Day of the Dog Art Ninja

I'm Ricky,

I live in Bristol.

By day, I work as an animator,

which is lucky cos I love art.

I live for art.

I even dream of art.

I draw...

..I paint...

..I make things!

I hang out with my mates,

-Gavin, Michelle and Sarah.

-SARAH SCREAMS

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

-Some people call me the...

-# Art Ninja. #

Today, I'll show you how to make

-an invisible dog collar...

-INVISIBLE DOGS GROWL

..turn your pets into people,

and follow your nose on the streets

by making sat nav art.

Because today it's...

DOG BARKS

Who needs an alarm clock when you've got an alarm dog?

It's certainly a new day and time to get my ninja on.

And my clothes.

-DOG BARKS

-I wish I could have my own pet.

I was never allowed animals as a kid.

I'm not allowed animals in the flat now.

Dad comes over and he's super allergic to everything.

-HE SNEEZES

-Makes me sad.

I may not be allowed animals in the flat,

but I could make my own fake Fido.

# Art Ninja. #

The Art Ninja fake Fido invisible dog collar!

I've got some strips of cardboard down here.

I'm going to use these to make a collar.

So I need to roll them round a little bit.

Good thing about using corrugated cardboard,

is it makes a nice gradual curve.

Going to sticky tape the two ends together.

And now these strips, I'm going use to make the edges.

Now they're all sticky, I'm going to start wrapping them

around the top and the bottom of the collar.

Any excess, just snip it off.

This is the bare bones of the collar.

I'm now going to cover it in a layer of paper mache.

So I've got some PVA glue and water mix.

Two parts glue, one part water.

And I've got some white tissue paper here.

It's just what I had lying around.

It's quite light though and that'll come in handy later.

You can just use plain old newspaper or scraps of paper.

Now I'm using paper mache,

because it makes it easier to paint on afterwards,

and it gives it a nice smooth finish.

With all this glue and paper on it,

it does go quite floppy.

But when it dries, it'll be rigid.

So if you're doing this,

you have to make sure it dries perfectly round and flat.

But not me, I've got ninja skills!

Ah, yeah.

Nice and dry.

Good bit of ninja-ing.

Now I've got to paint it.

I've got some pre-mixed purple paint here.

If you're painting yours at home,

make sure you put some newspaper down.

A bit here and there.

Right, well, do you want to watch paint dry?

Ninja's don't.

There we are.

Perfect.

Now I'm going to poke a couple of holes through it,

cos we need to attach our lead later.

And I'm going to do that with a bit of modelling clay behind it,

and a sharp pencil.

One hole...

two holes.

Now I'm going to give it a little bit of bling...

..with some gold paint.

Just taking my time here,

cos I don't want to get any gold on this purple band here.

My fake dog better like this!

There we are.

But what's a collar without a lead?

I've got myself a length of garden wire.

That's this thick green stuff.

And this is good because it's quite malleable,

you can bend it around, but it can hold some weight.

And it needs to be able to hold the weight of the collar.

Now we're going to slot it through those holes.

And then go back through the other one.

On the other side there, so twist them round one another.

And be careful here, just to make

sure you don't hurt your hands.

OK, that's looking good.

Now you need a handle,

so I'm just going to loop over the end

and twist that against itself as well.

So that's the handle.

But it could do with a couple of finishing touches.

-Whoa, Fido!

-INVISIBLE DOG BARKS AND GROWLS

Must be a ninja dog.

Look at those finishing touches.

We've got these nice studs going round the band.

We've got a little name badge there.

'Mine's called Fido, but how about Petunia, Sausage...'

Or any other lovely name.

And then I've put some material around the wire,

and that's just so it looks more like a lead.

If you want a smaller, imaginary dog

you can make one, like this.

The fake Fido dog collar.

Fetch the right materials and make one today.

-INVISIBLE DOG BREAKS WIND

-Eurgh!

HE SNIFFS

Left an imaginary present on the desk. Eurgh!

I can always pretend it's not there.

Come on, guys, walkies!

Whoa!

-Whoa.

-INVISBLE DOG PANTS

KNOCK AT DOOR

-Oh, hey, Gavin, what's up?

-Hey, dude!

This is my dog.

What's his name?

-Dog.

-Imaginative name.

Yeah, listen, could you look after him while I pop out for a bit?

