All language subtitles for Ink.Master.S17E04.Bottled.Up.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR

♪ MTV ♪

Previously on
Ink Master: Hometown Heroes .

It's time to blow some shit up.

The first
flash challenge

had the artists
battling for control.

Guys, I really think
we got this one.

So we're going up against

a burger and an elephant?
A burger and an elephant?

Hey, shut the hell up!

The winner of the flash
challenge is Isnard's team.

Yes! I think some people

are getting
a bit nervous over there.

Bring it.

In the
elimination tattoo...

The one person we can agree on

to take down
a peg would be Alli.

...glitter tattoos
on the stomach

had the artists
struggling to shine.

I'd like to do the whole thing
sparkle, but we'll see.

- The whole horse glitter?
- I haven't decided yet.

The goal is to win it,

but it definitely challenges me
as an artist.

Yeah, I think Ish thought
he was fucking me.

- A lot to pull off, huh?
- I just need more time.

Don't count yourself out yet, man.

In the
elimination...

Kyra killed it with this
tattoo. Stepped her game up.

The best tattoo of the day
goes to Kyra.

... Mike, Emily, and
Alli were in the bottom.

Mike's anatomy on that horse
is killing me.

Drawing a wing,
that's got to be in the bag.

I mean, you've got
to be able to draw a snake, too.

Ten snakes on Alli's tattoo.
Not a single one is correct.

With Emily's,
I don't see much contrast,

and I don't see the glitter.

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

I get to go back to
my babies.

11 artists remain,

but only one
will earn a $250,000 prize...

That's a lot of money, man.

...and the title
of Ink Master.

There's the winner!

Wild.

The anticipation is
killing me. Who's next?

Yes!

- Back from the dead.
- Definitely dead.

Good job.

Look at the smile on him.
Look at that. He's happy again.

- What happened?
- Yeah, yeah. Tell us.

It sucks.
There's a lot of emotion.

It's hard to watch
your friends be hurt, you know?

Especially when you feel like

you should have been
the one to go home.

It's only starting.
Every time someone leaves,

the stakes keep getting
higher and higher.

- We start fresh tomorrow.
- Yeah.

I can't imagine anything worse
than a glitter tattoo,

so I don't even know
what we're going to do next.

Don't jinx us!

What's happening here?

We about to cook?

Welcome.

This competition started
with 15 artists,

and 11 artists remain.

Each artist that
goes home empty-handed

puts you one step closer
to the title of Ink Master.

Oh yeah, baby.

But in the end, only one of you
will go home with $250,000.

Thank God, 'cause I don't want
to split it with no one.

This week,
we're testing artistry.

Yes. That's my thing.

True artistry
is the ability to bring life

to something that is lifeless.

For this flash challenge,

you must create an impressive
3D sculpture out of...

- Aluminum.
- What?

Welcome to the kitchen.

I think you can make
tinfoil hats with aluminum.

I think you can
have a mean barbecue.

For this flash challenge,
you must work in two teams.

One team of five artists
and one team of six artists.

Oof.

Better to be on
the smaller team, right?

Alli and Mike, both of you
avoided elimination last week.

You will now get the power
to pick your teams.

Being on the bottom is more of
an advantage than winning.

But there's one
more thing you should know.

Of course. Always.

You can pick any artist
you want, except for Kyra.

- I wasn't going to anyway.
- All right.

Because Kyra won
tattoo of the day

in the last elimination tattoo,

once all the other artists have
been selected to be on teams,

Kyra will then get to choose
which team she wants to be on.

I already know which one
it will be, though.

Alli and Mike,
please step over here.

The picking order
has been randomly assigned.

Mike, who is the first artist
you want on your team?

First artist
I'm going to pick is Matt.

Hey.

Fucking shocker.
Mike and Matt sitting in a tree.

- K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
- Alli, you're next.

- Isnard.
- Mike.

Teneile.

Alli.

- I'm going to go with Keahi.
- Cool.

Mike, who's
the third artist you want?

- Luka.
- Thank you.

- Alli, your pick.
- Boushee.

Winner, baby. My boy. My boy.

All right, Mike, last pick.

OJ.

All right, Seth, that means
you're with Team Alli.

- Cool.
- Welcome back.

Kyra, you won
tattoo of the day last week.

Which team do you want to be on?

I want to be on the team
that has good vibes.

