Original subtitles

* MTV

Previously on Ink Master.

The battle is just beginning.

The first flash challenge

showed the teams' true colors.

I'll fuckin' figure it out, okay?

James definitely likes to have a leadership role.

You're no fuckin' genius, so don't be an asshole.

It's not gonna get you anywhere in this competition.

I never said I'm a genius.

We're a team, we're supposed to work together.

- Not be assholes to each other. - Exactly.

Jenna, you don't look happy.

I don't have time for this shit.

Doing something grand and having it really simple

doesn't beat something smaller.

The face of that dragon,

you have to be creative to pull that out of your head.

The winner of the flash challenge

is Team Young Guns.

Let's go.

In the elimination tattoo...

I would take a shot at one person.

Otherwise, you literally are going to make it look like

we are stupid and weak.

Lettering tattoos flipped the script

on the competition.

This is my worst nightmare.

I screwed myself big time.

I'm just so tired of going over the same spots.

It really hurts.

I wish I would've went a lot safer with that tattoo.

There's nobody at any of our shops telling you that

what you did was a piece of shit.

I'm ready to walk outta here, man.

In the elimination,

Jade, Alena, and Jorell were in the bottom three.

Pony, tell me why the jury

appears to put Jade in the bottom.

We just don't think she was super creative.

She whooped 50% of your team's ass in creativity.

You picked one that shouldn't be in the bottom.

But Jorell's, it looks like an ink pen

blew up in her pocket.

I actually like the lettering on his.

With Alena's, it's hard to read. I mean, it's definitely cruel.

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

Eleven artists remain,

but only one will earn a $250,000 prize

and the title of Ink Master.

That's fucking crazy, bro.

Man, Alena was the one on our team

that has the most years' experience.

It's definitely hit that she's gone.

It just very much inspires me, you know,

into work even harder to bring this team up

and be a team player.

We gotta tighten our shit up.

I feel like there was a learning lesson that we...

Now we kinda know how better to move forward as a team.

We just have to be a little bit more strategic,

that way we don't lose another person.

Any day, like, we could take one of them out, too, so...

That's for a fact.

Fuckin' bring it.

Ooh, what could this be?

So colorful.

Welcome.

We started with 16 artists, and 11 artists remain.

Six OGs...

- That's right, that's right. - Yeah.

And five Young Guns.

Boo.

Yeah, great, one is down. Let's keep goin'.

The more artists that are eliminated,

the tighter this competition gets.

Feelin' that.

In the end, only one of you will walk away with $250,000

and the title of Ink Master.

That's a lotta money.

That's what we came for, right?

For this flash challenge,

you will once again win or lose as a team.

We're a good team.

- We got this. - We already did this once, guys.

We did this once.

Last flash challenge, we barely won,

and we struggled a lot.

And this time, we're a person down.

So, just good vibes, good vibes, good vibes.

This week, we're testing ingenuity.

Alright.

Ingenuity.

Okay, okay.

Having ingenuity in art is being able to surprise people

and have an emotion

out of something that they normally wouldn't.

That's a strong suit of mine, that's for sure.

We got this.

If you don't have ingenuity,

how are you gonna create something

that stands out amongst everything else?

Today, you must blow us away with massive masterpieces

made out of recyclable objects.

What?

What?

That's awesome.

Environmentally conscious, I like it.

Using nothing but your glue and your ingenuity,

you must work in teams to transform

hundreds of thousands of discarded everyday items

into a colorful work of art

on an 8-foot-by-12-foot canvas.

There's a shit ton of random, weird objects.

Zip ties, blocks, bottle caps.

What the hell do they expect us to build with this?

You gotta be smart about it.

Shit, that's a lotta ground to cover with only five people.

So many different shapes and colors.

When you pick up an object,

think of all the things that you could create from that object.

You could stack them, layer them.

Show us how creative you can be,

building something really dynamic

out of these tiny little pieces.

Let go and be inventive.

Create something we've never seen.

Try and make somethin' new.

The winners of this flash challenge

will have the power to assign all the human canvases

in the elimination tattoo.

Yeah, that's huge.

The OGs have to have the control.

I cannot lose this.

You have six hours, and your time starts now.

