Original subtitles

* MTV

[Male Narrator] Previously on Ink Master...

Tough going up against the composition fucking gods

over there.

[Narrator] A massive flash challenge have the artists

fighting for control.

It looks like it's going right into his mouth.

It's too hard to see from where we're at.

I have no idea how they look.

Please stop talking.

Your voice makes me want to vomit.

Respect your elders.

They've both got great movement and great readability.

The winner of the flash challenge is Team OG.

They get the skull pick again.

[Narrator] In the elimination tattoo...

Sharpen your blades and take out these opponents.

[Narrator] The artists battled it out

with Japanese samurai.

What I see is you utilizing your second chance.

To the maximum.

I'm sort of like the Puerto Rican samurai right now.

My tattoo is literally a reflection of all the work I do.

It's always a risk taking a big idea and going for it.

You might as well have put a foot there.

[Narrator] In the elimination, Trevor, Joseph, and Jorell

were in the bottom three.

That is a backwards hand. Is that not a sin in tattooing?

Having a backwards hand is a major mistake.

And yet, I still like it better.

The only problem that I have with Trevor's tattoo

is the backwards hand.

But with Jorell's tattoo, I have a problem with the cleanliness.

I have a problem with the composition.

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

[Narrator] Nine artists remain, but only one will earn

a $250,000 prize

and the title of Ink Master.

[music]

I'm just bummed one of the OGs went home.

It blows my fucking mind.

I'm pissed off, actually. I'm pissed off.

We have to gun for Trevor. We need to wipe out the rest

of these Young Guns and just have the OGs take it home.

We're gonna win as a team, okay, on everything.

And we're not individuals yet, and it might come eventually.

But we have to treat it as a team right now.

-It's us to the final five. -The big game's starting now.

[music]

Oh, boy. We're in a new spot.

[James] Well, this is different.

I'm nervous.

Something is happening here.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Each week the battle for $250,000

and the title of Ink Master gets more intense.

The numbers are dwindling.

Today, there is no flash challenge.

[Lucy] What does that mean?

We are moving directly into the next elimination tattoo.

Oh, fuck.

Right on the chopping block again.

This week we're testing precision with

portrait tattoos.

-No. -Yes.

But, not just any portrait tattoos.

Always a twist.

Today, you must create a portrait

of a service dog.

Yes.

Puppy portraits.

Pet portraits are a little different

than regular portraits.

You gotta know how to do a lot of different textures, fur.

There's glossy eyes. There's whiskers.

You gotta be precise putting those together to make this

animal look just like they look.

Whether the service dog is trained to help their handlers

with visible or non-visible disabilities,

service dogs play more than just a vital role in the day-to-day

lives of their partners.

They become a part of the family.

-100%. -Oh, I'm so excited.

There is one more thing you should know.

There's always one more thing.

Your precision needs to speak for itself

because these tattoos will be judged without the judges

knowing which artist tattooed which portrait.

All right, cool.

[Pony] When it comes to portrait tattoos,

this is literally what I do every single day back home.

So, whether the judges know that it's mine or not,

I don't really care.

I'm just gonna make a solid tattoo

and hopefully, they love it.

Safety from elimination is on the line.

Let's bring in your canvases.

Bring on the pups.

He's so pretty.

Aw.

[Trevor] Yeah, buddies.

It's puppy town. We're going to it.

I'm so excited right now.

Look at all you guys.

It's gonna be a fun day today.

[Joel] Canvases, please tell us a little bit about yourselves

and what tattoo you'd like to get.

I'm looking for a color portrait tattoo of my service dog,

Whiskey.

I suffer from seizures as a result of PTSD.

Whiskey is an expert in seizure detection,

nightmare alerts, and medication retrieval.

How do they do that?

I'm looking to get a portrait of my mobility service dog, Kai

on my left arm.

He helps me with opening and closing automatic doors.

Pressing buttons on elevators, and pretty much just gives me

a reason to get out of bed every morning.

That's great.

I would love a color portrait of my guide dog, Starling

on my calf.

She helps me get around because I have blindness

from optic nerve displasia.

And she is the reason why I'm able to excel in my day-to-day.