I'd like to be on Team Alli.

- Dude, that is so perfect.
- The teams are set.

The winners
of this flash challenge

will have the power to assign
the human canvases

in the elimination tattoo
together.

Nice. Yep.

You're going to enjoy
your first skull pick, boy.

You have five hours,
and your time starts... now!

Let's go.

All right,
sketchbooks and ideas.

Pull everything.

- Ah, books.
- OK, cool.

I want these artists to cook up

some amazing art
in this challenge.

- You got to calm down this time.
- I know.

Use this medium in different
ways, different textures.

I don't want to just see flat,
crinkled up, aluminum foil.

Save that shit for my leftovers.

I've got a reaper coming out,
like it's coming out from hell,

and I want it to be
pointing one finger

with a drape of the thing,
like at the competition,

- like they're dead.
- It's like a skeleton.

Fucking cool, but we could be
overshooting this.

- I thought about a scorpion--
- Ooh!

with the ball hanging,
and then a spiky Mohawk.

We could use the pans to make
the majority of the structure,

and then we just
build the foil over it.

I'm ready to show my artistry
by creating a ball and chain

that's gonna knock my
competitors right the fuck out.

The only concern is
the weight of the tail.

I don't know how
you want to put it up.

I think that
we really could

keep it pretty
light on the tail,

especially because
it gets smaller.

This your team.

Well, I mean, I lost. So that's
the only reason this is my team.

The one thing I will say,
the weight needs to bear

right here at
the base of the tail.

We could make
the whole base out of the spine.

Yeah, yeah.

And then if it's weak, we'll put
structure down the side of it

- and hide it with the cape.
- It's going to be confusing

with the drapery
on top and everything.

But then we can focus on folds,
you know, nice folds.

Matt has a vision.
I'm not too, too sure about it.

They need to be gritty.

It doesn't have to be, like,
a full cape.

OK. OK. I'm not sure I see it,
but let's do it.

It's part of my process
to let go,

so I'm stepping out
of my comfort zone

and try to make things happen.

Artists, you've got three hours!

We need to have a
support here. We can put some--

Weight inside?

Weight inside, on the back,
because then we tilt it forward.

As soon as that tail goes back,

we've got to put
that weight forward.

Whoa, good save.

This looks like a food stall.
What are you making?

None of
your damn business.

Scorpion. I knew it.

Let me guess.
Matt's come back and be like,

"What is that?
A fucking lobster?"

- Yeah.
- You've got two hours.

I'm glad you came up
with this idea.

Yeah. This group is
really easy to work with.

I did not want to be
on a team with Matt.

I'm glad I chose. I was like,
wherever Matt is, I'm not going.

Yeah.
There's no collaboration.

And he's also not
as good as he thinks he is.

Yeah.

Yeah, like, looking up more.
Yeah. Like that.

And then I want to see this
cross over

and point, like, a weird...
you know, like it's creepy.

You've got 30 minutes.

I'll hold the ball.
It's OK.

OK. You're going to
hold the ball, I'll hot glue.

This is so scary looking.

All right.
You ready? You ready?

We're coming backwards now.

It's leaning back.
The whole thing's leaning back.

Yeah,
leaning our way? Yeah, yeah...

If the base
is laying on the ground,

the only thing that's
getting hit with that thing

is us with the skull picks.

Tell me when
I can actually let the ball go.

- Slowly let it go.
- Hold it, hold it.

Yeah?

All right, let it go.
See what happens.

- Oh, hell yeah.
- Right. Let's go.

We've got to hide
some of this structure.

Like, no, no. Because of this.

You can have that bone
hanging out, but hide the face.

Five, four,
three, two, one.

That's it. Time's up.

Dude,
we have a wrecking ball here.

- You guys are beasts. Jesus.
- I told you.

I think y'all covered
y'all mistakes up

with a big-ass sheet of foil.

What do you want to do?

Look at a big scorpion butt
with its tail in the air?

You were supposed to make
something out of the foil.

Wait. I wouldn't say so much
because when we get skull picks,

both of you are done.

It's time
to critique your work.

Team Mike.

I'm just so impressed
at the scale you guys got.

It's coming out the ground.
It looks crazy.

The skull is incredible,
the action is incredible.

This thing has movement.
That cape is flowing.

I mean,
you even got this cool design

on the outer ribbon
of the cloak.

