this one. Believe me.

I wish I could have done something smaller.

You tell him. It's not up to him to tell you how much you can work.

The whole composition of this tattoo is just painful for me.

I feel relieved that I just made it through. I felt like I was going to go.

I'm really afraid for the next challenge.

My next client, I'm not going to let them run my show.

Just explain it to them.

You get a free tattoo out of this deal. I could possibly go home or win $100

,000. So you're going to work with me. They signed up to get a tattoo for free.

Huge five-hour tattoo.

You don't come on and screw with somebody's chances and dictate.

I'm glad I made it another day. Getting real.

Yeah.

So we're in a church. What in the world am I doing in a church?

It's appropriate we're in a church today. I'm praying that my stuff turns

out well.

I'm not a big fan of being inside churches.

There's not really any rhyme or reason why I bug out when I'm in there. I just

start feeling lightheaded, a little strange.

Welcome to another Flash Challenge. As always, you'll be judged by Oliver Peck,

Chris Nunez, and myself.

Plus, we have a very special guest judge.

NBA fans will tell you he's known as much for his shot blocking ability as he

is for his tattoos.

From the Denver Nuggets, Birdman.

I'm Chris Anderson of the Denver Nuggets, better known as the Birdman.

Very well known for blocking shots, rebounding, and getting the crowd hype.

I'm electrifying. I'm crazy.

I'm also well-known for my very colorful tattoos.

What's up, kid? You know, same old, same old. Tell us a little bit about the work

you got here. I like to keep the consistency, the way everything was put

together, the shading, the coloring. Can't stop getting tatted up.

All right, guys. This week, we're testing your proportion skills.

Proportion is when all the elements of the composition work together and are

balanced in size.

If you don't have correct proportion in a tattoo, it's just going to look

like... Perfect example is Josh's photorealism tattoo.

He ended up in the bottom three because his proportion was off. Just let it go,

man. It was a great tattoo. Just leave my fruit out of it and get off my ass.

In order to test your proportion, you'll be sketching one of the most iconic

symbols in the art world.

The praying hands.

Oh no, this sucks.

I haven't done that in a long, long time. Hands are one of the hardest

subjects to master proportionally. I've struggled with praying hands since I

started tattooing. That is the number one tattoo that I just have never been

able to do. I am not looking forward to any of this.

You'll have 45 minutes to draw the praying hands. Your time starts now.

Drawing hands is one of the most difficult things. It's a weakness that a

lot of artists have. They have to get the proportions right or the hands look

un-life-like.

I can't decide which angle I want to draw this from, so I'm kind of freaking

out a little bit because I'm drawing from two different angles at one time.

So I'm seeing one thing and I'm drawing another.

I just need to get this whole church thing out of my head. I don't know what

the problem is. As soon as I pick up the pencil, things start going haywire and

it's not coming out the way I want.

For the American traditional, I got a hard critique on the way my hand was, so

I'm going to try to really show them that I can illustrate a hand right.

Hands are very tricky.

Proportion is everything.

Fingers have to be the right length. The width of the hand has to be right.

There's so many different complex things. If just one little element is

off, the hand looks horrible.

Pencils suck.

I'm sweating. I'm so uncomfortable in here. I'm stressed out as it is with it.

I noticed Leah's stressing hard over it. She doesn't even have any shading or

anything in her drawing.

This is definitely a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. I don't want

to find myself in the hot seat again.

One more minute.

All right, that's it. Time's up. Pencils down.

Thank God this is just a sketching challenge. We're not putting anything on

bodies today.

You guys all happy with your sketches?

Yep. I'm not feeling confident about winning this challenge.

I caught a glance over at Tommy's. He just has a lot more dark shading in

there, so it gives it some depth.

The flash challenge hasn't ended yet.

Inside your shop, you'll find a randomly selected canvas.

Your job is to tattoo your sketch on the canvas.

Holy sh... This day is just awful.

I don't have the shading on my hands.

What am I going to do? Now I have to tattoo those hands.

You have 90 minutes to do this tattoo.

I'm psyched. I get to redeem myself, redeem my drawing because I can make up

the shading in my head in the tattoo.

Good luck and head to your shop.

Today, this challenge has much higher stakes.

