Throat Tattoos That (Obviously) Didn’t Go Well 🙃 Ink Master

0:00 Sydney, I love the design.

0:02 But you have to center the cleavage and make

0:05 sure that that lines up with the face.

0:06 And if she has a tattoo there that's already off, that's really hard to look at.

0:10 JUDGE: You should have got her to stay away from her neck,

0:13 because the things we like about it are your style.

0:17 But everything else about it, it just makes me stressed out.

0:21 [ROCK MUSIC] For today's challenge, you must tattoo an object so recognizable

0:28 that any inconsistencies will be undeniable, an eyeball.

0:34 Eyeballs are tricky, man.

0:35 You can either make them look really real,

0:37 or they can look like a couple of circles lumped in together.

0:40 You know the throat's kind of an iffy spot, right?

0:42 Halo gave me one of the worst places possible to do a tattoo.

0:45 You have to stretch it out so you could put that stencil on there.

0:48 And then when it goes back, it's all warped up and twisted.

0:51 Were you open to maybe moving it anywhere else,

0:53 just for, like, difficulty's sake?

0:54 Um— If I can't talk this lady out

0:56 of getting her throat tattooed, I could go home.

1:00 My canvas wanted a photorealistic eyeball right on her throat.

1:04 WOMAN: Any swelling?

1:06 MATTI: A little bit— not too much.

1:07 I'm being pretty gentle.

1:08 That whole area is just one of the most

1:10 difficult places to do a nice, clean tattoo.

1:12 I don't really want to, like,

1:14 have you bleeding all over the place or anything like that.

1:16 I'm pretty pissed at Halo for giving me a throat.

1:19 So I'm hoping I just knock his ass right out of the water.

1:22 WOMAN: How's it looking?

1:23 MATTI: Crazy awesome.

1:24 [TENSE MUSIC] This week,

1:26 we had you create an eyeball tattoo using dimension to make it pop off the skin.

1:32 Matti.

1:33 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] The dimension that you put into the actual iris itself,

1:39 there's some really nice moments in there.

1:41 But this huge eyebrow on the underside of this lady's chin is drastic.

1:46 She wanted it right on her throat.

1:47 She wanted to make a statement, she said, so— It's a mechanically good tattoo.

1:51 It's just [BLEEP] nuts.

1:52 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Today you must create Victorian tattoos.

2:00 What?

2:02 JUDGE: During the Victorian era,

2:03 the invention of sewing machines and new machinery for making lace made it

2:07 possible to create complex patterns at a fraction of the cost of hand-made.

2:12 Tattoos emulating these patterns and fabrics have grown in popularity.

2:16 You must translate these intricate styles to skin.

2:20 But there's more.

2:21 More— --which is— There is no better test of your finesse than

2:26 tattooing some of the most delicate skin on the body, the throat.

2:32 Oh, Jesus, throat tats.

2:33 The throat.

2:34 [TENSE MUSIC] Whoa.

2:38 [GROANS] This just hurts.

2:40 I know.

2:41 [whimpers] I'm tattooing a piece of Victorian lace to mimic

2:45 a dress that her grandmother wore in a wedding photo.

2:48 I know I can nail this.

2:49 JUDGE: Matt's been a strong competitor so far.

2:51 But, today, something is amiss because his design

2:54 just looks like a big black mess.

2:57 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Ow!

3:00 Let me get this last one.

3:02 Not only is my canvas not taking the ink, but she's starting to cry.

3:05 And I feel like she's going to quit on me any minute.

3:07 Oh.

3:07 It's the lowest one.

3:07 Oh.

3:08 It's the lowest one right here.

3:09 [GROANS] I've been tattooing 18 years,

3:12 and this is the hardest canvas I've ever had to tattoo in my entire life.

3:17 I would not be surprised if this is the tattoo that's going to send me home.

3:22 [TENSE MUSIC] Five, four, three, two, one, that's it.

3:28 Time's up.

3:29 Machines down.

3:30 No more ink.

3:33 Oh, my gosh, it looks amazing!

3:36 Chris has packed so much white in this thing.

3:38 The first time this lady [BLEEP] lays out and does a tan,

3:41 it's going to turn yellow.

3:42 It's going to look like [BLEEP] baby vomit.

3:44 I couldn't be more stoked that he has jacked the dog [BLEEP] out of this tattoo.

3:49 As far as finesse goes, bro, you blew it.

