Today, you had to show detail with melting tattoos on the upper arm. Let's see how you did. Seth? The areas of the melting you have, how you have the lead actually look like chrome-- NIKKO HURTADO: Very successful. RYAN ASHLEY: --it's so successful. That shit looks metallic. I love that you switched up the underside of the mushroom and just did it that yellowish color. And it kills some of the detail under there

and brings your eye to all those other colored parts. My favorite part about this are the few little stained glass pieces that have a stripy texture in them. It's such a cool approach. Over the last several months, each finalist also had to tattoo a 24-hour chest piece in the style and subject assigned by the opposing team. Ryan, you are up first. Let's see how your master canvas went. Ryan, I would love to see dueling hot rods, big, chunky, '90s new school. That is everything I have ever hated.

Are you ready? I'm ready. RYAN ASHLEY: This is your new chest piece. Cool, right? - Yeah I'm excited. I have a lot more to prove. Are you ready? New school was the one challenge that everyone else in the finale did that I didn't do. You gotta breathe, OK? It's literally the opposite of my style, vibrant, bright color, thick, chunky lines.

I don't do anything like that. You got this. This really is the tattoo that's going to make it or break it for me. 11 minutes. I've made it this far because I've busted my ass. I deserve to be the first female Ink Master. All right, it is the moment of truth, Ryan. Please reveal your master canvas. Ready?

DJ TAMBE: Hi, Ryan. Tell us about this. Well, Kelly assigned me '90s new school because it's the opposite of what I normally do. And I feel like she assigned it to me because she basically wanted me to prove that if I deserve the Ink Master title, I should be able to tackle any style and handle any challenge that was thrown at me. So I think this challenge was the opposite of what I've been expected to do. And I did it as true to the challenge as I could. I trained with coil machines for a few weeks before I attempted it.

I started using steel tubes. And I practiced before I even attempted it, and the artwork took me a very long time. I mean, aside from just having to-- Ryan, I got to move it along. Oliver, let's hear from you. OLIVER PECK: Well, I gotta say, man, this was one tough challenge for you, especially. I mean, this style is something that you weren't even tattooing when this style was prevalent.

I remember the '90s. I remember tattooing at tattoo conventions with Cleen Rock when he was doing all this stuff. And I mean, this is it. You could go-- this is a time machine tattoo right here. You go back-- I mean, you look at the way this tattoo is done, the linework, the color, the solid, the bright, the color play of making the chrome with the weird highlights.

Nailed it. DAVE NAVARRO: Chris, your thoughts? Well, you know. This tattoo, it does exude '90s. It does have that really '90s feel. I also-- this is my 25th year tattooing. I grew up on this. So looking at this artwork, the outline quality, the color quality, the color palette and play, it really sets off a strong '90s presence. What, for me, really hits it is the use of the chrome. Because we were really chrome babies in the '90s.

We would make anything chrome. And you captured that look in this '90s feel tattoo. I think you did a great job. Thank you. DAVE NAVARRO: All right, Ryan, thank you very much. Today, you must prove your ingenuity with metallic tattoos. Finally, something fun. Yes. Fucking sick, boy. It's my lucky day. I make metallic tattoos all the time back home.

I made this sick, gold, metallic buttplug that blew up everywhere on the internet. This is amazing. TATTOO ARTIST: Glad he's on my team. Let's meet your canvases. 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. That's cool.

Illustrative, metallic, sexy male robot pinup-- That's cool. --on my butt. I know Lina just went out on the butt tattoo, but that one could be really freaking cool and fun. A realistic, metallic diving helmet. Interesting. A realistic, metallic, golden pharaoh. Right on. James. That's me. This one's the sexy robot. Butt cheek. Cat. You want that one. She'll crush that.

Did they just throw me a bone right now? What is happening? Which one's the next one? Diver's helmet. Jade. That's me. Pony. That'd be me, and you're in good hands. The king of gold. Yeah, it makes sense, right? It feels good so far. Yeah, my tattoos don't hurt. Last week, the judges called my tattoo a snooze fest.