I hope that everybody got all the little shading in the back of the hands and the

fingers because...

This is going to be the reference material for the tattoos, so good God,

I'm praying for our clients.

Is that a bigger donut?

It should be a little smaller, actually.

What are they, infant's hands?

I thought you were going to go bigger than that.

Toughen up, dude.

Don't even look.

You got 90 minutes to complete your work, and your time begins

now.

We had no idea we were going to do tattoos with this.

Oh, yeah? So I put 150% to it. Because of everyone not realizing where this

challenge was going to go, Leah and Josh's drawings were a little less

detailed, so it's going to be hard for them to get a decent tattoo out of that.

Using my sketch as a stencil to tattoo on him is just killing me.

Bastard. I'm a little nervous right now. I lose part of my stencil, making his

thumb look nubby. I'm struggling.

This is unfair.

I know what the elements need to be in the hands, like nice veins in the

backside of the hands. I'm feeling pretty damn good about this part of the

challenge. I turned the drawing into a nice tattoo, and I'm not sure that the

other competitors are going to do that.

Just like a photograph. That's beautiful.

Yay.

I got to tattoo the hands I drew. I really wish I would have get the shading

down, because now I'm not going to have the veins and all the cool little

details in those hands.

30 seconds.

Time's up. No more tattooing.

That's beautiful.

It doesn't matter how good Tommy's sketch was because when it comes to

tattooing, my skills are going to surpass his.

I'm here to take this competition.

Leah, let's take a look at this.

You did all the back of the hands and everything just for memory? Yeah, I had

no shading in my drawing.

You actually used the tendons in the back of the hand opposed to using like

the veins.

It's like a non-traditional take on praying hands.

I knew it. What is missing in my hands is the veins because I didn't have the

shading in place.

Another flash challenge that I'm not going to get.

Tommy, it looks almost identical to the statue.

Tremendous.

detail fingernails i mean even the grooves and the knuckles i think you got

the proportion right which is the main test here make it up for my hand

yesterday you use a light source from this cross that's what makes it go

together so well yeah i was trying to pull it together tommy's sketch looked

much better than his actual tattoo the tattoo looks dark irritated it looks

like it's not going to heal smooth james it looks like you got a little more

detail in your tattoo than you did in your drawing i was able to refine a

little bit I like that you were not scared to do dark. That's got a lot of

black. You went in and you put the dark where the dark should be.

What's happening, Josh?

How detailed was your sketch?

Pretty detailed. I tried to simplify it more on here than this actual sketch

was. It definitely has a different style.

How he just shaded on the outsides of it and on the bottom and around it. I like

the use of heavy black and the background gives it that dimension.

You know that's an original drawing that Josh did this morning.

Excellent. I love it.

The proportions on Josh's hands were way off. His hands came out a little

cartoony. It was kind of wonky looking.

Shane, you chose the right angle. A lot of times people do it two sideways and

you can't see both thumbs and the depth in between the fingers.

I was kind of worried when I saw you drawing it actually on the sketch pad.

And from what I see, the difference, it blows me away. I mean, I like how it's

open and the angle of it. You can actually see inside of it. Really good

job. I like it.

Shane's hands came out way chubbier than the actual sculpture.

I'm totally psyched. I think I have a chance now.

You like it?

I wanted it on my calf.

It's not going to look good.

I don't really want to go above my knee.

He's ready to go home.

If you don't want to go, it's fine.

This is not going to be good.

All right, guys.

So this is a tough one.

The hands in the church were a little bent like that, but I noticed that

Leah's fingers just were like that.

It's the angle she picked.

I think that if there was a bottom pair of hands, I think Josh's was a little

out of proportion.

The nails were a little tiny.

It was pudgy.

Josh's was out of proportion. And it's tough to say that in front of his

client. Right, yeah. Shane's was a little pudgy too.

Shane's looked actually realistic.

They look like these poor little guys.

I think Tommy's were the best.

The only thing I think about Tommy's is that if he had changed the angle of it

on the arm a little bit, it would have fit up in that spot a little better.

Change is good on the black shading. I like the fact that people go in with a

heavier black because that means they mean what they're doing. They're not

hoping it works out. Like, it has to work out.