-No Gav, Gav, no...

-Thanks a lot, see you later!

-My dad's allergic.

-HE SNEEZES

What am I going to do now?

If my dad comes over, he'll sneeze the house down.

Oh, well.

Here you go, Dog,

make yourself at home.

Oh, I see you've found yourself a comfy spot, Dog.

I'm sure that picture moves on its own.

-It's almost as if it's animated.

-BALL BOINGS

-BALL BOINGS

-Oh!

Um...

I'm a clay ninja, and that's because I know this awesome technique

that'll put bounce into any animation.

And it's called... # Dun-da-da-dun! #

..squash and stretch.

Here's how to work it in three ninja moves.

Ninja move number one.

It's time to do the squash.

Now, I'm going be doing this with some clay and some wire.

So let's put the ball up here.

-CAMERA CLICKS

-And then make it go down

towards the table.

'For each photo, paint out the wire

'using free online photo manipulation software.'

And then, when it gets close to the table,

when it actually touches it,

it needs to squash out to absorb the impact.

So it gets really squashed like that.

And the first movement should be a really big jump,

so it should go from round to quite squashed,

cos it feels more impactful

and like it had more velocity.

-There we go.

-CAMERA CLICKS

This is obviously the first part of squash and stretch.

It's the squash.

And then squash it a little bit more.

-CAMERA CLICKS

-And each time you squash it

in this part of the animation,

you squash it a little bit less each time.

So the first one's a big impact

and then a little bit more, a little bit more,

so it's kind of easing into it.

Ninja move number two.

Now we need to do the stretch part.

First of all, the ball needs to return to normal ball shape,

so just roll it into a ball.

-There we go.

-CAMERA CLICKS

And then it starts to go long, like a sausage,

and that's because we're trying to give the idea

that it's bouncing back away from the impact it just had.

-CAMERA CLICKS

-Bit more of a sausage.

And it's first bounce has been quite aggressive.

It's a big squash and a big stretch,

cos it's fallen from the highest point.

There we go.

-CAMERA CLICKS

-And as it raises up,

it slowly starts to form back into its normal ball shape.,

so less of a stretch now.

-There we go.

-CAMERA CLICKS

And then when it gets to the highest point,

back perfectly to a ball.

CAMERA CLICKS

Ninja move number three.

So now we need to use our squash and stretch skills

to move the ball.

If we're going to have a ball bounce and then slowly come to a stop,

we need to decrease the amount of squash and stretch on each bounce.

This makes the whole thing look more real.

Let's take a look at the ball in action.

BALL BOINGS

You can use squash and stretch on any animation

and with any character.

And it'll make your animations look totes profesh.

DOLPHIN CALLS

Wow.

Show off.

TELEPHONE RINGS

ANSWERING MACHINE BEEP 'Hi, Ricky, it's mum!

-'I'm leaving you a message.'

-Obviously.

'Your dad's on his way over.

'I've been dusting, so his allergies are bad.

'He was hoping to come to you for a breath of fresh air.

'Maybe while he's there you could do things like

'turn your pet into a person,

'give your tablet a terabyte with a shark cover

'and use sat nav and your mate Gav

'to make street art with a difference.

'Anyway, when your dad is there be gentle with him.

'You know how sensitive he is.' DAD SNEEZES IN BACKGROUND

The only way this day could get any worse

is if I had more pets to look after.

-KNOCK AT DOOR

-Eurgh.

-Oh, hey, Sarah.

-Hi, Ricky.

Just wondered if you could look after Lola for me.

I just need to nip out.

It's a little inconvenient actually.

My dad's coming over and she'll bring him out in hives.

She's a dog, not a bee, Ricky. Thanks, bye.

They say that pets look like their owners,

and seeing as I've got Gav's and Sarah's dog here,

I think I'm in a unique position to test out that theory.

DOG BARKS

DOG GROWLS

So I've sent my pictures to my laptop.

'Here's my chosen picture of Lola,

'and I've also got one of Sarah.'

And what I need to do to start with is get rid of Sarah's head,

so I can put Lola's head on there.

'I'm using a free photo manipulation tool.

'There's plenty available online.'

And I'm going to copy a bit of the background behind Sarah

to paint out her head.

'No offence, Sarah.'

So I hold down control,

then I click that part of the background there.