I mean,
all those little details,

the heart floating in there.

I'm amazed this thing
is even standing.

- It's really badass.
- Thank you very much.

Just another skull.

It's just so easy
to lay flat pieces.

Team Alli.

This scorpion is fucking sick.

I love the action.
I love the tail bending over.

I love the claws.

The way you used
the aluminum foil to create

this hair-like texture on the
bottom joints, it's awesome.

I love that you guys put
all these points

and these sharp edges,
then you have this mace hangin.

- It looks powerful.
- You guys killed it.

Good job.

- We got this. We're good.
- I think we got this one.

Judges, it's time
to determine the winner

of the flash challenge.

It's a hard decision,

because you have this
amazing Grim Reaper,

and you have this
really cool scorpion.

They show artistry
in different ways.

That's the thing to me.

It's two different
types of artistry.

Mike's team is
classic, beautiful imagery

that's shown
with so much movement.

And then when it comes
to Alli's team,

they showed beautiful, intricate
details, 360 from every angle.

We leveled up today.

I mean, we tried
to show our artistry

by putting two things together
that are not together.

The scorpion with a flail.

Oh, scorpions are so original.

We have eight legs up, dude.
Eight legs.

Do you have any fingers
and bones we got?

We can't see
all the bones you had

because there's
tin foil covering them, so.

Judges, it's time to vote.

Both teams killed it.

My vote's for Team Mike.

It took a lot of artistry

to create that
flow and that movement.

Yes. Thank you.

You guys both created
some amazing art.

My vote is for Team Mike.

Yes. Thank you.

I'm going for Team Alli.

It's imaginative.
It's awesome, guys.

That's two votes for Team Mike,
and one vote for Team Alli.

My vote...

- ...is Team Mike.
- Yes!

When I look at it,
I don't think tin foil.

The winner of the
Flash Challenge is Team Mike.

Congratulations.

You will have the power
to assign all the human canvases

in the
elimination tattoo together.

Awesome.

Head back to the shop
and get ready

for the next elimination tattoo.

Two for two
on flash challenges, sir.

That was so fun
to be a part of, dude.

I was genuinely shocked
that we didn't get that one.

I'm just super stoked

that I didn't end up
on a team with Matt.

Bro, I would literally rather
fucking chew on gravel.

- Oh, yeah.
- There's a difference

between taking charge
and being overbearing.

He won't let you have any
creative input whatsoever.

I would be very, very surprised
if they don't shoot for me.

If you're scared of someone

that's been tattooing for three
years, go fucking ahead.

I hope I'm targeted.
Honestly, put me in a corner,

I'll fucking fight
my way out again and again.

And Matt's gonna be annoying
with his mouth,

I'll be annoying with my art.

His mouth speaks louder
than his tattoos do,

and I'm gonna do the opposite.

- Welcome.
- Yeah!

In this competition, you're
not just fighting for yourself,

you're fighting
for your hometown.

I don't want
to find a new place to live.

Today, your artistry
will be transparent.

- What the fuck does that mean?
- Because you must create...

- ...bottle tattoos.
- Ooh. That's dope.

Not only do you have to follow
the curve of the bottle,

but you must also follow
the curve of the body.

Because all of the
human canvases this week

want their tattoos...

- ...on the calf.
- Fuck. This shit hurts.

It's just an epicenter
for nerves.

You're more likely to have
muscle spasms. It's rough, man.

But there is one
more thing you should know.

Of course.

To be an Ink Master, you must
be able to tattoo anything,

anywhere, on anyone,
regardless of skin tone.

I hear something.

This week, all of
the human canvases...

- ...are people of color.
- There it is.

- Cool.
- This shit real as hell, now.

Hell yeah,
that's what I'm talking about.

Gonna send my people
through the door.

Use your artistry today to show

how absolutely dynamic tattoos
can be on every color of skin.

The biggest thing is contrast.

Keep it clean, crispy,
and heavily contrasted.

Make sure you think about
the transparency of a bottle

and how the highlight is
on the glass,

and everything's inside.
Transparency's hard.

Oh, man.

Remember, the artist
that wins tattoo of the day

will join
the judges' deliberation

and have the power
to help decide

which three artists
to put up for elimination.

- Kyra, you wanna do that again?
- I'll do it again.

Let's meet your canvases.

Team Mike, you won
the flash challenge.