I'm looking for a black and gray portrait tattoo

of my service dog, Buttons on my upper arm.

And she supports me with medical alert and um, mobility,

so picking things up off the floor and closing doors.

[Woman] Button's really shiny.

[Trevor] Yeah, he's got a lot of cool textures.

This is my service dog, Andy.

I'm looking for a color portrait on my upper arm.

Buddy.

I have PTSD, depression and anxiety,

and so Andy wakes me up from my night terrors.

And Andy is from Afghanistan, so he's actually a rescue.

He has experienced trauma as well,

so we're working together to heal together.

This is Vespa.

I'm looking for a color portrait on my upper arm.

I have a progressive neurological condition.

She helps with mobility and alerts.

That's beautiful.

I am looking for a black and gray portrait

of my guide dog, Maggie.

I lost my vision due to a stroke

and she has made me independent.

I love golden retrievers.

I'm here because I have space on my upper arm

for a color portrait of my service dog, Nipper.

Cute.

I'm a breast cancer survivor, and I'm also a person

with a lived experience of schizophrenia.

He gives me back my independence by letting me know when a

real person approaches me,

letting me know when there aren't real people present.

And helping me find my phone because I hallucinate that, too.

I am here for a black and gray portrait of my service dog, JJ.

I was diagnosed with PTSD when I was 18 from a car accident.

And we also live with chronic pain,

so he alerts me when I need to take a moment.

-Any one. -Any one of them.

[music]

Judges, since these tattoos will be judged without knowing

which artist did which portrait, it's time for the three of you

to leave. I'll take it from here.

We have to leave on dog day to the dog house.

Brutal.

Now that they're gone, artists, one by one,

please choose a skull.

The name on the bottom of your skull

will determine your canvas.

-Oh. -Okay.

[Joel] The picking order has been randomly assigned.

Stephanie, you're up first.

Have fun picking a good one.

Connor and Vespa.

[Joel] Cat, you're up next.

Georgia and Maggie.

Oh, my God. I'm so excited.

[Joel] Anthony.

Bernie and Kai.

[Joel] James.7

Alexandra and Nipper.

-That's me. -Yes!

Pony.

I can't pick all of them, correct?

-Danielle and Starling. -Hi.

[Pony] Pleasure. I'm stoked.

Joseph.

Briana and Andy.

-Hi. -Hi.

[Joel] Trevor.

April and Buttons.

-That's me. -Cool.

[Joel] Lucy.

Angel and JJ.

-That's us. -Yeah.

And, finally, Jade, please reveal your skull.

Mike and Whiskey.

-That's us. -I'm so excited.

This is super special because these dogs aren't just dogs

to these people.

They make so much in life possible for them.

It's an honor to be able to do this.

My soul needs this.

I know.

Artists, you will have six hours to prove your precision

with a portrait tattoo.

Nice.

Good luck.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

-I'm Cat. -I'm Georgia.

Nice to meet you.

So how good is your vision?

Uh, I see vague shape and color. I have optic nerve displasia,

so it means all the information doesn't go from my eyes

-to my brain. -Got you. Okay.

It'd be cool if we could get his like, whole body.

Clarity and precision is what we're gonna try to do,

so the whole body would be too much.

[Alexandra] Too much.

This one's too far away. Although, it's super cute.

-And then there's this one. -I love that one.

[James] It's different. It's pretty cool.

He is adorable in it.

[Pony] If I were to make up a reference, would you be able

-to see it? -No, I would not.

Picking out a reference is challenging

because Danielle can't really help with that process,

so she has to count on me to make the best judgement here.

Okay, the one that seems to pop out to me,

she's wearing this little jacket and kind of looking off

to the side.

She's standing on the ground with a lake behind her.

In that kind of situation, you really have to have trust

with your artist.

And it's just something I've never really thought of before.

Tattoos are actually a really accessible form of art

for people who are low vision or blind because

every piece I've had, I've felt every detail of it,

so I have an understanding of what it looks like.

[Pony] Got ya. That's beautiful.

I'm loving today. It's such a good day.

[music]

I was like, starting to do the outlines on the color,

I realized that I'm not gonna-- I wanna be honest with you.

And I wanna give you the best tattoo you can possibly get.

