Day of the Spy Art Ninja

I'm Ricky.

I live in Bristol.

I work as an animator, which is lucky, cos I love art.

Goal!

I live for art, I even dream of art.

I draw, I paint, I make things.

Nailed it!

-I hang out with my mates, Gavin, Michelle, Rich...

-Yeah!

-..and Sarah.

-It's me.

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

Some people call me the...

Art Ninja.

Today, I'll show you a novel way to keep your secrets safe.

We make a collage that won't SELFIE destruct.

And it's not Mission Impossible

when these ninja apprentices get to work...

..because today it's...

HE YAWNS

It's a new day!

I better get my ninja on.

Found my clothes.

I watched a great movie last night, Johnny Spy II - Licensed To Chill.

I wish I was a spy.

PHONE RINGS

-Oh, got a message.

-'Rickie, you have been chosen.

'Keep the line clear for further instructions.

-'Over and out.'

-Maybe that's a spy?

Maybe not.

-Hi, Ricky.

-Gavin, were you spying on me?

-No, why?

-Well, I watched this really good spy movie last night.

Now I kind of want to be a spy. Do you...know anything about spies?

Do I?

I don't know, do you?

My name's Gav, annoying best mate Gav,

and I know all about best spy practices.

Spy lesson 101 is disguises.

I'll be right back. You've not seen me, right?

Weird.

Something I definitely need to disguise

is where I hide my chocolate,

because Gavin's always got an eye out for it.

Here's an idea where to hide it.

It's the Art Ninja secret book.

Now, I'm telling you how to make this

but I'll trust you'll keep it a secret, right?

So, I've got an old food-packaging box here,

and I'm going to cut off the front.

I'm putting tape around here just to neaten up the edges.

Now, I need this box to look like pages

and I'm going to create that illusion

by using some string and double-sided sticky tape.

Just going to peel off those bits.

And now it's time for the string.

Carefully wrap the string around on top of the double-sided sticky tape.

I'm going to start off at the bottom and start rolling it around.

I need to be neat with this,

because I want it to look like pages.

Last one. Snip it off.

Now I need to make the cover.

So for that, I've got a piece of card.

I need to mark where my spine's going to be.

So, let's have a look, like that...

And the other side.

Then to get a nice fold,

I'm going to put the ruler down and bend the card over the ruler.

And the same for the other side.

To make the edges look neater, I'm going to cover them in masking tape.

Do the same for the spine.

Sweet. Nice and tidy.

So to draw my design, I've got a couple of bits of card.

I'm doing a scary skull and facial features separately.

You'll see why later.

I'm just cutting out these pieces with scissors.

And I'm cutting indentations so this bit looks like teeth.

I'm going to draw around my skull to make a slightly bigger one,

just about a half a centimetre border all the way around.

When these two are layered up,

it will really make it pop out from the book.

Let's get that cut out as well.

Let's stick the smaller skull onto the big one.

Just using a glue stick here.

Now I'm going to put on the teeth,

then the nose,

then the eyes.

That's the skull for the front but I want a smaller one

for the spine, so I'll just ninja another one...

and some bones.

Ninja skills!

Stick these to the cover of the book with the glue stick.

And the spine.

And the crossbones.

Now it's ready for painting.

So I've got two lovely blues over here.

A light one and a richer dark one.

I'm going to start with the light blue,

just give it an all-over base for colour.

If you're doing this at home, you'll need to put some newspaper down

to protect your table.

Right, I need that to dry, so I can do the detail,

and I'm going to use my ninja skills.

There we go.

I've painted the inside a darker blue to give it a bit of contrast.

Now I'm going to add some detail with a smaller brush.

So just a tiny bit of paint on the brush and with what's left,

I'm just going to pick out all the embossed edges.

I'm going to take my time on some bits here to blend it in,

using a dry-brush technique.

I'm also painting the edges of my cover dark blue,

and that's to make the book look old and worn.

Now I'm going to stick my pages on the inside with a bit of

double-sided sticky tape. Two bits on the back should do it.

And one on one side of the string,

cos that's going to be where the spine sticks in.

And one final finishing touch,

some lovely golden corner protectors,

that I'm going to hold on with double-sided sticky tape.

There you go, check it out.

I'll need to hide my chocolate on the inside.

Gav will never find it in there,

but it is hard to keep this book a secret,

because it's such a thriller!

What about these sequels?

A pink fairy-tale book and its sparkly key,

Or how about a ninja family photo album?