This week, I'm going to blow them away. Let's do some color. Bring it on. I don't really have a preference. It's illustrative. It's out of my head. Did you bring that yellow, any of that yellow? No. I know. My tattoo shows ingenuity in placement, ingenuity in composition, ingenuity in just pulling this fucking thing off, and it's going to look great.

- Here you go, pops. - You know? - Good for you. Fucking right. Look at us, eh? You're grounded. Have you always been into art? Kind of. Like, I always 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 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 pushed me and made me want to become a better tattoo artist. I can't believe people used to actually wear those. HUMAN CANVAS: They're so heavy. TATTOO ARTIST: Heavy duty.

RYAN ASHLEY: Sink right to the bottom. Hopefully, we don't sink to the bottom with this one, right? That's the goal. I like the direction we're going in here. I think the other team, when they saw my reaction, they're like, wait, what did we do? They're like, what did we just hand her? There are three hours left on the clock.

Tony, you're in your world today, huh? Yeah, just, I mean, literally trying to fight the clock right now. Today, of all days, I've got to pull this tattoo together. It's on a very important day. Man, you think you'd simplify a little bit, but you're really going for it. TATTOO ARTIST: 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 fucking competition. My dad is the one that got me into tattooing. He was my biggest push growing up. He was the one that always pushed me to do good work. I mean, making him proud is my biggest reasons for being here. 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 bust. It has that, 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 partying. 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. Jade. I feel like it really is shiny. It has that kind of 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. 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, like the chest and the shoulder. I absolutely love, love, love, love, love the nipple rings. It's so ridiculous and cool. DJ TAMBE: It is a cool, dramatic pose.

It's like, oh, my robot partner just broke up with me. [GIGGLING] 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. NIKKO HURTADO: 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? NIKKO HURTADO: It's a really great illustration, and then it's tattooed in a way that shines. My vote is for Cat. My vote's going to 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 going to vote for James. TATTOO ARTIST: Here we fucking 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. TATTOO ARTIST: Let's go.

Heck yeah. Got it. Today, you must create glitter tattoos-- TATTOO ARTIST: Oh. TATTOO ARTIST: What? TATTOO ARTIST: Shit. --on the stomach. Oh my god. I have dot work on my stomach, and that's not easy. It feels like a knife stabbing you. Shit. Your stomach has a ton of nerve endings in there. If you approach the stomach with a sharp needle, your brain automatically says, get the fuck off of me.

Let's meet your canvases. Glittery Japanese daruma doll with glittery, sticker style origami cranes. I might like that one. Bah, no, the sticker will pull you apart. Glittery, neo-traditional brachiosaurus. Like a dinosaur?

I don't even know what the fuck that is. Dinosaurs is extinct. Let's keep it that way. Kyra. Hi. What's that, Japanese daruma? Oh, that's sick. Isnard. Don't hold it, keep breathing, and that's it. I actually thought I was going to get fucked up with the skull picks. HUMAN CANVAS: Oh. Because they know I don't do color too much. But just because they don't advertise it doesn't mean I don't do it.

Daruma dolls represent perseverance just because, when you knock them over, because they're so round and cute, they can roll back up. It kind of sounds like me. Yeah, a lot to prove being a realism artist, here especially, man. People just think I'm just this cute, little Asian girl. But I can show up, and I can give you a pretty gangster piece.

HUMAN CANVAS: Ow. - I know. Stay with me. - Oh my gosh. We came this far. That hurts. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, that's it. Time's up. No more ink. Oh. And we done. Yeah. Today, you had to show contrast with glitter tattoos on the stomach. Let's see how you did. Kyra, you're up. This is how a glitter tattoo should be done. You showed us multiple colors of glitter.

Glitter around the eyes. Look at the reflective light. You actually made it look 3D. I love the expression on its face. It shows great contrast with the softness of the shadow. RYAN ASHLEY: It's a beautiful tattoo. This is exactly what we were looking for on glitter day. Big dog. What? Big dog, that's impressive.