-Can we color his eyes? -Yes.

Black and gray, color his eyes.

Artists, you have six hours to tattoo a portrait

of your canvas's service dog. And your time starts now.

So go ahead and just swivel this way. Perfect.

Dog portraits are a great test of precision.

A lot of dogs, they look alike, but to the pet owner,

their dog is one of a kind.

[Man] I think that's pretty good.

You have to figure out what little traits this dog has

or markings on the fur, and really hit that.

It's getting compared to a photo.

I like challenges like this because it means a lot.

[Alexandra] Yeah.

[DJ] If you're getting your dog's portrait tattooed on you,

that better look like your dog, not the neighbor's dog.

It's gotta be Fido, not Sprinkles.

Whenever you need a break or Kai needs a break, just let me know.

-Ready? -[Bernie] Ready.

Let's do this.

[music]

That's so cool that she's here for this tattoo.

That's amazing. That was my first question.

Wait, are they gonna be in here?

I do like dogs a lot. There's so pure and genuine.

[April] What made you get into tattooing to start with?

I was getting tattooed and kind of one thing led to another.

I've always been like, a heavier guy.

There's been times in my life where I've gotten bullied.

Being tattooed always made me feel a lot more comfortable

in my own skin.

And I think it's really cool that I can help other people

feel comfortable in their skin, too.

[music]

[Georgia] You're lucky that I'm getting the tattoo for you,

Maggie.

[Cat] If she could speak, she would thank you.

She would also say, "Do you have any snacks?"

I love doing dog portraits.

When I was younger, I would start with just a pencil,

and I was able to create images, and that's where I kind of got

into black and gray realism.

How long have you had her now, again?

[Georgia] Three years.

So I lost my vision because of a stroke.

It's almost like looking through a straw.

That's where Maggie comes in.

She catches all the stuff on the periphery.

[Cat] That's amazing.

You know, people with disabilities, we're all human.

And, service dogs in general just,

they increase people's independence.

I'm gonna do a good tattoo. I feel good today.

I needed this. I need this for my soul.

[music]

[music]

Artists, there are four hours left.

I didn't even fully understand what service dogs were capable

of doing for people, so this has opened up my eyes a lot.

Vespa has been life changing.

Because of her, I can continue living the independent life

I have been living.

I'm just really honored to be able to do this tattoo for you.

[music]

Animals really like me. I go to mentor's house.

He has English Bulldog.

Okay.

Everytime, he sit on my feet.

My mentor's like, "That shows you have good energy, stupid."

I was like, "Okay, I guess."

I have worked very hard for the past 21 years

with my traditional Japanese mentor.

[Angela] Girl, that is some fine lines.

[Lucy] It was hard for my mentor

to think of women as a tattoo artist.

And, I asked him like, "How about you teach me tattoo, too?"

I don't take no as an answer.

So, I do double of the work and he change his mind.

I wanna win Ink Master because I wanna shine his name.

I don't wanna let him down.

I wanna do your tattoo, so he can recognize himself.

Does he look in the mirror?

He just starts barking at my leg.

[Alexandra] Good boy. Settle place. Good.

[James] I feel less confident 'cause I don't do portraits

really at all.

It's just not what I enjoy doing.

The photo that I'm drawn to is the one with the bubble

in front of the eye.

It seems more playful and fun, and not so static.

If I'm gonna tackle a portrait, I'm gonna have fun with it.

And try to enjoy it.

How long ago did you go through breast cancer?

I got diagnosed at age 34.

I went through five months of chemo,

36 treatments of radiation, and then a double mastectomy.

And I had to get my ovaries out, but so far, so good.

[James] That's awesome, so is my wife.

She's a breast cancer survivor, too.

[Alexandra] So what was your wife's experience like?

It's such a blur to me. That's how I do pain.

I bear down.

I just went to work and continued on,

and made sure family was good.

And the kids, I didn't beat around the bush.

We told them what's up.

Because I don't like sugarcoating life.

But seeing my wife go through something like that,

and still have a smile on her face was pretty crazy, man.

[Alexandra] Yeah.

You have two hours, everybody.

Down.

Stay.

[Bernie] Your dad looks young.

I've never done a portrait, but I know how to

replicate something, so this is no different.