3:51 [TENSE MUSIC] Today, you had to use finesse to create

3:55 intricate Victorian tattoos on very delicate skin.

3:59 Matt.

4:00 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] JUDGE: Overall, the tattoo is dark.

4:05 From 20 feet away, it looks like a black handkerchief around her neck.

4:08 I do know it will lighten up through time.

4:11 JUDGE: But the outlines that are in the swirl patterns,

4:12 there's a lot of hiccups in those lines.

4:14 You definitely have considerable blowouts happening

4:16 near the collarbone of the neck.

4:18 That's where your lack of finesse is.

4:19 JUDGE: Why would you do that straight line across the top?

4:22 At least give her some little scallops off the top and break it up.

4:24 It doesn't look soft.

4:26 It just looks like you slit her throat.

4:28 Chris.

4:29 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Do you do many neck tattoos?

4:33 I do a lot of throat tattoos.

4:34 And this was probably, in 18 years,

4:36 the toughest skin I've ever worked with, as leather as it could be.

4:39 I used 9 setups and 12 different needles.

4:41 If you did go through that much trouble to please this client,

4:45 that, in itself, is a use of finesse.

4:47 But how, after all those hours of trouble,

4:50 did you come to the idea, let's see how white pounds in?

4:53 The white only took me the last 10, 15 minutes, total.

4:55 JUDGE: It looks like it.

4:56 All the color in this tattoo is very scratchy.

4:59 This purple shading looks real sketchy.

5:01 All this outline on this side behind this ear looks scratched in.

5:04 It looks like you were tattooing a bucking bronco,

5:06 but she seemed to be sitting still.

5:09 It's time to find out who the human canvas

5:12 jury determined had the worst tattoo of the day.

5:14 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Matt, you're here because the human canvas jury determined

5:25 that you had the worst tattoo of the day.

5:27 Heather, why did the jury vote Matt to the bottom?

5:30 I actually also voted for Matt because I thought it would be a lot lighter.

5:34 MATT: I know that the gray wash will considerably lighten up.

5:37 Only the areas where I put the deeper blacks will actually stay dark for you.

5:41 That's not going to lighten that much.

5:42 I think Matt's playing this up a little bit.

5:44 And I feel bad for you.

5:46 It's going to be a dark triangle.

5:47 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Matt, I completely trusted you.

5:52 So I was really thrown off when I saw how dark it was.

5:57 It makes me feel terrible to stand here and know that you're not happy.

6:00 Heather, thank you so much for coming down and joining us today.

6:03 Thank you.

6:05 Matt, I'll tell you outright,

6:06 it looks like she's just got a black hole in her neck.

6:09 It was my intention to make it look like she had a really nice piece of jewelry.

6:12 JUDGE: The tattoo, for me, is very off-putting.

6:14 It's so much hard work, man.

6:16 It's a shame for it to have gotten away.

6:18 Chris.

6:20 JUDGE: In six months, this will be the worst-looking of the seven tattoos.

6:23 I think what's important is that this girl's design and tattoo fit her to a T.

6:28 One thing that bothers me about Matt's more than anything else is

6:31 that putting it in a weird place on the body where it doesn't fit,

6:34 to me, is a bigger travesty than making something

6:37 fit right and maybe having to do some touch-up.

6:39 She was really happy with the fit of that.

6:41 If you're going to make one mistake, make it light so that it's just gone,

6:45 and not with something that's dark, because it's not going.

6:47 [TENSE MUSIC] Today,

6:49 you must tattoo whatever your canvas wants in some of the most difficult places.

6:56 Oh, no.

6:57 Oh, no.

6:59 JUDGE: From heads and necks to armpits and butts,

7:02 it will take creativity to design a tattoo that fits the body part perfectly.

7:07 Let's meet your canvases.

7:08 What are you trying to get today?

7:09 See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil faces on my throat.

7:13 Turk.

7:15 They're gunnin' for you today.

7:17 This is a grenade.

7:18 Christian's a snake.

7:19 And he is out for blood.

7:20 See what's about to happen to you.

7:22 We'll miss you.

7:23 What did he want?

7:25 Screaming skull.

7:25 Skull.

7:26 The throat.

7:27 Tony.

7:28 It's because we like you, Tony.

7:30 I bet you do, Turk, you doing all right?

7:33 Yep.

7:34 I'm keeping it as light and airy as possible, easy to read, room to breathe.