KNOCK AT DOOR

Judging by the secret knock,

that'll be Gav with some spy disguises!

Wow! Gavin, that is an awesome disguise?!

It's me, Ricky.

I'm not Gavin, I'm your dad.

I knew that, Dad, I was just acting.

And that is important if you want to be a spy.

Being a spy is all about being...

..inconspicuous.

No, Dad, I didn't catch that.

-Inconspicuous!

-There's no need to shout!

And what's with all the spy tips anyway?

Who do you think you are, James Bond?

As a matter of fact...

I'm going to a James Bond party with your mum tonight.

Oh! Well, have fun.

I will.

Everyone's big on spying tips but here's a quick art tip.

How to draw a submarine.

I'm going to start with the water line.

And then I'm going to draw my submarine shape.

It's kind of a long egg shape.

Slightly more pointed at one end.

A little nose cone...

and then some portholes.

I'm going to draw three.

Have a little viewing station at the top here.

A little window there

and a periscope so they can see what's going on

above the water.

Some fins at the back, controlling where it goes.

This one at the front is straight on to us, so it just looks flat.

And then I'm going to go out towards the propeller.

The blades of the propeller are like leaves.

Finally, a few bubbles flying out the back.

There we go. Another quick art tip!

BUBBLES GURGLE

KLAXON

-Whoo!

-Eh!

-Whale!

KNOCK AT DOOR

Hmm?

Aah!

I've brought my top-secret spy disguises.

It's not very top secret if you've got it written on the box!

Here, try this on.

And I've got a newspaper with spyholes.

Oh, yeah, very discreet(!)

Gav, these disguises are a little bit old-fashioned?

How about the latest in a face-swap tech?

Ha! You'll never pull that off.

Won't I?

What do you think?

Oh, it's freaking me out!

Go on, get out of my face!

Haunting.

An artist that loved faces and did the same ones over and over again

was David Hockney.

Oh, hello.

-David is that you?

-Indeed it is, David Hockney, the very same.

You might know me from works like this.

In the 1980s, I began to produce photo collages,

which I liked to call joiners.

I'd use lots of photos of a single thing, or a landscape,

and then arrange them to make one image.

It really makes you look at things from another perspective.

Mr Hockney? Are you there?

I can't see him from this angle.

He has given me an idea, though.

I'm going to make a photo collage using selfies.

So I start by taking some selfies,

and I'm going to take them of close-up areas of my face.

So I'm going to do my nose.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS Eye.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS Maybe from around the sides.

If you find it difficult to take selfies,

you could always get a friend to take the pictures for you.

I'll just print them out!

So here we go. Got them all printed out.

All our lovely little close-ups.

And I'm going to position them on a big bit of paper.

I'm going to arrange them first before sticking them down

and it's kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

So that's my eyes there.

Actually, look, piggy face!

HE SNORTS

If you wanted to, you can line them up perfectly,

but I think it's quite fun if it's a little bit higgledy-piggledy.

I want to be a bit more abstract.

So I'm going to move something

that seems like it should be further back in the picture to the front.

So maybe this ear here.

That's quite fun. I'm going stick them down.

I'm just using a normal glue stick.

The reason I'm using a glue stick is because glues like PVA

would probably make the photographs quite wrinkly

and, also, the glue stick means that I can peel off photographs

and reposition them without damaging them.

There we go.

I think that's so good it deserves a frame.

You don't have to do a photo collage using selfies.

You could do one of your friends,

or how about your favourite place?

I'm pleased with that, or you could say, I'm pleased with myself-ie...

Get it?

Anyway, where's Gav got to?

Gavin's left his spy box of tricks behind.

I wonder what else is inside.

Ejector seat spray.

I'll give it a go.

Mmm, doesn't work.

Hi, Ricky. I'll just take a seat.

Argh!

CRASH!

Powerful stuff!

Sometimes it's like this picture follows me around the room.

That's because it's animated.

I don't expect you to be able to run out

and grab all the bits to make this one

but I hope it inspires you to do something new

and creative in the name of art and animation.

Today I'm going to be trying to make a time slice rig

-with 13 disposable cameras.

-What's a time slice?

Well, a time slice is a still image,

which you can move around in. It's a frozen point in time.

So to make this cool time slice animation, you'll need -

13 disposable cameras, a bit of plywood, a jigsaw -

be sure to get an adult to help you -

a hot glue gun, some foam,

strong tape and three people to help you push the button.

Ninja move number one.

You need to work out the perfect distance between your cameras.