So that's a little more sign of a confident tattooer. All right, guys,

want to do it? Yes, let's do it. Cool.

So for this challenge, we tested your proportion skills by tattooing one of

the most iconic images in the world, the praying hands.

We saw some that we really liked.

And we saw some that could use some work.

I think that Leah, you got the grooves for the middle knuckles, but then you

had nothing in the next digit. I wanted to see the veins. To me, praying hands

without veins are a little too new school.

Josh, you kind of lost it on the proportion of the hands. I think the

length of the hand from the knuckle to the wrist is a little stumpy. You didn't

look confident enough to step out of your comfort zone. It's a big deal.

There is one artist that stood out.

And today that artist was Tommy.

Congratulations.

Nice job, Tommy. Really came back on the whole hand proportion thing from last

week. I did. You have first choice of the human canvases for this week's

elimination tattoo.

Awesome.

I don't think Tommy should have won. I did a really good set of hands, and I

thought I had a little bit more dimension in mine. You guys did a life

drawing. This is the first time we've thrown this curveball at you.

This is what it means to be in this competition.

Everything's going to get harder and you don't know what's coming. Head on back

to the brownstone. Get ready for the elimination tattoo.

Now I'm pissed off. I feel I should have won that flash challenge.

Tommy's making a run for it. I'm just going to have to teach him a lesson this

next challenge.

I can't even try to imagine what the f*** is coming up because I think we

always tried to imagine what the next thing was.

You're stressing out about it. I mean, I'm nervous, you know, like... Tommy's

the one I need to watch out for. I see that he can do some tight detail. Now I

got to sweat him. I mean, I'm here to win. You could always just go home,

dude. Oh, strategically.

Shane's got this all mapped out in his brain.

I'm just glad I see a crack in Tommy's wall.

Shane's been riding high in this competition, but I'm about to catch up

and I'm going to kick his ass.

This week, we've been testing your proportion skills.

For tonight's elimination tattoo, you'll be designing a piece that contains three

of my favorite elements. Large breasts, thin waist, and wide hips. I'm talking

about pinup girls.

Pinups and tattooing originated with the military, so the pinups were always

exaggerated women because the men were off at war and they would want to see a

woman with exaggerated features.

Pinup tattoos require you to take your proportion skills and turn them inside

out. Pinup girls are intentionally out of proportion.

I don't like doing pinups because most people want to get them small, and that

way you can't get any detail in it, and it could go wrong fast.

You are to design a pinup girl for your human canvas.

The pinup must be from head to toe.

Let's meet your canvases.

This is Santo. He would like a pinup in a firefighter's uniform.

Nikki wants a pinup of herself.

Bill would like a brunette burlesque girl.

Becky here would like a 1940s style with a pecan pie or a peach.

And finally, we have David.

David wants a pinup of an ex-girlfriend.

Ex-girlfriend, really, David? Absolutely.

Interesting.

All right, Tommy, you won the flash challenge. You get first pick of the

human canvases.

Pinups, I don't really do them all the time. Like every other challenge, I

don't necessarily do everything all the time. I don't necessarily have a forte.

Since pinups are a little difficult and you got to get that face perfect, it's

going to be a challenge for me.

And you were thinking of a pinup with... That brunette burlesque girl.

Okay, and where were you thinking of putting that?

Anywhere on the forearm.

Want to go with him?

I think that's the best one because it has a lot of drama to it with all the

feathers and all of her jewelry and her clothing.

So I think I can have a pretty good time with this and make it a beautiful

tattoo.

If I was Tommy, I'm not sure that that's who I would have picked. The guy's skin

was a little bit darker than I'd rather work on. But the style of pinup that he

wanted really caters to Tommy. I mean, there's a good chance that Tommy could

win this.

The rest of the human canvases will one by one pick up a skull that has your

name on it. The canvas that picks your name is your client.

Leah?

I love doing pinups. I love doing sexy women.

It's one of the things I specialize in. So I'm excited about this one.

Shane?

James. Josh.

All right, you have the rest of the evening to talk with your human canvas

and come up with a design.

Tomorrow, you'll have five hours to do this tattoo.

Good luck.