Give me one random idea right now.

I think we need to play with it first

and just figure out what we can even make with this shit.

I don't wanna see bottle caps and zip ties.

I wanna see these things transform.

I would love to see something come out

as far as possible from the canvas.

Who can take these throwaway items

and make someone's trash into someone else's treasure?

What about some kinda, like, optical illusion?

- Yeah. - Can we do a castle

- like that? - You know,

they have those weird windy steps in a castle,

- like the... - Yeah.

If we do a castle, we could have

some sort of background and stuff.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

I was thinking jellyfish or coral,

you know, sea creature things.

We want something to come off that board somehow, right?

- Yeah, so I can... - Some kinda 3D?

How 'bout an angler fish?

I have been wanting to do an angler fish for so long,

and the electric green, like a glowing, like...

- Ooh, yeah, yellows. - Light.

Like a bulb that's glowing.

- Yeah. - Right?

- Looks like a ball. - And this is hanging

- in front. - Right.

We gotta figure out how to make this structurally

- to hold that ball. - Yeah.

We can't miss ingenuity in ingenuity week.

We're gonna have little tiny fish

swimming at the bottom,

a glowing light, and just movement to our piece.

That would be the bottom of the fin.

Be cool if we had that fin...

- Yeah. - ...come out.

Right?

- That would be cool. - Like, stick out.

And then it won't be too heavy.

I think they're doin' a big ol' angler fish.

This is gonna fall so flat in comparison to theirs.

Alright, let's just keep goin'.

I think we should just go with this.

I feel like it's gonna be very flat.

Especially if they're going round.

Do some shit like this.

A peacock. That's what I'd do.

- That's cool, too. - We can do darker tones

- and brighter tones. - Especially with colors.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And actually, like, pop out the feathers on the top.

You know what? Fuck it up. Let's do that.

Let's do his idea.

The truth comes out, Joseph.

We got it, let's just do it.

- Okay. - Artists, four hours remaining.

You just gotta wing it, it doesn't matter who does what.

See, like this, it could be a ball,

it could be organic shape.

I used to be a fashion designer,

so I have a plan to turn this material

to be like fabric.

Do we have anything round?

- Like, set it on. - Your head!

Not a bad idea.

It's gonna go on your head for a second.

Yes.

Ingenuity is all about how we use this material.

This is ingenuity, Jorell.

I'll take another zip tie.

Just don't lock me in.

This is gonna take forever.

Let's fucking go.

I think it's gonna be cool.

- Yep, it's gonna be good. - It's really cool.

I think we're showing ingenuity with the way Cat's rendering

the eye right now.

She's using these pieces in ways that I would've never imagined

to make the eye almost 3D,

which is, like, super ingenuity.

Ingenuity-ah. I don't know how to say this.

Ingenuity-ous.

We just gotta make, like,

a thousand more of these things.

Yeah, just, you know, casual.

No, Joseph, no.

No, Joseph, no!

What?

- What are you doing? - No, no, no, Joseph!

- What? - No, you can't do that,

you have to start from this side and move out.

Otherwise, you could be stacking these,

and it'll come to where there's a gap.

You know what I mean?

- Yeah... - What the fuck?

You can't just start on the outside

- and make it in the middle? - Goddamn, who left

Joseph unattended?

What are you guys doin' over there?

You guys gettin' along, or...?

Yeah!

You guys are so sweet for checkin' in on us.

You are halfway there, there are three hours left.

This sun is ferocious.

This is gonna be hangin' from here.

Our angler fish has a little dangle

hanging three dimensionally off of our canvas.

This is not glued the board. This has gotta be solid somehow.

Stephanie and I are trying to figure out

a way that we can get the dangler

to lift off the canvas and become three dimensional.

This dangler is our ingenuity,

and if we fail this, we're gonna fail our challenge.

So, I'm just gonna glue it right, right to it, okay?

But you can rest it.

Glue it on the top, sort of let gravity help you.

Okay.

One hour, everybody.

Alright, stand it up.

We're struggling with time right now.

Put it over there, Trevor.

We have less people,

so that's one less person to really add on to it.

That's six hours worth of work,

another artist and their artistry

to really enhance the thing.

I need to get the fuck out of the sun.

