Ink Master’s Best (& Worst) Scar Cover-Ups 🧐

0:00 MATT: What happened with this one?

0:01 MAN: I got flesh-eating.

0:03 Really?

0:04 They said if I would have waited another half hour, I would have been dead.

0:06 That is insane.

0:08 The Reaper didn't come and get you that day.

0:10 Nope.

0:11 This tattoo is fucking so big for six hours.

0:15 I'm gonna have to power through this thing.

0:18 MAN: It's the weirdest shit is when you were on the scarred area,

0:20 my forearm was tingling.

0:21 MATT: Shooting a nerve somewhere.

0:23 Yeah.

0:24 Can you imagine trying to fix the scar

0:25 and then leaving him with a half-finished tattoo?

0:28 I need to use every second.

0:30 It's fucking brutal right now.

0:35 DAVE: This week, we're testing your use of value,

0:38 the degree of lightness and darkness in your tattoo.

0:41 Value is being able to show dark to light with smooth transitions,

0:44 basic tattooing 101.

0:46 DAVE: For this flash challenge, we have a special group of canvases for you.

0:50 Each of today's canvases has suffered a severe injury.

0:55 Wow.

0:56 DAVE: You will have to transform their gnarly scars— Oh, no.

1:00 --into phenomenal tattoos.

1:02 The hardest part about working with scars is

1:05 that you're not tattooing regular skin that is smooth.

1:09 You could break the skin, traumatize it more.

1:12 It's tough.

1:13 DAVE: Scars are often extremely sensitive.

1:16 Because they have excess collagen,

1:18 they don't hold ink as well as undamaged skin.

1:20 So it's even more challenging to smoothly transition from dark to light values.

1:25 [TENSE MUSIC] Let me take a look at that scar before I start drawing.

1:31 MAN: It was a car accident that caused this.

1:33 I think that maybe the best bet would

1:35 to be kind of sneak that right up against that.

1:38 We decided to go with a really beautiful

1:40 pink flower in order to show really smooth values.

1:44 The flower that I found has really great blacks in it that transition

1:48 perfectly into reds and pinks into light pink all the way into skin.

1:51 Yo.

1:54 Joshua's tattoo is a [BLEEP] tattoo just because it's safe.

1:58 He's really not creative at all.

2:00 He can't draw.

2:01 He's a photocopy machine.

2:03 Jason, what did you do?

2:05 Serpent.

2:06 There's a lot of pressure with this particular flash challenge because

2:08 I need to come up to the top of the ranks here.

2:12 MAN: I thought you were gonna do a big giant jellyfish.

2:14 I got a jellyfish for you there, Jimmy.

2:16 It looks like you ate a whole pound of them.

2:18 Keep talking [BLEEP] and see what happens.

2:19 I need to win.

2:20 And the one canvas I don't want, I got.

2:23 It turned out cool.

2:24 Joshua, he got the easiest canvas.

2:27 It seems like a bit of a cop-out.

2:31 DAVE: Tatu Baby.

2:32 OLIVER: You have a very good range of dark black

2:35 underneath that crest of the wing fading out into the feathers.

2:37 A lot of good different color values throughout this tattoo from the beak

2:41 to the head to the neck to the tuft around the shoulders.

2:44 DAVE: Jason.

2:45 CHRIS: The value that you got in this, the dark to lights,

2:47 you have some nice areas where it's gonna soften up nicely.

2:50 The soft water in the bottom,

2:51 that'll blend in nicely into that scar tissue in the center.

2:54 Thank you so much.

2:55 Joshua, why did you select this canvas?

2:58 She had a pretty simple scar,

3:00 and I needed a day where I could feel relaxed and stress-free.

3:04 You had the easy ride, but you made the most out of it.

3:07 OLIVER: Amazing value representation in there with how rich this thing is

3:11 in the dark parts and how soft this thing is and the light parts.

3:14 Perfect.

3:15 All right, guys, we're talking about value.

3:17 We're talking about severely scarred canvases.

3:20 Jason.

3:21 He got the gnarliest scarred canvas of the day.