And look, where I draw now,

that bit will be copied to where I am.

There we go. Bye, Sarah.

Beautiful.

Now I need to get Lola's head ready,

so I'm going to use the lasso tool to crop it out.

And the lasso tool is for selecting a specific area of your picture.

These points represent the area

that I'm going to copy from this picture to the other one.

Top of her head.

And now I'm going to copy Lola's head,

so edit, copy.

Go on to my picture of Sarah,

and I'm going to paste it as a new layer.

There we go.

Move it around.

And you need to resize it because it's a bit big at the moment.

If I hold down control,

I can make it a bit smaller.

And then I'm going to drag it onto Sarah's body.

Looking good, Sarah.

Or, should I say, Lola.

Now it's not fair to do this to Sarah

and not do it to Gavin too.

Luckily, I've got some pictures of Gavin as well.

Bit of a poser, you know.

That's Gavin, though.

That's better, isn't it?

And going to copy Dog's head.

And let's pop that nice and snugly.

There we go.

Look at those guys.

Yeah, these look pretty awesome.

Hi, Ricky.

Whoa, I don't remember making you.

You do look cool, though.

Actually, the name's Coolidge, Cassius Marcellus Coolidge.

I'm an artist who does anthropomorphism.

Wow, that's a mouthful.

It means I paint pictures of animals doing human things,

and I specialise in dogs playing cards.

Here's one of mine now.

Nice.

You probably should've done crocodiles, though.

-Why?

-Oh...they're good at playing snap.

Aww.

Finally, just for a bit of fun,

I'm going to anthopu...

I'm going to than...

I'm going to put my dad's head on a dog.

It's a little bit harder when you haven't got a clean background.

But I can probably get away with my dad's head being bigger,

just due to the perspective.

Wow, the beard's probably the same colour as the dog actually.

Tie in really nicely.

I'm really happy with that.

For a start, it's well funny,

and also, my dad's super allergic to animals,

so this is the closet he's ever going to get to one.

Until he comes round here, of course.

-DAD SNEEZES

-Woof, woof.

Here's a quick art tip of how to draw a flock of birds.

So, we're going to start with a big bird at the front.

Its tail feathers.

A nice big beak.

I'm going to do it's wing back, mid flap.

And its feet back too.

Next we're going to draw another bird, top left.

This one's going to be smaller as it's going to be in the distance.

And I'm going to draw this one's wing down at the end of its flap.

Drawing the wings in different places gives your flock

a greater sense of movement.

And, finally, I'm going to draw one more bird,

between the two of them.

So medium size.

'And this one's wings are going to be at the top of it's body.

'You can draw as many birds as you want.'

Another one here.

And then I'm going to add a couple of action lines.

Just to make them look like they're drifting through the sky.

There we go. A quick art tip.

Ricky.

Who needs pets when you've got so many Art Ninja apprentices.

Can you make art with pegs?

Hang on. I have to think about that one.

Ricky, what can you make with this?

-Hey, I choose you.

-Yeah!

-Yes!

-So what's your names then?

-Well, I'm William.

-I'm Kieran.

-And where you from?

-Birmingham.

Birmingham, nice one. So what have you got for me today?

-A fleece blanket.

-Whoa, it's pretty big and blue, like an ocean.

Gives me an idea. In fact, I've got some fleece laying around.

I'll just go and grab some.

I've got some different shapes that I've cut out from an old fleece

and a bit of felt.

And I'm going to use them to make a protective case for a tablet

that'll look like it's being eaten by a shark.

I like to call it...a terabyte.

Little computer joke for you there.

'I've cut two pieces of material the same size as my tablet.

'One rectangular and one with a curve in the end.

'I'll sew these pieces together later.

'Now, let's make it look like a shark.

'I'm going to stick down the shark's belly, using fabric glue.'

There's one, like that.

And then I've got these fins for the side, and these two.

Going to put these lighter bits of felt on.

So do you guys have any pets or anything?

I'm not saying that a shark's a good pet but...

I've got a cat. His name's Erik.

So why is he called Erik?

Erik was a very popular Viking name.

-Really?

-Yeah. Erik the Red.

-So is he a red cat?

-He's ginger.

-Oh, I see.

-How are you, Kieran, do you have any pets?

-No.

-Would you like one?

-Yeah.