[Bernie] What's gonna happen when you beat your dad?

[Anthony] Thanksgivings might be a little weird, but you know.

In this competition, I don't wanna show a lack of confidence.

I'm confident that I can put in a solid tattoo

regardless of the style.

So going to let this tattoo stand tall.

Watching my dad for so long and finding out

what he's capable of, and his strengths and weaknesses,

and everything.

I didn't come here to lose.

I didn't come here to get second.

[Bernie] That's when a mentor knows they've done a good job is

when their padawan graduates and moves on to the next level,

-right? -[Anthony] Exactly.

[music]

Is it quite difficult to do realistic things like eyes?

I'm kind of like a laser printer,

so it just takes time and patience.

There are 30 minutes remaining.

[music]

These subtle shapes? And how these come down?

-[Jade] Add them? -Yeah.

-And you'll be fine. -Thank you.

Just keep trying to sit still, please, I know it sucks.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

No more ink.

All right. I'll stop torturing you now.

-You like it? -Yeah, I love it.

Oh my God, that's amazing.

Buddy, look, that's you. Yeah.

[barks]

-Can I hug you? -Yeah, of course.

[Briana] Thank you so much.

Wow. He's absolutely beautiful, Lucy.

[Lucy] You're gonna make me cry, too.

Thank you.

Aw.

[music]

[music]

Today was fun because we're all riding high,

but reality's gonna hit us in the face here real quick.

I feel like you never know what's gonna happen here.

There's always some kind of curve ball, right?

Always.

Hey, here we go.

Let's go.

[Joel] Today the artists had six hours to tattoo a portrait

of a service dog.

They are fighting for safety from elimination.

What does that mean? What does it mean?

Now, you guys don't know which artist did which portrait.

The artists are watching the critique from the design room.

Now, I'm scared.

[Joel] Bring out the first tattoo.

Hey, that's mine.

[Ryan] Such a cool, little tattoo.

The super, super curly, puff afro on the top

was rendered beautifully.

I mean, that's the exact texture of that poodle's fur.

And that's a hard thing to do.

And as that really curly texture comes down to the ear,

it gets a little more straggly. And the way this artist rendered

that fur is precisely how it is in the reference.

Everything they said is right. I'm amazing.

Too precise really.

[Joel] Moving on. Let's see the next tattoo.

That's mine.

[Nikko] When you first glance at the reference versus the tattoo,

you see that dog's personality, which is really cool.

-I love the shiny eyes. -[Ryan] Absolutely.

I think they likeness is there. They nailed the tongue.

Those little spots on the tongue where

they push against the teeth.

This is a great tattoo.

Overall, I'm really happy and proud of it.

[Joel] Let's see the next tattoo.

That's mine.

[Ryan] This tattoo is really well done.

It's elegant. It's soft.

It's buttery. It's beautiful.

[Nikko] I might be splitting dog hairs here,

but when you compare the gray in the bottom

to the white background, the value is definitely off.

It just needs to be punched up one step.

I feel like you're being pretty doggone hard on this tattoo.

I see a wet, shiny nose. The eyes are great.

It feels like the dog.

It looks like a photocopy. I mean, your skills are crazy.

[Joel] Let's bring up the next tattoo.

That's mine.

[Nikko] I like the overall shape of the design and how it fits

with the diamond, but doing colored eyes

on black and gray tattoos, sometimes it becomes too bright.

The golden eyes would have been more balanced if they rendered a

larger dog tag in gold as well, so there would've been a balance

to connect the eyes to the dog tag.

But I really like the lighting of those heavy, really open,

negative areas at the top left. Catch that light.

It's a great dog portrait.

I'm pretty happy with it.

It did show a little more finesse and I like that.

[Joel] Let's look at the next tattoo.

That's me.

[DJ] My favorite part of this tattoo is the nose.

That thing looks heavy.

It looks like you can squeeze it.

The same depth that, that nose has,

I would like to see in the whole portrait.

Those flowers definitely aren't done.

They absolutely hit precision in the expression,

but everything looks almost like line work on skin.

The focus is on the dog.

That's why I didn't want to put so much detail on the flower.

But you have the best nose.