3:25 OLIVER: The most detailed part of the design is

3:26 also on the most scarred part of the design.

3:29 That's just bad decision making.

3:30 DAVE: Let's move on to Tatu Baby,

3:32 who I thought did really well in this challenge.

3:34 OLIVER: She gave us the rich blacks,

3:36 the smooth color fades to really let the value speak for itself.

3:40 DAVE: What did you think of Joshua's work today?

3:42 CHRIS: He showed really beautiful texture in the flower.

3:45 OLIVER: Joshua's tattoo is beautiful but very minimal scarring.

3:48 Difficulty level, somehow that's got to weigh in there.

3:51 I think we have a decision.

3:52 We do.

3:53 DAVE: For this flash challenge,

3:54 we asked you to transform scars into phenomenal tattoos.

3:58 Some of you succeeded.

4:00 Tatu Baby.

4:01 OLIVER: You really showed rich tones and nice fades,

4:05 and you did a really good job putting it on a knee,

4:07 which is already a difficult area.

4:09 Joshua.

4:11 Real rich color, nice transitions from darks to lights.

4:14 It was one of my favorites of the day.

4:15 Thank you.

4:17 DAVE: The judges have decided the winner

4:20 of today's flash challenge is— [TENSE MUSIC] Tatu Baby.

4:29 [APPLAUSE] This week, we're testing your ability to use finesse.

4:37 Every single part of tattooing requires finesse.

4:41 How you deal with your canvas, how you place the image,

4:44 and how you actually perform the tattoo.

4:47 DAVE: The tougher the situation,

4:48 the more finesse you need to create a masterpiece.

4:51 For your flash challenge today, you must tattoo— amputees.

4:58 When there's an an amputation,

5:00 the residual limb that's left behind can be badly traumatized,

5:04 leaving it uniquely shaped and scarred.

5:06 You'll have five hours to create a phenomenal tattoo on the residual limb.

5:12 CRIS: It's hard to tattoo a residual limb because there's a lot of scar tissue.

5:16 You have to be extremely careful and show a lot of finesse to tattoo it.

5:20 DAVE: You must use finesse to work with a canvas who

5:23 has suffered a devastating loss and transform it into a triumph.

5:29 OLIVER: Tattooing amputees,

5:30 finesse is definitely required because you tattoo a lot

5:33 of different skin textures all in one tattoo.

5:36 Where is it exactly that we would like to put this?

5:38 Oh, I'm think maybe like across here like this.

5:40 I'm looking for all of the tattooers to take

5:43 a dramatic instance for a client and turn

5:45 it into a thing of beauty that they want to show off and be proud of.

5:49 The main concept idea for me is

5:51 that my arm is going down inside the shark's mouth.

5:54 My canvas has unrealistic expectations.

5:57 So the nose of the shark is here, and then the mouth opens.

6:00 The size of it is a lot.

6:03 I want to give you a really nice tattoo also.

6:04 If he doesn't budge on this design, it's gonna be a really uphill battle for me.

6:10 I'm tattooing the entire residual limb,

6:12 and it's really tricky because there are some areas that are not tattooable.

6:17 I feel like the ink might not hold that well

6:19 because the scar tissue is getting damaged so quickly.

6:22 And there's some areas that are too painful to tattoo.

6:25 Still doing OK?

6:26 WOMAN: That side really hurts.

6:27 JOSH: Bear with me.

6:29 I have to really create something that helps her distract

6:32 her eye so that when she looks at her residual limb,

6:35 she sees a beautiful tattoo.

6:37 ERIK: I'm gonna use some of your scars as texture.

6:40 Right now in the competition, we're getting down to the nitty-gritty.

6:43 I want to make it look awesome.

6:44 MAN: I'm telling ya, I love it.

6:45 I want to get that skull pick so I can start knocking people off one by one.

6:50 MAN: Those scales look pretty impressive.

6:52 CLEEN ROCK ONE: We're getting there.

6:53 My canvas has this crazy idea of a shield,

6:56 broken glass, dragon scales, flowers coming out of it.

7:00 And you know what?

7:01 There ain't nothing that I can't draw.