7:39 I've been listening.

7:40 The hardest part about getting your throat tattooed is the pressure that we

7:44 have to apply to even get the tattoo on there can constrict your breathing.

7:47 You're going to sleep like a [BLEEP] baby after this.

7:50 My son's gonna scratch it, though.

7:52 TURK: Oh, yeah, you better watch out.

7:53 Kids are like magnets to that.

7:56 I've been in competitions,

7:57 but I've never been away from my family for this long.

8:01 My son has autism.

8:02 (CRYING) And I came here with the purpose of winning this thing so I could put

8:06 my son through a very specific school that could

8:09 really help him come out of that shell.

8:13 I just want to be able to explain to him why I worked so hard for him.

8:18 That's all.

8:20 [TENSE MUSIC] I gotta breathe.

8:22 I cannot.

8:23 Just keep breathing.

8:24 Come on, Mama didn't raise no bitch.

8:26 Let's do this.

8:27 Come on, let's go.

8:28 Wait, wait, wait, wait, oh, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

8:30 I'm sorry, what are you doing to the wing?

8:32 I'm smoothing it out.

8:33 My canvas is complaining.

8:35 He's jumping.

8:36 He's trying to call it on me.

8:38 Remember, you're the one that woke up today and said, I want a throat tattoo.

8:41 I'm finishing this thing.

8:42 And I don't care if I gotta put my foot on your chin and crank this machine up.

8:45 I'm going to do it Today,

8:48 you are being tested on creativity, tattooing difficult body parts.

8:52 Turk, come on up.

8:54 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] JUDGE: I know it's supposed to be,

8:57 like, a goblin or demon or something.

8:58 But it doesn't look like there's bones underneath it.

9:01 The middle face looks like a skin mask.

9:03 A lot of this shading in the middle, the creases of the cheek,

9:06 and coming from the nose and coming from under the eye

9:08 doesn't really do anything for structure or depth or contrast.

9:11 I think it's a cool idea.

9:13 I just wish it translated better.

9:15 Tony.

9:16 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] JUDGE:

9:19 You have a pretty challenged time here with your outline.

9:21 Your black and gray got muddy.

9:23 He was a tough dude,

9:24 and he tapped out three times before I even finished the outline.

9:27 We've seen you be a technician everywhere.

9:29 And this throat tattoo really threw you.

9:33 Today, you had to prove your creativity.

9:35 And based on your work, one of you will be packing your machines.

9:39 Honestly, I saw JP being down here with two other people.

9:43 You got to start doing things that are aesthetically pleasing.

9:46 JUDGE: It looks like a face drawn on a ball sack.

9:48 Those little circles at the top are scratched in.

9:51 What little linework is in here is uneven throughout.

9:54 But if somebody said, create a monster,

9:56 it's some monster-looking faces on a dude's neck.

9:59 Aesthetically, Turk's is my least favorite.

10:02 But technically, Turk's is probably the best of the three.

10:06 This week, you must tattoo a black and gray bug

10:10 on the throat all the way up to the underside of the chin.

10:16 Oh!

10:18 Holy shit.

10:19 Damn!

10:20 Artists have five hours to put these bugs on these throats.

10:27 And your time starts now.

10:31 [TENSE MUSIC] This subject matter is something that I love to tattoo,

10:39 a black widow spider with a heart spider web

10:42 and cute flowers on either side to frame it.

10:45 Are you simple-shading the whole thing?

10:46 I am.

10:47 Fuck, yeah, that looks great.

10:50 I'm taking a big chance showing them things,

10:51 like, that they haven't seen from me.

10:54 This is, like, a different style than what you— like,

10:56 the whole stipple look and everything like that, that's,

10:58 like, not something they're used to from me.

11:00 It's a gamble, right?

11:01 As long as you love it at the end of the day, that's all that matters to me.

11:04 I know I will.

11:05 You're going heavy blackwork, so of course I will.

11:07 Because this is a lot of heavy black— Good.

11:10 Today, you had to show contrast tattooing

11:13 a black and gray bug on your canvas's throat.

11:16 You were being tested on Ryan's specialty.

11:19 Let's see how you did.

11:20 [SIGHS] Katie.

11:22 All righty.

11:23 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] The artwork is very in your style.

11:27 But it doesn't do a lot for her in terms of the shape of the neck,

11:30 because the legs are a little bit stumpy.