You have the power
to assign the canvases together.

The strategy
going into the skull pick

is to not choose
the wrong canvas again,

because last week, I ended up
shooting myself in the foot.

What are you looking
to get tattooed?

Black and gray realistic compass

in front of
an hourglass-shaped bottle.

Hell no.

A new school-style elixir.

Inside, a whale shark
swimming in space.

Color realistic
monarch butterfly

- inside a crystal decanter.
- Fuck.

Illustrative brain bottle with
a Fijian nightscape landscape.

Surrealistic all-seeing eye
beaming rainbow light

into a potion bottle with
a hummingbird drinking from it.

Illustration of myself
with the color chakras

inside a glass bottle
with a dragon head lid.

Goddamn.

Fuck yeah, that's
the worst one of the day.

That's going to Seth.

A new school devil
trapped inside a liquor bottle.

That's kinda cool.

A black and gray realistic
bottle

with an underwater scene inside,

including a ship
and some kind of sea creature.

That's wild.

A new school light bulb
with a fairy trapped inside it,

glowing and covered in sparkles.

Nice.

A black and gray realistic
apothecary bottle

with a high priestess
holding a crystal ball inside.

A color realistic bottle with
the continent of Africa in it,

with a tree sprouting out,

forming the
continents of the world.

Can't fuck with it.

You can't put all that
inside of a bottle.

Your bottle
gonna have to be a back piece.

It's never
just the bottle, is it?

These bottle tattoo asks are
so crazy. I cannot mess up.

I have to choose
the right canvas on this.

You want the new school?

Fuck, I'm gonna take a risk
again. The guy with surrealism.

You figure yours out first,
stop talking about it.

Underwater ship in the bottle.
I can do that.

Or the first guy, hourglass.

I might wanna go with him.
I just don't know.

Pick which one.
Say one and I'll do the other.

I don't know.

Man, Mike needs to just
make up his own mind

so the rest of us can just pick
and go on with our lives.

I wonder who that's for.

Oh shit, that's gonna be

throwing someone under
right there.

I like no one
to know the strategy,

so I love doing
a little bit of a top,

little bit of a bottom,
and letting them all think

"What the fuck is happening?"

I think that's
the funnest part for me.

Canvases, one by one,

please read the artist's name
on the bottom of your skull.

- Mike.
- Good choice.

- Keahi
- Here.

- Isnard.
- That's me.

- Kyra.
- Hi.

Brain.

It's probably better
than what I picked for myself.

Matt.

- Seth.
- Got you.

You got
the laundry basket.

Coming for you.

It's pretty obvious
that Matt's been gunning at me

from the very fucking beginning.
Which is not smart.

- Luka.
- Hey.

Alli.

Thanks a lot, Mike.

- Boushee.
- Hey, that's me right here.

You're welcome.

- OJ.
- Let's do it.

- Teneile.
- That's me.

Yay!

You will have six hours
to tattoo a bottle on the calf.

- Whew!
- Good luck.

So good to meet you, bro.

I'll take you over here.

Head on over
to my station, all right?

Bro, I was so glad
that I got you.

Yeah.

One, you just seem, like,
cool as hell.

Two, you're a big dude.
You got a big area to work with,

so we can really get
the details in there.

And three,
you got hella tattoos,

so I know that you can sit
for me.

- Tell me your idea again.
- So the idea is a bottle,

with the continent of Africa
in the middle.

OK.

A tree coming out,
and the tree ends up

with the leaves forming
the continents of the world.

My parents left Africa
and they gave me the world,

so that's why I want
the representation of Africa.

Would you be OK with
kind of leaving that part out?

It might become hard to read.

Is there any way to get
the shape of Africa in there?

Let's really try to simplify
this thing as much as we can.

I'm really sorry. I don't
want to leave this competition,

and if we are stuck on having
the shape of Africa in there,

like, I'm gonna go home.

I was thinking
the eye outside of the bottle.

Light's reflecting into the
bottle, and it's reflecting out.

Oh, that would
be so complicated.

It'd look real messy.
I think something sounds good,

sometimes doesn't
translate good,

and I'm a sucker
for giving you what you want.

Well, I went through
trauma, years and years ago,

and then the higher power's
what cleansed that away from me.

The best way to sell

a tattoo design
is actually hearing their stor.

People don't just go "I want
six elements" for no reason.