7:04 AARON: Cris's placement looks really odd.

7:06 He would have been better suited not doing anything than

7:09 just slapping this little tiny shark on this giant canvas.

7:14 DAVE: Josh, I really like how you took the end of the limb

7:18 and turned that into textures that worked within the fire and the smoke.

7:21 CRIS: It was really important to me

7:22 that I actually did tattoo over the scar tissue.

7:24 CHRIS: Knowing how to work with it

7:25 and change your machinery to adapt, that shows finesse.

7:29 DAVE: Eric.

7:30 OLIVER: The way that you left the old tattoo and worked the negative

7:33 space in your current image to let that old tattoo kind of sit there,

7:36 it flows together really nice.

7:38 It's a super strong, bright, very detailed tattoo.

7:41 Super cool.

7:42 DAVE: Cleen.

7:44 OLIVER: Man, capturing the detail in those flowers and leaves is really amazing.

7:48 CHRIS: It shows a lot of finesse because you have the really,

7:50 really tight detail and then the very bold lines.

7:52 Great design, Cleen.

7:55 Chris, I have to ask, it's not what you initially wanted.

8:00 Are you happy with how this came out?

8:04 CHRIS: It was a compromise.

8:05 CHRIS: It's got some really nice details.

8:07 The lightning bolt in the eye and the really smooth,

8:09 soft gray shading that you have in the underside

8:11 of the nose leading into the jaw, it makes for really high contrast.

8:15 ERIK: Chris made an executive decision not doing a shark eating the guy's arm.

8:19 I don't have respect for people that don't step out of their comfort zone.

8:22 It's a easy way out.

8:25 DAVE: Today, you had to show finesse by tattooing amputees.

8:30 The judges have decided the winner of today's flash challenge is— Erik.

8:40 CHRIS: The way that you broke the negative space skin into the top

8:43 of the tattoo and then the way it flowed off at the bottom,

8:46 very smooth tattooing.

8:48 DAVE: This week, we're testing artistry.

8:52 Artistry is the creativity that you're able to present in a tattoo.

8:56 Without artistry, you're unable to make something awesome.

9:01 Right now, more than 16 million

9:04 Americans suffer from diseases caused by cigarettes.

9:07 In the last 50 years, more than 20 million Americans have died from smoking.

9:14 Your canvases today have quit smoking, but they're still paying the price.

9:19 They all have permanent scars as a result.

9:24 Today, you must help your canvases by making their scars disappear.

9:30 NIKKI: Covering scars is really, really hard.

9:32 Some scars do not hold any pigment at all.

9:35 And sometimes it gets raised and puffed up and even

9:39 more obvious than it was in the first place.

9:41 Today's an important day.

9:42 These people already have a lot that they're dealing

9:44 with, and these scars remind them of their health battles in the past.

9:48 And now it's your chance to turn

9:49 your drawing skills on and camouflage their scars.

9:52 GIA: You just told them him you're one of the top artists here,

9:54 you'll do a killer job.

9:55 Yeah.

9:58 GIA: OK, we'll leave you to it.

10:00 Nikki won't even talk to us.

10:01 She's so angry, she's literally fuming.

10:04 RYAN: Nikki's great with the dark, gothy cathedral kind of [BLEEP].

10:07 I thought she'd be happy.

10:09 [TENSE MUSIC] I've always wanted something like that on my body.

10:15 This is easily one of the most important tattoos I've done in my entire career.

10:20 It's really just kids get freaked out about it, you know what I mean?

10:23 But if it's a picture, they won't get freaked out about it.

10:25 This guy is 21 years old,

10:27 and he has a hole in his throat that children are afraid of.

10:32 Here we go.

10:33 This is my chance to make it just a little bit better.

10:37 Wow.

10:39 Everybody's gonna be looking at your neck now.

10:41 They're looking at my neck already.

10:42 Yeah, in a good way, though, now.

10:46 How you holding up?

10:47 MAN: It's a little more sensitive than I figured it would be.

10:49 ERIC: Unfortunately, my canvas, he's been through so many surgeries.

10:53 His nerves are all [BLEEP] up.