Tattoos at Pin Up Girls, one of the most commonly requested tattoos done in

tattoo shops today.

Proportions are really important to pin ups because it needs to look believable.

You can toy with it one way or another, but it still has to be pleasing to the

eye.

So my client wants a pinup of his ex-girlfriend. It wasn't my idea for her

to be an ex. It's something that was a really big impact.

Was only with her for six months, and they've been broken up for two and a

half years.

That is very weird.

I originally had this idea of, like, a cowgirl mermaid.

I'd love to do, like, bell bottoms on the bottom of her jeans that fan out

like a fin, and then the top have, like, the Daisy Duke top, and then, like, the

cowgirl cowboy hat, and then, like, maybe, like, a pistol.

If you could do seaweed intermittent with, like, stalks of corn.

I don't think my client realizes that this is a time tattoo.

This guy's probably gonna get me eliminated.

You want to put it on your leg? Yeah.

Your legs are not flat.

It's not going to look good.

In order to do a beautiful pin-up, the skin is really important. I like the

skin to be flat so the pin-up is not distorted when you see it. I could do

something nice right here.

It's not really what...

Not really what I was looking for.

He really wants to get the tattoo on his scarf.

Frankly, if Santo came to see me at home, I would have refused to do that. I

really want to show it.

Yeah, but I want to do the best work on you, you know what I mean? But I

definitely like displaying what I get, you know? I am stuck in the same

situation that I was stuck earlier during the competition.

This is not good. I am not excited about this.

So Shane, what are you going to do when you go home?

Happy to go home and fold in laundry?

You do your own laundry?

Since I was 11.

How do you find time to do your own laundry?

I never start working, dude.

That's why this show's a piece of cake.

This is a piece of cake.

It's on like that, man. Game face.

I'm not going home anytime soon.

Tommy's always a threat.

He's good. He's really freaking good. And I don't know what he has in his

arsenal.

Yeah, I'm having a great time, dude. This is no stress, no sweat, nothing.

Yeah, dude.

Everyone knew that Shane was the person to keep an eye on from the beginning.

I'm back in the game, and I ain't gonna give Shane a run for his money.

Morning, everybody.

It's time for you all to tap into your proportion skills and tattoo a pinup

girl on your human canvas.

You'll be judged on the proportion of your pinup. You have five hours to

complete your tattoo.

The clock starts now.

Oh, my God. That's perfect, dude.

Great pinup tattoos consist of beautiful features from the hair to the toes.

The artist's main job here is to play with proportion.

If you don't do the exaggeration the right way, it's going to be obviously

off.

It looks awesome. Yeah, yeah.

I love her face. The only thing is I think it's going to look way better

right here.

You know? And she's going to be super hot.

if you just change the spot i guarantee it's gonna be so awesome you know i'm

just very i wanted it on my calf he's stubborn he does not understand how

important it is to follow an artist's advice i mean you can't you can't work

with the whole back of my leg

to

do a good pinup Got to do the face, the expression, great.

And normally I'll start at the bottom and work my way up, but here there is

time constraints, so I went right to the head. Get the face exactly how I want it

to look, like really tight detail.

I'd rather get the face done while we're fresh and not stressing about the last

half hour, you know what I mean? The judges want a full body pinup from head

to toe, so that's going to mean that the faces are going to be a lot smaller than

some of the other competitors are used to doing.

I'm getting into the tattoo and realizing it's very small. I'm gonna

have to put a lot of detail into this. The face is tiny, so I'm a little

concerned about getting those details into the face.

For me, it's a shame, you know, because I really want to do my best work on you,

and this kind of design, it's gonna look the best here.

You know what I mean?

And your legs are, like, so muscled that it's not smooth.

With that being said, I don't really want to go above my knee.

Being that you guys are the top in the country, I wanted this to be displayed

at any given moment that I wanted it to be, so people can see it. If you don't

want to do it, wear it. I mean, it's fine.

He's ready to go home. Either I do Santo a tattoo on his calf, or I do not do

any tattoo today.

Well, that's really a shame.

This is bullshit. I don't have the choice.

I hope I'm not going to be sent home.

All right, guys, that's one hour down, four hours to go.

I've done a lot of details in this tattoo. I'm a little exhausted, tired.

