Day of the Game 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,

Rich and Sarah. SHE SCREAMS

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

Some people call me the...

Art Ninja!

Today I will show you how to make a great fish bat-and-ball game

worth carping on about...

I catapult some art to the next level...

and I'm in remote control of an epic painting.

Because today it's...

..Day Of The Game.

HE YAWNS

It's a new day.

Time to get a ninja on.

And my clothes!

SEAGULL SQUAWKS

Gavin, what are you doing here?

I'm playing a new game I downloaded on the phone.

It's called Grand Turbo Racing Apocalypse 7.

I don't care what it's called.

What are you doing in my flat with my phone?

-Hey!

-Give it here.

I'm trying to get the super genius mega-high score. Don't distract me.

I'm going to make a game that's less laser ray and more manta ray.

It's the Art Ninja fish bat and ball.

I'm going to grab an old coat hanger here.

I'm just going to bend it out into a diamond shape.

Like that.

Now, I've got an old cereal box here.

I'm going to draw around that a diamond shape.

Now I'm going to cut that out.

Using masking tape,

I'm just going to stick it all the way around

on the inside of the coat hanger.

I'm using the tape just to kind of soften up the cardboard

into the hook at the bottom.

There we are.

Now I've taped it all the way around,

I can bend it to create the wings of the manta ray

and it will hold its shape.

Now I've got some old yoghurt pots

and these are going to become the eyes.

But I'm going to chop them down a little bit

because, at the moment, they are a bit too tall.

And I've left them slightly too tall

so that I can cut some slots into them here to create some flaps,

so they are easier to stick to the top of the manta ray.

I'm just going to stick them on with some masking tape.

Now I'm going to cover it in a layer of papier-mache.

So, I've got some newspaper here

and some mix.

Two parts PVA, one part water.

With a brush, I'm just going to start pasting it on.

Now, I could wait for this to dry -

but not me, I'm going to use my ninja skills.

There we are.

It's dried nice and hard and I've given it an undercoat of white

so now it is ready for painting.

I'm going to be using a sponge just to give it a nice texture.

Starting with the light grey.

I'm going to go back and do a darker grey around the edges

and along the spine.

Now I'm going to add the darker parts to the ray,

and I'm going to use just the edge of my sponge there

so I can get a bit more control.

Just need to leave that to dry

and I'll get ready some darker and lighter tones

so I can add even more detail.

A little bit there.

And I'm going to use a much smaller brush

so I can just get in and do those nice little dots.

I think that's looking really good.

There's a lovely range of different dots on there,

giving him a nice, realistic texture.

Now, with a black marker pen,

give him some eyes.

There we go.

I think my manta ray bat looks absolutely fantastic.

But if you want to play with your mates,

you'll need to make another one.

You could make a nice round football bat

or a long leaf-shaped cricket bat

complete with its very own cricket.

And, as it's a bat and ball game,

I'm going to need a ball.

So I've made one out of the leftover papier-mache mix

and I've painted it white.

Let's see if I can distract Gavin away from that game on my phone.

Ow.

Serves him right.

Gav's distracted and he's distracting me, too.

Come on, time to go.

There you go, mate.

Look where you're going!

BANG

Fail.

One thing you can't fail to miss is that that picture

has a life of its own -

and that's because it's animated.

Do you know what? What a lovely meal.

Thanks for having us over, Seb.

Hey, look, guys. My pleasure.

Yeah, that was really good. Thanks, man.

You know what? I really, really like these mints.

I just love them so, so much.

They are my favourite.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

The mint is mine!

I'm the guest! I get the mint!

To make this a light battle animation,

you'll need a couple of mates -

some to act and one to press the shutter.

A few torches -

get a range of sizes, like having different brushes.

A camera that shoots long exposures,

a flash, and a computer with animation or editing software.

There are loads of packages you can get free online.

And you can put it together in just three ninja moves.

Ninja move number one.

So, the first thing to do is a little bit of planning.

So, I'm going to do a storyboard.

These don't have to be super clear.

To make it a bit quicker, I'm going to do some stick figures.

I'm going to start with Seb over there

and I'm going to have Seb power up his big light energy

and I'm going to have Loz do the same thing

and I'm going to cut back and forward between the two of them

to build up some suspense.

And then they are going to shoot the light across - like, that way,

and Seb is going to shoot it that way

and they are going to join in the middle and then, kaboom!

Time to get on with it.

