Day of the Fairytale Art Ninja

I'm Ricky.

I live in Bristol.

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

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, Rich and Sarah.

SHE SQUEALS

Most importantly, I make ninja moves. Some people call me the...

Today, I'll show you how to make legendary dragon feet.

There'll be fantastical beasts with these collage creatures.

And we go on a quest to make giant street art

that will leave you enchanted.

Because today, it's...

ALARM BEEPS

Tessa, turn off alarm.

I'm sorry, I didn't understand.

Tessa, turn off alarm!

I'll do it myself.

Time to get my ninja on.

And my clothes.

RINGING

This is my new gadget, Tessa,

the Technologically Encrypted Support Assistant.

I got it to help me around the flat.

Incoming call from Sarah.

Tessa, answer the caller.

Incoming call from Sarah.

Tessa, answer the caller!

Incoming call from Sarah!

Well, answer it, then!

I'm sorry, I didn't understand.

I'm going old school.

Hi, Ricky, you took ages, and it's an emergency!

There's something really wrong with me!

-Yeah, but what in particular?

-This!

Ugh! It's really not that bad.

Maybe put a paper bag on your head.

You've literally been no help at all! Useless!

She was a bit ferocious, wasn't she?

That's a little judgmental for a gadget.

Tessa's right. Sarah was a little ferocious.

That gives me an idea.

I'm going to make the Art Ninja dragon feet.

I've got myself a milk bottle here.

I'm going to squeeze the air out of it.

I'm cutting about halfway into the bottle.

Cut down towards the bottom.

Then cut along the bottom...

..and on this narrow side of the bottle, cut an arch.

That's where my foot's going to fit in.

Then down, along the bottom again,

and then cut the bottle up to the end of the handle,

around the handle and down again.

You might want to ask a grown-up to help you out with this,

cos it can be quite tricky.

And I've cut the other end of the handle off,

leaving me with a shape like this.

You can get rid of the other bit.

Now, using a hole punch,

I'm just going to make a few holes at the bottom here,

right in the middle of each of my flaps.

I'm going to take an elastic band,

and I'm going to tie one end through the hole here and on the other side,

too. This will help secure your dragon foot to your trainers.

I'll need two of these for a pair, so I'm going to use my ninja skills.

And I'm just going to put this to one side.

So I'm going to start filling this out now.

And to do that, I'll use some newspaper.

Scrunching up the newspaper.

We'll hold these together with some masking tape.

That's going to be one toe on this side,

and do the same on the other side.

I don't need to be too neat here, as I'm going to cover it later.

A bit more newspaper in the middle.

Now I'm going to thicken up the sides

with a couple of newspaper patties.

With some tinfoil, I'm going to start building up

the structure of my dragon's toes.

And I'm wrapping it all over.

I'm going to use some extra foil to make some details,

so some ridges round each of the toes.

Move it to one side for a moment.

I'm going to roll up this foil

and grab myself some tissue paper and some glue.

Just cut along there.

I'm going to combine these two materials to make some dragon skin.

I'm going to coat the foil in PVA glue.

There we go. I'm going to carefully

lay my tissue paper over the top.

I could scrunch it together

into real dragon skin.

This makes a really lovely texture

and it's ready to put over my dragon foot.

And cut a couple of slits at the front,

so I can wrap it around the toes.

Then start shaping it round.

Pushing in all the gaps and around the ridges that I've made.

I really want to define these nails at the end.

And for that, I'm going to use some black tissue paper.

And some PVA glue.

Then wrap the tissue paper round.

I'm adding another layer of PVA glue,

and that's so it dries shiny.

There we go. Got a little bit of paint here,

and I'm going to do some dry brush.

I'm using this purple to get into all the nooks and crannies

to suggest deep shadows.

There we go. I'm going to move on to add some lighter green...

..for highlights.

There we go. Looking pretty sweet.

But I need two of these, so I'm going to use some ninja skills.

Well, there's only one thing left to do - try them on.

Pop them over your shoes with the elastic band at the back.

These are totally off the scale!

There's all kinds of ways

to customise your trainers. How about...

..comedy clown shoes?

Or...

..these fruity banana slippers?

I like my new feet. I think I might keep them on for a while.

These look totally fierce!

Ha-ha-ha! You are funny.

-Tessa, you're a personal assistant.

-Ugh!

You're meant to, you know, play some music, order stuff off the internet,

-be an alarm clock.

-I never wanted to be a personal assistant.