This competition has been mentally challenging.

We're working on limited sleep. I'm ready to finish this and prove myself.

I'm definitely realizing that I might have went a little bizarre with the

cartoon images.

New School again?

Josh rode with what he feels comfortable with.

Are you crazy, dude?

I feel like the judges are going to rip him apart on that.

I know the judges hate New School.

Big crazy chat.

They're not into that style.

i'm taking the big chance showing what i love to do does it look like her yeah

josh is doing his style he is trying to show us that he has his own thing and on

one end we can appreciate that but on the other end you would think he would

have learned by now what these judges like and what they don't like

i'm just happy that you're putting it there because i really

was against going anywhere else i love those boots it makes her look like a

fetish Are these gloves that she has on? No, no. Oh, no? I mean, I can put gloves

on her if you want.

I think the gloves will do a little bit something like that, too, you know?

Yeah, yeah. I think it's going to look cool.

Beautiful, man.

Leah's piece looks a little off. Her proportions were off, and, like, the way

things bent on the human body, she didn't really tackle the job well.

No,

no, no, no, no. I wish.

In this particular tattoo, the face is tiny.

And you never want to overwork the skin in the tattoo, and you could overwork it

by doing too much detail.

So I'm trying to get the detailing quick and get out of there because I don't

want to tear up the skin.

It is a challenging one for me to get this thing to look right.

Oh, jeez.

I like it.

I like the feathers, too.

Of course, you know I'm going to like it because of the feathers.

Oh, there you go.

Okay, that's 30 minutes left, everybody.

Pin-up tattoos are supposed to be seductive. They're supposed to be

enticing. It's like a conversation piece.

Men love beautiful women, and women love beautiful women in art. So that's not

happening out here today.

Really ugly women are happening out there right now.

One minute to go.

30 seconds left.

Five.

Three, two, one.

Okay, that's it. Time's up. Machine's down.

No more tattooing.

I'm stoked. It's finished. It's saturated, clean.

They're going to have a hard time trying to eliminate me. I'm excited.

Kind of took a gamble doing the pin-up a little bit bigger than I think was safe

to do in this time management, but I got it done, and I'm really happy with it.

Is it really done?

I'm feeling pretty confident about my pinup, especially after seeing Leah's.

Leah's had a crazy arm on it. I don't know what happened to her stencil,

whether it rubbed off or something, but I'm feeling a little more confident now.

I love the tattoo. I think it's a beautiful tattoo.

I don't know how it's going to compare to all the other great artists here.

Today at Ink Master, we have five left.

One is going to go home.

What happened here?

You asked that like it was a negative thing.

For real, this is a mistake, man.

I figured I didn't get up too bad.

This is a disaster.

What did you think of Lee's piece?

I didn't like it at all.

So different from what I thought she was going to do. I thought she was going to

pull it together.

At least what I saw, I was like, whoa, holy shit. That guy's not going to be

happy. I think she just cracked.

I think she's going home, dude. Yeah.

I'm happy about it.

There ain't no easy way out in the pit up anyways.

You either can do it or you can't.

All I know is I'm not going home.

I'm dying. I'm winding.

Welcome to tonight's elimination.

Only five of you left.

And this week you were tested on your proportion skills by tattooing a pinup

girl.

Tommy, you're up first.

What happened here?

You asked that like it was a negative thing.

I'm asking what happened.

He came looking for a burlesque girl, and I didn't go for a totally realistic

piece because I wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

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

tiny, man, to work in there, you know? I think it's a pretty standard-sized face

for your average pinup world tattoo.

But, man, the eyes, they're wonky, man. And the lips just look like a smear. If

you can outline those little pearls, you can put an outline on those lips and

nose and put them in the right spot.

Are you okay?

Because this doesn't seem like you. No, I'm not. I'm actually here sweating now.

You've been solid. This wasn't you today. I guess I fell short.

My other main issue is the hand. The hand is just like very strange.

It's supposed to be under the gown a little bit? It's under there a little

bit. It'd be better if it was under there a little more.

A few areas just kind of killed it for me.

You had a tough week last week. It was a close call for you.

How are you feeling about this?

I feel good about it.