[Joel] Let's see the next one.

Hey, that's mine.

[Ryan] You can imagine feeling with your fingers,

the soft ripples of the head and the eyebrows.

It's so soft and delicate how it's put in there.

[Nikko] It shows a lot of precision.

It shows confidence in punching in those blacks.

I love to see people in the mouth just go for the black.

It really will read well when it heals.

It's like, an amazing attempt at a first portrait.

[Joel] Let's see the next tattoo.

Woof, woof, baby.

[DJ] I really like that rapt focus to where there's a lot

of detail up front in the nose and it gets a little blurrier

at the ears.

It very like, comes out at you kind of 3D.

The tattoo is so big that it wraps around the arm,

but it doesn't skew the perspective of the dog.

It exaggerates the angle that the photo really had.

You definitely proved to us that you can do larger tattoos.

I just really wanted to fit the body.

[Joel] Let's see the next tattoo.

That is mine.

I am excited to see a first color portrait.

It's really well packed and solid,

but the bubble kind of gets a little confusing.

If you look at the reference where the eye is,

the pink highlight, it almost covers that tear duct area,

but when you go to the tattoo, the tear duct area kind of

overpowers that highlight, and so it creates the illusion

that the eye is closer than the bubble.

They did get the shape of the dog right,

but they missed the color of the dog which is like

this dark chocolate.

And the portrait looks like a black dog.

I hate to burst the bubble, but I'd like to on this one.

I took liberty on lightening it up,

but yeah, I should've kept more brown in that.

That was a little bit rough compared to your last critiques.

It was. It was hard, okay?

We hide our pain till now.

[Joel] Let's see the next tattoo.

That's me.

[Nikko] Wow, that's a great portrait.

It is really striking.

This artist really captured the natural of this dog's fur.

It feels fluffy. It feels alive.

It has a lot of character. It's very strong.

From the wispy ears to the speckled texture

right on the front of the muzzle,

there's so many subtle details that make this not only precise,

but truly expert level.

If I could howl right now, I would.

[Joel] Well, I'm shaking my tail.

Killed it.

Honestly, after the first challenge here when I thought

I was going home, I never thought I'd get a chance

to show off my portrait skills.

It feels kind of good and validating.

-[James] Good job. -[Trevor] Yeah, that is awesome.

It's amazing.

That's it. Nine tattoos.

It's time to rank these portraits.

My stomach just turned.

It's getting to the point where we're gonna start to see

-good tattoos go home. -The tides have turned.

The tides have turned.

[music]

[music]

Today you were being tested on precision.

Based on your work, each of your tattoos

have been ranked by the judges.

The artist with the highest ranked tattoo will be safe

from elimination.

Please reveal the highest ranked tattoo.

[music]

Makes sense.

Cat, congratulations.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much.

Sorry, I can't talk right now, but I'm so grateful.

This blew us away.

I literally had chills.

This tattoo, it was close to perfect, Cat.

Thank you, guys.

[Joel] Congratulations, Cat. You are safe from elimination.

The rest of you are not.

It's time to reveal the two lowest ranked tattoos.

Please reveal the lowest ranked tattoo.

[music]

Whoa.

Lucy, you have the lowest ranked tattoo.

Lucy, there's tons of precision in this tattoo.

It just didn't have that contrast

and that oomph that it needed.

I could've add more background, but I didn't want to make

the dog too dark.

It's just splitting hairs at this point.

You guys are all great.

Have a seat please.

[music]

Please reveal the second lowest ranked tattoo.

[music]

No. [gasps]

Holy shit.

What?

I'm surprised.

I mean, this is my second dog portrait in my whole career

in 26 years. That's not bad.

I think it was the bubble that kind of threw me off.

I thought it was a fun one.

I'm just shocked that you have an Achilles heel.

Same.

[music]

Lucy and James,

you had the two lowest ranked tattoos.

What you don't know is this is a double elimination.

Oh.

[music]

However, both of you will have a chance to redeem yourself.

You are moving directly into a face-off.

But not against each other.

You must each challenge another artist in the competition

to face-off in a direct head-to-head battle

tattooing the same style and subject.

[music]

I thought I was safe.

Fuck.

