Day of the Lucky Trunks 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.

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

Some people call me the...

Art Ninja!

'Today, I'll show you how to turn yourself into a first-class stamp.'

Yeah, fits perfectly.

'I'll make an envelope into a wallet in a jiffy

'and it's off to the beach for seaside snaps and some snappy art

'because today it's...'

ALARM CLOCK BEEPS

It's a beautiful new day.

Time to get my ninja on...

and my clothes.

Hee-ya!

NINJA SLAP

NINJA SLAP

It's such a lovely day, I think I'll do some art at the beach.

Now, where are my lucky trunks?

PHONE BEEPS

Oh, Matt and Rich are already at the beach.

LAPTOP BEEPS

Oh, that's Sarah. She's there too.

I really need to get a wiggle on but where are my lucky trunks?

-PHONE BEEPS

-Hang on.

Oh, what?

Gavin's at the beach as well!

I bet everyone's having loads of fun,

but I can't go cos I haven't got my lucky trunks.

I can't tell them that.

It's just silly, right?

Oh, look - free trunks inside.

This could be problem solved.

Elephants?

Oh - free trunks. I get it.

You know what? I might send my friends an e-card

showing I'm having fun in the sun somewhere else.

I'll just use the cereal and my phone.

You wait here, we're going to go and shoot a cereal selfie,

you can check out my kitchen SHELFIE!

There we go.

There you are. Well, there I am.

Let's get a picture of this.

'It looks like I've been holidaying in the maze mountains.'

Nice. Right, let's send it to me mates.

Oh, no! Network's down.

How am I going to show them I'm having fun in the sun

somewhere else?

Come on, think. Think.

A bit slow to - slow...

snail mail!

I'll send them a postcard.

Let's just print this out.

Oh, yeah, printed.

Look at that.

Going to need a stamp.

So I'm going to make myself a stamp.

Art Ninja.

The Art Ninja stamp.

Let's face it - it's first-class.

So I'm going to draw an oval on this cardboard, 21cm high.

'This is the hole I'll put my face through.

'You need to make the hole as big as your face.

'Measure it with a ruler.'

Great.

Fits perfectly.

Now I'm going to paint that red.

Yeah.

Gets a bit messy here, so make sure you put newspaper down.

Don't want to wreck your mum and dad's favourite table.

OK, that's all done.

Now if you're doing this at home you'll need to wait for it to dry,

but not me - I'm the Art Ninja.

There we are.

Now stamps always have those lovely frilly bits round the edges

and I'm going to be using the inside of an old cereal box.

So you should end up with these lovely frilly bits.

But I've only got two and I need four so let's make some more.

Right, I can start gluing these on now.

Drop here.

I've also cut out from some card

a number and a couple of letters,

just to show this stamp is first-class.

Now as a stamp it's pretty much there

but most stamps have a little touch of royalty

and mine's not going to be different.

So I'm going to make myself a crown.

For the crown I'm going to be using the same thin cereal box card.

Now you don't want to see me painting and watching paint dry

all the time, so let's use some more ninja skills.

Nice.

It's nice and gold now, very royal,

but it's missing some jewels.

Now I've cut some shapes out of some strips of shiny paper -

you can use things like wrapping paper, sweet wrappers, foil,

anything you've got lying around that you think would work,

and I'm going to gluestick them to the top of my crown.

Pearls on the top here.

OK, stick it through

and I'm going to attach it with a bit of sticky tape either side.

There we go.

So I'm going to create some grey hair

by using some grey strips of card and curling them round a pencil.

Just getting it all the way round like that.

Lovely.

And you attach them to the inside here.

I've got loads of these...

so I'll get sticking.

Right, I think that's enough now.

Time to try it on.

Yeah! Fits perfectly.

Let's get a picture.

Awesome.

While that's printing, let's have a look at some other ideas.

We can go...

all Princessy, "Oh, hello, darling, ooh!"