10:55 One moment, he's fine.

10:57 The next moment, he's in excruciating pain.

11:02 I might not be able to finish this tattoo.

11:04 We'll get through it, man.

11:06 DAVE: All right, time to critique your work.

11:07 And we will start with Kelly.

11:10 How was it sitting with Kelly?

11:12 She did a good job.

11:13 I'm very happy with it.

11:14 CHRIS: I understand not wanting to do a big black hole leading into a dark hole.

11:18 That was definitely a smart, sensible play.

11:20 But when I first looked at it,

11:22 you don't get this immediate sense of space and galaxy.

11:25 OLIVER: The way you worked with the skin in that area,

11:27 you have some amazing color blends, saturated color,

11:30 and really bright color play,

11:31 but you don't really get a space feel from a distance when you look at it.

11:36 DAVE: Eric.

11:38 OLIVER: You've used his muscle shapes to contour the mechanisms he put in there.

11:42 Definitely shows artistry.

11:44 You did some really clean, strong outlining.

11:46 Even though it's thin, it works really well with the contrast.

11:49 I think you did a great job.

11:50 Thank you.

11:51 Nikki.

11:53 OLIVER: He had this crazy, weird dragon.

11:55 You made what he had a lot better, and you got rid of the scar.

11:58 CHRIS: The way that you used the scar tissue to play

12:01 into that rocky texture to camouflage it all and tie it in, really good.

12:05 DAVE: All right, guys, today,

12:06 you had to use artistry to transform a scar into a work of art.

12:10 We look great as a group today.

12:12 To give your canvases something to transform

12:14 pain into things that they're happy about,

12:16 it makes me happy to have you guys repping for us.

12:19 DAVE: The judges have decided that the winner

12:21 of today's flash challenge is— Nikki.

12:26 Sweet.

12:27 Thank you.

12:28 OLIVER: It was super smooth.

12:29 You had a lot of obstacles to tie in the old tattoo,

12:32 and overall, it just looked so slick.

12:34 Today, you must transform a scar.

12:39 Oh, shit.

12:41 This is cool.

12:42 Awesome.

12:42 It's a challenge, but I think it's a good challenge.

12:44 Tattooing on scar tissues is pretty tricky.

12:46 The skin can be much, much harder or much, much softer.

12:50 You have to be ingenious because the ink

12:52 in the skin doesn't react the same as normal skin.

12:55 Each of the canvases today has survived a life-changing

12:59 event that has left them with a permanent scar.

13:02 Wow.

13:03 JOEL: You must use ingenuity to create a tattoo that will perfectly

13:06 camouflage it and turn this physical reminder into an empowering work of art.

13:12 KYRA: When it comes to scar coverups, it always feels like an honor.

13:15 There's so much trust in your hands.

13:17 It's one of the best parts of being a tattoo artist.

13:20 This is a fucking feel-good day, for sure.

13:22 Working with scars is difficult.

13:24 The skin changes in every area of a scar.

13:27 Really think outside of the box.

13:29 This isn't about just slapping whatever you

13:31 want over a textured area of the body.

13:34 Make it fit the scar.

13:35 If you're covering it, make it work with your design.

13:37 You're changing people's lives here.

13:39 This is fucking awesome.

13:40 It's an infected dog bite, and I had 70 stitches, and I almost lost my leg.

13:45 Damn, what a trooper.

13:46 I've tattooed a lot of scars during my career,

13:49 but this is one of the hardest scar I ever saw.

13:51 I can feel the muscles.

13:52 I can feel the tendons.

13:53 It's gonna be tough.

13:54 Tell me the story.

13:55 What's the idea?

13:56 I thought some cogs and gears,

13:58 kind of like it was moving inside my leg like mechanics.

14:01 Perfect circles on the skin is hard.

14:03 On the scar, it's even harder.

14:05 I've had artists before that don't want to touch it.

14:08 Now you surround by Ink Masters.

14:09 It's OK.

14:11 WOMAN: Super cool.

14:12 MAN: You just want a killler clown?

14:13 I just want something really killer.

14:15 Whatever you want to do.

14:16 Because the more it can cover, the better.