-What would you like?

-Husky.

-I really like huskies.

OK, I'm just going to start gluing on the red bit for the mouth.

I measured these against the flap at the top to make sure they fit.

And the other bit's going to go there.

-Do you guys like doing art?

-Yeah, mostly drawing.

What kind of things do you like to draw?

Battle scenes, giants and stuff like that.

-I like to draw a Viking.

-Awesome.

'A bit like Eric the Red?'

Just going to stick some teeth on cos what's a shark without teeth?

For the top layer of teeth -

going to put the glue straight onto the mouth

so I can get the teeth hanging over the edge nice.

RICKY GROWLS

So the mouth and that's looking pretty good.

Think it's time to put on a face.

I've cut out some different shapes here to make some eyes.

I think this shark should be quite happy but maybe he's hungry?

So he's got a mean face on so he can eat the tablet.

Don't worry too much about getting the fabric glue everywhere,

cos it will just dry out invisible.

Now, I'm just going to put on some gills.

Going to start sewing now.

I've tied a knot in the end so that it won't go all the way through.

I'm using blanket stitch.

And you go round and you go over again.

So you see we've gone back on ourselves,

and back in the same way we did first time round.

Then when you have this loop, put our needle back through.

Pointing in the opposite way to the way we were stitching.

And then we pull it tight.

'I've also doubled up the thread

'so it holds the case together nice and tightly.'

Going to sew on these fins.

-What are you into?

-I like skateboarding.

I love football.

I've got the sticker album for the World Cup.

I used to use them to make pictures out of,

rather than actually put them in the album.

I've put in some loops in the last stitch so I can tie it off.

All that's left now is the dorsal fin.

So I just stick that on the back.

-OK guys, do you want to see it?

-Yeah.

-Right, here we go.

-RICKY GROWLS Awesome!

-Wicked!

I think that is app-solutely brilliant.

So guys, what would you give it out of ten?

Four? Just four each?

-BOTH:

-No, it's 44!

44? Out of ten? That's not even possible.

What a great score.

Thanks very much, guys, cheers for all your help.

-Have a good day, yeah, bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Well, that's covered that one. You can make any animal.

Let your imagination go wild.

Hey, you there.

This guy makes me sick.

Ever wanted to make fake sick?

-Seriously?

-Seriously.

You can produce puke without all that yucky muck.

'Here's how you make it. First you need a bowl.

'Two packets of soup - minestrone and chicken are good.

'Pour the soup mixtures into the bowl.

'Get a jug of water.

'Pour a small amount into the bowl and stir, keeping the mixture thick.

'Then you need to add a generous amount of PVA glue

'to make it sticky.

'Stir well with a spoon and add more water if necessary.'

'Grab a piece of canvas or thick paper.

'Pour the mixture onto the canvas and use the spoon

'to spread the mixture around, to make a more splattered effect.

'Leave it to dry overnight.'

Fake sick, give it a whirl.

So good, you'll hurl.

Ha, that fake sick...is sick.

-TEXT MESSAGE ALERT

-Oh, that's Dad.

He says he's going to be here in five minutes.

He's going to be so allergic to these dogs,

he's not going to know whether he's coming or going.

-What am I going to do?

-KNOCK AT DOOR

Oh, that must be him now. Dad, I can explain.

-Hi, Ricky.

-Oh, hi, Brian from next door.

-Yeah, I can watch Adie for you.

-Thanks, Ricky.

-Hello. Easy.

-DOGS BARK

-KNOCK AT DOOR

-Oh, dear.

-How you doing, Ricky?

-Oh, hi, Becky from upstairs.

-Can you watch Rivas?

-Yeah, I can watch Rivas for you.

-Thanks.

-The more the merrier, come on in.

-KNOCK ON DOOR

RICKY SIGHS

DOGS BARK

-Hello, Ricky.

-Hi, Pat.

-Can you...?

-Yeah, I can watch Alfie for you.

-Much appreciated, Ricky.

DOGS BARK

Oh, Dad's not going to like this. There's only one thing for it.

Come on Lola, come on Mo. Walkies!

DOG GROWLS

I know I said I wanted a dog but this takes the dog biscuit.

Yeah, hi, Gavin. Can you come and help me, please?

Not again Ricky, not another one of your harebrained schemes?