Ninja move number two.

It's time to start shooting.

Now, this animation uses a technique you might recognise

called light painting.

And here's how it works.

You set your camera to shoot long exposure.

Now it's time to turn the lights down low or off.

Take a photo by holding down the shutter.

You draw your picture with torches.

The torch light leaves a trail on the final picture.

Also, I'm using a flash, so my models don't come out blurry.

Hai-ya!

Hai-ya, ho!

Ninja move number three.

And finally, it's time to do some editing.

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

A spot of leftovers.

Hang on a minute -

I've had an idea that will catapult this mealtime to fun-time.

Let me just quickly consult the old art reference book.

HE COUGHS

Hello, Ricky. I am Leonardo.

No way! I love all of your movies.

Er, no, that's Leonardo DiCaprio.

I am Leonardo da Vinci.

No relation.

I painted the Mona Lisa.

I also did the Vitruvian Man,

who I look a bit like now.

I like to doodle invention.

I was also fond of making catapults.

Here's some of my work, now.

Thanks, Leonardo. I'll let you get back to your book.

Argh!

I'm going to make a fun catapult game

using some lolly sticks and elastic bands

and I'm going to fling fake food into my big bitey mouth up there

that I've made from an old cardboard box.

It has a hole cut out for a mouth

and I've stuck on googly card eyes.

I'm going to start by taking eight large lolly sticks

and binding them together with elastic bands.

And just go round it as many times as you can, so it's nice and tight.

And do that the same the other side.

There we are.

Now I'm going to grab another thick lolly stick and a spoon,

and I'm going to bind them together, as well, with another elastic band

to create my kind of catapult flingy arm.

I'm just grabbing another large lolly stick

and I'm going to put it the opposite side of my large block

I've already made

and my spoon flinging arm above that.

I'm going to bind these together with elastic bands again,

but I'm going to go around it diagonally,

once in one direction.

I don't want to do this bit as tightly

as I have done the main block, too many times.

If I do, it won't have enough movement or spring.

And, finally, to get that spring in,

with one last elastic band

I'm going to pinch these two ends together.

There you go. My catapult is done.

Now I need to make some fake food to shoot from it.

I've got a piece of card

and I'm going to draw my fake food onto it.

Take a nice black pen.

I'm going to draw a mushroom and an onion.

Now I'm going to cut those out.

Now I've got myself some bottle tops

and I'm going to stick my fake food on top of it

with some double-sided sticky tape.

So, there is my fake food onion and my mushroom projectile.

Well, I'm going to need more food than this to feed my face,

so let's make some more, ninja style.

Ah, yeah.

I've got some salami, a nice bit of red onion, my mushroom,

tasty olives and my favourite, some pineapple.

Now it's time to play my catapult game.

Here's a free lesson.

It's a great game to play with friends.

Now, where's Gav got to?

Gavin, you're not still playing that game, are you?

Must get game genius super-mega high score.

Repeat. Must get game genius super-mega high score.

He's turned into a game zombie.

I must try and snap him out of it.

CYMBAL CRASH

GROWLING

It's Gavin's skateboard.

PHONE RINGS

Hi, Ricky. It's your mum.

Saved by the mum.

You probably didn't answer the phone

because you're busy playing computer games again.

No chance of that.

Anyway, I thought you would like to know what's waiting for you

at the next level of the show.

There are rockets to race,

things that will make you think

and some very remote-looking art.

Anyway, I have to go.

I'm off paintballing.

Time to show the WI who's boss.

I wouldn't like to be in Mum's firing line.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky.

Take cover. These ninja apprentices seem game for some art.

Ricky, can you make art with an umbrella?

-Have to take a rain check on that one.

-Hm.

-Hi, Ricky. It's Dodge and Hacker here.

-How do. Now, Ricky,

-can you make something out of this?

-Coconut man!

Er, sorry, not this time, Hacker.

Unbelievable.

-And you call yourself an artist?

-Ninja?

Hey, what have these guys got?

Ricky, can you make art with a straw?

That's more like it. I choose you.

BOTH: Yay!

So, what are your names?

-I'm Poppy.

-I'm Rose.

Nice to meet you, Poppy and Rose. Where are you from?

-Sunderland.

-Yeah.

Awesome. Well, art with a straw.

I think I'm going to use a straw to make art that's out of this world.

Just let me get my things.

I'm going to start by drawing a little window on this paper,

cos I'm going to make a rocket.