In this competition, if you don't win,

you are never really safe.

Yeah...

You can choose anyone you want, except Cat

who had the highest ranked tattoo.

She is safe from elimination.

I'm feeling the relief of the thing now.

The two artists who lose each head-to-head face-off

will be eliminated.

Before you make your decision,

there is one more thing you should know.

Of course.

[Joel] The artist you challenge will have the power to decide

the style and subject that you both must tattoo

for your head-to-head face-off.

Chaos.

Lucy, who do you challenge to a head-to-head face-off?

[music]

Joseph.

Bring on the challenge.

Joseph, what style and subject do you choose?

Black and gray, realistic panda with graffiti.

I love panda. I mean, I am Chinese.

They're very hard to tattoo.

The first face-off is set.

James, who do you challenge to a head-to-head face-off?

[music]

Let's do this, Trevor.

[music]

-Here I am again. -And again.

Trevor, what style and subject do you pick for this face-off?

Black and gray, realistic skull and rose.

I know James is an amazing illustrator.

I obviously do my own thing with the neo stuff.

I feel like this kind of levels the playing field

a little bit more.

I'm fucking stoked.

I'll do this right now if you want.

The head-to-head face-offs are set.

This shit's wild.

Tomorrow you will have six hours to tattoo.

There is no room for error. Lose your head-to-head face-off,

and you will be packing your machines.

[music]

It's all good.

[music]

I would really like to see us make it to the end together.

And I think we can help each other.

Yeah. I mean, I'm absolutely down.

James and Anthony are strong competitors.

I just want to see them taken out.

That would make it easier.

The further we get along, the fewer we are,

the bigger threat they become.

Maybe this is our perfect opportunity

to accidentally sabotage.

-Damn, you're an assassin. -Yeah.

-We will be together. -Yeah, I'm down.

[music]

[music]

-I'm your human canvas. -Oh, hey.

I would shake your hand, but...

We're doing this today.

It's a realistic panda, a little bit of graffiti on top of it.

I'm not doing a small tattoo. I'm doing a big one.

Yeah? Okay.

-Can you handle that? -Yeah.

The entire competition, I've been intimidated by

the potential of going head-to-head

with fucking James Tex.

And now he calls me out, out of everybody.

And here we are.

The challenge is a skull and rose.

We're doing a wolf skull. I'm stoked on it.

It's gonna be really fun, dude.

This is it or I go home.

This is a new school challenge, right?

Illustrative.

You should actually use some color in it maybe.

I know you don't like doing the black and grays that often.

Well, you know, you can get away with a lot in this competition.

As you know, you can put left hands on people.

I do know that, buddy. I do know that.

James and Trevor, Lucy and Joseph,

you must face-off in a head-to-head battle

to save yourself from elimination.

You have six hours.

And your time starts now.

Stand up for me, please.

Lucy and Joseph are tattooing black and gray realistic pandas

with a graffiti element.

Who doesn't like red pandas?

A panda has a lot of textures. you have to make that thing

look fuzzy and fluffy like you just wanna pet it.

-Is that not perfect or what? -You nailed it.

You've got six hours of black and gray.

Your shorts are gone, okay?

James and Trevor are facing off with the realistic

black and gray skull and rose.

That looks fuckin' sick.

Black and gray realism is an illusion.

Creating the idea you're looking at something three dimensional

when it's extremely flat on the body.

What do you say Jimbo?

Jimbo says it's good to go.

These artists have one more shot.

If they miss the mark on precision,

this is gonna be the last tattoo they do

in this competition.

Here we go.

[music]

If I can send home James Tex, I'm gonna feel like a

fuckin' superhero.

What made you call this style?

Let's be honest.

We both know James is one of the best illustrators in the room.

I thought black and gray was one of the only ways

to level the playing field a little bit.

Seeing him trip up in this dog portrait challenge,

James does have some sort of kryptonite.

And know that he really likes doing color, like, fuck it.

Let's do black and gray, dude.

It's crazy, you didn't do a human skull.

Yeah, I knew that, that's what he thought, too.

-And I just said skull. -He just said skull.

He didn't say what kind.

[Trevor] I think it's smart to do something a little

bit different, so like, I thought, immediately like,

OG leader of the pack, let's do a wolf skull.