Does it have to come
in or can the light go out?

- It can go out.
- Doesn't change the story?

- I'm just trying to...
- Yeah, I get what you're saying.

It doesn't have to be exactly
what they think they want.

You want to give them what they
wish they've thought they want.

That's the win.

How's it going?

Dude, my canvas
is not fucking budging.

I don't know
what the fuck to do.

You're
full of imagination.

OK,
so here's what I've got.

I'm not sure.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure.

- About this design?
- Yeah.

The whole thing with this tattoo
is my parents' journey.

I understand.

Giving us
this life in Africa, right?

OK, but here's
my journey going home.

I can't put that on me.
I just can't.

I can't put that on me.
I just can't.

Like, it's just not...

OK. But you gotta
tell me what you want.

Because I've been telling you,
though, and I'm not getting it.

So you're not gonna
give me a chance?

- No. I'm not gonna get tattooed.
- OK.

Bro, for real? Oh my god.

- No.
- He's leaving.

- Alli's canvas just walked out.
- Fuck off.

You might need to go give her a
hug or something.

I'm about to panic, you know?

So what are you
supposed to do now? Like...

Tattoo myself, I guess.

OK. She's gonna tattoo herself.

It's OK. It's OK.

You just need to detach yourself
from what just happened, OK?

Reset. Do something really cool.

- Just do it.
- Just do it.

All right, man.
We're almost ready.

I'm gonna show
them boys something.

Artists,
it's time to battle it out

with bottle tattoos on the calf.

You have six hours,
and your time starts now!

And then we're off.

Creating a bottle is one thing,
but showing artistry,

you have to stick something
inside these bottles.

These bottles have to look 3D.

That's cool.

A good tattoo artist

needs to know how
to tattoo every type of skin.

Fucking perfect.

And if these artists don't have

both the
knowledge and the confidence...

Oh my god, I'm excited!

...then the message in my bottle
is gonna be, go head home.

- All right, ready?
- I'm ready.

Let's get you that
tattoo of the week.

The way I look at it is,
it's almost weird for me

to come here and have white skin
for my canvases,

'cause I'm not used to
that back home.

Yeah, exactly.

Back home in Hawaii,
we definitely work

with melanated skin
pretty frequently.

More melanated skin can be on
the warmer side of things.

And so you want to make sure

that the hues of
your ink matches the skin,

or else it can come off
a little bit more muddy.

When the skin layer
grows over the tattoo,

it'll always look darker,
you know?

Just 'cause it's more opaque
than translucent.

That makes
a lot of sense, yeah.

You've got this.
And we're gonna get

- back-to-back tattoo of the day.
- Oh my god, the pressure is on.

That artist over there,
she's tattooing herself.

Fuck this. You want to
place this stencil for me?

I'm gonna show all
the other artists in here

that I'm not going down
without a fucking fight.

At an angle,
right here like this?

- Yep.
- Three, two, one.

- All right. Go kill it.
- Hold that shit down.

I'm gonna have to make
this thing fucking perfect.

For me, what makes
a good tattoo is when

you don't get what you expected,
but it's better.

- Yeah, exactly.
- That's the perfect balance.

I'm so glad we come up
with something

that fucking works, you know?
And something different.

Everyone's focused
on the bottle,

but they've forgotten about
the message in the bottle.

If you don't fucking
know the story,

how the fuck are you gonna win?

You've got four hours!

- What?
- What is happening here?

You guys have missed
a few chapters.

- Oh, what?
- Explain this.

Long story short,
my canvas, he was like,

"You're not giving me
the design that I want."

Now I'm tattooing myself.

Weird position for the leg.

- Pretty crazy.
- Yeah.

This tattoo is fucking cool,
but today,

the challenge wasn't
making a cool tattoo.

There's rules in this
competition, unfortunately.

What it's lacking in melanin,

you gotta make up in
all these other things.

I really just have to
hope that this tattoo

is clean enough
that it makes up for it.

If you weren't a tattoo artist,
what would you be?

I wanted to go to
school for architecture,

but got kicked out of college
for tattooing in the dorms.

- Look at where we are.
- Right,? Look where we are now.

I'm definitely playing it safe,

because I know
I ran out of time last week.

I just want to do a clean tattoo

with high contrast
and simplicity.

This is definitely
an unexpected approach.

You had the little devil, huh?

