Day of the Aliens Art Ninja

'I'm Ricky. I live in Bristol.

'By day, I work as an animator,

'which is lucky because 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 make a Venus flytrap

'that will rock your universe.

'Get stuck into alien gloop.

'And it's real blast when I mow some amazing maze art.

'Because today, it's...'

'Day of the Aliens!'

PARANORMAL BLEEPING

Ah! What a strange dream.

It was almost extraterrestrial.

I could have sworn I was visited by aliens.

Anyway, time to get my ninja on!

And my clothes.

That's the fifth weird alien dream I've had in the past month.

I wonder if there's any significance in the number five?

Anyway, breakfast time.

Oh!

Brown flakes?

Hopefully, there's something more interesting up there.

Oh, yeah! Flying saucer sweets. I forgot I had these!

I need somewhere to stash them, you know,

so the aliens don't pinch them.

That gives me an idea!

I'm going to make a Venus flytrap to stash my sweets in.

'The Art Ninja Venus flytrap. It's totally sweet!'

I'm going to do that by blowing up a balloon.

OK, tie it on the end.

I've got a bowl here to hold the balloon still

while I cover in a layer of papier-mache.

That's two parts PVA glue, one part water and some old newspaper.

You want to get a good coverage all the way around,

all the way down to the bottom.

Just leaving the little knot sticking out.

You don't have to be too neat

because all these creases and crumply bits

will add to the final texture.

Now, if you're doing one of these,

you'll probably have to do a few more layers and wait for it to dry.

But me, I'm just going to use my ninja skills.

Nice!

Now, the papier-mache mix has dried nice and hard

and we no longer need the balloon to hold its shape, so we can pop that.

OK.

Now I'm going to draw a line around the balloon,

just below the halfway mark.

Then I'm going to draw some wavy lines for the teeth.

And the same along the bottom.

I'm going to poke a hole through the papier-mache with a pencil

so that I can get my scissors in.

These are going to make the jaws of my Venus flytrap.

Nice! Now I'm going to chop the teeth out.

So we have the top and bottom all finished,

but this Venus flytrap is going to need a stalk.

And we're going to make that using a cardboard tube.

'I'm cutting slits down the side

'so that it's easier to secure to the papier-mache.'

This is a very sticky piece of art.

Great. Look, that's on nice and solid.

Now is probably a good time to paint the inside.

Yeah!

Now I've done the inside of the mouth,

it's time to do the outside of the plant. Yeah, there is it!

It's all those greens.

You can now how all that rough newspaper comes through

as a really nice texture.

Right, I think that's all done.

Now, if you're doing this,

you'll need to wait for these to dry now, but I wait for nothing.

I'm the Art Ninja!

Also, I've added a little bit of detail with some lighter paint

to bring out the texture. A little touch around the edge of the jaw.

And some spots and dots on the underside of the jaw.

I've punched through some holes in the top and bottom of the jaw

on each side so I can slide in some split pins and give it a hinge jaw.

This guy's looking pretty good now,

but he could do with some foliage, so let's add some leaves.

Right, all his foliage is on. It's time to pot him.

And I've got here...a little pot of rice.

And now you get your Venus flytrap...

..and get him in the pot.

Now, he's looking good, but I'd take sweets straight out of that mouth,

so you need something to work as a deterrent

and I reckon some nice big teeth.

Oh, yeah! Nice sharp gnashers.

'I've made these out of white paper.'

And how about this?

A little tongue and added fly.

Looks good, but he's definitely worked up a hunger.

Put the sweets in.

'You don't have to make a Venus flytrap to store your sweets.

'How about some lovely colourful flowers?'

I wonder what time it is?

Oh, I know what time it is. It's animation o'clock.

I really do love a good walk around Bristol.

There's beautiful colours, lots of variation in the landscape

and there's always something going on. Just look at that!

Good grief, that got out of hand pretty quickly.

This kind of animation is called cut-out animation

and it's really easy to do.

If you do it using photographs,

it gives off this really surreal sense and is always really funny.

I'll show you how to do it.

All you need to make a little rad cut-out animation is

some postcards or photographs. Here's some I've taken.

A pair of scissors and a table or smartphone.

There's lots of free animation software you can find online.

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

'Ninja move number one.'

Get some photographs. You might just take some,

or if you've got any old postcards, they're pretty good, too.

I've got some here from when I visited my friend's chicken farm,

when I went to the beach.