I'm burnt to shit.

Okay, it's not perfect yet, but it's not bad.

Fifteen minutes! Make that shit look good.

I gotta get this feather right on the top.

Yeah.

I hope they shit the bed.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it, this flash challenge is over.

Ooh, y'all's backs is red!

You think you don't feel it,

but you do feel the missing person.

What is it gonna be like with only four people

in the next challenge?

It's time to critique your work.

Young Guns, you're up.

Obviously, it's a beautiful peacock.

I love the inner texture on the feathers.

You used the beads to make that

where it would be almost iridescent.

I like how you used the zip ties to create this fur

and this softness around each feather

with something so rigid.

The ingenuity of the feathers

absolutely stands out on this piece.

And the eye winks.

- That's cool. - Did that bird just wink at me?

- It did. - The eye wink

is a nice touch.

And I think that you guys

absolutely accomplished the challenge.

OGs.

Alright, let's do it.

Your usage of all the different textures

was spot on.

You guys really reserved certain plastic pieces

for separate pieces of this artwork,

and I think that was really, really smart.

These fins that come out with almost a mesh

to give that translucent feel of a fin is super cool.

The flow coming off of his little dangler,

you created a lot of light from just that piece glowing.

I love this little fish right here.

I don't know why, maybe it's the red eyes.

It totally makes me believe it's a real creature

on the bottom of the sea.

Like it's a metaphor of reeling in the Young Guns

and then takin' a bite with the OGs.

Crushed it! We crushed it.

It's time to determine

the winner of the flash challenge.

The Young Guns used ingenuity in a way that the OGs didn't

because that eye actually blinks.

But it definitely falls a lot flatter.

A lot less of a interesting composition.

The OGs had foreground, middle ground, background.

It came off the canvas at you.

I have to give it to the OGs.

You created more of a cohesive piece.

My vote is for the OGs.

My vote is for the OGs.

The judges have determined

the winner of the flash challenge is the OGs.

Yo.

Alright.

As a team, you will have the power

to assign all the human canvases in the elimination tattoo.

- Oh, thank God. - Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Lucy's plotting revenge.

Get some rest, and we'll see you tomorrow in the shop

for the next elimination tattoo.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Yeah, like, my face is burned to a crisp.

That last couple of minutes in that sun, wow.

It could be hotter out.

Yay!

Fuck yeah!

I got the power.

I know Lucy wants to come at someone's throat with this one.

Let's be smart, let's take some people out.

Who are we thinking?

Top two strongest competitors on the Young Guns.

I would say it's Trevor and Cat.

Cat has the creative mind

and Trevor has that technical skill.

The longer

the stronger, creative people are in this game,

obviously, the better chance they're gonna have.

- For sure. - I still feel like

Cat's gonna be able to take on a lot.

You know what I mean? Like, no matter

what we give her, she's gonna turn it into something.

Our strategy is just to make sure that we get out there

and go for the strong ones.

We need to be gunning for certain people.

Let's take out the competition.

Welcome.

In this competition,

only the strongest artists survive,

no matter how long they've been tattooing.

One misstep could send you home.

Tread carefully.

Today, you must prove your ingenuity with...

...metallic tattoos.

Finally, something fun.

Fucking sick, boy.

It's my lucky day.

I make metallic tattoos all the time back home.

I made this sick gold, metallic butt plug

that blew up everywhere on the internet.

This is amazing.

Glad he's on my team.

I don't even know where to start with metallic tattoos.

I've never done one before.

The most important thing with metallic tattoos

is you're creating an illusion.

The shiner the metal,

the more reflective it's going to be.

Or if metal is kind of pitted,

making sure you have a texture that feels like that metal.

We wanna see amazing 3D tattoos.

They should look heavy.

They should look like you can hold on to them.

I'm gonna teach you guys somethin' today.

Remember, the team whose artist wins tattoo of the day

will form the jury of peers.

That team will deliberate

and put one artist up for elimination

regardless of the team.

Let's meet your canvases.

OGs, you won the flash challenge.

You now have the power to assign the canvases as a team.

Choose wisely.

Feels good to be in charge.

We're gonna take these Young Guns out.

What is it you're looking to get today?

