Day of the Time Machine 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.'

Excuse...! 'I draw. I paint.

'I make things.

'I hang out with my mates, Gavin, Michelle,

'Rich and Sarah.

'Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

'Some people call me the...

'Today, I'll show you how to make, but not bake, a cake clock.

'There's time for a lizard made from salt dough.

'And you won't see me for dust with some vacuum-powered art.

'Because today it's...'

HE YAWNS

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

And my clothes.

Right, time for some art. All I need is some paint.

Like that pot of paint carefully balanced up there above

Mum's antique Persian rug.

What's the worst that could happen?

SQUISH

Oh, no! I've got paint on Mum's antique Persian rug.

She's going to go ballistic. I'm never going to get this out.

What am I going to do?

How will I ever make it up to Mum for ruining her rug?

I could bake a cake.

But this isn't Junior Bake Off, and I don't have the time.

Ah. That's given me an idea for some art, though.

I'm going to make...

the Art Ninja cake clock. TICKING

So, I'm going to start with a big sheet of card.

I'm going to draw a circle on it, using two pencils and some string.

Just going to poke a hole like that. And then just draw around like that.

This is a great trick for drawing a circle.

Just going to cut that out.

There we go.

And I'm going to need two of those, so I'll just ninja another one.

I've cut the centre out of this one

so I can put the clock mechanism in later.

Now, I've got a long strip of card here.

I've made it about 5cm wide,

and that will just decide the height of my cake.

Now, another trick here to help you stick

the strip around the circle

is to pre-stick some masking tape on the underside of it,

with a bit of it overlapping.

This means you can roll round the card.

And as you go around, just fold over the masking tape, stick it in place.

Now to put the top bit on.

We'll do a similar thing, but around the top.

Last little bit there. That is the main structure of the cake done.

But it needs to look like a cake, so I'm going to add some sponge.

So we are going to cut my sponge into strips with some ninja skills.

'Hi-ya!' There we go.

Now, I'm going to stick these sponges around the side

in two layers with some double-sided sticky tape.

Just start placing them on.

I'm going to use a bit of extra double-sided sticky tape between

the ends of the sponge to make sure they stick together nicely.

'Then turn your cake over and repeat this process for the second layer.'

There we go. Now, I don't know about you,

but I like my cake with a little bit of jam filling.

For that, I'm using some wool.

I've just chopped up some bits of wool here.

And to make sure it stays on the inside, I'm just going to do

a line of PVA between the two pieces of sponge for the wool to stick to.

There we go. Let's start stuffing that jam in.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'd like some icing.

So I've got some pink and some white paint here,

and I'm going to mix in with it some PVA glue

to make it nice and sticky.

And the PVA also means it dries kind of shiny, just like icing.

I'm painting right up to the edges

and I'm letting little bits dribble over so it looks like icing.

Now I'm going to add some nice white swirls.

So, we've got some slightly thinner paint here that I've mixed with PVA.

I'm going to dribble that on top in a swirly pattern.

Right, I think that's enough.

Now I'm going to add some sprinkles

and I'm using some coloured elastic bands.

I'm going to chop these up with scissors,

just to get them nice and small.

There you go. Now I'm going to add some cream.

And I'm going to do that by soaking some cotton wool in PVA glue

and shaping them into dollops.

Now, these lumps of cotton wool

are going to be the markers for my hours.

This first one here is going to be 12 o'clock.

This one is going to be six o'clock.

Nine o'clock.

Three o'clock. And I'm going to fill in the other hours in between

equal distances apart.

So, I've done my main hour markers,

but now I need the minutes.

For that I've used a similar technique as making

the dollops of cream, but this time I've mixed the cotton wool

and PVA glue with some paint to make these lovely

coloured balls of icing.

Just counting down the final minutes.

It's looking great,

but I'll need to wait for it to dry before I put the mechanism in.

No, I won't, because I'm a ninja.

There we go.

Now I need to add the mechanism.

You can buy these from all good craft shops

or you can buy them online pretty cheap.

So, I'm going to attach this to the back of my clock.

I'm going to poke it through the hole

that I made right at the beginning.

I've cut out a spoon and a fork

to be my hour and my minute hand

just out of some silver card.

I've got double-sided sticky tape on the back

and I'm going to push them onto the mechanism.

That's the hour hand.

Minute hand.

And then the last little bit to hold them in place.

There we go. It looks amazing.

My clock is finished and it's a piece of cake.

Time to hang it on the wall.

Now, I've made mine to Mum's special recipe,

but you can try some other ideas.