There's one of my friend Gemma in there.

And, of course, what I'm going to use as the main scene

is this picture of Bristol I took

because it's got the river in it and a bit of depth.

So I've got some places where things can pop out.

'Ninja move number two.'

Decide what will happen in your animation and get the bits ready.

I might have this tower blast off,

I might have the chicken pop up behind something.

My friend might take a picture.

One of these boots could stamp on a building. That would be fun.

Let's just start with that.

So I'm going to be cutting out these separate parts here.

What I'm actually going to do on this one is cut out the sky.

I've got a spare bit of blue paper here, which is going to replace it.

It'll be easier to have things pop out underneath as a different layer.

I've got another tower, so I'm going to cut that one out.

And if I pop this in where the other one used to be,

because it's, like, a separate layer, I can animate this, going...

Whoosh! Out from behind the trees.

It's fun to mess around with scale when you're doing these things.

It makes it a lot weirder.

You put something out of place, but also it's giant or really small.

IMITATES CHICKEN

He's a good-looking chicken!

I might keep this bit here because I could use all these nice

stony sort of orangey colours as the fire for the rocket.

I could use that black and white as the smoke for the rocket.

This bit's perfect.

And I could use the back as a bit of white for her flash.

'Ninja move number three.'

Get animating. Time to open up my animation app.

It has begun. OK, first thing I'm going to have

is a person popping out here and taking a picture.

So I'm cutting this line along where the buildings are

so it looks like she's coming up between the trees and the buildings.

What I'm doing here is I'm making the character wiggle a little bit.

And that's to give the illusion that they're, like, talking.

Hello!

Don't worry about making mouths move.

I think in this style, the cruder the better.

'Every time you move a bit of paper, take a photo,

'you're building your animation.'

OK, that's all the frames.

Right, I'm going to add some sound effects.

Hello! Snap! Pfft!

W-W-W-W-Whoosh! Squawk!

Now it's ready for the big reveal.

Hello!

Boom!

W-W-W-W-Whoosh!

Now, I'd say that is a mini masterpiece.

PHONE RINGS

-BEEP!

-"Hi, Ricky, it's your mum.

"I just wanted to remind you what's coming up today.

"You're going to make alien life with poseable limbs.

"You'll be rubbing out to make outer space.

"And you might be cutting corners with some lawn art.

"Anyway, Ricky, better go. I'm off to paint at my life class.

"The nude model couldn't turn up,

"so your dad's agreed to stand in at the last minute."

-Oh!

-"Bye!"

BEEP!

Life class!

Maybe I'll make my own alien life class

by making my own alien figures.

A bit like these doodles that I did earlier

in the style of American artist Keith Haring.

But a little bit more poseable.

-Hi, Ricky!

-Whoa! Who are you?

It's me, man, Keith Haring. I was an American artist

and my earliest work was graffiti in subways.

Here's one of my famous pictures.

I became known for these bold figures,

and messages of love and unity for all humanity.

Keith, I'm going to unite your work with something a little less human.

Right-on, man!

I'm going to get myself some card and a pen from here

and I'm going to draw the separate limbs and parts of an alien.

Here's the head with three antennae.

A nice, big, round body.

How many legs shall we have? Three legs?

Well, he is an alien!

There you go. And now I'll cut that out.

Remember to be careful when you're using scissors,

or get a sensible adult to help you.

I wonder if having three legs would make you better at football?

It probably wouldn't make you better at dancing.

I've kept my shapes boxy and bold

as this is, of course, inspired by Keith.

But you could do whatever you want with yours.

There we go.

And now I'm going to attach all the limbs, using these split pins.

First, I need to make some holes.

'Use some modelling clay and a pencil

'to push holes in all the alien's body parts.'

And punching holes just makes it easier to get your split pins in.

So slide them through and open them up on the back.

'Repeat this until all the body parts are attached.'

Because they are split pins, it means that you can move him around

in lots of different fun poses.

Right, I'm going to get some green paper...

..and lay it down. Then I'm going to draw around him.

'Because the card is raised slightly off the paper,

'it's easier to draw around the alien.'

Right, I'm going to cut him out.

I'm just cutting out the overall shape of him

and I'm going to back and pick up these little recesses here.

Cool! Little green man looking good.

Now I'm going to do another one on some blue paper.

Just going to make a new pose.

Maybe two legs down, one leg up.