14:18 I've kind of been self-conscious about going out in public without a shirt.

14:21 If I can just have something really cool to show off,

14:23 I would just be like— I mean, my first thought always goes to grim reapers.

14:27 We could try to do your whole stomach.

14:28 MAN: Do it as big as you want, man.

14:29 I'm fucking gassed on this.

14:31 My mom died of stage IV metastatic breast cancer in 2018,

14:35 but it qualified me to get hereditary testing.

14:38 It gave me a 70% to 80% chance of getting breast cancer.

14:41 So they did the removal.

14:42 Now I consider myself the boobless wonder.

14:45 [LAUGHS] KYRA: I'm, like, crying and laughing.

14:49 WOMAN: It just means we're gonna have fun.

14:51 I know.

14:52 I came up with a fire idea, bro, to actually cuff the scar and everything.

14:55 Like, I think it'd be fucking dope.

14:57 I think this is pretty cool.

14:59 I can get this done.

15:00 The only thing I wanted to say was the time.

15:03 If we only do one side.

15:07 I think I'm OK with it.

15:08 Really?

15:08 Yeah.

15:09 OK.

15:09 I'm OK with it.

15:10 MAN: All right, man, you ready?

15:11 Oh, yeah.

15:12 MAN: Here we go.

15:12 [TENSE MUSIC] What happened with this one?

15:18 MAN: I got flesh-eating.

15:20 MAN: Really?

15:21 They said if I would have waited another half hour, I would have been dead.

15:24 That is insane.

15:26 The reaper didn't come and get you that day.

15:28 Nope.

15:29 This tattoo is fucking so big for six hours.

15:33 I'm gonna have to power through this thing.

15:35 MAN: The weirdest shit is when you were on the scar area,

15:38 my forearm was tingling.

15:39 MATT: Just shooting a nerve somewhere.

15:41 Yeah.

15:42 MATT: Can you imagine trying to fix the scar

15:43 and then leaving him with a half-finished tattoo?

15:45 I need to use every second.

15:47 It's fucking brutal right now.

15:50 [TENSE MUSIC] You OK?

15:55 WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

15:55 I thought you were gonna kick me.

15:58 I'm not feeling so confident here.

16:00 This layer of skin is so thin,

16:02 I can feel the tendons, the muscles moving under my needle.

16:07 I'm trying to be, like, very gentle here, but everywhere I touch it, you move.

16:12 I'm worried if I go extra hard, it could split the skin.

16:15 I'm worried if I go too light, don't want to stay.

16:18 WOMAN: Yeah, it's fucking sore now.

16:21 ISNARD: I know.

16:23 It feels like fuck.

16:25 I'll go as slow as I can, OK?

16:27 WOMAN: OK.

16:27 ISNARD: She might not be able to finish this tattoo.

16:29 I don't know what to do.

16:30 [TENSE MUSIC] There's definitely some really painful areas,

16:36 but I've definitely experienced much, much worse in life, so.

16:40 MAN: Oh, yeah.

16:41 MAN: Struck by a speeding vehicle, my body got beat up real bad.

16:44 Yeah.

16:45 MAN: On the brink of death.

16:47 My mom literally slept in the waiting room the entire

16:50 time until they told her I was gonna make it.

16:53 Now I'm here getting a tattoo for her.

16:55 MAN: That's so fucking cool.

16:57 MAN: Can I ask you why you had those scars on your side?

17:01 When I was, like, early teenage years, I was very depressed.

17:04 There was a lot going on in my life that I couldn't really control.

17:08 And I went to— to self-harm as, like, a coping mechanism for a long time.

17:13 MAN: I understand that coming from, let's say, a stressful environment.

17:17 It's always gonna be there, that anxiety.

17:19 It's just finding ways to manage it.

17:23 Healthy ways to manage it.

17:24 MAN: Yeah, absolutely.

17:27 KYRA: You're very strong for being here.

17:29 I wanted this to represent love, strength, perseverance, get through it.

17:33 KYRA: This is a very special tattoo to me, too.

17:35 And what an honor, truthfully.

