Piranha Deadly Art

I'm Steve Backshall, and this is Deadly Art.

I'm lucky enough to travel the world tracking deadly animals.

But in this show, I'm picking 25 of my favourites.

I'm challenging my team of deadly artists to recreate a killer moment.

You'll get to make some art yourself.

And in the final show, my team and I are going to choose which animals

will make it into my Deadly Art gallery.

This is no ordinary art show, this is Deadly Art.

On today's Deadly Art,

I get in the water with one of the planet's most lethal fish.

I'm in piranha-infested waters!

My team of artists recreate another killer piece of art.

Mike, check out this tail.

And you can get creative too.

So, what are we looking at today?

These frenzied feeders have a fearsome reputation.

They've even starred in Hollywood blockbuster movies.

Meet the piranha.

A predatory fish with a deadly bite and large razor-sharp teeth,

they can be up to 30cm in length,

and have been known to attack almost anything

they find struggling in their waters.

So, can our artists capture the deadly nature

of this ferocious fish?

Time to meet today's team.

Hey, I'm Mike. I'm a cartoon artist,

and there's nothing I like more than turning my drawings into stencils

and making them deadly.

I'm Michelle, and I just love being creative.

I'm all about getting stuck in and making stuff.

In a moment, the Deadly crew and I go searching for piranhas

in the wetlands of Argentina.

But first, here's the killer moment I want our artists to capture.

No prizes for guessing what the first of my essential elements are.

Teeth. The piranhas' teeth are set in powerful jaws,

and their top and bottom set interlock,

giving it the ability to tear and rip flesh.

Shoals. Piranhas attack in fierce and frenzied groups.

They send out signals and copy each other's actions.

They could be considered the deadliest fish in the world,

as they can take on animals much larger than themselves.

And finally, speed.

It's often said that a large shoal of piranhas

can tear apart a cow in minutes.

So along with their teeth and teamwork,

this superb speed is one of their main weapons.

So, Mike and Michelle, good luck!

Mike, check this out. For such a small animal, these guys are fierce.

And the way they hunt in packs, you have to represent that shoal.

And somehow show that feeding frenzy of those ferocious teeth.

How about we have some meat that they're shredding?

-That would be deadly. I like it!

-Let's do it.

-OK.

Time for some more Deadly Art.

How about we use metal as our main material?

Yeah, that could be good for the scales and the sharp teeth.

Brilliant.

If we're going to use metal, these nails will be useful.

Now, this metal's great cos you can cut it,

you can bend it into different shapes to create the 3D models.

Yeah, but first we need to draw our individual body shapes

on a bit of paper, then transfer to the metal later.

-Cool, I'll start with the head.

-I'll start with the body.

I'm thinking, if we're going to do bending,

we might need to do lots of tabs and slots, is that right?

These teeth will look so ferocious, especially with the metal.

-They'll look razor-sharp.

-Definite.

It's all going to come together brilliantly, I'm sure. But now,

let's go to Argentina where I'll get uncomfortably close to a piranha.

Yay, good catch!

I'm now about to show you one of the most awesome sets of gnashers

you'll ever see in the animal kingdom.

Hopefully, without losing one of my fingers.

Oh, ooh!

Ah, look at those!

The teeth are fiercely, fiercely sharp.

They interlock with the teeth on the upper jaw, here,

forming a vicious...trap

that it uses to munch into other fish

and animals that are unlucky enough to be struggling in these waters.

'To show you just how sharp their teeth are...watch this.'

Did you see how it went through that?

That was like a chainsaw through chocolate.

That's what I call sharp.

More piranha chomping later.

How are Mike and Michelle getting on with their piranha art?

Now that we have all of our paper templates cut out,

we're using a sharpened nail to score our shapes onto the metal.

Remember, our artists are trained professionals.

Don't attempt any of the techniques you see in this big art challenge.

You know what's great about cutting out these individual body parts?

It'll make our piranhas flexible, which will help us

-when we make our shoal later.

-They'll look fantastic.

I think so.

Well, I've scored all my shapes so it's time to start cutting.

That's what we like.

Deadly Art's all about extreme power tool action.

I'm sure it'll look fearsome. Now here's Mike,

with some art work you can do at home.

As ever, this is all about shapes.

So grab your pencil, and let's start with a big half-circle

in the middle of our page.

Add in a triangle for the top fin, for the side fin,

and one last triangle at the bottom.

Add in a big eye, a big circle in the middle.

Another half-circle for the other eye. In the middle,

just below our eye, we're going to add in one line, bring it back.

That's the jaw. We'll switch to our black marker

and add in all the deadly details.

Go back over the pencil line, give it a wave shape.

Add in a few spines.

Do the same thing for this side fin.

At the bottom, we'll add in a zig-zag scratchy line

and colour it in.

OK, let's go over to the eye. Nice big thick black line

around the eye. We'll colour in the pupil with a little C.

