Day of the Prank 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.'

MUFFLED: Ninja skills!

'I draw, I paint...

'..I make things.

'I hang out with my mates,

'Gavin, Michelle, Rich and Sarah.' SHE SCREAMS

'Most importantly, I make Ninja moves.

'Some people call me the...'

'Today, I'll show you how to leave your mark with a 3D initial...

'..turn yourself into pop art...' Ahhhhh!

'And there's plenty of thrills, but no spills,

'when I make a picture losing liquid.

'Because, today it's...'

GONG BONGS

HE YAWNS

It's a new day. I better get my Ninja on.

And my clothes.

WATER SPLASHES

Wow. I love this flat, it's so bright.

Ninja murals, my trusty art table.

This place is a part of me, I'll never leave it.

It's what gives me my Ninja skills.

MESSAGE ALERT Hm, what's this?

"Property for sale.

"Perfect art studio in the heart of Bristol."

Well, can't hurt to have a look, just out of interest.

Hey, look! Trendy sofa,

lovely kitchen and...

Hang on a minute!

That's MY flat!

The landlord's selling my flat!

He can't do this to me. KEYPAD TONES

RINGING TONE

Oh, he's not in.

He's probably out...selling flats without telling people.

I'll leave a message. VOICEMAIL BEEPS

Hi, landlord, it's Ricky.

You need to come over here immediately.

Love you... I mean, no! Bye! Bye!

There's no way I'm letting this place be sold!

I really need to leave my mark on it.

That gives me an idea! I'm going to make...

..the Art Ninja 3D initial!

All I need is a bunch of toys.

Here's some of my old toys, that's handy.

So, I've got a big piece of card here and I'm going to start

by drawing out my initial, a nice big R.

I'm going to go quite angular for mine.

I'm using a ruler, but you can go freehand

and make a nice bubble letter.

There we are. Just cut that out.

Now, I need to cut this bit out, so to get my scissors in there,

I'm going to poke a hole with a pencil

and put a bit of modelling clay down to protect the desk.

OK, and now, using the modelling clay and the pencil again,

I'm going to poke two holes,

so I can tie some string in and hang it up later.

Now I've cut myself some cardboard strips.

They're about two centimetres in width

and they're going to work as an edge,

so when I start putting my toys inside the letter,

they won't fall out and I'm sticking them on with some sticky tape.

Now, most of the edges are on, it's starting to form its shape,

it's becoming 3D. Now on to the middle bits.

OK.

This is going to need painting, but I'm not going to do that now,

I'm going to use my Ninja skills.

Yah!!

There you go, painted it a nice aqua blue.

Obviously, you can paint yours whatever colour you like.

Now, it's time to start using the toys.

I'm going to be sticking them down with some strong glue.

Not only is this an R for Ricky, but these are all my toys,

so it will really personalise it.

I'm sticking down smaller objects first,

so they can be seen through the larger objects.

It'll give it greater depth.

Ah, a little skateboard, I remember this.

Yeah!

I'm being careful to make sure the two holes

that I made early are clear,

so later on, it's easier to tie my ribbon.

Get the cow in there.

I'll just mo-o-o-ove this one a bit to make sure it sticks.

Hiyah! Ho!

And I "nose" where this is going to go.

Squeeze it in there.

Now that's dry, I'm ready to paint it.

Got that same nice aqua blue from earlier.

Getting in there.

I don't want to use too much paint

cos I want to maintain all the details of the toys.

I want to use just enough to leave a nice solid colour.

Just changing brush now. There you go, really getting in there.

Right, I got all those hard-to-reach areas.

Now, I could wait for this to dry, but not me. I'm a Ninja!

There we go, check that out.

All I need to do now, is tie on a bit of ribbon and hang it up.

I'm using a nice bit of orange ribbon to complement the blue.

Now, I can hang it up.

There you go, that's definitely put a bit more me around this place,

and it looks awesome.

Instead of toys, you can use anything you like.

Here's one for Sarah, made with old art supplies

and complete with gold glitter.

And another representing Gavin's interests

that he can hang on his bedroom door.

KNOCK AT DOOR

That must be the landlord.

I think you're going to love this place.

Just let yourselves in, why don't you?

As the advert says, it's bijoux,

but as you can see, it's exciting and full of potential.

This is the living room, perfect for living in.

BOTH CHUCKLE

I could really see myself living here, it's very me.

Who are you guys? They look...strangely familiar.

This old table. You're going to want to get rid of THIS monstrosity.

Ugh, simply ghastly!

-Yes, one will definitely be putting an offer in.

-Splendid!

That's it then...

The end of an era.

Ciao.

I think I'll do some art to...

cheer myself up.

Here's a quick art tip of how to draw a laughing character.

Let's start with her head.

Just add some hair quickly.

Now the important bit, her expression.