Yeah, not so much a harebrained scheme, as a dog-brained scheme.

No Ricky, I can't do it. I'm very busy.

Besides I'm probably nowhere near you.

Ha-ha, ninja skills.

-Hey, Gav.

-Hello, Dog.

I'll say it again, imaginative name.

Has uncle Ricky been looking after you my little choo-choo face?

Gav, I don't know if you've noticed

but I've got all these other dogs, as well.

Oh, yeah, how did that happen?

Never mind about that.

Having these guys around has given me an idea

to do a really big piece of canine inspired art.

But first we'd better get our ninja on.

GONG PLAYS

Art Ninja!

Come on, Gavin, strike a pose.

Sorry, it's all I could find for this bit.

Heel, Gavin.

How do you want me to help with the art, Ricky?

Well, you've got a very important job.

-You're going to hold on to these dogs here.

-OK.

And I'm going to get my phone out

and open up my satellite navigation app.

There's plenty of free versions of these things online

that you can download.

And now I'm going to see where this art leads.

-I'll see you in a minute.

-Hang on.

I wanted you to look after my dog while I popped out.

How do I get talked into this stuff? Why have I got all these dogs?

-That Ricky's an absolute...

-Dude, I can hear you.

My Art Ninja apprentices are out walking their dogs.

I've arranged to meet up with them and they're going to help me

do some amazing art.

Hey, Oscar. Hey, Sophia. Who are these guys?

Hi, Ricky, this is Harley.

And this is Larkin, we're taking them for a walk.

-Do you guys want to help me do some art?

-Yeah. Why not?

Cool, let's do it.

I'm using a satellite navigation app to make a route

that will also become the outline to a massive picture.

-What's the picture going to be?

-I'll give you a clue.

It's going to be all over Bristol, or should I say all rover Bristol.

Hey guys, I think the first bit of the dog walking picture's done.

So thanks very much Oscar, cheers Sophia, have a good day, yeah?

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

Right, I think we need to loop round these houses

to make a loop in my drawing.

Ninja skills.

I think it's coming together

but I could really do with some more canine company.

-Oh, hey, Chloe. Hey, Kiera.

-Hi.

-Hi, Ricky.

-How are you guys doing?

-Yeah, we're OK.

-How's Jessie?

-She's fine.

Right. I need Jessie to take me on the next leg of my sat nav drawing.

Lead the way, Jessie.

I need to circumnavigate the park to map out my picture.

-Well, have a lovely day, guys.

-You too.

-Cheers again.

-Bye.

-Bye.

I'm a bit lost.

Think I need to check my bearings.

Hey, look, my sat nav scribble is starting to take shape.

'Here's some more of my ninja apprentices

'to help me find Vauxhall Bridge.'

'Great, we've sniffed it out.'

-Cheers then, bye-bye.

-CHILDREN:

-Bye.

Gavin, what are you doing with all these dogs?

And why have you got Lola?

Well, Ricky asked me to look after them all.

Well, where's Ricky?

He's off doing some art or something.

Well he is the Art Ninja. Come on, Lola, come on.

-But what about all these other dogs?

-DOG GROWLS

We're nearly at the end of today's...tail.

-CHILDREN:

-That way.

-Lead the way.

I think I can probably manage the last leg of our drawing on my own.

-See you later.

-Bye.

-OK, bye.

Just a minute, you said. Where have you been?

I've been making some awesome art.

You left me with all the dogs.

Well, you were trying to do that to me earl...

Dude, where are all the dogs?

Their owners came and took them away. It's just me and my dog.

He's been running rings around me though, literally.

Maybe we can put that to good use. Check this out.

-Ah, I see.

-Hey, you, shoo, it's not finished yet.

We need to do this bit with...Dog.

I don't know about you but I'm dog-tired.

Do you know what? Funny you should say that,

cos you've just helped me make a piece of art with a difference.

Drawn on an incredible dog walk.

DOG BARKS

# Art Ninja. #

OWL HOOTS

Well, that wasn't so much joining the dots as joining the dogs.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

If you're doing doggy art on the street, you'll need a sat nav,

mates and trainers on your feet.

This has definitely been an unlikely tail.

DOG BARKS

-MANY DOGS BARK

-It's those dogs again!

Aaaahhh!

To get your Art Ninja on, go to the CBBC website, ninja skills.