Does This Season of Ink Master Have a New Front Runner?

After losing Big Jaz last week, the teams were split 8 to 7. For this week’s episode, the teams were joined by two of the show’s favorite artists, who’ve both made it to the finale at least once: two-time champion DJ Tambe and the talented Katie McGowan.

In the flash challenge, the artists were tasked with creating a single image using multiple panels, with the key focus of the design being contrast. The men’s team created an under water scene, featuring a glowing anglerfish against a stark black background. The women’s team opted for a colorful bee scene in a pop-y new school style. The judges decided that the women were the victors of the flash challenge, giving them the skull pick advantage two weeks in a row.

For the elimination tattoo, the artists were tasked with creating neotraditional animals, which was directly in the wheel house of this week’s coaches.

First up, Dani was complimented by Nunez for her use of color to create stand out contrast.

Pony was told by Peck that she’d made a beautiful tattoo, but he did wish there was more open skin in the piece.

Nunez told Ashley that her piece was out of balance and mentioned that the green leaf was the only part of the tattoo that had solid color.

While Alexis was praised for the illustration in this design, she lost points when it came to the wobbly outline of the oval.

Ash’s otter got torn apart, with Nunez pointing out the weak outline and improperly saturated color.

Although Navarro loved the face on Holly’s tattoo, he noted that the piece was very dense.

Nunez loved the tiger’s face in Laura’s tattoo, however, he suggested she exaggerate the paws and wrists when tattooing cats to accentuate their movements.

Peck was quick to point out that Janelle’s design was cluttered and pushed together, wishing the piece had more black, heavy color, and of course, open skin.

First up on the men’s team, the judges loved Creepy Jason’s drawing and thought it wise that he included a rope border.

Peck admired the simplicity of Pon’s tattoo, specifically the bold outline and properly applied color.

Although the judges enjoyed Justin’s design, it was immediately noted that the piece had an extensive amount of skin trauma—perhaps the biggest no-no when it comes to the show.

While Fon delivered a clean tattoo, he missed the mark of the challenge by providing a muted and dull color palette.

Jake was complimented for the cute illustration of the hedgehog, but the judges wished he’s included more color into the design.

Tito knocked it out of the park when it came to the illustration and Peck mentioned he’d made a lot of smart choices throughout the tattoo.

Despite doing neotraditional at home, Cam missed the mark when it came to hitting the style and the judges agreed the piece needed more black.

Because he led with creativity, Creepy Jason took home the win this week with a unanimous vote from the judges. This gave the men’s team the opportunity to vote one contestant into the bottom and they selected Ashley. Ashley was joined by Justin and Ash, with the judges ultimately sending home Justin. This means that DJ will be heading to the battle of the coaches at the finale and the men’s team is down yet another artist.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Which team had the better flash challenge piece? Did Creepy Jason have the best tattoo of the day? Who would you have sent home this week? Let us know your thoughts on this episode in the comments section.