Yeah,
I decided to go to a new school.

Really cool.

Dang, you're showing
your drawing skills.

Everyone says to her
that she can't have color.

So I told her,
"Let's go full color."

I want to prove

that anyone can get
a full color tattoo,

and it's gonna look good.

You've got two hours!

Usually
with darker complexion,

bold lines looks like the best,
so you can read it from afar.

The hardest part
about this tattoo

is to show the
perfect highlights that I need

to make this bottle
look like it's transparent.

So are you going to go in
with a tiny little liner

and render all the intricate
details of that ship inside?

- Everything.
- Sink or swim, guys.

I was so close
being in the bottom last week.

I cannot mess up
two weeks in a row.

I need to make New Jersey proud.

I need to step up
and get out of my head.

Every second matters.

Are you
feeling confident

the blue-gray
is going to set well?

Not make it look too muddy?

Yeah, of course. Depending on
how it goes into the skin,

I might add a touch more blue,

just to kind of give it
a little pop.

Things aren't necessarily going
the way that I thought

they were gonna go.

The new school aspect of it
is kind of messing with my hea,

and I think
I'm making decisions now

that I probably wouldn't have
if I was doing a style

that I was
more comfortable with.

There is one hour remaining!

OK, so we just got
our last little bit.

Yay!

Just a couple
more little star shines.

I can handle this.

I'm a turtle. Always,
like, to the last second.

Five, four, three, two, one.

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

Oh, shit.

- You survived!
- Woo!

You love it?

It's so good.
These other divas do not know.

If you hate it, my name is Matt.

Yeah.

I love it. Couldn't be happier.

I got ya.

God, it's so pretty 'cause,
you know, color, right?

- Color!
- Ah!

That is beautiful!

- I think Alli's going home.
- What she did is dope.

And she did what she had
to do to save herself,

but it's not melanated skin,
which was the challenge.

Today, you had to show artistry
with bottle tattoos on the calf.

Let's see how you did.
Alli, you're up.

Tell us what happened here

with your design
and with your canvas.

So, he had a lot of elements
that he wanted to include.

He wanted to represent the stoy

that his parents
emigrated from Africa.

He wanted
the continent in there.

He told me that I wasn't
giving him what he wanted,

I wasn't listening.

When you sit down and consult
and the first thing he says is,

"I want the shape of Africa,"

you gotta tune in
to people's feelings.

This doesn't scream
Africa to me.

I was begging him,
like literally pleading.

"Just like this is
your parents' journey here,

this is about to be
my fucking journey home."

It sounds a little like you're
coming from desperation there.

That could throw
him off real quick.

You're
putting this competition

and your goals
above someone else's.

And in the end,
this person has to wear that

for the rest of their life.

Let's take a look at
the tattoo you did turn in.

This is a badass tattoo.

The glossiness and the
glassiness is really amazing.

The leaf's really nice.

It has a nice highlight
and this glossy effect.

The amount of knowledge that you
have with reflective light,

color blends, saturation.
This tattoo fucking crushes.

What I see here

is a really great attempt
to keep yourself in the game.

I would hope to
have a chance to stay here.

Well, we'll have
to see how everyone else does.

Matt.

The bottle itself
is so creative,

having the flower
be the stopper.

I love the eye inside.
I love the glares on it.

You took
every piece of his story

that was most important to him

and you found this beautiful way
of blending it all.

And on a day that we're
testing you guys on artistry,

this is how you do it.

Luka.

I totally feel like the little
monster's inside that bottle.

This thing has dimension to it.

I love the way you have
the bottom half liquor,

and then you have that blue to.

You did a great job
on melanated skin.

Even as the little demon

is pushing his hands
up against the glass,

they actually are turning whit.

Those little things make
a tattoo really special.

Thank you very much.

Hi, Luka.

- Keahi.
- All right.

I do like the whale shark.
I like the shape of the bottle.

I like that it's
turned upside down.

But I don't really think you ht
the mark for melanated skin.

A lot of these light tones
for the tone of skin

that your canvas was
are just throwaway, man.

These light colors
are gonna get muddy,

they're gonna look different.

This is the best whale shark
in a bottle I've ever seen.

The bad news is
that this tattoo gets lost.

Kyra.

I love that you
mirrored the light source

and you had it echo at
the bottom of the bottle.

It really highlights
the brain itself really nicely.