How about one with some nice patterned icing

or a lovely chocolate gateau?

Enough of Ricky's Fake Bake Off.

It's time to clock off.

Nothing is going to get this out

and when Mum finds out, I'm really going to be in for it.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Hm? That can't be her. She only ever uses the home phone.

It's an alert for a new app.

App To The Future, the first ever downloadable time machine.

It's free. I'll give it a go.

It's taking its time downloading.

Oh! It's the slowest broadband in the world.

While that buffers, here's a picture that never stops moving.

That's because it's animated.

Whoa... What's this? Some kind of balloon disaster?

No, it's just an animation and it's going off with a bang.

BALLOON POPS

To make this popping little animation,

you'll need a load of balloons,

a balloon pump or a lot of puff,

a permanent marker,

some plastic or paper cups,

a camera or smartphone,

a pin,

a skateboard and a selfie stick.

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

Ninja move number one.

Blow up all your balloons.

About 30 to 40 should do it.

I'm using a balloon pump here

because I've got quite a lot to get through.

But be careful when you are blowing up your balloons

because balloons pop.

BALLOON POPS

Ninja move number two.

Now it's time to start drawing my frames.

I need to be careful here because the balloons are super delicate

and the dry tip of the pen can pop them.

I'm going to be animating a little character on a space hopper.

Also, I'm going to number my balloons

so I know what order they go in later.

Ninja move number three.

Now I can start shooting the animation,

but cos it is a real-time animation,

it means we don't need to shoot in stop-frame.

I can just use a camera that shoots video.

So, for that, I'm going to be using my phone.

Distance between the balloons is key,

so it's good to do some tests first.

I'm mounting the pin on the selfie stick,

but I'm using it backward,

so it's always the same distance from the camera.

I'm going to be holding the camera in my hand

and just riding on my skateboard and popping the balloons.

Now, of course, needles or pins are super-sharp,

so you might need to get an adult to help you.

I'm going to line up the balloons in the correct order

and sticky tape them to some cups so they don't fall over.

This is a great thing to do on the weekend.

We are going for it.

Did that work? I don't know. We've got a few left over.

Yeah! Sick.

Woo!

We have made a massive mess, though.

Yeah, and you can clean this up, Ricky.

The App To The Future time machine app has loaded.

I can't wait to give it a go. I just enter a date.

Maybe I'll go back to when I was a mere art ninja apprentice.

Oh. Nothing happened.

Must be a glitch.

Well, the time machine works, but there's definitely a glitch.

I've returned to the present as an eight year old.

Oh, there's an update to fix the app.

I'll just download that and try again.

Whoa. That's better.

Now I know it's working,

I might go and see what the future holds for me.

2025 should do it.

Wow. That was amazing.

Who'd have thought they'd make Art Ninja: The Movie?

I just played my dad, though.

They got a younger actor to play me,

but the premiere was great.

It was so futuristic.

Right, well, I've got art to make.

I'm going to make something inspired by Catalan architect and artist

Antoni Gaudi.

Seeing as I've got loads of shoeboxes lying around,

I'm going to decorate one in the style of Gaudi

and use it to keep all my bits and bobs in.

Going to need a bowl,

cos I'm going to make some salt dough

and I'm still not baking a cake.

And some mix.

The mix is half a cup of salt,

a whole couple of plain flour

and half a cup of water.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm making this dough.

Well, I'm going to decorate my box with a lizard

and create some mosaic tiles.

There you go.

That's mixed in pretty well and now I need to start shaping it.

Just move these out of the way.

I'm going to bring in a baking tray.

I'll pop some grease-proof paper on there

and I'm going to take a third of my mix off.

Now I'm going to roll this bit into a sausage shape.

I want it fatter at one end and getting thinner towards the other.

I'm just going to curl it to make a tail.

Right, he's looking good.

Now I'm going to make the tiles for my mosaic.

I'm going to cut lines.

Cut them in different sizes just so you've got a variety in your mosaic.

Right, they are all cut.

I'm going to lay them out on my baking tray.

Now, I could leave these to dry for three days.

But not me. I'm going to use my oven.

And I'm going to sound like a Bake Off judge when I say,

"Ovens are hot, so be careful."

Put them in the oven at the lowest temperature for three hours,

then leave to cool.

Now I'm ready to paint.

I'm going to paint the lizard bright and colourful.

You could say a bit gaudy.

My name is Gaudi, not gaudy.

Hey, Gaudi.

I didn't expect to see you time travelling here.