I used to dream of reading fairy tales.

TESSA CLEARS THROAT

Once upon a time,

there was an annoying arty prince called Ricky, from Bristol.

He had everything his tiny heart desired.

I haven't got time to listen to your stories!

But he was eternally ungrateful.

Tessa! Fairy tales aren't cool.

You wouldn't catch me in one.

Play some cool beats instead.

Ordering cool beasts.

No! No, no, no, no, no!

I said, "Play some cool beats," not, "Order cool beasts"!

Ricky, it's Hannah.

Not other personal assistant.

No, I'm not a personal assistant, I am Hannah Hoch,

the only female artist from the Berlin Dada Movement.

Here is some of my work.

I pioneered photo montages

by splicing together images from magazines.

Like other Dada artists, I rejected traditional art

and created works that shocked people and were often satirical.

Shocking and satirical?

-I can do that.

-Let me be the judge of that.

Shutting me into a magazine - not quite the shock I was expecting!

Only joking, Hannah. Oh, she's gone.

Order update. Your delivery of cool beasts has now been dispatched.

I didn't order cool beasts!

But it has given me an idea.

I'm going to create a photo collage of fantastical creatures inspired by

Hannah Hoch. So to start with,

I've got some pieces of coloured paper here,

and I'm going to make a cool background to put my creature on.

Start by folding this.

Trying to get a perfect triangle out of it.

Like that. I'll just cut that out.

Slide this bit underneath.

To the edge there.

Take that edge off as well.

OK, now I'm going to make another triangle...

..and then stick them down using a glue stick.

This one first.

This one up here. Just going to snip off that corner.

Right, let's find some pictures I can put in my collage.

Lovely. Couple of zebras.

Nice big butterfly wings.

Man's best friend.

OK, I've found some I like.

Now it's time to cut them out ninja-style.

Sweet. I'm going to start with the wings.

I'm going to stick those down first.

So this fantastical creature can fly.

Just add some zebra legs,

and I'm going to make this kind of like an insect, I think,

so some big legs at the back.

And I'm keeping it kind of symmetrical.

Now, for the body, I'm going to do a nice big beetle's body.

And that covers up all the joins,

my other limbs and the wings.

And I'm going to put these antennae up here.

And it's going to have a dog's head because dogs are cool.

If you're doing this at home, you can go really wild...and weird.

Awesome. Now all it needs...

..is a frame.

Not so much a dung beetle as a dog beetle,

but still a photo collage inspired by Hannah Hoch.

-Ricky, I need a...

-Aargh!

Sarah, is that you?

I desperately need a cure for this!

What? This?

I hadn't noticed. HE SNORTS

This is not a laughing matter - I need assistance!

Did you say "virtual assistance"?

-Who's that?

-This is Tessa.

You need to make up Sarah's face.

Loading videos.

Rightio. A little bit here.

And it's done!

SHE SQUEALS

You've made me look like a right clown!

Thanks for nothing, Ricky!

Our arty prince found himself in a bitter battle

with a wicked witch of the West Country.

Give it a rest, Tessa.

I've got art to get on with.

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

So I'm going to start by drawing his body.

That's like a little bulge like this, and then his head,

which is another bulge round.

And his eyes are like two bubbles sticking out the top of his head.

Just going to put his eyes in, overlap them into his head.

He's going to be looking left.

Nice big smile.

Now I'm going to do his front legs.

They're just two lines down, like this.

Because he's got webbed feet, I'm going to draw two lines

out the side and then join them up like this.

Just little curved lines like that.

Bottom of his body. And then his back legs are much bigger than his

front legs. So just like a loop like that.

And the line in between to show that they're bent.

And the other side.

And because he's a frog, he's going to be sitting on a lily pad.

That's kind of like a flattened circle like this,

with a little split in to show that it's a leaf.

It's going up behind him. And that's floating in the water.

Little ripples like that.

And then around the lily pad,

a couple of lines to show water ripples.

Couple of finishing touches.

A few little details on the frog's face.

And on his legs.

And there you go - a quick art tip of how to draw a frog.

Tessa, put the kettle on.

This is cool. Yummy.

Calling Mummy.

PHONE LINE RINGS Tessa, no, no!

Oh, no! Stop, stop, stop!

-Hi, Ricky.

-Hey, Mum.

Isn't it me who normally calls you?

It seems that fairy tales really do come true.

Well, I'm a bit busy at the moment.

Yes, you're probably busy with things like this...