Isnard. I like the contrast in the color play. You have really nice blues and oranges that play off each other, which are high contrast. You actually focused on a light source, and you rendered the glitter to have an actual shine to it. And that creates a perfect illusion when it comes to glitter. I like this tattoo. Thank you. Judges, it's time to determine who had the best tattoo of the day.

What about Kyra's tattoo? Wow, what dimension, and what glitter. And then, the extra little origami? DJ TAMBE: Yeah. NIKKO HURTADO: Amazing. This heavy shadow coming off the side really sets this thing off and makes it look like you can pick it up off the skin. My vote for tattoo of the day goes to Kyra. Stepped her game up. Kyra killed it with this tattoo.

My vote goes to Kyra. Yay. The judges have decided the best tattoo of the day goes to Kyra. Today, you must create-- What is it? --melting tattoos. Oh. What is melting? Yeah, I don't know shit about melting. The closest I get is when my daughter eats ice cream, and it drips all over our couch. You must take a seemingly solid object and make it appear to be melting right off the skin of your canvas's upper arm.

Yo. It's a good spot at least. You have to approach this completely different if you're working on a bodybuilder versus a soccer mom. If your canvas has big shoulders, it can easily deform the whole design. So placement is going to be key. Shit, let's do it. Let's meet your canvases. This is my favorite part. Metallic, melting dragon in a pool of fire with a sword. In the pool of fire. I think so far, everyone's fucked on all of them. A colorful, illustrative, melting mushroom stained glass window.

Hmm. Keahi. What's up, man? Mushroom stained glass. Seth. Let's get trippy. Everybody's really trying to get to the finale so we can all show off what we really do. I feel like I'm versatile enough to win. There's not a single challenge that they can throw at me that is going to make me shake. I kind of like being the underdog. I like showing people that there's still more to what I can do and shocking the hell out of them.

Nobody here can do color like I can do color. HUMAN CANVAS: That's what I like to hear. You've got the metallic dragon with a sword, in a pool of fire. TATTOO ARTIST: It seemed like the most fun. NIKKO HURTADO: And you picked it. TATTOO ARTIST: So hopefully, it works out. If I don't step up to the plate and knock this out, I'm going to look so dumb. Because I was the one, ultimately, who was like, yeah, I'll do the dragon. Not here for nothing.

I got kids back home, my wife back home. Being away this long, it would definitely be a lot better if I came home with the title and that cash. HUMAN CANVAS: Absolutely. Today, you had to show detail with melting tattoos on the upper arm. Let's see how you did. Seth. The areas of the melting you have, how you have the lead actually look like chrome-- NIKKO HURTADO: Very successful.

RYAN ASHLEY: --it's so successful. That shit looks metallic. I love that you switched up the underside of the mushroom and just did it that yellowish color. It kills some of the detail under there and brings your eye to all those other colored parts. My favorite part about this are the few little stained glass pieces that have a stripy texture in them.

It's such a cool approach. Keahi. I like this dragon. You were very successful in making the chrome look shiny. NIKKO HURTADO: There's tons of details in here. I just think there's too many details everywhere. The sword gets a little lost for me. RYAN ASHLEY: You used the same sort of dark rust brown in the background that you used in the chrome. So there's no separation.

There's just too much shit going on. Judges, it's time to determine who had the best tattoo of the day. There was a couple that really stand out. JOEL MADDEN: Seth's tattoo is definitely one of the contenders. NIKKO HURTADO: The melting parts are really cool with that lead. My vote's for Seth. My vote for tattoo of the day is Seth.

It's really hard to beat those drips, man. My vote is for Isnard. I like looking at this. It's fun. So that is one vote for Isnard, two votes for Seth. My vote for tattoo of the day is for Seth. The best tattoo of the day goes to Seth. - Fuck, yeah. - You're lucky, bro. You're lucky. I was ready. - Yeah. [ROCK MUSIC]