So, I'm looking to get a realistic

metallic, golden-themed Buddha head

on my shoulder blade.

Metallic, chrome motorcycle engine

with skulls and flames on my thigh.

A neo-traditional metallic gemmed bee

with honey drips, peonies, and honeycombs on my calf.

Damn!

That sounds like a lot of shit in one tattoo.

Metallic, chrome snake handshake

with blood droplets in my armpit.

- Oh, boy. - Whoa.

Armpits suck.

Ouch!

I can't wait to get my armpit done,

I'm just jealous you're gonna do it today.

Painful, mushy, crappy, bleed-a-lot, swell.

That's a sick spot, though. I would, I would stick with it.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Illustrative, metallic, sexy male robot pin-up.

That's cool.

On my butt.

I know Alena just went out on a butt tattoo,

but that one could be really frickin' cool and fun.

Uh, realistic metallic diving helmet.

A surrealistic, metallic, chrome Roman head statue

with dripping gold makeup brushes

coming out of the head on my ribs.

That's a lot of stuff.

Uh, and on the ribs? Ugh.

Uh, realistic metallic golden pharaoh.

Right on.

Metallic armor on my upper shoulder.

That's tough. That's a big area.

Uh, it's so much work.

You're gonna have to hand draw a lot of it on,

and actually make it form to the person's body,

and that's the time we don't have in this competition.

A golden, metallic carousel horse.

That's so awesome.

I love that.

A new school-style metallic gold hotdog

wearing a metallic silver chain with a mini hotdog on that.

Let's go.

- On my calf. - Dude, that's awesome.

That's fuckin' wild.

Sick.

Young Guns, you didn't take any shots last time.

Interested to see what they're gonna do.

I know.

We are gonna show them how to actually do

a proper skull pick.

Which one for ?

- Armpit? - Yes, good one.

The sculpture with the makeup.

Let's give that to Trevor.

'Kay.

I do believe even if you give the strongest player

the hardest skull pick,

they will still most likely prevail.

This one is for you.

But it increases your chances of taking them out,

or at least finding out what their weaknesses might be.

Who's missing a skull? Right behind you.

- Oh, there it is. - Perfect.

Thank you.

Canvases.

One by one, please read the artist's name

on the bottom of your skull.

James.

That's me.

Jorell?

That's me, bud.

- Lucy. - That's me.

Jenna.

That's me.

I'll definitely be talking him out of the armpit.

Cat.

You wanted that one.

She'll crush that.

Did they just throw me a bone right now?

What is happening?

Jade.

That's me.

Spartan helmet.

With the makeup brushes.

Trevor?

That's me.

She wants a laundry basket full of shit.

It's just not gonna happen on the ribs.

The armor?

Joseph.

That's me.

There's no way, in six hours,

I'm gonna be able to do this shoulder tattoo.

There's no way.

- Stephanie? - That's me.

Anthony.

That's me.

- Hot diggity dog. - I'm fuckin' stoked.

- Pony? - That'd be me.

And you're in good hands.

Yeah.

It makes sense, right?

You will have six hours to create metallic tattoos.

Fail to make them shine, and you will be going home.

This ain't the time to be dull, guys.

Good luck.

- How's it goin'? - Hi.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, too.

What style do you want it in?

Traditional, I was thinking.

The last person that just went home, um,

went out on a butt.

Is there anything else you'd be open to?

As long as it's, like, kinda hidden.

Can we move it?

Because it is gonna be not so easy in the armpit,

so we're gonna get less cool shit.

I want it kinda low on my legs, otherwise.

Yeah, that's fine.

The bee is your subject.

Yes, so the honeycomb in the background

with some drips of gold just to give you more metallic.

Mm-hm.

And peonies to give balance to the composition.

- It's a lot to the detail. - I know.

I'm not sure about a peony I can finish in six hours.

You can.

We gotta go at least one peony.

It's too many element in the design.

It's gonna be too crowded.

It's gotta have a flower with the bee.

It's gonna be bad for my competition.

Look at this from that fuckin' sunburn.

I just am feeling super unwell.

I can feel myself overheating inside.

Oh shit, dude.

My skin is so hot,

but the inside of my body is somehow subzero.