And then we could also go a little bit old-fashioned.

"Oh-ho-ho, well, well,

"the stamps in my day were grey, he-he-he."

They've probably - they've probably printed now.

Oh, yes!

I will need to use a real stamp too, though.

This one's just for fun.

"Having a rad time, Ricky."

First-class art.

I'd best go post this now.

Still haven't found my lucky trunks

and if I don't find them, I'll never get to the beach.

What time is it?

Oh, I know what time it is.

It's animation time.

MUSIC: Bicycle by Queen

-# Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle

-I want to ride my

# Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle... #

I've got an idea that will transform your bike

into a crazy mobile animation machine.

# I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like. #

Pretty cool, huh?

You can make an awesome mobile bike wheel animation with cardboard,

some scissors, a bike and a camera.

And you can make this animation in just three ninja moves.

'Ninja move number one.'

As I'm in a skate park I'm going to do, well, a skateboarding trick -

a kick flip.

So I'm just going to start by drawing some guide images.

And I'm going to do an animation cycle of ten frames. I think

that's just the right amount of room to go around the wheel.

I've got a bit of old scrap card,

and I measured it to make sure it fit the wheel.

I folded it into tenths, so I've got the right amount of space

around the wheel for my ten frames, so it ends up being about that size.

That is a good guide for how much frame space I have to work with.

So I'm going to cut that bit out,

and that's how much space I'm going to have,

so I'm going to draw around that.

'These are my templates for my ten frames.'

OK, now I'm going to roughly draw my character

on to each of these templates.

'My drawings don't have to be perfect

'cos I'm going to cut them out anyway. If there's loads to cut out,

'get someone to help you.'

I'm thinking when the board turns over,

I'd like it to be a different colour,

just so it gives you the idea of it being 3-D.

'So I'm replacing the upside-down skateboards with red card versions.'

'Ninja move number two.'

It's time to attach my frames to my bike wheel

and I'm going to do that with some thick black tape.

'So I'm attaching my frames to the bike wheel by putting black tape

'on one side of the spokes, and the frames on the other.

'Make sure you take care when you're positioning your frames

'and be sure that they are an equal distance apart.

'I'm using thin card for this animation

'and this is because if any of the frames fall off,

'the card is not strong enough to get caught in the spokes

'and stop the wheel. So, it's safe.'

Check out that.

'It's looking good, even without animating it.

'Ninja move number three.'

It's time to capture your animation.

You can either put your bike upside down and crank the pedals

and shoot it in just the right place to get the animation

or you can do what I'm going to do

and take this mini masterpiece for a spin.

You can't see this through the naked eye -

only through a camera viewfinder.

So get one of your mates to video it when you cycle around

or crank the wheel yourself.

Simply play it back to see the optical illusion in action.

There you go - an awesome bike wheel animation.

Pretty easy to pick up,

it's hard to forget...

it's a bit like riding a bike.

Now you get animating.

Imagine what you could do.

BICYCLE BELL

Art Ninja.

Sometimes I think I have too much fun.

PHONE RINGS

I'm having too much fun to answer the phone, that's for sure.

-BEEP

-Hi, Ricky, it's Mum.

If you're in the sun today,

hope you're using the Factor 100 lotion I gave you.

I thought I'd ring to see what you had coming up.

Wondered if it might be stuff like -

turning a plain envelope into a wallet that's so money,

making soap that looks like bathtime ice cream

and snapping seaside photos that take on a life of their own.

Anyway, Ricky, we're off to the beach. Says it's naturist -

so hoping we'll see some lovely nature!

I don't think Mum's quite understood. Eurgh!

I need to do something to get that image out of my head.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

I said I wanted a distraction.

What can you make with cardboard?

Cardboard? Mmm, not that today.

Aw.

Ricky, what can you make with this?

Ah, this looks interesting.

-I pick you.

-Yay!

-So what are your names?

-I'm Marie.