I put the art into architecture,

adding in materials like ceramics,

stained glass and wrought ironwork.

Here is some of my work now.

I see you are recreating something similar, no?

I am. But if you don't mind, could you shoo?

Time is tight.

I'm going to add some blue now

and create a nice triangle pattern along the back.

Time to add some extra detail.

First with orange...

..and then with green

and, finally, some eyes.

Now I'm going to stick him to the top of my box.

I'm just doing that with PVA glue.

Now I'm going to take it up another notch with a mosaic.

I could paint all these tiles,

but not me.

I'm going to use my ninja skills.

Check it out.

I'm using more PVA glue to stick the tiles to my box.

The great thing about PVA is it disappears when it dries.

First I'm doing red,

then dark orange

and, finally, yellow.

You need to leave a little gap between your tiles

to make it look like an authentic mosaic.

I'm going to continue that yellow around the sides.

And the final tile.

Wow. Look at that.

Well, I might as well put some bits and bobs inside my box.

I'm going to keep art supplies inside.

There we go. Check that out.

I think it'll make a cool time capsule.

Before I time travel again,

here's a quick art tip of how to draw the changing seasons.

So, I've drawn the same scene four times.

Now I'm going to add the seasons to them.

I'm going to start with spring, so I'll have a little sun.

Not too bright.

A couple of rays coming off of it.

Do some tiny clouds.

And on the tree, a little bit of blossom.

And then some new sprouts of grass popping up in the fields.

Now for summer.

So, a nice big sun.

Big rays popping out.

And so the tree needs to look really full now,

so I'm going to draw a cloud kind of shape around it

and some flowers sprouting out of the grass.

These are big tufts of grass, as well.

Now for autumn.

So, the tree will be a little less full.

The leaves have started to drop,

so just a smaller cloud shape around the tree's branches

and then lots of leaves

just falling down

and blowing away on the wind.

And finally, winter. Brr!

I'm going to put a couple of clouds at the top here.

Now I'm going to add some snow

just coming down from the clouds.

There we go. Quick art tip.

Don't let the seasons pass you by. Give it a try.

-PHONE RINGS

-'Hi, Ricky. It's your mum.

'You probably don't have the time to answer now.'

No, I don't.

'Here's a look into the future of your show.

'You make some super-smooth art with sandpaper.

'I've got a sneaky suspicion you could use your sneakers to fly.

'And you use vacuum cleaners to make art that's tidy indeed.

'Anyway, must fly. Bye!'

How does she know all this stuff?

She must be able to see into the future.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

Ah, some future ninjas.

Ricky, can you make art with an eggwhisk?

Not right now. My brain's a bit scrambled.

Aw.

Hey, Ricky.

It's Ben from Officially Amazing.

That's right and I think it will be officially amazing

if you could make some art out of a whoopee cushion.

Not this time and that's official.

BOTH: Hi, Ricky.

Can you make art with sandpaper?

All right. I choose you.

BOTH: Yay!

What are your names?

-I'm Nia.

-I'm Mia.

-And where are you guys from?

-London.

-London. Awesome.

Using sandpaper,

I'm going to make a smooth picture of a rough-looking Viking.

I've got some oil pastels and my sandpaper.

I'm going to start off by drawing his Viking face

and I'm going to give him a helmet.

I've got a time travel app today.

If you could travel anywhere in time, where would you go?

I'd go to the 3080s.

3080? Why there, then?

To see if there's actually flying cars.

You know what? I was there earlier.

There's flying cars all over the place.

I'm making sure I'm making very thick lines on the page

with the oil pastels and getting a really thick cover.

I'm blending in the colours just so it flows nicely from dark to light.

Give him some horns on his helmet so he's a proper Viking.

Just putting some highlights.

Going to go back in with some black and put in a bit of detail now.

-Here's how he is looking.

-BOTH: Whoa.

Now I'm going to do something

that's going to make it look super-old and mega-cool.

I've got some baking paper here.

I'm going to lay it down with the non-shiny side up,

pop my picture on it...

And here's the cool bit, believe it or not,

because I'm going to go and do a spot of ironing.

So, I've got an iron set to medium heat.

You need to be careful with irons,

so get an adult to help you or supervise.

Put a tea towel over and that's to protect the iron

and to make the heat disperse evenly across the picture.

Slow and steady wins the race with this one.

Now the heat will melt the oil pastel

and transfer the picture to the baking paper.

Just give it a little check to make sure it's transferring,

because it might need some more ironing.