17:38 What about, like, small highlights of a color in the rose?

17:42 Oh, if you put color somewhere, it looks like the other parts are not colored.

17:46 It would now look incomplete.

17:47 The butterfly is important enough that it could be.

17:50 WOMAN: If it'll work, do the butterfly, then.

17:52 Yeah.

17:53 I really packed in that butterfly to be black and gray only.

17:56 But today is about Heather.

17:58 WOMAN: Do that little bit extra.

18:00 That little bit of extra oomph.

18:01 Maybe it will make it pop.

18:04 Sheesh.

18:06 Shit.

18:08 ISNARD: I'm just doing what you asked me for.

18:09 WOMAN: I know.

18:10 ISNARD: It's all your fault.

18:11 You know that.

18:11 WOMAN: It's all my fucking fault.

18:14 [WHIMPERS] Bro, this shit is super fucking clean.

18:18 I know it probably fucking hurt, too.

18:21 I never done a phoenix before.

18:23 The talons.

18:24 Yeah?

18:24 I think they got four.

18:25 MAN: You could have three or four on either side.

18:28 Three or four, pick one.

18:29 Whatever looks better.

18:30 This shit ain't even real.

18:31 This is a fantasy bird.

18:32 I don't want that shit to claw me right up out of this competition.

18:36 MAN: Damn, man.

18:37 Oh, that little spot right there?

18:39 Feeling like a bitch, huh?

18:41 ISNARD: It's OK, it's OK.

18:42 Now I'm just like my— it's gone now.

18:46 My scar is gone.

18:48 Oh, that's awesome.

18:49 That's wicked.

18:50 You've done pretty well to sit through that.

18:53 It's so cute.

18:55 All right, judges, the artists had six

18:57 hours to prove their ingenuity by tattooing scars.

19:00 We don't know who did what, but safety from elimination is on the line.

19:07 Let's bring up the first scar.

19:09 [TENSE MUSIC] It's mine.

19:14 DJ: This was the self-harm.

19:16 Cool little skunk with the flower.

19:18 And I love the endearing eyes, man.

19:19 Like, so loving.

19:21 DJ: There's a lot of cool textures and tricks in this.

19:23 It's very animated.

19:25 NIKKO: The illusion of the white on the belly

19:26 right there in the shadow is really cool.

19:28 JOEL: I love this tattoo.

19:29 RYAN: It makes you smile.

19:31 This skunk's got a good funk.

19:32 Cool.

19:33 WOMAN: Cool.

19:34 Well done, Luka.

19:35 WOMAN: Tattoo made me happy.

19:36 Thank you.

19:36 Let's bring up the next scar.

19:38 WOMAN: Oh, Boushee.

19:39 What up?

19:41 JOEL: The near-fatal quad accident.

19:44 NIKKO: That's some nice gray shading, nice values.

19:46 NIKKO: But the legs get a little stiff for me.

19:48 NIKKO: The body itself doesn't really match up

19:50 with the way it's throwing up its wings.

19:53 The head just feels a bit plain.

19:55 Doesn't look powerful like the rest of the bird.

19:57 NIKKO: I would have liked to see the head tilted a little bit, maybe upward.

20:01 Even a more dynamic positioning to show the power of a phoenix.

20:05 But the scar is gone.

20:06 I think you did a solid job.

20:08 That's what I'm talking about.

20:09 Thank you, Luka, shit.

20:10 My mama gonna see you say that.

20:12 Let's see the next scar.

20:14 Oh, yeah, that's me.

20:16 JOEL: Preventative mastectomy.

20:18 Wow.

20:20 DJ: If you're gonna do a rose, you gotta do it like this.

20:24 Ah.

20:25 NIKKO: Really cool contrast and lighting on the rose.

20:28 Adding this really cool curve made this thing flow nicely.

20:32 RYAN: This artist actually used this under curve and created this beautiful,

20:35 elegant shape on the body.

20:37 NIKKO: I love the way it fades off with the thorns.

20:40 I love the butterfly.

20:41 The butterfly is sick.

20:42 RYAN: Since the butterfly is the only thing in color,

20:44 it looks like the butterfly is coming out at you.