So, I just need to get rid of these shakes,

or else I'm not gonna be able to tattoo.

Yeah, it's gonna be a rough-ass day for me.

So, we're doin' a little bit different

than what we're thinkin'.

I like it a lot.

This is what I came up with.

Dude, that's sick.

- You like it? - Yeah.

Okay, so, I put the flower,

I feel like it's busy,

and then it doesn't show the detail on the gem.

So, you're not doin' my peonies?

No, I don't think it'll look good.

I'm not okay with that. I want the peonies.

But even with...

I would like the peonies. That's part of the whole design.

There's so many element and it's such a small area.

This is not good.

I always say it's gonna be on you forever.

Mm-hm, which is why I'm sticking to my gut.

I'm actually very worried my canvas gonna leave.

If my canvas leave, I'm straight-up going home.

- Let me play a little bit. - Sure.

-. - Yeah.

Artists, you have six hours to create a metallic tattoo,

and your time starts now.

Alright.

If you could stand right there, just give a nice...

Today, the artists have to do metallic tattoos

to show ingenuity.

Looks good.

You have to create this stuff out of your mind,

and use ingenuity to trick us

to thinking that's shiny and heavy on the skin.

I'm hopin' for tattoo of the day.

I got it last time, which was nice.

If you don't put these highlights and shadows

in the right places,

your tattoo can fall really flat.

Ooh, that is a clean stencil.

We want that 24-karat gold today.

We don't want none of that fool's gold shit.

I've never tattooed a hotdog.

I'm stoked.

I got a sunburn, in case you're...

Sorry to hear that.

It's crazy. It's both of my...

They're, like, swollen and overheated.

My canvas came to get a tattoo.

Oh, that's better, yeah.

I have to just push through and give this guy

the best tattoo that I could possibly give him.

Yeah.

I want to get through this challenge for myself.

And hopefully come out on the other side

a better person for it.

It's certainly not easy.

There's a lot of pressure.

I mean, everybody wants to win, right?

Everyone's right?

Mm-hm.

Did you make it work?

My biggest risk is too much elements in this tattoo.

- I will focus on the bee first. - Yeah.

I'm very worried I'm not gonna finish the tattoo in time.

You ready?

Yeah.

There are five hours left.

Feels good so far.

Yeah, my tattoos don't hurt.

Last week, the judges called my tattoo a snooze fest.

This week, I'm gonna blow them away.

Right on.

I don't really have a reference.

It's illustrated inside of my head.

Did you bring that yellow?

- And the other yellow? - No. I know.

My tattoo shows ingenuity in placement,

ingenuity in composition.

Ingenuity in just pullin' this fuckin' thing off,

and it's gonna look great.

Here you go, boss.

- You know? - You know?

- Good for you. - Fuckin' right.

Get outta here.

- Look at us, right? - You're grounded!

Good.

There's no writing in it.

I'm definitely feeling in my element right now.

Doin' color, it's a fun drawing, but also with this metallic,

I wanna make this thing glow off the skin.

You know he's my son, right?

He mentioned it.

I'm gonna beat him. Beat his ass.

You think so?

I like the direction we're goin' in here.

I think the other team, when they saw my reaction,

they were like, "Wait, what did we do?"

They were like, "What did we just hand her?"

There are three hours left on the clock.

Pony, you're in your world today, huh?

Yeah, just, I mean,

literally tryin' to fight the clock right now.

Today of all days, I've gotta pull this tattoo together.

It's on a very important day.

Man, you think you'd simplify a little bit,

but you're really goin' for it.

I see every little thing, and it's haunting me.

Today is actually the 20th anniversary of my dad's passing.

Probably still one of the hardest things I've gone through

aside from this fuckin' competition.

My dad is the one that got me into tattooing.

He was my biggest push growin' up,

the one that would always push me to do good work.

I mean, making him proud is

my biggest reason for being here.

Changed the spot, huh?

Yeah, for sure.

Smart move.

Conceptually, I know what it takes

to pull off a shiny tattoo,

but at the same time, this is my first time.

I've never had this experience before.

It's pretty similar to a lot of things,

if you just break it down.

- You know? - Yeah.

It's actually not the hardest ask.