You might find it easier to sticky-tack down your alien

when you draw around him to stop him from moving.

There we are, another alien figure.

Right, I could do with a couple more of these.

Maybe in some more colours. So I'll ninja myself some new ones.

Got a lovely yellow one and a pink one, too.

So I'm going to get myself a bit of backing paper.

And start positioning them in a way that I like.

I kind of think that's a good look.

Then I'm going to glue-stick them down.

All these cool poses we've made

really make the picture look like it's full of energy.

Having a party that's truly out of this world.

'Once they're all stuck down,

'draw around the aliens in black pen to make them stand out.'

Right, so there we are. Look at these lot.

Nice and bright, black lines really making them pop out.

But they're missing that final Keith Haring touch.

And that's little lines here and there to accent the movement.

There we are. Now all it needs is a frame.

Isn't that great? Little green men and women.

Well, and blue ones and pink ones and yellow ones!

Wow, Rick! Those people are out of this world, literally!

Not too bad, eh, Keith?

'I've done people from another planet. If you plan it well,

'you could make your own Keith Haring-inspired picture.'

BOTH: Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

What on earth...? Oh! It's my ninja assistants.

What can I do for you guys?

BOTH: What can you make with these?

A picture you've already done?

That's already good art. I can't make it better.

-Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

-I pick you!

-Yay!

So, what's your name, then?

I'm Marco and I'm from Glasgow.

So, Marco, what have you got for me today?

What can you make with an eraser?

An eraser? Well, normally with an eraser, we rub out pictures.

But I think I can create one. I'll just go and grab my stuff.

Right, so I'm going to be drawing a picture with an eraser.

So I need something to rub out first, don't I?

So I'm going to do a wash across my entire page with some charcoal.

Get the whole thing nice and dark.

And I think I'm going to do an astronaut picture.

Because what's nice and dark?

Space!

So, Marco, do you believe in aliens and things?

-Yes.

-What do you reckon they'd look like?

-I think they would be green.

-They'd be green?

-Yes.

-It would be rude if they weren't green, wouldn't it?

Right, so I've managed to make my paper nice and dark.

My hands are dirty.

Now I'm going to start drawing my picture by rubbing out the charcoal.

So I'm going to start with the curvature of the earth.

The sun just bouncing off it there.

I think I'll leave some areas dark because that can be like landmass.

And I'm going to rub out where the ocean should be.

Because then it's like the sun's reflecting off the oceans.

So, Marco, do you like space?

I like the planet Mars.

You like the planet Mars? Why is that?

Because it's starts with my name.

Oh! Good choice!

Excellent. That's the earth there.

I'm going to do the moon.

'When you have a go, you can make a picture of whatever you like.

'The sky's the limit.'

The sun bouncing off one side of it.

Space needs the astronaut, doesn't it?

An astronaut's going to be floating around doing a spacewalk.

So I'm going to start drawing an astronaut in here.

Let's draw one arm. Yeah!

That's his oxygen pipe there, going round. Start doing his legs.

I reckon to spacewalk or moonwalk, you need to have legs.

It's quite nice drawing in reverse.

And, of course, let's just pop in a couple of stars.

More than a couple of stars.

OK, like, a million stars.

Yeah, that would be better!

I'm just going to use the charcoal to put a couple of darker areas in.

Let's put some creases into his spacesuit...elbow.

OK, Marco, are you ready to see it?

-Yes!

-Prepare for blastoff!

-Whoa!

-What do you think? Do you like it?

Yes, I do!

So, what would you score it out of ten?

Hopefully not an astro-nought.

Ten out of ten?

Ah, yes! That's an awesome score!

I think all the picture needs now is a lovely border to finish it off.

Great suggestion, Marco. Thanks very much for your help.

-Have a good one. Bye-bye!

-Bye!

'Why don't you use an eraser to raise your art to another level?'

Here's a real quick art tip.

How to make a rocket blast off into space

to discover maybe some extraterrestrial business.

So I'm going to start with a rocket shape up there, like that.

Nice point on the end.

Then some wings at the back.

An exhaust. Nice line there on the tip.

And I need to draw the passenger in the middle.

Now to make my rocket blast off, I'm going to put fire

using these zigzag lines and some smoke trailing behind.

Now I'm going to add a couple of action lines around it...

to show its energy.

And then, of course, it's in space,

so I'm going to add some space surroundings.