-And I'm Celia.

Nice to meet you and where are you from?

-London.

-What have you got for me?

-We've got clingfilm.

-Clingfilm?

Mmm, I usually can't find the end of my clingfilm,

but, you know what, I'm willing to give it a new beginning.

Straight off, look at that.

Let me just grab the other stuff I need, I'll be right back.

So I've got some paper, some lovely paints, some paint and glue mix.

I've also put down some backing paper.

Probably going to get quite messy

because I'm going to make an underwater clingfilm picture.

-Does that sound good?

-Yeah.

-Nice. Right,

I'm going to start by doing a backing coat for the main ocean.

'It's important to mix some PVA glue into your paint.'

Because it just helps the clingfilm

to stick around and clump afterwards.

-So what are you guys up to today?

-We're just visiting family.

Is it family you like?

Cos you know you can't pick your family, you just get...

-Yeah.

-Yeah, they're fun.

-Oh, nice one.

Right, I'm just going to put some splodges of white on the blue paint,

as these bits are going to help

bring out the texture of the clingfilm.

'I'm laying clingfilm over the paint.'

Now I'm going to start squeezing the clingfilm all over the page,

pulling it all together, to make underwater kind of textures.

You can hear it.

-Does it sound like a rustling?

-More like a squelching.

'It does feel all lovely and slimy.'

Now I'm going to start adding some coral

and I'm going to do that by painting them with stencils.

'I'm drawing different-shaped coral on pieces of card.'

Bit of seaweed.

Do you guys have any pets?

I've had a fish tank but I've never actually had any fish.

-What kind of fish do you want to get in it?

-Clown Fish.

That is a good idea. You have inspired me.

I'm going to draw a Clown Fish now.

Let's start cutting those out.

'Of course, I'm super-careful with scissors.

'Make sure you are too.'

Now I'm going to start doing some painting.

What colour are you going to make them?

Yellow, green, purple, orange and some white.

Oh, yeah, pretty good.

This stencil does mean that you can go on a lot heavier with the colour

and still have a nice, clean line.

Now I'm going to re-use my seaweed one

but just the top of it, so it looks different,

with a darker tone of green.

I think now we're going to put on the clownfish

and what colour's a clownfish?

-Orange and white.

-Yeah.

Right, currently my fish has no eyes, can't see,

so let's give it an eye.

-Are you ready to see it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

What do ya think?

-Oh, that's awesome!

-Wow!

That looks really, really good.

What would you give it out of ten?

A ten out of ten.

Ten out of ten? Wa-ter good score!

Get it? WATER good score?

Nah. Now I'm going to give it a three out of ten.

Three - why?

-For your bad joke.

-Oh!

Tough crowd.

Do you know what? I'm really happy with it.

I think all it needs is a nice frame.

Thanks very much, guys.

-Bye.

-Bye, Ricky.

-Bye-bye.

'Now use clingfilm and don't shrink wrap your imagination

'when you make your picture.'

Well, if I can't go to the beach, I'll just have to imagine it.

'My mum has told me that I'm not supposed to jump on sofas

'with my shoes on so you shouldn't either, right? Oops.'

Sofa surfing!

Whoa! Do you know what?

These imaginary waves are really gnarly.

I'll have to hold on tight. Whoa!

Look what I found. Wo-ho-ho!

Loads of money!

Maybe I don't need those lucky trunks after all.

You know what, I could use this money to buy a new wallet -

this one's seen better days.

Or maybe...

I could make one.

I'm going to use a nice big envelope, self-sealing one.

I'm going to start by folding it in half.

Always remember to keep the sticky side of the tab face-up

and in half again

and then open it up

and fold it in half lengthways.

Right, then I need to get a pair of scissors

and cut a triangle in here,

so between the middle crease and your first one.

About there

and a centimetre from this crease, just join them up.

Get rid of that bit.

Now open it up.

This triangle is actually going to help the whole wallet fold.