I'm just hoping that I can pull this off.

You have two hours.

Ooh, I love your skin.

It's like butter.

Kinda, I guess.

I doodled and drew,

I just never really took it that seriously.

I started tattooing because my friends were like,

"Why don't you do something with your art?"

And they suggested tattooing,

and that literally never, like, crossed my mind ever.

Eventually, the idea kind of blossomed,

and I tried to get an apprenticeship.

And yeah, I went to, like, 17 shops.

- Wow. - And all of them said no,

except for one.

All of that rejection in the beginning

really just, like, pushed me and made me wanna become, like,

a better tattoo artist.

I can't believe people used to actually wear those.

I know.

Ah, sink right to the bottom.

Yeah.

Hopefully you don't sink to the bottom with this one, right?

She's gonna do great.

What'd you think when you heard metallic?

I like doing effects and stuff.

I'm feeling pretty confident.

I just wanna show that there's a bunch of different finishes

that you can do with this challenge.

Not all metallic stuff is shiny.

What do you think of Trevor?

I'm pleasantly surprised by Trevor's.

The bottom doesn't look like gold, though.

What about Joseph?

Jade's, though...

- Aw, man. - And what about Jade's?

Is that a coverup?

- Wow. - It's dark.

I guess we'll see. You know it always changes.

Artists, one hour.

It's comin' together now. Flowers look great.

Thank you.

So glad we're doin' some color.

Five, four, three, two, one.

That's it, time's up. No more ink.

Check it out.

Oh, awesome. Thank you so much.

Yeah, of course, man.

Thank you for holding 'til the last minute.

You did amazing.

That's insane.

Good shit, man.

Hopefully we edge everyone else out.

Damn!

- How cool is that? - Oh my God!

I have those heels.

"I have those heels."

Today, you had to prove your ingenuity

with metallic tattoos.

Let's see how you did.

OGs, you're up first.

Pony.

It looks like gold is sitting on this person's arm.

100%, it looks like a picture of a gold bar.

It has that, like, heavy metal look.

What's really impressive, on one side,

there's a warmer sheen of gold,

and on the opposite side, there's a cooler sheen of gold.

And that takes a unique eye.

On metallic day, you nailed it.

Thank all of you.

James.

It's so refreshing to see a tattoo

that actually carries and conveys an emotion.

He's happy, he's partyin'.

It has personality, it has character.

I love this illustration. The face is badass, man.

Like, you nailed the shine and the glare.

It definitely feels gold.

I don't think very many people

would be able to pull this tattoo off.

Jorell.

This has a lot of metallic qualities.

You got this bright, shiny cow skull

against these flat flames.

The color's really solid.

I really love the reflections, I mean,

that's really difficult to do.

And the bull skull,

with all the different transitions and shapes,

that took a lot of ingenuity.

It's nice to see you shine a little bit.

Anthony.

The chromed-out, gold-plated hotdog

is so bold because you did the gold so well.

That metallic technique is much more successful in gold

than what you were able to render with the gray tones.

The chain looks a little more matte.

But it took a lot of ingenuity

to illustrate this hotdog, man.

This is really creative.

I wanna know the rapper's name that would wear this.

Thanks, guys.

Stephanie.

I don't think there's a lot of metal in it,

but I do like the reflection on the very top of the carousel.

It's simple, but it does have some reflection.

But look at the anatomy of this thing.

From the neck up of this horse,

it almost flattens out.

Looks like a different horse.

You're gonna have a hard time sittin' on this horse.

But once you get on the horse,

where's the horse actually going?

Because the back leg

is about to fall off of the front of the platform.

Goin' to the chiropractor is where it's goin'.

I like this tattoo, you know, I think it's super clean.

It's straight to the point.

Lucy.

There is a lot goin' on in this tattoo.

Texture on texture on texture.

I would've loved to see your bee a little bigger,

a little bit more readable.

The honey has some cool tricks,

there's some reflection in there and it does feel like metal.

Pull back a little bit and focus on what's important.

Young Guns, let's see how you did.

Jade.

I feel like it really is shiny.

It has that kinda brassy feel,

but I don't like the tentacles.

They look a little unfinished

compared to how finished the helmet is.