To me, pinups are stunningly gorgeous and this one isn't.

This is a disaster.

The elbow on her left arm.

it doesn't look right with the angle she doesn't have her arm twisted the correct

way and it doesn't look proportionate i cannot believe no one has mentioned her

left hand yet jesus it looks like she just pulled it out of the garbage

disposal am i crazy if i had a little bit more time i'm not even sure which

fingers which i don't mean to be a complete ass but i just can't Ignore

certain things. I really don't think I'm I did a bad job I think that she's a

good base and I can go back into it at the details This isn't a

competition to go back into it you're here to do one great tattoo and walk

away and compete I understand but there's no buts Okay, I mean as far as

this is this is what I have so I don't know if you guys are just Beat up or

what but I'm looking at the best five out of the ten that are here and This

week's tattoos look like we're back in the beginning again, you know I get it

that here we supposed to like push ourselves like all the way to the end,

you know But you didn't come here to win today

Shane

It's an action pin-up, which is just extraordinary. To put an expression on

her face, that just blew my mind, man.

The hair flow, you got the red accents in her hair, the red ribbon.

Tremendous job, man.

You really excelled in the detail. In the mouth, showing the teeth, very

tricky to do on pin-ups of this size. The little shadow underneath the lip

where the bottom lip comes out, it just gives it that depth. Dude, yeah, you

nailed it.

I also wanted to say the shoes are phenomenal, man. My turn.

Shoes are phenomenal.

I love the way you left a real clear little negative spot under the pupil of

the eye. It really makes that lid come in. Overall, you killed this thing. It's

technically a beautiful tattoo.

It's proportionate, and the choice of using the action in the tattoo makes it

stand out from the stiff tattoos.

Great job, man. Thank you. Appreciate it.

James Vaughn.

I'm going to get right to the point.

This girl's got two right feet.

What?

She's got two right feet.

There's two big toes in the grass.

James, tell me what's up.

Whoops. I wasn't even paying attention.

For real, this is a mistake, man.

i mean i get it but you're a consistent tattooer i don't know what happened i i

figured i didn't i didn't get up too bad in my in my opinion he lost it in the

mouth man the shape of that top lip and the teeth man it's just scary looking

this is to find out who's the most well-rounded you know what you came to

do and you guys aren't doing it

josh

You did a big tattoo.

That's impressive that you did that much in five hours.

I lucked out by him wanting something colorful and cartoony. I'm a fan of all

the color. The contrast on it, awesome.

The shirt, the bell bottoms, the farm in the background, fence, everything you

put on there, great job.

One of the things we're looking at this tattoo is proportion.

and the style of the tattoo you did realistic proportion is out the window

but the style that you went with the oversized eyes and head and body shape i

don't think this tattoo is out of proportion i think you went all out gung

-ho man bad ass since day one you've had a couple bumps in the roads but you've

been a consistent big tattooer in this competition i got to judge these guys on

what they did and i would love to have seen you do a pin-up like them to see

what would happen But, uh, again, man, what you did, you did. You know, you

killed it.

Okay, artists, I think it's pretty clear which way this is gonna go.

Shane and Josh, you guys are safe.

And while we're at it, we may as well announce who had the best tattoo.

Chris?

Shane. Congratulations.

Thanks, man.

We'd like to see Tommy, Leah, and James up here for final

elimination. We're going to deliberate.

When we see you back here, somebody's gone home.

That was brutal.

They had a buffet of...

The bust on tonight, man.

Stubby arms, busted up hands, two right feet.

She can't be putting two right feet on him. That's just insane.

This is awesome.

The competitor in me wants one of you to go home.

I'm horrified at the fact that I did this. I really think that I'm going home

tonight. I feel like I'm such a damn...

I'm stressed about the customer, you know. You got to throw shoes on her,

dude. Maybe it'll hook us up and boot one of you guys.

That would be rad.

I didn't think I dropped the ball too bad. I was like, dude. Dude, I swore to

God I f***ed you.

I dropped a ball on his feet.

He just did a pinup with two right feet. That's a serious mistake.

I thought he did a good job. I thought everybody did a good job.

Yeah, but we're here to do a great job.

I don't think I did that bad. At least you don't got two right feet on that bad

boy.