Then, separate the two layers,

cut a little bit up here to the first crease

and then out to the edge of the envelope.

You need to do that on each of these creases here.

OK, now open those two flaps up

and you're going to turn these into triangle tabs

that will help stick the wallet together.

Cut the triangle off in that direction.

A little bit there

and copy that the other side.

One bit there.

Now I'm going to fold this bit in half

and then back on itself there

and now I'm going to sticky-tape these two flaps down.

Like that,

then fold it up to the top,

and this is where the self-sealing envelope comes into play.

So take this bit off.

Open up the wallet like so

and then just fold that bit inside

and stick it to itself.

Fold it in half

and you've got yourself a little wallet.

Hi, I'm the artist Piet Mondrian.

I didn't realise Piet Mondrian lived in my wallet.

I'm from a Movement called De Stijl.

I was lying very DE STIJL in the wallet.

-That's my little joke!

-Very droll.

But if you're living in my wallet, shouldn't you be MONET?

That's my little joke.

He-he. My art was designed to be in harmony with nature,

using lots of horizontal and vertical lines.

Here's one of my famous pictures.

I influenced lots of design in the '60s, from fashion to furniture.

Are you DE STIJL going on?

Anyway, he's inspired me.

I think I'll decorate my wallet in the style of Mondrian.

I'm going to use some black tape cut into strips to make the black lines.

There we go.

Any lose bits that come over the end,

I'm just going to snip them off.

Keeping these lines nice and parallel to the edges of the wallet,

so it creates lots of boxes and rectangles.

'That was Mondrian's style

'but you can make your lines go in any direction.'

One bit there, just to break up that box

and then once you've done one side, it's time to turn it over

and do some more on the inside.

The last little line, I reckon.

Right, now it's time for me to add some colour

and I'm going to use bold primary colours, just like Mondrian did.

So I'm going to start with red.

Just little splashes of colour, OK?

And a bit of blue.

The great thing about this is it doesn't really matter

if you go over the edge.

You've got these nice big borders to save you.

And a bit of yellow.

And once you've coloured the front, turn it over,

put some colour on the back.

There we are, all done.

If you fancy making a wallet with a different design,

here's some other ideas using tape.

I'm pretty happy with that.

What do you think, Mondrian?

Can you lend me a fiver?

What do you think I am -

made of money?

Hey, you there!

Look at this guy -

he's either really tanned or seriously needs a wash.

Seriously need a wash?

That's what I just said!

Well now, you can make bath time

party time with new bath time ice cream.

'Here's how you make it.

'You'll need a bowl and a spoon.

'Put some baking powder in the bowl.

'Add some citric acid, available from supermarkets or chemists,

'to make it fizz.

'Pour in some cornflour

'and add some almond oil. Mmm, nutty.

'Drip that in.

'Additionally you will need food colouring.

'I'm using grey, but you can use any colour you like.

'Essential oil is...

'essential. Smells good. Just a splash.

'Now stir it all up until it's all mixed together.

'Oh, like this.'

'Using your hands, mould the mixture into a ball shape

'until it looks like an ice-cream scoop.

'You can repeat to make different coloured scoops.

'Look at that. Very cool.'

Bath time ice cream.

It looks nice enough to eat.

But don't, all right?

Mmm, don't worry - this is a real ice cream.

I'm not that flaky!

Here's a real quick art tip.

How to create the illusion

of your favourite little character being underwater.

So, need to start with a water line

and I'm going to draw that with a wavy line like this

with all the peaks pointing upwards.

Now draw a line for the seabed

and I'm going to add a few weeds here

and I'm going to do them with wavy lines

to create the idea that there's an underwater current.

One that side.

Now I'm going to draw my character and I'm going to make sure that

they're floating in the middle of the sea

and I'm going to draw a mermaid.

There's the tail.

And I'm going to have her hair nice and wavy

to reinforce the idea of the underwater current.