Give her a nice big mouth, crescent like that.

And then just drag it all the way down.

She's laughing really hard,

so the mouth is super wide.

Little nose and upside down half circles for her eyes ...

cos they're closed.

Let's draw her dress, here.

Then I want her to be uncontrollably laughing with her hands

just brought up to her face like this.

And then I'm going to have her knees knocking together...

with the giggles.

There you go, she's vibrating with her chuckles.

And that's it, a quick art tip.

GIGGLING Go on, have a go yourself!

It'll be a laugh.

SQUELCH!

BOTH LAUGH

The idea of this flat being sold

makes me want to scream like this

AAARRRRRRRRRGH!

I feel like my head is going to pop off!

That does give me an idea to do some pop art.

Selfie... AAAAAAAARRGH!

There we go.

I'll just print that out, like a Ninja.

I've got some acetate back here,

and I'm going to lay that sheet over my photograph,

and with a marker pen, draw my main facial features.

Start with my glasses.

You need to use a permanent marker to draw on to acetate,

otherwise your pen marks might smudge.

Colouring in the glasses. There you go.

Look at that. It's already looking really pop-arty.

To turn myself into pop art, I'm going to need some dots.

So, I'm going to use a hole punch to help me. Couple more...

I'm just going to empty those dots out, look at that.

If I stick these red dots onto my acetate outline,

I'll transform myself into a Roy Lichtenstein-inspired picture.

Wham! It's me, Roy Lichtenstein.

You scared me there, Roy!

Ha-ha... I do like to... POP art on people.

Pop art? Get it?

I used thick outlines, bold colours

and I loved drawing comic strips.

I also used dots called Ben-Day dots

based on printing techniques from the 19th century.

My work looks like it was created by photographic reproduction.

And my work itself continues to be reproduced and copied to this day.

So, you won't mind if I make a homage to your work here, then, Roy.

Here's to you!

Hey!

Sorry, Roy!

OK. I've got some gridded paper under here,

I'm going to put my acetate outline onto it,

that'll help me lay on my dots.

Now, I'm going to turn my acetate over so that when I put the dots on,

I don't have to redraw the lines

and I'm going to angle it ever so slightly diagonally,

cos it's more in keeping with the way that Roy did his work.

Now, we start sticking them on.

I'm using a cocktail stick, because it can get a little bit fiddly

and it gives me a lot more control.

And I'm positioning these dots

one square unit of the grid paper apart.

PVA glue is good because it dries transparent.

Hiyah! Ho!

That's the last dot done, a quick peek.

Now, I'm going to move on to some painting.

I'm using some bright, primary colours just like Lichtenstein.

A bit of red for my top.

I've got some yellow,

that's for my hair.

And a bit of blue, for the top of my shirt.

I'll start with the yellow.

I'm using acrylic paint because it sticks better to acetate.

Remember I'm painting on the back here,

so it doesn't matter if I go over the lines.

Now, a bit of blue for my shirt.

You don't have to use paint, you could use coloured markers.

Finally, some red.

I'm painting the acetate on top of some white paper,

it's just easier to see where I'm painting.

I think that's done. Let's check it out.

Time for another selfie.

I look a bit dotty!

Just print that out. Ninja skills.

Well worth a frame.

There you go, a perfect, pop-up portrait.

'Art Ninja!'

KNOCK AT DOOR

That better not be more people coming to view the flat!

Oh, you again! Come to show some more people around, I suppose?

Fooled you, Ricky. It's me!

Gavin! I was just pretending to be an estate agent!

You mean what I think you mean?

Yeah, the flat's not for sale!

Only kidding, mate, just my little joke! Ha-ha! Your face!

RIPPING

Very funny, Gavin. Now, get out, you big, practical joker.

No more from you.

When Gavin's in the mood for pranks, he's hard to keep up with -

a bit like this picture, because it's animated.

HE PUFFS

Skateboarding is thirsty work.

Hey, dude, how about this to wet your whistle?

Thanks, bro.

Whoa! I thought my cup was going to take off!

-No, it's just an animation.

-A "plane" awesome one.

To make this sweet cup animation, you'll need.

Plastic cups, some paints,

a permanent marker pen,

and a tablet with animation software.

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

Ninja move number one.

Decide what you're going to animate. I'm going to do a little red plane.

So, I need to grab my cups and my pen.

I'm going to start drawing

my separate frames around the outside of one of the cups.

That's my first frame, and I reckon I can get one, two, three...

four more round that, so five frames in all.

I'm going to change it ever so slightly.

So, the body of the plane stays the same,

but I'm going to have the wings level out a little bit.

I'm drawing my plane freehand, but you could use a stencil.

There we go, I'm going to paint that red.

I'm using acrylic paint here.

It's great, because it's very opaque

and gets a good covering on the plastic cup.

Ninja move number two.