It has a lot of good contrast.
You have these really open areas

of skin,
and really heavy areas of dark.

Where that black
meets the brain,

that brain pops right off.
You're using your brain.

Seth.

I absolutely love the
faceted pieces of the glass,

but each one of those
pieces of glass

would have reflected
the light differently.

You lost the illusion
of what glass actually does.

I love the dragon's head.

I think you did a great job
on the melanated skin.

It's really contrasted.

OJ.

The teeny, tiny little ship
inside is pretty clean.

It kind of feels like
a window looking into a bottle.

I would've liked to see you
use your artistry

to create, like,
maybe a big highlight

to show that the ship
was inside the bottle.

Because of the way
that the octopus tentacle

is holding the bottle,
the bottle cuts off.

If you had just drawn
that out of the bottom,

brought the tentacle size
down a little bit,

you would have gotten
away with a lot more.

Teneile.

The fairy looks like
they got caught,

which I kind of like,

'cause I would do that
if I caught the tooth fairy,

- I would keep them in a bottle.
- I love the little tooth on top.

I love how intricate
the base is of the bottle.

My favorite part about this
entire tattoo

is the giant glare
on the bottle.

That's what makes the eye

instantly recognize it
as a bottle. Spot on.

- Mike.
- Let's do it.

Really nice tattoo,
put in the skin really nicely.

There's just a disconnect
from the hand to the hourglass.

Almost looks like
two separate tattoos.

It would have been cool with
your artistry to be able

to, like, bring some flow
or connection

between the hourglass and
the hand, to make it one piece.

It leaves
something to be desired

when you look at it
and kind of go,

"What's the meaning of this?
What's the story?"

- Boushee.
- Aight.

You executed the top of
that bottle perfectly.

That wood cork
that's in there, it looks heav,

but it flattens out
at the bottom.

Mostly because of
this liquid line,

you would still see some sort
of liquid behind her.

And it's a
funky-looking chest, dude.

I couldn't get them nipples
straight to save my life.

If you had gone higher
with the red liquid,

it would have hid, you would
have gotten away with it.

Isnard.

I love the monarch butterfly.

You know what I really like
is the interaction of shapes.

You have the cylinder top
into the square bottom,

and that's really hard to do

and pull off
and make it believable.

I like that this flower
is in the liquid

and it turns into a silhouette
under the liquid.

You had the knowledge of glass
to leave that negative space

to show that the bottom of it
is still transparent.

And that's a really cool trick
to pull out.

Thank you, guys.

Judges, it's time to determine

who had the
best tattoo of the day.

- Luka has a badass tattoo.
- No doubt.

I really love the little
devil and I think it's fun.

Matt too,
great composition.

This canvas gave him a million
different unrelated subjects.

He pulled
something together

that is actually cohesive.

It's where a lot
of other people struggled.

My vote 100% is for Matt.

On artistry day,
I'm gonna have to go with Matt.

My vote goes to Matt.

Pretty much
gives you a landslide.

The best tattoo of the day
goes to Matt.

Awesome. Thank you.

Matt, you will join
the judges' deliberation

to help decide
which three artists

- to put up for elimination.
- Perfect. Can't wait to do it.

Everyone else can
head back to the lounge,

and we'll call you back
when we've made a decision.

Have fun, big dog.

I got a decent critique,
but Matt, I don't trust.

He might try to convince them
to put me up.

Matt is hard to read,
so I'm like, mm,

"I don't know what
I think about you, bro."

He's threatened by other good
artists in this competition.

There's no way
he's gonna be fair.

So today we
were testing artistry.

Now we've got to decide which
three artists are in the bottom.

Matt, who do you think?

For me, Keahi was wrong with his
values and it got a bit messy.

Where's the black?
Especially if you had

the opportunity
to render a galaxy.

You get the golden ticket
to contrast.

- We all had problems with Mike.
- It's a good tattoo.

But I'm just saying, it doesn't
look like it tells any story.

Really a big disconnect
between the two elements.

There's no interaction
between them.

And then
the other technical thing,

he's done the sand
on the right angle,

but where it's falling,

I would have
had movement going down that.

I didn't even
pick that out.

But I like it better than OJ's.

If he had just continued
that bottle all the way down.

It's half the length
that it should be.

And it also
would have broke up

that corkscrew at the bottom.

This is lacking black,
it's lacking contrast.