Now we're going to add in the razor-sharp teeth.

Zig-zag line for that, on the top.

And again for the bottom. Go back over our pencil shape

to finish that off.

Colour in a little bit of black.

Add a few details around the eye.

One last thing - you've got to add in the mean eyebrows.

There you have a totally simple, totally deadly piranha.

'Nice one, Mike. Over to Michelle.'

All the body parts are cut out and the best thing about this metal

is you can bend it into loads of different shapes.

I'm focusing on the swishy tail.

'If it's all about bending metal and bolting stuff together,

'I wouldn't mind having a go myself!'

Mike, check out this tail.

You can really see the movement, as if it was swimming to catch its prey.

I've finished bending now. I've also drilled two holes in the jaw.

I can line those holes up...

and start bolting the jaw together.

Finished the head now and you can

see how using metal makes these teeth look really deadly and sharp.

'Totally cybernetic!'

Wow, our show is really coming to life.

Yeah, now you can see how the individual body parts have given us

-flexible movement.

-It's looking good!

'Excellent stuff.

'Back in the wetlands of Argentina,

'I've hatched a really cunning plan.

'I've got a wetsuit and gloves to act as a sort of armour,

'and a big bit of steak for bait.'

OK...

I'm in piranha-infested waters!

'With the bait in place, and a

'camera underwater, we'll see anything that comes to investigate.

'It took less than five seconds for

'the first piranhas to find our steak.'

Look at the size of that one!

Yahay! It's starting to happen.

OK, once we get a few of those showing interest,

all of its fellow piranhas will pick up the signals,

and they'll come in and feed.

That's when it'll start getting spectacular.

'The piranha picks up vibrations with a row of tiny hair cells -

'called a lateral line.

'Vibrations, coupled with the scent of blood, acts like a dinner bell

'to others in the area.'

Look at that!

They're going absolutely crazy.

This is just one of the phenomenal displays of predatory behaviour

you'll ever see!

The water is thick with fish.

'Only three minutes later...'

Look at this!

Look what's left of our meat.

They've totally destroyed it.

'Deadly or what?!

'Talking of which, it's time for Deadly DIY with Michelle.'

I'll show you how to make your very own snapping piranha head -

using a piece of paper and spray paints.

First, get a square piece of paper.

Make a series of folds.

You need some diagonal folds.

And again,

the other way.

Once you have those folds, bring in the corners to the centre.

Turn it over.

Again, bring these corners into the centre.

Once you've done that,

fold this in half. You'll see

flaps on either side.

Put your fingers in there...

and on the other side,

this is going to be the head.

Now we've got our piranha head but

to keep it secure I'll use double- sided sticky tape here and here.

Just to keep it nice and tight.

You can see we've got the mouth now.

Of course we want to add colour. It's a bit pale.

'You must have supervision if you're using spray paint.'

So, I'll start by using red for the inside of the mouth.

This will make it look really vicious.

'Normal paint will work just as well.'

Check that out!

Then close it up. For the outside, I'm using green.

All the way round.

Then, to add extra effects, I'll put some black over...

just bits and pieces to add speckles.

Once your colour is done it's time to add teeth.

I've got some more paper -

and cut out some razor-sharp teeth.

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

That will simply fit in the bottom of its mouth.

Again, I've done the same.

Stick this at the top.

You'll see it's looking vicious already.

We want it to come alive so, for the eyes,

I've cut in half a polystyrene ball, you can also use ping pong balls.

I've coloured them yellow and got a black marker pen to make the pupils.

Stick these on either side.

There you have your very own deadly, snapping piranha.

'Snappy!'

We're just hanging our piranha shoal

but I think the teeth could use improvement.

Fortunately, I've got an idea.

In keeping with the metal theme,

I've got copper paint.

This will make the teeth glint and look extra deadly.

-What do you think?

-That's really good.

-Give us a brush, then.

-There you go.

There's just one thing missing.

-We need to find them something to eat.

-Good point.

-Yeah, these piranhas look vicious.

-I loved working with the metal.

It was so easy to cut and bend it into shapes,

and quickly create a whole shoal.

And the teeth look deadly.

Yeah, I liked how we positioned it into the speedy feeding frenzy.

Steve was close to the real thing. I hope he likes what we've done.

I don't know where you got that bone

from, but those piranhas are making mincemeat of that thing.

So, it's time for the big reveal.

Remember, this is the killer moment I challenged my artists to recreate.

So, let's take a look at our finished art.

Wow!

This piranha art really does recreate their frenzied feeding

in my killer moment. Look at those sharp teeth!

They are just as scary as the real thing!

They look very deadly indeed.

Well done, team, art doesn't get any deadlier than this.

That's a top deadly rating from me

but will it make it into my Deadly Gallery?

Maybe. See you next time for more Deadly Art.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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