So, depending on how large your piece of wood is,

put them equal distance apart, maybe around a semicircle,

all pointing at exactly the same spot.

Then you need to build your time slice rig.

Our rig works like one big finger pressing all the cameras at once.

Foam holds the button-pressing sticky-out bits away,

until we're ready to take our shot.

Between shots, we have to wind on all the cameras.

This is proper old school, not digital style.

Ninja move number two.

Now you've got your rig, it's time to start taking some shots.

Do some inside, do some outside, do some in low light,

try using the flash, just to get some more interesting pieces.

One, two, three! Oh, that sounded so good!

This is Stanley, Andre's dog.

-Hey, Stanley!

-Now!

Yeah!

In olden times, people had to wait to see their photographs

because they had to be developed at the shop.

So I'm just going to take these 13 cameras to the developer's.

Ninja move number three.

So, I've got all of the disposable cameras developed

and I've had all of the negatives scanned,

so I've got digital versions of them,

and now I need to put them in the right order,

to see if whether or not the animation works.

This may take some time.

The cameras took the pictures at the same time

but from different angles,

so, when they're animated, it looks like you're moving around an image.

Cool.

So I think it's time to cross our fingers

and take a look at our mini masterpiece.

That is awesome!

And it just goes to show that your finished piece

doesn't have to be perfect,

if you had as much fun as us making it along the way.

PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-'Ricky, you have been chosen.

'Come to the rendezvous point and tell no-one.'

-Who is this?

-'Keep the line clear for further instructions.

-'Over and out.'

-But...

They're gone!

PHONE RINGS

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

I never thought I would be so glad to get a phone call from Mum!

'Is your dad there? He needs to get ready for the James Bond party.

'Hope he's OK.'

He's shaken and stirred!

'Anyway, here's what you need to get ready for.

'You really milk the secret agent theme with a fast-car picture.

'I spy some sneaky specs from this character.

'And it's a top-secret rendezvous with art that's so good,

'there's no disguising it!

'I think that covers everything,

'or should I say,' undercovers everything.

No! You shouldn't say that, but too late.

'Bye!'

'Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

'Ricky, can you make art with a bunch of feathers?'

As much as that tickles me, maybe another time.

'Hi, Ricky. I've got something I need your help with.'

It's Matt from Secret Life Of Boys.

It's a bag of flour. Can you make anything out of it?

I'm a maker, not a baker.

Now I'm getting hungry.

Hold this, I need a snack.

Oh!

Charming(!)

Hey, what have these guys got?

Ricky, can you make art with milk?

OK.

I choose you!

-BOTH:

-Yeah!

-What are your names?

-My name's Miles.

My name's Sophie.

-And where are you from?

-Aberdeen.

I'm going to use the milk to draw a secret picture,

worthy of a special agent.

I'll just go grab my things.

So, I've got myself a little ironing board.

But I don't need that right now, so I'll put that to one side.

I've also got a little bowl for my milk,

a brush and two pieces of paper.

So, let me pour out some of my milk.

There we go. Oops, spilled a bit, no point in crying over it, though.

And I'm going to draw this car.

Awesome!

And so, just pop that over there. I'm going to start drawing my car.

I see some pictures behind you, is that your works of art?

Yeah.

Whose is whose?

Mine is the snowman behind.

It's an awesome snowman.

The other one is a picture of the Art Ninja.

Art Ninja? That's what I like to see on the wall.

So a couple of tips here

because you can't really see what you're doing

is to lean back like that, so the milk catches the light,

so you can see a bit more of your drawing.

I'm putting quite a bit of milk on the brush,

and I'm using a very nice, thin brush.

Another tip is to concentrate.

What would you draw if you had invisible paint?

A secret code, or something,

so that means if they do see the invisible paint,

they still won't be able to crack the code.

That's two levels of encryption. So, first of all, it's invisible,

and when you can see it, it doesn't make any sense.

How's it looking?

You can't see it, can you?

-No.

-You do see it a little bit of it.

Now, we're going to use a little trick to reveal the picture.

So, I need my ironing board.

Put it down on my ironing board and a piece of paper on top.

This is a great way of sending secret messages to your friends,

or maybe even secret art.

And now I'm going to iron it.

This will burn the milk and reveal the picture.

Now, you need to be careful if you're using an iron at home,

or make sure you've got a guardian or parent to supervise you,

or why not get them to do it for you?

And this works best with full-cream milk but semi-skimmed is fine.

If you want, just check underneath one corner

to check the milk's cooking. It does smell.