A nice little space porthole.

I'm going to colour it in blue.

-I think it's kind of cool inside the spaceship, so...

-Yes.

..that's what I'm going to go for.

Then, with this tissue paper,

I'm going to create flames so it looks like the rocket

-is really blasting off.

-Cool.

When I've made this rocket,

it's going to end up being a game that you guys can play.

You could both make rockets and maybe have a little space race game.

So, I folded up this bit of tissue paper

and I'm going to basically cut a shape into it

so that when I unravel it, it looks like flames.

I'm just going to fold up this other bit of tissue paper.

Guy's, what do you think's faster - a ninja or a rocket?

-The rocket.

-Yeah.

HE GROANS

Flames there. I could really do with some sticky tape.

Do you guys have any?

-BOTH:

-Yeah.

-I could grab it using ninja skills.

Ninja skills.

HE RIPS TAPE

Let's turn it over. I'm going to stick the yellow bit down first.

This is going to make it look like the rocket's going super fast.

I'm just going to roll round this piece of paper,

and sticky tape it together.

This is going to make the body of the rocket.

Just going to cut a couple of slots into the top...

of my rocket.

That's going to help me stick it to the nose cone.

I've just drawn round a plate

and cut out a very thin piece of card here,

and I'm going to cut a quarter out of it to make my nose cone.

I'm just going to roll that cone round, like that,

and then I'm going to stick it down with some sticky tape.

Et voila.

I'm going to put some sticky tape on the inside of my rocket,

just so the cone will stick to it nicely.

Slide the nose cone on,

and I've got my hand inside to push all the sticky tape out.

I think the rocket could do with some fins

that stick out the side, you know?

Help its aerodynamic-ness.

So I'm going to draw a couple of fins on here.

Cut those out.

-So do you guys like doing art? BOTH:

-Yeah.

Have you got any pictures there you've done?

There's a one that I did when I was younger - a lot younger.

-I like it!

-Me mam's friend's dog.

That looks awesome!

I'm just folding the edges of the fins over

so I can sticky-tape them to the side of the rocket now.

Now I'm going to take... trusty straw,

and I'm going to stick it along the back of the rocket.

-I bet you guys were wondering where the straw would come in.

-Yeah.

There you go, the rocket's pretty much done.

-What do you think. BOTH:

-It's cool.

It's going to be even better when it's flying through the air.

That's why I have some cotton here,

and this will work like the rail that the rocket shoots along.

I'll be right back - just going to go and tie it off.

There you go, tied it off,

and I need to thread this through the straw.

It's easy if you tie it to something heavy.

I'm using a cocktail stick in this case,

just to pull the cotton through.

'I've already tied the other end of this cotton

'to something on the other side of the room.'

That's the rail that it's going to fly along.

Rockets need an engine, and I'm going to be using a balloon.

OK, think it's ready to fly.

Hey, here we go...

BALLOON RASPS

# Sky-high I'm, I'm sky-high... #

Yeah!

-It worked! BOTH:

-Yeah!

What would you guys give it out of ten?

-BOTH:

-We give it a ten!

That's for your suggestion, it's been brilliant. Bye-bye!

-BOTH:

-Bye!

Try making two of them and race against your friends.

Don't mind me, Gav(!)

If you're going to play games, I'm going to watch TV.

'Hey, you there!'

Oh, not him.

'Would you like people to know what you're thinking

'without telling them?'

You wouldn't like to know what I think of you.

-'I knew you'd think that, and here's what

-I'm

-thinking.

'It's my thought bubble hat.'

I know you want one, and here's how you make it...

Take some paper...

and a pencil,

and draw a large bubble...

..and a smaller bubble...

..and cut that out.

Lovely.

Take a piece of black card...

place your white bubbles on top,

and stick them down.

Cut them out with some scissors,

leaving a border of about a centimetre.

Snippy, snippy.

Now take some glue...

..and stick the smaller bubble to the larger bubble.

Mm, sticky!

Cover your thought bubble in sticky back plastic.

Cut off the excess.

'Bubbly!

'Now take a strip of cardboard'

that fits around you head.

Perfect.

Take an old pencil and stick it to the back of your bubble.

This will help the thought bubble stand up.

Turn it over and stick the front of the pencil

to your cardboard strip.

There.

Now take a longer piece of coloured card and cover over the pencil.

Smooth.