Wow. Look at that.

Just turn the iron off.

Let it cool down.

I'll go and show those guys.

OK, so I've ironed my picture. Time to peel it off.

Ah, yes. It looks super-old and worn.

Do you want to check it out?

Yes, please.

What do you make of that?

BOTH: Whoa.

What would you score it?

-Ten out of ten.

-I think it deserves a frame.

Look at that. It looks ancient.

Great suggestion, guys. Thanks very much.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

Hi, Gav. What are you doing here?

Hey, Ricky.

I was just wondering if you had time to go out on the skateboards.

Mate, I've got all the time I want,

now I've got my App To The Future time travel app.

-What? That sounds rad. Does it work?

-Yeah.

Watch this. Just put in the future date and press this.

-I'm back.

-Wow!

They really do ride hoverboards in the future.

No.

I wiped out and the wheels fell off.

Oh.

Speaking of which,

in the future, just try and steer clear of any ladders.

Ladders? Right. See you in the future.

Hey, you there.

Ever wanted a bit more spring in your step?

How about more wing on your shoe?

For once, this product might actually take off.

Here's how you make it.

Grab some craft foam and a pencil

and a draw yourself a lightning bolt.

Cut that out.

And use that lightning bolt as a template to make another.

Now, grab yourself some different coloured card.

With glue,

glue your lightning bolts to it.

Now cut those out and leave a border.

Sparkly.

Now grab some more coloured craft foam

and stick the lightning bolts on top.

Cut them out again with another border.

Now you'll need a shoe.

Use the eyelets to mark where the holes will be.

Grab some modelling clay

and use the pencil to poke some holes.

Now lace them onto your shoes.

Great.

Now you can do that with your other shoe

or try some different designs,

like some nice butterfly ones

or some bat wings

or some dragon wings

or some flames.

That is some incredible feat.

It looks like I'll have to throw Mum's super-ancient

and very expensive rug in the skip.

There aren't any vacuum cleaners that will get rid of paint.

Maybe they'll invent one in the future.

That's given me an idea.

The time machine app.

I don't even have to go to the future.

I can go back in time

and stop the paint from ever being spilt.

Ninja skills.

There we go.

The stain is gone and the rug is saved.

I didn't even need a fancy vacuum cleaner.

Although it has given me an idea for some art.

Hi, Rich.

Grab Sarah and Michelle and I'll meet you at the warehouse.

Oh, and bring some Hoovers.

Ninja skills.

Hey, guys. Thanks for bringing down the vacuum cleaners.

-That's OK. What do you need them for?

-It looks pretty tidy.

Thank you.

Not you, the floor.

Well, it does now, but I'm going to mess it up in the name of art.

What are you doing, Ricky?

Come on, guys, get involved.

You know you want to.

Whoa. What are you doing, mate? Don't want that green over here.

-I want a nice green strip just over there.

-OK.

-Sarah, bright yellow. Just a nice thin strip along there.

-Yeah, sure.

And, Michelle, can you bring that darker blue down here

and we are going to fade it into this light blue.

-Ricky, how is this art?

-Have faith, Sarah.

All will become clearer and cleaner.

But first, we need to get our ninja on.

Art ninja.

Art ninja!

-SARAH AND MICHELLE: Art ninja?

-Yeah.

This is lovely, mate.

But I still don't know why we need the vacuum cleaners.

Well, rather than using pencils or paintbrushes,

we're going to use them to make our picture.

There you go, guys. Do you get it?

Oh, I get it.

-So, do you want to come and get involved?

-Yeah. Try and stop me.

Rich, I'm going to need some vertical lines

just running down that green bit there.

You got it.

Sarah, I need some long horizontal

and short vertical lines along the bottom.

OK.

And I'm working on an area that will really make this picture take off.

Don't worry, you'll get it later.

Hey, get off.

Right, that's the end of the vacuuming.

I thought we were all done.

Not quite.

We just need to add some highlights.

The finishing touches.

That's it, and for a picture made of coloured dust, it's not too shabby.

It's an incredible aeroplane vacuumed out of dust.

Well, seeing as it took so long,

I think we all deserve to go out and eat somewhere nice.

-Yeah.

-Last one there pays.

I knew I wouldn't see those guys for dust.

OWL HOOTS

We really cleaned up with that picture.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson.

Litter coloured dust across a giant room

to make fantastic art with a vacuum.

That's enough time travelling for me.

I think I'll delete the app now.

It's not worked.

There's something seriously wrong with this.

Aaaaaaah!