Now, it's time to paint my mid-ground and my background.

Now, my mid-ground's going to be clouds,

so I'm going to take another one of the plastic cups

and get some white paint.

The clouds are going to done now,

I'm going to move on to the background,

and that one's going to be an all-blue cup.

You can add extra clouds to it, I'm going to keep mine plain.

Just going to mix up a bit of paint.

There we go, a nice, blue cup. I'll just leave those two to dry.

I'm adding outlines to my clouds and birds to my blue sky.

Ninja move number three.

So, now, it's time to start shooting the animation.

So, I need to put my cups within each other, so I have a background,

a mid-ground and a foreground all working together nicely.

The technique we're using here is called "parallaxing".

You know, when you look out of a car window, as you're driving along,

objects very close move very quickly,

and objects in the distance move very slowly.

The background is going to move a tiny, tiny amount,

the mid-ground's going to move more

and the foreground plane is going to move a whole frame each time.

I'll take the first frame.

CAMERA CLICKS

OK, I've added some sound effects and I've compiled my movie.

I think it's time to take a look at our mini masterpiece.

PLANE DRONES

-OK, guys, what do you think of the animation?

-Good work.

I'll drink to that.

PHONE RINGS

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

Of course it is! You're the only person that uses that phone.

'Here's what's coming up.'

Cast your eyes on some amazing plaster art.

There's some soap that simply poo-mazing.

And there's epic art that should win the World Cup, and I'm not joking.

You never can tell with mum.

-BOTH:

-Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

It's the Ninja Apprentices.

Ricky, can you make art with a jar of jam?

-Sorry, it's a bit of a sticky subject.

-Oh...

Hi, Ricky, it's Nero from The 4 O'clock Club.

Oh, hiya!

(Another CBBC peep trying to get in on the act!)

Quick question. Can you make something out of a tape dispenser?

-Not today, you should be getting off to your own show!

-Come on!

Hey, what's this guy got?

Ricky, can you make art with an old sock?

All right, I pick you!

Yeah.

-What's your name, dude?

-Almo.

-Nice to meet you, Almo. And where you from?

-Bristol.

-Ah, yes!

So, art with an old sock,

I'm going to make a fake plaster cast

-you can fool your mates with.

-Yeah.

I'll just go and grab some bits.

-So, I've got myself an old bottle here.

-OK.

I'm going to carefully chop the top off.

I've taken off the lid, cos that way

it's easier to squeeze, and I can cut it.

This bit can be a bit tricky, so get an adult to help you.

There you go, take the top off.

I'm just going to chop the bottom off, as well.

Again, just squeeze that to get my scissors in.

-Now, I'm just going to cut all the way down the bottle...

-Yeah.

..which means I can change the size of it so it can fit me properly.

Just make sure. I'll put my arm in.

A little bit of overlap, that's pretty good for mine.

So, I'm going to stick that, at that point, together.

Just using some masking tape.

You can use regular tape, but I've just got masking tape to hand.

I'm going to put some masking tape on the inside, too,

so the join doesn't scratch me when I put it on.

There you go.

Now, I think I'm going to cut

a little U shape for my thumb to go through.

Then it looks really authentic.

I'm going to put a little bit of tape around the top of this U there,

so the plastic doesn't scratch me.

It's just safety stuff.

And I'll do the same all the way along the top and on the bottom.

-What would your dream art project be?

-Hmm.

A ginormous cardboard castle.

A massive cardboard castle!

-Would you live in it?

-Yes.

Would you live in it alone, or would you invite friends over?

Invite a few friends.

Yeah. Here we go.

I've got some cotton wool here and I'm going to stick it round the top

and the bottom and around the thumb hole so it looks like a real cast.

Just like that to the edges,

and I'm just going to tape it over with some masking tape.

There you go. I'll do the same at the bottom.

There we are. It's looking pretty good.

-I think it's time to use the sock.

-Yeah.

I'm going to chop off the toes.

And then, I'm going to chop it again

just before the material changes pattern... So, after the heel.

And now, I'm going to slide it over the bottle,

a great use for a stinky, old sock!

So, it covers up all the tape.

It's really starting to take shape now.

So, my thumb's meant to go through here.

I've got to make a little hole for it.

Ah, yeah, that's looking really good,

but it doesn't feel very good at the moment.

I think it could do with a bit of stiffness to it.

So, I'm going to cover it in a layer of PVA glue.

So, just start pasting it on.

Really get it on nice and thick.

The PVA will make it stiff like a real cast.

Now, I need to wait for that to dry

-or I could use some Ninja skills. What do you think?

-Ninja skills!

Hiyah!

Yeah, Ninja skills.

Right, Almo, cast your eyes on this.

So, it's dried, rock solid, and, look,

I've got all this artwork drawn on it.

You can even get your mates to draw on it

without the pain of hurting your arm.