20:47 Super effective.

20:48 JOEL: Whoever did this is badass.

20:50 DJ: Yeah, I think I know who did this.

20:52 JOEL: Who do you think?

20:52 Kyra.

20:53 Yeah?

20:54 Kyra?

20:54 Kyra is good with that realistic black and gray.

20:56 Thank you.

20:57 If Kyra did this tattoo,

20:59 then this is hands down the best tattoo that Kyra has done.

21:02 DJ: Maybe the best rose that Ink Master has seen.

21:04 MAN: Damn!

21:05 Let's go!

21:06 Big dog.

21:07 Let's see it.

21:08 I'm proud of you, man.

21:10 Thank you.

21:11 Let's see the next scar.

21:13 Oh.

21:15 It's mine.

21:16 JOEL: The infected dog bite.

21:18 Whoa.

21:19 RYAN: This one's tough because it's textured and it's deep.

21:23 DJ: Some of the lines get away because you are taking

21:26 something so circular and consecutive straight

21:29 lines over something that's so textured.

21:32 But I love how on the outside,

21:34 the frame of the tattoo is really beautiful, smooth filigree.

21:38 NIKKO: What an ingenious way to create this pocket

21:41 with these gears where you can look into this scar.

21:43 DJ: You can't really make out that deep cavity anymore.

21:47 It disguises it 100%.

21:49 A lot of things, I didn't finish because she was in incredible pain.

21:52 I have to do a lot of things on the fly.

21:54 Having to do cogs in that place and with how bad she was doing,

21:58 I think you did really well.

22:00 Let's see the next scar.

22:02 Oh, that's mine.

22:03 JOEL: The flesh-eating bacteria.

22:07 Wow.

22:09 Six hours?

22:10 RYAN: It's huge.

22:11 It's bold.

22:12 It's super impressive.

22:14 NIKKO: I like the shapes in the cheeks and the jaw and the teeth.

22:17 I mean, it looks badass.

22:19 JOEL: Whoever did this really complimented not only the scar,

22:23 but the entire torso.

22:25 DJ: Doesn't look stagnant, doesn't look stiff.

22:27 It has, like, really cool flow using those really, like,

22:30 pitted areas above the teeth and the way

22:32 this drawing was illustrated to cover that scar was perfect.

22:35 Matt did this.

22:36 It's gotta be Matt.

22:37 I think Matt.

22:38 To go like this, it takes a lot of balls.

22:40 It's fucking great.

22:41 It's not often you can try to do something so big

22:43 and you can pull it off and the canvas sits it.

22:46 He probably ain't got no shirt on right now somewhere.

22:48 Yeah.

22:49 Let's take a look at the next scar.

22:52 Oh, that's my guy.

22:53 JOEL: This was the gentleman who was hit by the speeding car.

22:56 NIKKO: I like the wolf.

22:57 It's a bold tattoo, strong outline, nice gray shading.

23:01 But the thorns, it's kind of like too much of it.

23:04 It could have broken up in some spots.

23:06 I like the way the paw's drawn and the nails.

23:09 RYAN: It's just a little exaggerated how that paw would actually curl.

23:12 The wrist of the paw goes back like it should be the other leg,

23:15 and then it curls around and goes to the other side.

23:18 DJ: Where that claw is coming from, it's confusing to me.

23:22 JOEL: They did a great job of covering this scar.

23:25 It's the illustration that I have a problem with.

23:27 It is fucking clean.

23:29 You can't argue that.

23:30 It's tough not being there to be able to tell them

23:32 the story of why I did the things that I did,

23:34 but if I'm in the bottom, I'll just fucking fight my way to the top.

23:37 JOEL: Today, you had to use ingenuity to transform a scar into a work of art.

23:44 Shit was fucking hard.

23:45 But it felt good.

23:47 Based on your work, each of your tattoos have been ranked by the judges.

23:51 All right.

23:52 The four artists with the highest ranked tattoos will be safe from elimination.

23:58 And apparently, there was a tie for the highest ranked tattoo.

24:02 Damn.

24:03 I wonder who it could be.