- It's lost at sea.
- I agree.

One of my most hated was Seth's.

That thing
bugged the shit out of me.

You could have made
it less complicated,

you could have made
air breaking out the bottle.

You could have made
that bottle so cool.

Obviously up to you,
but that's just my last opinion.

Not a bottom three.

Are we gonna let
Alli off the hook?

She didn't
tattoo her canvas.

In my mind,
she goes straight to the bottom.

- Really?
- I disagree.

I think
this tattoo's badass.

To me, it is her fault.
Something went wrong.

But in my opinion, Alli's tattoo

was one of
the best tattoos done.

We've all had those days
where a client leaves.

That's just part of tattooing.
And so what do we do?

We just give up?
No, dude. She fought for it.

I'm not taking
her credit away at all.

No way.

Alli's lucky that
so many other people fucked up.

I'm willing to consider

a different person
in the bottom than Alli.

- You want me to go tell them?
- Jeez, bro.

I like that you're excited to,
but you, just calm down.

- I like to get my job done.
- Go get them.

No worries.
I'll get them for you.

Dude, at this point, if I go,
at least I go with a bang.

Look at this guy.

The judges have determined
that the three artists

up for elimination are...

Mike,

Keahi,

OJ.

- Goddamn, goddamn.
- What the fuck just happened?

Theo, that tattoo was too good.

- It's a roller coaster, man.
- Let's go, guys.

- Let's go.
- All right.

Yo, you are
the luckiest motherfucker alive.

Yeah.

Today, you were
being tested on artistry.

OJ, you're in the bottom because
your work lacked artistry.

The bottle should
have been bigger.

Tentacles should have been
an afterthought.

I was just like,
"I need to get this done."

You know, just overthinking.

It didn't hit the mark,
especially with the contrast

that's needed on darker skin.

I know where to put black
when it's needed. I know that.

I just have to do a better job
of time management.

Keahi, you're in
the bottom three

because your lack of readabiliy

and really
punching in those darks

to create a really
striking, bold tattoo.

You know, I just got so stuck
in what I had envisioned,

but I stand on my artistry.

I like the design.
It's just really hard to read.

And I really
wanted to push myself.

Taking that risk,

it might have just
fallen a little bit short.

Mike, you're in the bottom
three today because it was

just a disconnect
between two elements

that didn't necessarily
make sense together.

I just really wanted to
hit that simplicity

and get the cleanest possible
tattoo that I could.

We know you can put
in beautiful tattoos.

I just have a problem seeing
any artistry in this.

I know I can compose
pieces way better than that.

Despite its flaws, I still think
it's a great tattoo.

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

It's tough because
they all have strong points,

and they all have
different weaknesses.

Keahi's just lacks contrast.

But Keahi's is illustrative.
It's more off the head.

- OJ's has half a bottle.
- That's a big deal.

That's why it
doesn't read the story

all the way through,
it doesn't bring your eye down.

Mike's is lacking cohesion.

I wish there was
more interaction with it.

Why isn't it just floating
in the middle of the hand?

There's no artistic intention.
There's no creativity.

There's not even
any sort of effort

to make
that hourglass interesting.

I am fucking bored. I'm bored!

And so my vote
is for Mike to go home.

My vote is for Mike.

Clean tattoo, but can't get past
how bored this tattoo is.

My vote's gonna go to OJ,
for missing the bottle

and just the contrast
not being there.

That's one vote for OJ,
two votes for Mike.

I'm gonna have to go back
to what was asked

of the challenge,
which was artistry.

My vote is for Mike to go home.

The judges have decided.

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

You do beautiful tattoos.
You're an amazing technician.

But in this competition,

there's so many different
components that can trip you up.

This one just got you.

Please pack your machines
and close shop.

My downfall in this competition
was getting in my own head.

If I was
a little more calm,

I would have
put out better designs.

Being here in this competition

has inspired me
to bring out my artistry.

I'm going to start working on
my illustrative side a lot more.

I'm going to look
at art in a different way.

On the next episode
of Ink Master .

You must survive
a flash marathon!

- Oh my god!
- This is so sick!

Your boy got this.
Come over here. Come over here.

I specialize in everything, man.

Does anyone want
to get tattooed?

- Are you gonna sway me?
- Get a tiger!

I'm not into traditional.

Your style just got
fucking shot down!