But she showed us flat, large chrome,

tiny, detailed chrome, matte chrome.

You killed it.

Thank you.

Joseph.

There's really no areas on this that show metallic.

It's not even reading as armor to me.

The black in the middle looks like a coverup.

Everything just looks flat.

Metal armor breaking off in chunks is a bit weird.

Whoever pounded that steel should be fired.

Cat.

I love the way the chrome reflects.

It took a lot of imagination and knowledge

to draw every plate as if it was body.

You know, like the chest and the shoulder.

I absolutely love, love, love, love, love the nipple rings.

Looks so ridiculous and cool.

It is a cool, dramatic pose.

It's like, "Oh, my robot partner just broke up with me."

Trevor.

Face is great.

You pulled all these elements in together really beautifully.

You showed us different textures,

different tones.

But the glossiness in the face, you know,

I don't feel like it's really gold.

The cheek kinda reads a little gold.

Maybe if you had left the cracks out of it

it would read different.

But the bottom gets a little lost.

It just doesn't look like metal at all.

I hate to say it, but it looks more like a piece of pizza.

Jenna.

I love that you showed us color realism

with traditional tattooing.

But the anatomy of the fingers,

it kinda loses itself.

Where does that top finger go?

Everywhere that there's supposed to be metallic on this,

it just falls pretty flat.

I really do like this tattoo,

but the centerpiece of this tattoo isn't metallic.

So, originally I was thinking about doing an all-gold hand,

but I just couldn't make it work with the designs.

You should've done the gold hand.

That would've said to me, "metallic".

Judges, it's time to determine

who had the best tattoo of the day.

Pony's hits the challenge the most as far as metallic.

I really love it.

The small transitions and hues, man, that's crazy.

Like, I haven't seen any tattoo pull that off at all.

James, also.

It's a different take on the metallic side.

Great illustration.

But it doesn't scream metal at me.

What about Cat's?

It's a really great illustration,

and then it's tattooed in a way that it shines.

My vote is for Cat.

My vote's gonna go to Pony. It's a hard tattoo to do.

My vote's for James.

Pulled this out of his head and made a cool illustration.

Killer tattoo.

That's one vote for Cat, one vote for James,

and one vote for Pony for tattoo of the day.

I do believe Cat had the best chrome,

Pony had the best metallic overall.

But I'm gonna vote for James.

-Yes. - Let's go.

It was just the best combination of the challenge,

the illustration.

It was the perfect storm of all of them together

- to create this tattoo. - Thank you.

The judges have decided

the best tattoo of the day goes to James.

- Let's go, let's go. - Hey, yay!

That means this week, the OGs will form the jury of peers.

You must deliberate as a team,

and put one artist up for elimination.

Head out, and we'll call you back

when a decision has been made.

Right now, the way I saw the critiques,

uh, probably goin' home.

That tattoo I put out today doesn't represent me at all.

That's what frustrates me even more,

the fact that they're not seein' the best quality

that I can produce.

We're not always gonna do the best tattoos that we can,

especially in this environment.

I don't feel like I have the ability

to put out good tattoos,

which I didn't think would bother me.

Before I came, I was like, "It's fine,

everyone puts out shit tattoos."

You know what I mean? It happens.

You're under pressure.

But it actually does fuckin' bother me.

Someone really wants to be here, right?

Do you wanna be here?

This is an emotional battle for me.

Why I continually put myself through something like that...

...is the question.

It's hard seeing people give up or not wanna be here,

'cause I wanna be around other people who are in it

who wanna stay here and wanna fight.

It doesn't make me any less of a tattooer

to not wanna play an emotional fuckin' game.

That bein' said, it's still the game.

I'm between a rock and a hard place.

I can't go there and be like, "I wanna go home,"

'cause you just look like a fuckin' idiot.

So, I'm reading that as you're not done yet.

I think you have more fight, I think he has more fight.

I just wanna know who has more fight.

We're here as the jury of peers

to put one artist up for elimination.

So, I got a genuine question.

Who do you think is gonna be in the judges' bottom three?

- Joseph, no metallic. - It doesn't look like

armor.

What bugged me the most was the linework.

It wasn't consistent, for sure.

That is hard to overcome.