24:05 JOEL: Please reveal the first tattoo that tied for the highest rank.

24:12 Dang.

24:13 MAN: Oh my god.

24:14 Big dog.

24:15 JOEL: Kyra.

24:17 MAN: Good job.

24:18 Kyra, you changed this woman's life forever.

24:20 I mean, this tattoo is really beautifully done.

24:23 RYAN: The tattooing is amazing.

24:24 The layout is amazing.

24:26 You should be so, so proud of yourself and inspired by this.

24:31 You rose to the occasion on this one, for sure.

24:34 Congratulations, Kyra, you are safe from elimination.

24:38 Gah!

24:39 I don't want to get eliminated.

24:41 Good job, big dog.

24:43 Please reveal the second tattoo that tied for the highest rank.

24:49 The reaper.

24:50 Who did the reaper?

24:52 Of course.

24:52 RYAN: Oh, Matt.

24:53 Had to be Matt.

24:54 We knew it.

24:55 Dude, you fucking killed this tattoo.

24:58 His story was so perfect for me, a kind of not afraid of death.

25:01 Dude, you're getting a reaper.

25:02 You're, like, looking death in the face.

25:04 Now you're just gonna have to sit.

25:05 This big-ass tattoo in that amount of time,

25:08 how the fuck did you do that in six hours?

25:11 When you do the stomach, when they lay down,

25:13 it goes twice the size, and you go, oh, fuck.

25:16 NIKKO: Dude, if he was self-conscious before,

25:17 that dude doesn't have a shred of it anymore.

25:20 This tattoo is fucking badass.

25:22 JOEL: Congratulations, you are safe from elimination.

25:25 Awesome.

25:25 MAN: Dude.

25:27 This is fucking insane, man.

25:29 Big dog.

25:30 Big dog.

25:31 Please reveal the third highest ranked tattoo.

25:33 [TENSE MUSIC] Little skunk.

25:39 Little skunk.

25:40 Luka.

25:40 Luka.

25:41 Another rodent.

25:42 JOEL: I love this tattoo.

25:43 The belly of it is crazy, bro, the way you made that look like fur.

25:47 This tattoo is so great, man.

25:49 DJ: You took something that stinks and you made it cute.

25:52 JOEL: You killed it.

25:53 LUKA: Very appreciated.

25:54 Thank you, guys.

25:55 Congratulations, Luka, you are safe from elimination.

25:59 Hey, Luka.

26:00 Technically second.

26:04 JOEL: Kyra, Matt, Luka, and Keahi, the four of you are safe from elimination.

26:10 Cool.

26:11 That's a nice feeling.

26:12 The rest of you are not.

26:15 Please reveal the lowest ranked tattoo.

26:18 [TENSE MUSIC] Oh, damn.

26:28 JOEL: You got handed a fucking hard one.

26:30 The scar was weak.

26:32 I could feel the muscles, the tendons under my needle.

26:35 But I'm proud that she was really happy.

26:37 You made a lot of great choices.

26:39 And overall, this person's leg looks entirely different and better in every way.

26:44 JOEL: Please reveal the second lowest ranked tattoo.

26:46 [TENSE MUSIC] Oh.

26:52 Yeah.

26:53 That's not how I thought this was going at all.

26:55 Seth.

26:56 I completely understand what you guys are saying.

26:59 I'm a technician first and an artist second.

27:02 DJ: Just get a little bit more loose.

27:03 Some of the things could be changed a little bit,

27:05 and it would change the whole feeling.

27:07 I'm really doing everything I fucking can to push myself to the next level.

27:10 JOEL: That means, Boushee, you had the third lowest ranked tattoo.

27:15 I'm not surprised of being in the bottom right now because it's just a phoenix,

27:19 you know what I'm saying?

27:20 It's fire as hell, but it's just that.

27:22 NIKKO: This isn't a bad tattoo.

27:23 I just think small little tweaks, man,

27:25 the talons and the head will make a huge difference.

27:28 But overall shape and the flow, and you changed this whole scar forever.

27:32 Badass.

27:34 Thank you, thank you.

27:35 I'm grateful.