There we go.

And now I'm going to add another little character here, just a fish,

and I'm going to put some bubbles above him,

just to show that he's breathing underwater.

Now finally,

add a couple of action lines so that she's floating.

There we go.

Another quick art tip.

RIBBIT, RIBBIT

Since I found some money,

I'm going to go and see if my mates are still at the beach.

Laters.

Ninja skills!

You all right, Kev, what you up to, mate?

I'm just taking a few pictures of the seaside, mate.

Nice. Kevin loves taking photos.

Got loads of cameras, bit of an enthusiast -

A Photo Ninja, if you will.

So where are all our mates?

-They've all gone now. It's just you and me.

-Oh.

Oh, and this lot.

ALL: Whoo!

I thought we could get these guys to help us

make a piece of art with the cameras on their phones.

Oh, yeah.

We can make a massive photo montage to remember a fun day at the beach.

-ALL:

-Yeah!

But first, let's get our ninja on.

Art Ninja!

-ALL:

-Art...

Ninja!

Now, this place is full of colour,

so we're going to make a beautiful photo montage,

but how are we going to capture this in photography?

Well, I think it's probably best if we just go for block colours,

so if you're photographing blue just make sure the photograph

is mostly full of blue and also look for texture.

OK, who wants to be Team Art and who wants to be Team Ninja?

Team Art!

Ninja!

Whoo!

I think we'll shoot pink and blue things.

OK, and that leaves us with...

Yellow and red.

-Cool, let's go do it.

-Whoo!

OK, guys, let's go and find some red and yellows.

-Wow.

-It's perfect.

Can you get a bit closer? Look at all that blue in the rollercoaster.

-What do you think the yellow's going to become?

-Sand?

Could well be sand.

Look, we could take a picture of that.

-And there's blue on there as well.

-Oh, yeah.

There's blue everywhere in here.

What we could really do with is some red.

I can't any red anywhere though.

There!

-Get your camera ready, I'll lift you up.

-OK.

-You ready?

-Yeah.

-You ready to take your picture, cos I don't know how heavy you are.

-Yeah.

Done.

Good work, guys, we've got all the photos printed that you took

over on the pier and they look great.

On this big board here I've drawn a nice little line for you

and it's going to be a guide for our beach-side photo montage.

-Are you ready to do it?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

-Kev, are you ready?

-Yeah!

Right, this bottom bit here where the line's drawn across -

that's going to be the sand.

These parts of the costume are going to be all red, and who's got...

-you've got blue, right?

-Yeah.

-You've got a big job ahead of you.

-Ooh!

It doesn't matter if they overlap a bit

cos we can clean it up afterwards with the blues.

Oh, who needs some yellows?

Guys, do you think it's cool how a really big picture could be

made up of lots of smaller ones?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-It's amazing.

Oh, Sharky!

There's a nice big space here for Sharky,

I think you should go centre frame.

Ooh, mind your fingers! Shark.

Yeah, it's really coming together, guys, good work.

OK, guys, I think we're done.

Do you want to step back and admire your hard work?

Wow! Well done, it looks great. What do you think?

-Yeah.

-Really good.

'You could take photos or use old magazines to make

'your own photo montage.

'So go on - make it snappy.'

'Now, let's take this art to another level.'

Thanks so much, you guys have been brilliant today.

So, erm...

see you later, yeah?

-ALL:

-See you later. Bye.

-Bye.

OK, it's safe to come out now.

MUSIC: I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?

Kev?

Nah, it's Cliff.

-Oh.

-Good work today, dude.

Let's get out of here.

SEAGULL SQUAWKS

What a great day. I didn't even need these.

My lucky trunks. I found them in the wash.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

If you're going to make art at the beach,

then keep a camera phone within your reach.

I was pretty lucky.

People said I looked amazing in my comedy beachwear.

Night!

Argh!

To get your Art Ninja on, go to...

Ninja skills.