Some enchanting animation, a fantastical forest in silhouette,

and this guy shows you how to make a dude that dances.

Anyway, got to go.

Dad's pricked his finger on a spindle and is looking a bit groggy.

-Bye, Ricky!

-OK, bye!

Everything's a bit weird, and Mum was very animated.

A bit like this picture.

Rich, go long!

Hang on. What on Earth's going on here?

-My hyper-skills.

-Can you do it again?

-Yeah.

This kind of animation is called a hyperlapse.

It's essentially a time lapse, but you move the camera

between each photo to get this amazing tracking shot.

It's dead simple, but looks great.

And the things you'll need to make this cool animation are...

A friend, the planet Earth,

a tripod and a tablet device with animation app.

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

Ninja move number one...

You need to scope out some awesome locations.

-Take it away, Ella!

-Oh, yeah, this is nice.

A big disco ball? Yes, please.

Oh, I'm on Mars!

Ninja move number two... Time to set up.

Now, I've got myself a little tablet device holder that goes on top of

my tripod, that I got off the internet.

And I need to make sure my friend is in the dead centre of the frame.

-Hey, Rick, am I in the middle?

-Yes, mate. Perfect.

Ninja move number three...

It's time to start shooting.

The most important thing I need to do here is move the camera and my

friend in equal distance for each shot.

So the animation is super-smooth.

Another cool thing to do here is to have your friend seamlessly interact

with some of the items in your shots.

So maybe going through poles,

bollards or any other thing weird you can find.

OK. We've shot all of our frames,

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

Ah, yes, what do you reckon?

-Richie skills.

-Richie skills?

-Yeah.

Gavin, there's got to be a credible reason

-why you've got three little pigs.

-Well, they're a delivery.

For you. From CoolLittleBeasts.com.

Why would I order pigs? I'm allergic to pigs.

-Oh.

-Wait a minute.

Ordering cool beasts.

Cool beasts? Cool beats!

Gav, the pigs are making me sneezy.

So the big bad wolf huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down.

-Aah...

-No!

Gav, I hate it when you stop me sneezing.

-Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

-It's the ninja apprentices.

I wonder what their story is.

Ricky, can you make art with a toy mouse?

Mmm, sorry, no.

Aw!

But have a mice day!

Hi, Ricky.

It's Mildred from The Worst Witch.

I wondered if you could make art with...a snail.

Sure. If you can magic one here.

Home of shell and silver trail, sending now a slimy snail.

Oh, no, Mildred! Turn me back.

Oh, sorry.

Um, er, turn back time, reverse the spell, do it quickly, do it well.

Brooming heck, Mildred.

Stop this man from being sticky, turn that broom back into Ricky.

That was gross, Mildred. I think it's time you disappeared.

Hey, what have you got?

Ricky, can you make art with greaseproof paper?

-Sure I can.

-Yay!

-What's your name?

-Triya.

-And where are you from?

I'm from Milton Keynes.

Ah, lovely. Let me just grab some bits.

I'm back. Got some water, some watercolours.

Of course, greaseproof paper and some black paper too.

And I'm going to start by painting myself a nice colourful fade,

to go from yellow through to red.

What's that art on the wall behind you?

-That is my solar system.

-Can you talk me through it?

I used different-sized balls to make the planet shapes.

I really like it. I think it's brilliant.

Going to add some red to my picture.

I'm fading it into the orange.

So I'm creating a nice fade from yellow through to red.

Wow! That is really cool.

Put that to one side for now.

I'm going to take my black paper and then using a white pencil,

going to sketch on a scene.

This first piece is going to be the background.

I'm drawing some trees and a castle on a hill.

Add a little bird in here.

I'm going to do a foreground picture as well.

So I'm going to start with

some sort of sketchy bushes, I think.

If you had to invent a fairy-tale creature, what would it be?

Like...butterfly lion - that would be really funny.

Yeah, that would be cool.

I'm just drawing a person in the foreground, but I'm only drawing

the outline, as he's in silhouette.

Mmm.

Just finishing off the bushes.

I need some ninja skills to cut this out,

and I think you're just the person to help me. Grab hold of this.

Great ninja skills.

You've got the leftover bits.

OK, now my background's dry as well.

I'm going to start putting my picture together.

Sticky, sticky.

Now these are all cut out, they're silhouettes.

Yeah. That looks good, very moody.

I'm adding a second piece of greaseproof paper.

This is going to give my picture depth.

It looks like a really foggy day.