-What do you think of it?

-It's awesome, Ricky.

What mark would you give it, other than a scribble of course?

I give it...ten.

Ah, yeah!

Great suggestion, Almo. Thanks, dude, bye-bye.

Why not try and prank your mates with a fake cast?

-TV:

-'Hey, you there.

'Someone been winding you up?'

Other than you?

'Well, now, you can play practical jokes on your mates with this...'

..delightful soap that looks like poo!

Here's how you make it.

Take a bar of soap and grate it into a bowl.

Great!

Done.

-Now, pop that in the microwave...

-BEEPING

..for ten seconds.

PING!

Warm.

Now, take a tablespoon of coffee

and add some warm water...

..and stir...

'..until it's a nice paste.'

Add that to your soap...

..and mix it with your hands.

Really get in there.

Now, mould it into a sausage shape.

Shape it as desired.

Classic.

Fake poo soap!

Remember it's not real,

but it's excellent for cleaning you from top to bottom.

TING!

To be fair, I do like most of the products he sells,

this isn't my favourite though.

It's probably my number two.

I really want to get Gav back for his prank.

If only Gavin had left his most treasured possession behind!

Near the front door, for instance.

ETHEREAL SPARKLING Hang on, what's this?

"Gav's Secret Diary"!

This will come in handy.

Hi, Rich. Grab Sarah and meet me at the warehouse.

Ninja skills.

-Hey, guys, thanks for coming down.

-Hey, Ricky.

So, you remember how Gavin always likes to play

-those practical jokes on us.

-Yeah...

It's time to get Gav back for all his pranks, and I have here...

ETHEREAL SPARKLING ..his secret diary.

I bet he's desperate to get this back,

and I'm going to make it very hard for him.

SHE SLURPS

Sarah, do you mind not slurping when I'm telling you our cunning plan.

That's not very cordial!

No, but it does give me an idea,

but if only we had more cups and more cordial.

What, like that?

That should do it! But first,

we better get our Ninja on.

WHOOSHING AIR

CRACKING, CRUNCHING

Art Ninja!

Art Ninja...?

SHE SLURPS

Because Gavin takes the cup for being the biggest prankster,

we're going to make some epic art

using cups and lots and lots of squash.

We're going to carefully place the cups together,

squash Gavin's diary behind them and then he won't be able to get it back

-without spilling all the drinks.

-Sneaky.

So, we need to start a little production line.

So, how many do you want of these, Ricky? Just a couple?

Um, yeah. About 3,066.

3,066!

Approximately. SHE GROANS

Ricky, how are these cups going to make art?

Good question, my friend.

Well, once they're filled with different colours

and placed in the right order,

from above, they'll make a giant picture.

Let's get some more.

Can I have a drink?

-Yeah.

-Cheers.

Hey, you guys, pack it in!

-We need that juice for the art.

-It's thirsty work, this.

SHE SLURPS

Ricky, we've laid all these cups, but I still have no idea what it is.

Well, from this angle, it doesn't make much sense,

but all these separate little circles of colour, from above,

-will make an amazing picture.

-I can't wait to see it.

And that's it!

Using 500 litres of liquid and 6,000 cups,

we've made a colossal clown!

-He's incredible!

-It looks awesome!

I'm super-stoked with this.

Look how all the colours join together,

and from above, it makes a beautiful picture.

And now time to play our prank on Gavin.

I called him earlier and told him to come and get his secret diary,

but I'm going to place it on one side of the cups

and when he tries desperately to get it back,

he'll spill ALL of the juice. HE LAUGHS

ALL LAUGH MANIACALLY

PHONE RINGS Oh, hang on, guys.

-Oh, it's Gav. ..Hey, dude?

-'Hi, Ricky.'

I can't make it down to the warehouse today,

I've got a very important appointment.

'Sorry, mate.'

Catch you later.

He's not coming. He says he's got an important appointment.

Well, there's one very important appointment, but that's it!

There's nothing else in here, no juicy gossip, no nothing.

Um, Ricky, how are we going to get out of here without getting soaked?

You've literally painted us into a corner!

HE FACEPALMS

That's not the worst of it.

-I think I drank too much juice.

-Oh, no, don't tell me...

I need a wee.

I think I need one, too.

Oh, guys! Oh, you're making me need one.

At least, we made some fantastic art.

Ooooh, I'm going to wee!

-'Art Ninja!'

-OWL HOOTS

It's OK, we eventually got out without any accidents

and Gavin was none the wiser.

No change there.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

Before you do art with soft drink,

make sure you stop and think.

PPPPBBBBBPPPPPT! Oh, another Gav prank!

He's only gone and put a whoopee cushion in my bed.

It's here somewhere.

It's definitely here somewhere.

There's no whoopee cushion.

It must've been me. HE SNIFFS

Urrrrrrrrgh!