OK. I'm going to now I'm going to put the iron away.

Turn it off safely.

I'm going to get rid of my ironing board

and now you can take off the top piece of paper.

Are you guys ready to see it?

-BOTH:

-Yes.

What do you think of that?

Awesome!

Oh, that turned out really well.

I think my secret milk car picture is UDDERLY brilliant

and deserves a frame.

What mark would you give it?

0010.

Ha! I spy what you did there!

Thanks for your suggestion, guys.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye!

ENGINE ROARS

Om...

I think I spy the grandmaster.

Om!

I'm OK, man.

Great eggs, dude!

Mr Grandmaster, I've been expecting you.

Step number 007 to enlightenment.

Old shaded eye-protectors, resurrected for comedic effect.

Funny disguised glasses?

Yeah.

Grab some colourful pieces of craft foam

and draw around something circular.

Draw around a glue stick for smaller circles.

Draw on more circles on the other piece of craft foam.

And larger wiggly circles. So wiggly!

Cut all of your shapes out, man.

Go careful when cutting out the smaller circles!

Grab some tape.

This is double-sided tape, dudes!

Stick two pieces to each circle.

Stick your comedy shapes to the larger circles.

Sweet!

Grab some craft foam and cut into little pieces.

Stick them on and arrange them like delicious sprinkles.

Yum, yum, yum!

Get your sunglasses...

..and stick on your comedy frames.

Camouflage for when you're at the doughnut shop!

Whoa!

Lesson 007 complete.

Nice! What else have you got, dude?

Hello!

Woof-woof!

Thanks Grandmaster, I am enlightened.

I'm so enlightened I might need to borrow a pair of your comedy shades.

You are most welcome.

Om!

PHONE RINGS

I bet it's that mystery voice again.

'Ricky, you've been chosen.

'Meet me at the gallery.

'I'll have an orange moustache and a newspaper.'

What is your name?

'Code name Sarah.

'Over and out.'

Unusual. Well, I'd best get to the gallery,

this "code name Sarah" sounds like they mean business.

Ninja skills!

Spy skills!

Are you code name Sarah?

No. No. No. No.

But the voice said, orange moustache and a newspaper.

There must be somebody else.

A-ha! Code name Sarah?

-Are you code name Sarah?

-No.

-Are you code name Sarah?

-No.

Code name Sarah?

Real name Sarah.

You look weirdly familiar?

-It's me!

-Sarah, it's you!

-Fool.

-But what about the voice?

-DISTORTED:

-Ricky, you've been chosen. Meet me at the gallery.

OK, yeah. But why?

Well, I arranged to have one of your pieces of art

displayed at the Tate Modern.

Thought I'd get you down here as a surprise.

And you invited all these people to come and see it?

Nope. Never seen them before in my life.

Oh, but seeing as we have got all of these people,

we can make some amazing art.

But first, we better get our ninja on.

-Do you think they're following us?

-Nah!

Art Ninja!

-ALL:

-Art Ninja!

Strike a pose!

Sarah, we're going to use all of our new friends and their newspapers

to make a huge piece of art.

Inside the newspapers is a secret coloured code

and we need to work together to crack it.

Now you stay down here,

I'm going to find a better spot to spy on you from.

I've got 144 ninja apprentices to help me.

But am I going to be able to pull it off? Scary!

Can you hear me down there?

I think I need a louder voice.

This should do it.

Put up your boards.

OK, put it above your head.

Hold it right up.

Arms straight.

All the right way around?

-Excellent.

-Move it to the right.

No stop. Too far.

Back, back to the left.

We're doing our best, Ricky.

Well done, guys.

OK, the eyes are a little bit wrong.

-Now the mouth's funny.

-All right, Ricky!

Perfect.

This is looking really good.

Sarah, come on, get up here!

-All right?

-Now I thought you were a spy but check out this art.

It's got licence to thrill!

It's me in my many disguises.

This is amazing. James Bond's got nothing on you!

OWL HOOTS

I may not be a spy but I'll always be the Art Ninja.

Today has taught me a valuable Art Ninja lesson -

super spy disguises and a voice-changer

can lead to awesome art with lots of arty strangers.

I'm glad that mystery voice turned out to be Sarah

and I'm happy there's no more secret missions.

PHONE RINGS

Not again.

Stop messing around, Sarah.

'This is not Sarah.

'This bed will self-destruct in five seconds.'

Bed? Don't you mean message?

'No, bed.'

Argh...

EXPLOSION