And that is a nice planet here and stars.

There you go.

A quick art tip.

BOING-BOING!

CRUNCH!

BELCH!

Hey, you there!

Not this guy again.

It's me again!

How would you like a product

that's been developed by the international space agency?

He's been developed by the international space agency.

You can create your own alien gloop!

Told you.

'Here's how you make it!

'You need a bowl of cornflour.

'A jug of water.

'Add a small amount to the bowl.

'Grab some poster paint. Green is very now for aliens.

'Squeeze some paint into the bowl.

'Other colours are available.

'Stir vigorously.

'Keep stirring and adding water gradually

'to get the right gloopy consistency.

'It has a strange intergalactic feel.

'It can snap and dribble through your fingers. Freaky!'

Alien gloop!

A great substitute for green bogeymen.

'Beam me up, Snotty!

I wish I had some of that green alien gloop.

KNOCK AT DOOR

ALIEN VOICE: Delivery for Ricky.

Three pots of alien gloop.

Sign here, please.

That's weird.

There's been numbers everywhere.

We've had the dates 4, 6, 9, 21 and 25. Five dates.

I got ten out of ten for my astronaut picture.

What does it all mean?

RICKY SIGHS

This is my thinking pose. It means I may have an idea.

The numbers could be a GPS reference!

A location on a map!

If I follow them on my phone, it could lead me to the answer

to the universal question!

Is there life in outer space?

Ninja skills!

I know I wanted to do some amazing art, but this is ridiculous!

The coordinates have led me here.

Found something.

What...is...this?

-It's a rocket.

-Who are you?

-I'm Adrian.

-Alien?

No, I'm Adrian. I'm an expert in mazes.

Ah! That's why I've been called here, to do an amazing, mazing,

piece of alien art. Probably on your lawn.

But first, we'd better get our ninja on.

Art...Art Ninja!

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!

All right? I just want to get on

and do my intergalactic space picture on here.

Well, there is a bit of science to this, you know.

So, I can't just do a bit there, do a bit there, go with the mow?

-Go with the mow?

-Mm.

-Er...you might find it better to do it this way.

-OK.

-We'll do a grid of the whole field first.

-A-huh.

And then we'll mark out these squares.

And then we'll put canes in the ground, measure these out.

And we'll take each section in turn and then you can do your mowing.

-Yes!

-Yes!

-You should have 18 metres.

-You've done this before, haven't you?

Yeah. ADRIAN LAUGHS

And then you come along that tape with the white.

Yes, boss! I think he's going to tell me off.

If you don't do it right, it won't work.

-Go and collect the next tape and pull it all the way down.

-Yes!

Yes, sir!

He didn't hear me, did he? He didn't hear me?

Just do it quickly, though. You know, chop-chop.

Lovely sunny day to run around.

-Do we get to mow now?

-No.

-Oh!

Well, this is where I hand over to the sorcerer's apprentice.

I'm going to have a sit down.

Hah! I won't let you down.

I'm sure you won't.

Fully sitting down. Literally lounging.

You know, take a load off, man. Take it easy.

Pfft!

Perfect. Now we take the design and just do one part at a time.

Good spin!

-This isn't really for people that get hay fever, is it?

-No.

When am I going to get to mow anything? I want to mow.

-Do you believe in me?

-I have absolute confidence in you.

Now's the moment. I think you're a qualified ninja operator.

-Yes!

-OK? Off you go.

'I'm a ninja and Adrian's a grownup.

'Make sure you get one to help if you mow art on your lawn.'

No, no, not too tight!

Big waves. Big waves!

-That's not bad.

-Not bad at all.

Oh!

I don't see it. After all that hard work,

I think I've let you down. I don't see a rocket here anywhere.

Don't be hard on yourself, ninja, you did a grand job.

It's a splendid rocket there. Come on.

KNOCK ON DOOR

I wonder who that is?

Who...are you?!

We're from the international space agency.

We've come to impound your alien gloop.

But it's handmade!

Yes, that's right. Made by an alien hand.

That was weird.

And hopefully it's the end to my alien adventure.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

If you're making art that's intergalactic,

a lawn and an expert can make it fantastic.

PARANORMAL BLEEPING

Whoa! What just happened?!

ALIEN: Oh, what a strange-looking creature!

Oh, hello there. Who are you?

ALIEN: It talks! A-A-A-Argh!

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

Ninja skills!