We're mentally and physically stressed here. This is serious competition.

Leah was pretty confident.

I don't know what she was looking at.

She don't bolt either. She's confident, too.

I don't know what's going on.

I don't know either.

We'll see.

Yeah, who knows?

Yep. Who knows?

All right, guys. I think all three of them are feeling the heat right now. Oh,

yeah. Oh, they're dying.

All three of these tattoos just totally botched the face.

Yeah, one of these. Which is a very, very...

But one's a little less botched. And I'm stunned with Tommy's face. I think

Tommy's face might be the weakest. She's no, you know, beauty queen herself.

Her nose is a little busted.

I'm sorry, but Tommy's face outdoes the other two. Look at Tommy's face. It's

beat. I totally disagree.

I can't overlook James put two right feet on that girl.

How do you overlook something like that? I think James, you know, drew two right

feet. But it doesn't dismiss the fact that Leah did not.

put enough definition into the pinup.

They equally did bad faces.

He did two right feet, and she did one claw.

At least his right foot looks like a right foot. I think as far as the

challenge of proportion, all three of these people held up to that. The bodies

are put together well, except for the few elements that we've been pointing

out. All right, guys, do we have a firm... I'm good. I have my... All

right, man, let's do it.

Oh, God.

How y'all feeling?

Like a dumbass.

You know we need to see Tommy, Leah, and James.

Hey, let's go.

Do it.

I'm already sweating.

Again?

Tonight, we saw two great pinups and three that were not so great.

Tattoo mistakes happen all the time. Here are three perfect examples.

of just mistakes it sucks that all three of you made these mistakes on the same

day in a national challenge for one hundred thousand dollars obviously that

would be the time you hope not to make a mistake it's just been a rough ride all

you guys we're humans we don't pick you guys apart we pick apart what you give

us i would hope to see somebody going home under different circumstances but

this is what you signed up for james do you regret taking the shoes off the

design yeah i was like flabbergasted i'm more upset for the customer because it's

my job to make the best tattoo for my client you know and i try to pay

attention to detail it's just one thing that's you know it's a cardinal sin you

know i'm not gonna make up any type of excuse whatsoever i've been tattooing a

long time One of the most common questions people ask me about the

business, they're like, have you ever messed up on anybody?

And I'm like, all the time.

And they're surprised at that answer because they think that a tattoo artist

never messes up, man.

Tommy, you've never been here.

No, I haven't. Is there anything that you would do differently?

Fortunately, there's things in this tattoo that I can't fix up. The nose,

things in this tiny little pinup.

I don't think my work's infallible.

Leah? What happened the gloves were enough to stop I didn't think that he

was gonna affect like the hand like that I didn't realize because I added it like

after I did the drawing and then when I did the shading it's Changed everything.

I think I put the glove thing in the wrong

It's changing the arm.

Also, in the stencil, you had a nose line that made this face shape look a

lot better. But in the tattoo, the nose line's not there.

Just little details like that could have made this tattoo a lot stronger.

That one line will change the entire face. Faces are a son of a bitch because

they're one line away from greatness or failure. It's just consistency.

And most everybody up here has shown consistency.

All of you guys have pretty much been...

hanging whether you win or whatever you guys have all been in the same position

leah you've been erratic the judges have decided

leah

you don't have what it takes to be ink master please pack up your machines and

leave

Now is definitely not the time to relax.

The rest of you have a one in four chance of claiming that $100,000 prize.

Won't be too much room for any more mistakes, guys.

This is extreme tattooing.

I am an ink master.

There is no doubt about that.

I just didn't have control over the cards that were given to me. Usually, I

pick my game and I win.

It really, really hurts, and it's pretty devastating.

On the next episode of Ink Master.

About to get my ass handed to me in graffiti.

After all the talk Tommy did about being a veteran graffiti artist, that looks

like a little kid did it. Apparently he's pretty pissed off about it. Who's

that? You, man.

I didn't come here to fuck. Hey, friends. Games are over. Time for the

real deal. You'll be creating a portrait.

Lord have mercy.

If I don't win this challenge, I'm walking a... The fact of the matter is

you allowed that to happen to yourself.

The placement of this thing beat the hell out of you.