Now with tape, stick it together to make your headband.

-Now I just need to write what

-I'm

-thinking.

'The thought bubble hat -

'not available in the shops.'

-At least, I think it's not.

-DING!

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

I've got a diving board in place already -

he'll spring off of that.

I'm going to start with his head -

it's going to be leant-back a little bit...

cos he's jumping through the air.

Eyes looking forward. He needs to be pretty pleased with himself.

That's not important for jumping, but I like him to be happy.

His hair's going to be blown-back...

as if he's jumping through the wind.

Now his body...

I'm going to put his arms up, diagonally,

coming out from his shoulders.

He's throwing his weight up in the air.

And some shorts.

And I want his front foot facing up...

and his back foot is going to be facing down -

he's just sprung away from it.

Put a couple of wobble lines around him

to show the action,

and then some speed lines coming away from his back,

showing the direction he's jumping in.

There we go - quick art tip.

Come on, jump to it and have a go yourself.

Gav, you can't still be playing that game.

Come on, give it here.

-Nope.

-HE GRUNTS

At last, the game genius super-mega high score will be mine.

Aw, it's out of charge.

No!

-But there's nothing else to do.

-What about the skateboards?

Oh, I'm not that good on mine.

Too many computer games, mate.

Come on.

TOY BARKS

Ninja skills!

HE WAILS

CRASH!

Hey, Sarah. What have you got there?

A remote control fluffy toy dog, obvs.

YIP, YIP!

-Looks cool.

-I know!

See, Gav? Playtime without the screen time.

So what else have you got?

All sorts, I found them in my old room.

I thought you might like them.

Wow. Sarah, you literally

had ALL the toys.

ROAR! These old toys are fun, but I think

they have a different destiny -

they can help us make some amazing art. But first...

we better get our ninja on.

THEY WHIR ROBOTICALLY

BEEP, BEEP

WHIR!

ROBOTIC: Art Ninja.

-Ready?

-Affirmative, Art Ninja.

We've got a canvas,

-Sarah's old remote control toys...

-Yeah!

-..and a tonne of paint.

-Sweet.

Let's make some art.

# You might see me in a Lambo

# Camo snapback, Rambo

# 500 horses, Django... #

Oh. All right, Sarah, if you can grab the car,

we need to get some paint on the wheels.

We'll use it to paint nice lines down the middle.

OK, cool.

# Anywhere I go, I make the gang go... #

I'm going to have to go quite slowly so I get a nice line.

I'll just help guide you, mate.

You can be like my sat nav.

-Sat Gav?

-Yeah!

-ALL:

-Yeah!

Right, Gav, grab the car. Sarah, bring your paint tray.

Let's take it up a notch.

-OK, Sarah, put some more green paint in there.

-OK.

-Gavin, hold the car...

-OK.

..and we're going to stick this roller on the back -

-it's going to drag it along.

-Oh, nice, I see.

Look at that - it's a great texture.

That's looking great -

but, guys, I think it's time to get prehistoric.

ROAR!

ROAR!

RICKY: No?

Well, we're going to need some darker paint

to put on the bottom of this dinosaur's feet.

THEY CHUCKLE

That's amazing.

Not fast, but amazing.

Cool, guys. We're not going to be

using the remote controls any more,

we're going to go hand-held - a bit more analogue.

Erm, Ricky, what's this going to be?

Well, I don't want to give it away,

but let's just say it'll have plenty of horsepower.

TOY WHINNIES

My horse laughs in the face of your digger.

To get the more detailed bits and a bit of a blend,

I've gone down to just using a tyre.

And that's it, guys.

We've made a thoroughbred picture using remote control toys.

-That looks awesome.

-I love it, it's great.

But you know what? We should get back.

-HE SCOFFS

-It's all right for you -

-I crashed my skateboard, remember?

-Oh, mate, you did.

This picture gives me a great idea for a new mode of transport for you.

Saddle up, mate.

HE EXHALES

Giddy-up!

Don't push your luck.

Turns out Gavin was a demanding jockey.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

Not getting a high score is not a shame when you can turn

art into one giant game.

It's been a great day, today...

..and I really enjoyed making that remote-controlled art...

Don't worry - I think he's ran out of power.

That should do it. Switch him back on...

HE BEEPS AND WHIRS

Gavin, what are you doing in my bedroom?

-Just changing your batteries.

-I run on batteries?!

HE GASPS

HE SCREAMS