- I feel like Jenna. - For sure.

The technical skill on the snake is pretty solid.

- But zero gold. - And the lines are super clean.

Like, nothing gold.

Kinda looks like the hand is fist-bumping the snake

and kinda missed.

And who comes in third?

I'd throw Trevor down there.

Why is the stone just a flat paper mache?

That bottom bit, that takes up 40% of the tattoo,

it does look like a pizza.

Yeah, it's not drapery.

Just next time, don't put the caramel cheese or whatever.

I think it will be close with Trevor and Lucy.

Their issues were more composition,

and there was nothing that you could do to overcome that.

Just be honest.

There's ten times more gold in your tattoo

- than there is Jenna's. - And Trevor's.

Yeah, and a better gem than Joseph's.

If there is a doubt, then we throw whoever is the closest.

We have to protect our teammate.

Today's definitely, like, a rough one for me.

You know, I, I feel like I'm letting everyone down back home.

And it tears me apart because I wanna make them proud.

I wanna make them cheer for me.

What would your mom say?

I also have a Hispanic mama,

and, uh, they, they say some stuff that gets to you.

Yeah, she's amazing.

She was a single mom, like, we had it rough.

She taught me how to be a strong man,

step up for myself, like, ever since I was, like, a little kid.

I wanna bring the W to her, you know?

Like, I wanna say, " Mami, gan�."

- Like, I won, you know? - Yeah.

Like, that would be amazing.

Really, really fight for yourself up there.

Make it a point that you wanna be here.

I'm gonna fight 'til the very end.

100%.

Today, we tested your ingenuity with metallic tattoos.

James.

Which artist is the jury of peers

putting up for elimination?

As the jury of peers, we nominate...

Trevor.

I think it's a waste of their vote.

I think there's a couple of people that

definitely didn't hit the challenge,

and didn't put almost any metal in their tattoos.

In all honesty, we were havin' our own debate

who we would pick in the third.

It was going between you, Trevor, and you, Lucy.

I'd say you're on the bottom.

You could pull this up for probably any artist out there

and say, "What do you think the challenge was that day?"

And are they gonna say metallic? I don't think so.

There is reasons why you're down there.

The judges have decided the second artist

in the bottom...

Is Joseph.

Honestly, I'm not surprised.

I do stand on it looking like metal.

You have to fight for yourself.

I agree with that, but this is not metal.

You tripped yourself up a little bit.

Even in the first Hannya that you did,

you proved to us that you can do a solid, clean,

technical tattoo.

You've forgot in this challenge what you're actually good at.

It's just a different subject matter.

The judges have decided the third artist in the bottom

is Jenna.

A few minutes ago,

Jenna decided to leave the competition.

No one is just gonna hand you a briefcase

with $250,000 in it, and that should be easy.

It's difficult.

This is tattoo fucking boot camp.

That's what it is.

It's so rare in life and in your career that

someone looks you in the eye and tells you the truth.

There's no progress without change,

and change is uncomfortable.

And I guarantee you, in time, this is gonna make you better.

It's made me rethink everything, and I'm just sitting here.

So, I can imagine what it's like,

even sitting where you are, Trevor.

I wanna win this competition.

Like, what's the point of showin' up

if you don't wanna win?

I'm just tryin' to do the best that I can every day.

Like, I'm tryin' to win this shit.

It's been a dream of mine,

being here to represent Puerto Rico.

I haven't gotten to show you guys

the work that I'm proud of,

and I just want a chance to be able to show you guys that.

Well, Joseph, it's your lucky day.

No one else is goin' home this week.

That's crazy.

We believe you both wanna be here.

Step up and prove it with your tattoos.

I know I was gonna go home.

So, Jenna doing this is sorta like giving me a second chance.

I wanna stay in this competition

because I know nothing in life comes easy.

Thank you.

And being here is gonna make me a better artist.

On the next episode of Ink Master.

Sharpen your blades to take out these opponents.

This is a game.

Y'all are up against each other in the end, you know?

I have to fuckin' beat him.

Respect your elders.

Fuck me, dude.

The hand is a straight-up mistake.

It's a left hand on the right-hand side of the body.

Is that not a sin in tattooing?

What are we debating here?