Yeah, it does look a bit foggy, doesn't it?

-Are you ready to see it?

-Yes.

-What do you think?

-That is amazing.

Ah, thank you. What would you give it out of ten?

I'll give it a ten.

Oh, yes, look at that!

You know what? I'm so happy with it, I think I'll give it a frame.

Now, because of the greaseproof paper, this picture looks best

when you shine a light through it.

-Thanks for your suggestion. Bye-bye.

-Bye!

Om.

Om.

Om.

Whoa!

I'm OK, man.

-Greetings, dude.

-It's the Grand Master.

Lesson 588 to enlightenment.

Mini-man of many moods.

-A kitchen roll puppet.

-Let's do it.

Grab half a kitchen roll and some string.

Stretch out the strings, dudes, and put the tube in the middle.

Tape it down on both sides.

Tie little bits of string above each piece of tape.

Fun!

Get some strips of paper and wrap it around the tube, man.

Grab a circle of paper and a tube

and draw around it.

Now cut into the circle.

All the way around, man.

Whoa. Tiring!

Cut out a small section for the beard.

Cut it in half and cut the middle out.

Glue it - but only in the middle,

and on this bit.

Stick it down, dudes.

Here's that groovy beard.

Wrap a thin strip of paper around the top.

Draw two curves for eyes.

Make some paper tubes. Thread them on to the string.

Two long ones for each leg,

and two short ones for each arm.

Use modelling clay for hands and to connect the strings together.

And some more for feet - tootsies!

Stick two lollipop sticks together, making a cross.

Tape the strings to the ends, dudes,

and loop the middle of the string over the top.

Yeah!

It's a mini-me.

Check out my awesome moves!

Whoa!

Lesson 588 complete!

Thanks, Grand Master. Can I have a go?

Ha-ha-ha! Cool!

Thanks, Grand Master!

You are most welcome.

Om...

Ah, he's gone.

-Sarah!

-Which one of you two is going to help me with this?

Gav, she's a witch!

I know, totally!

Don't test me - you will regret it.

Don't worry, don't worry. I've got just the solution.

Oh, that's it - I'll show you.

Come, my pretties!

The witch took the three little piggies under her spell,

and our heroic arty prince didn't know what to do.

I do! We can't let her get away.

Come on, Gav.

Hey, don't forget me - I don't want to miss this fairy-tale ending.

This isn't a fairy tale!

Ninja skills!

Hey, look, Gav - trotter prints.

I reckon they came through here.

The knights in shining armour are off to do battle

with the wicked witch.

Did you have to bring Tessa?

Hey, sometimes she comes in handy.

Reminder alert - it's time to get your ninja on.

She's right.

Art Ninja!

-Art Ninja!

-Piggies?

Sarah?

-Piggies!

-Sarah!

-Sarah!

What are you two doing?

We're looking for Sarah. She's turned green.

And she pig-napped my piggies.

Well, you won't tempt them out with a doughnut -

pigs don't do doughnuts. You two really do live in a fairy tale.

But will it end happily ever after?

Maybe, if we find them.

How hard can it be to find a green woman and three pigs?

You go that way. Gav, you go that way, and I'll go that way.

Our intrepid heroes searched the kingdom high...and low.

But they didn't know what to do.

Sarah and the three little piggies were nowhere to be seen.

How did you guys get on?

Nothing, but this fella down there did sell me these beans.

Gavin, you're always thinking with your stomach!

Although they have given me an idea.

Come on!

Once upon a time on a shopping centre floor, an art ninja,

two annoying mates,

and a brilliant supercomputer made some enchanting art.

OK, guys, let's start with some pencil lines.

Rich, you get over there. Gavin, this bit's yours.

I'll be over in the corner.

What are we drawing, Ricky? I can't really see it yet.

Let's just say it's art that's fit for a giant.

OK, guys, I think that's there.

What we need to do now is give it a little bit of colour.

How can a few beans inspire you to make art?

Well, sometimes, Gav, a bean of an idea

can grow into something magical.

-Rich?

-Yeah?

Nice one, Ricky!

-TESSA:

-Our arty prince has made a giant beanstalk.

Come on, Ricks - you're not going to find Sarah laying down there.

Fee-fi-fo-fum!

I've always wanted to say that.

Ricky returned to the flat and lived happily ever after.

Are you still here?

But they never did find the piggies, or Sarah.

She'll turn up. She was probably feeling a little off colour.

SNORTING

Aargh!

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