-It's a gamer move. -It is.

Now is the time to try and do the best thing possible

to fuckin' take out James Tex.

-What's up, James? -My blood pressure.

-Done a few skulls before? -Not too many.

[James] Trevor had the option to do something that

he's good at and he chickened out and did something that

he thought I couldn't handle.

It's definitely a big one.

Sometimes you have to point and shoot, bang, bang.

[James] I came into this competition wanting to prove

that I could be an Ink Master. So it means I have to crush him.

You have three hours.

[music]

I'm not at the bottom this week and here I am

tattooing again for my life.

I don't deserve to be down here.

This is your... Your tattoo style?

Yeah. Honestly, I just have fun with it, you know?

I really wanna nail these fur textures and out tattoo Lucy.

That's cool.

I love red panda.

Joseph make a big mistake and call graffiti style.

I was a rebel kid.

When I was teenage, I draw my whole building,

graffiti everywhere.

[Anthony] What does that say below it?

This is the first time I'm at the bottom.

I've got one more chance. I've gotta make it work.

There are two hours left.

Coming together.

[Anthony] He has a lot more midtones to exaggerate

those big, bold values.

James's design is fuckin' powerful, but he needs

to put in those blacks just to help his tattoo be more powerful

and show that James Tex isn't someone

just to fuck around with.

Make sure that this little crease right here is

the darker gray wash.

Trevor is stepping up and so far his rose is looking phenomenal

compared to James.

Hey Cat, can I talk to you for a minute?

Yeah, of course.

I know that I'm not on the Young Guns' team,

but obviously, I want to see James go home.

Make sure that you're giving Trevor the best advice possible.

I'm worried he's gonna start rushing towards the end.

I just want that softness in the skull.

And it's very weird for me to say that to him.

Even Steph's coming up, like, "Can we take out James?"

This is our chance to send him home.

Leave extra open skin on what on your reference

because you can always blend out or add a little bit of that

light shading at the very end.

[Trevor] For sure, for sure.

I'm trying not to like over render it.

There is one hour left.

[music]

Just the right amount of texture in the face.

you didn't overdo it.

Are you sure?

[music]

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

No more ink.

Yay.

Very stoked on it, dude. Either this is good enough

to send James home or I'm going home.

Jesus.

[James] Skully wully.

That looks awesome, man. I love it.

That's outstanding.

I've got a red beard, a red t-shirt,

now, I've got a red panda.

Yay. Perfect.

I feel shitty that I gotta send you home, James.

We both did sick tattoos.

I mean, it's apples and oranges, a little bit.

You know what I mean?

I like oranges better.

It's gonna be a hard critique.

[music]

[music]

I think this is gonna be very close.

Closer than comfortable,

but I think Trevor really does have a chance to take James out.

Like, they're neck and neck.

It will be a tough elimination because we can't necessarily

have Trevor's back.

Otherwise, we're gonna expose ourselves.

We have to make sure that we're playing it strategically

and we don't really speak up for James.

Yeah, we gotta stay quiet on this one.

Maybe this will take him down.

We'll see.

[music]

[music]

Today you had to face-off

tattooing in a head-to-head battle against another artist.

Based on your work, two of you will be packing your machines.

This is a double elimination.

First up, the face-off between Lucy and Joseph.

Joseph, you called black and gray realistic panda

with graffiti.

Let's start with you.

I do like that you called the mashup combination

of tattoo styles.

I do like the spray can paint drips on the bottom.

I wish you would've let it kind of be softer and not lined it.

I really like how you have the drop shadow underneath

that graffiti word because it encapsulates the big, negative

space of the panda and allows it to read really light

and really bright white.

A lot of areas of the white fur do read as soft and fluffy,

and beautiful.

But that eye should've been bright green.

That should've been the connection

between the graffiti and the panda.

[music]

Lucy.

[DJ] A lot of your texture in the fur of the red panda

looks fluffy. It looks soft.

I like the nose, how dark and round it looks

with just that little shine on the top.

I love the way the little claws are

because it's so soft around it and then you have these like,

nice little claws that are really sharp.

And you put red panda under it in Chinese in red.

You brought the two tattoos together.