11:32 If you brought those legs down and really made them come to a point,

11:35 you would give her, like, a really beautiful shape.

11:38 Elongate that neck.

11:39 I would have loved to see you pull

11:41 some of that web together with the outside flowers,

11:45 and make it feel like it's one piece.

11:48 It does look like three different tattoos that are a little bit disconnected.

11:51 [TENSE MUSIC] Pon.

11:56 Let's do this, all right.

11:57 I love the moon.

11:59 It fits that area really, really pretty.

12:02 But where the antennas come up over the moon,

12:05 you should have attempted that to be a little bit more symmetrical.

12:09 Yeah, I didn't realize that until right now that they weren't.

12:11 I don't know what you did with those top wings.

12:13 They almost look like so much black, it's tribalistic.

12:17 The canvas I chose, she wanted something dark.

12:19 I went maybe darker than I would have liked to have gone.

12:21 JUDGE: I feel like it kind of gets a little frumpy.

12:24 It's just heavy, bro.

12:25 [TENSE MUSIC] The judges have decided the two artists

12:31 in the bottom are— why would they only pick two?

12:36 Katie— OK, ready to fight.

12:40 Whoa.

12:42 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] --and Pon.

12:46 --and Pon.

12:48 Yep.

12:50 The judges have decided, Pon, you do not have what it takes to be Ink Master.

12:56 Please pack your machines and close shop.

13:00 Give me a hug.

13:02 Yeah, love you, guys.

13:03 [SIGHS] Today, you must tattoo 360-degree tattoos.

13:13 What?

13:14 What?

13:14 What the fuck does that mean?

13:15 JUDGE: There is no greater test of adaptability than

13:19 a tattoo that wraps completely around a part of the body.

13:22 Oh.

13:23 Which part?

13:25 Yeah.

13:25 Fuck.

13:26 Oh, God.

13:27 Let's meet your canvases.

13:28 Blackwork, like mandala with flowers and some jewelry wrapping around,

13:33 and a little bit on the neck and collarbone area.

13:35 OK, that's a little crazy.

13:37 That's a two-day tattoo.

13:38 That's a bad one.

13:40 Sydney!

13:41 Gotta give me all your trust.

13:42 Wow.

13:44 Oh, damn.

13:44 Oh, fuck.

13:45 No way.

13:46 What kind of game are they playing?

13:47 Just going for it.

13:48 I'm not going to stand down to a tough tattoo placement.

13:52 I want to impress the judges because I know I'm a fast tattooer.

13:55 I got this.

13:57 Shit, I think it's not perfect, so maybe, like,

14:01 a little bit smaller and a little bit down.

14:03 The human body is not symmetrical.

14:05 Damn, this thing's way off-center.

14:07 I know.

14:07 I know.

14:08 This one?

14:09 Yeah.

14:09 It was because my head is crooked I was actually born with—- No.

14:11 Because your head's crooked?

14:13 The artist who did that, his head was crooked

14:15 Trying to get this stencil on her is a nightmare.

14:18 You guys are killing your time.

14:20 I know.

14:22 I think I have to, like, straddle you.

14:25 You have two hours.

14:29 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Today, you had to prove your adaptability creating

14:34 a wraparound tattoo that looks great from every angle.

14:37 Let's see how you did.

14:39 Sydney.

14:40 JUDGE: I love the design.

14:42 But you have to center the cleavage and make

14:44 sure that that lines up with the face.

14:46 And if she has a tattoo there already that's already off,

14:49 that's really hard to look at.

14:50 JUDGE: You should have got her to stay away from her neck,

14:53 because the things we like about it are your style.

14:57 But everything else about it, it just makes me stressed out.

15:00 [TENSE MUSIC] The judges have decided the three

15:05 artists in the bottom are Sydney, Koral, Bryan.

15:17 Based on your work, one of you will be packing your machines.

15:22 The placement of Sydney's is offensive, to be completely honest with you.

15:27 JUDGE: Being so off like that— Oh, it's tough.

15:29 A stencil is baby step number one.

15:31 And I definitely screwed that up.

15:33 But overall, I feel like my design was very clean.

15:35 It was very hard and a very challenging area.

15:38 I have so much more to show you guys.

15:40 Like, I have "bad bitch" literally tattooed on my face.

15:42 I would like to be able to show you guys that I am that.

15:46 [ROCK MUSIC]