This tattoo is a banger. It's badass.

Judges, it's time to make a decision.

Lucy's looks like a very drastic mix of styles, and it pops.

Joseph's, it's muted. It doesn't grab me like Lucy's.

Lucy's panda is interacting with the graffiti.

Joseph's is two separate tattoos that don't interact

and that's why my vote is for Joseph to go home.

My vote is for Joseph to go home.

Lucy just came out swinging today.

Yeah, she killed it. It's awesome.

My vote is for Joseph.

The judges have decided.

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

Lucy fuckin' killed it. I would wear that red panda.

What I admire about you is that you're five years in

and you're still always willing to learn,

and know that you can go that much further.

Keep going, bro.

Maybe I'll come back when I'm an OG.

Who knows?

Please pack your machines and close shop.

I'm sorry. Give me a hug.

Being here tattooing with all these OGs,

I've learned so much.

And I know I'm gonna be a different artist

when I go back home. I hope I made my mom proud.

My mom sacrificed a lot to teach me how to keep moving forward.

Being in this competition was really to show her that

everything is all worth it.

I did it for you, Mommy.

[music]

Next up, the face-off between James and Trevor.

Trevor, you called black and gray, realistic skull and rose.

You're up first.

This rose is stunning.

[Nikko] The grays are very delicate, but very heavy.

I love how dark their bottom petals are rendered,

but you can still see the shadow

and where the separation of light is.

But the top of that nasal cavity is over textured, kind of

just throwaway gray texture to create texture where

it really doesn't belong.

When you add too much, it takes away

from the realistic aspect of it.

James, you're up next.

[Nikko] This skull is awesome. It's really readable.

I really love the confidence you had in just putting solid black

in a lot of areas where you really didn't need any details.

I like the direction of the lighting.

You have drastic lighting at the top,

and then these nice shadows on the right side of the skull.

I wish you would have repeated that lighting on the rose bud.

The center of the rose flattens out.

The shadows aren't there.

[music]

This is gonna be a tough decision.

Trevor, that's one of the best roses I've seen.

I really love that rose.

Not to say that James's rose isn't successful, though,

because when I look at it, I really like it.

It's successful, but I don't think it's as

successful next to Trevor's.

When it comes to the skulls, James pulled off a skull

that's readable.

The challenge was realism. James's tattoo is awesome,

but it's still more illustrative.

Mine has a lot more realistic qualities to it.

The rose is good, really good, actually,

but your skull looks pretty flat.

I gotta say, James crushed that shit.

James's tattoo reads as a whole piece

a lot better than Trevor's does.

When I look at Trevor's tattoo, I see 40% successful in realism

with a rose.

When I look at James's tattoo,

I see 60% success in the skull.

My vote is for Trevor to go home.

Trevor's rose is like, expert level.

That's really good black and gray realism

tattooing right there.

So my vote is for James to go home.

That's one vote for Trevor and one vote for James.

I love that rose. I love that skull.

My vote is for Trevor to go home.

So that's two votes for Trevor, one vote for James.

The problems in James's were to add a few things.

A lot of the problems in Trevor's

were to take away things, which is very hard to do.

My vote is for Trevor to go home.

The judges have decided.

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

I mean, I'm proud of everything I did here.

It's definitely way tougher than you think.

I've seen some amazing tattoos from you.

And to be honest with you, bro, you went out on a badass tattoo.

Thanks, bro. That means a lot.

Please pack your machines and close shop.

[Trevor] If I'm gonna get sent home by anybody in

this competition, that's the guy I want to be sent home by.

He's a legend.

Going face-to-face with him and almost sending him home,

that feels pretty good.

It's pretty crazy to know that, you know, my art does stack up

against the best in the world.

I'm proud of myself just for that.

[Narrator] On the next episode of Ink Master...

Where's all the Young Guns?

There's only two of you guys now.

That's all you need.

They're trying to look out for you, Pony.

These girls are playing the game.

Well, here's my worst nightmare come true.

She's dead to me.

I fucking knew it.

I didn't speak against your tattoo.

I think most people are ready to throw me under the bus.

I don't think my team had my back.

Fuck. That puts the crosshair right on me.

[music]

[music]