Saltwater Crocodile 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...

Then challenging my team of deadly artists to recreate a killer moment.

You'll get to make some art yourself and, in the final show,

we'll choose which animals make it into my Deadly Art gallery.

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

On today's Deadly Art,

I come face-to-face with the largest reptile on earth...

That is just packed with muscle.

..my team of artists take on a colossal creative challenge...

A huge croc head with all those teeth in it.

..and you can make your own deadly art at home, too.

Today's deadly contender is one of the most ancient animals on earth.

They've been around for more than 200 million years

and, with 64 teeth in their mouths, they're one of the only animals

that will hunt AND eat a human being.

This is the saltwater crocodile.

Time to meet today's team.

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

I like turning my drawings into stencils

and making them deadly!

I'm Deevina. I'm a graphic artist and I use a computer

to create things like this.

In just a moment, they'll join me to look for crocs in Australia.

If you need more proof of how deadly they can be, take a look at this.

With a lethal combination of immense strength, power and a bite

that can tear chunks out of its prey,

the Australian saltwater crocodile is a serious deadly contender.

This is today's killer moment.

These are the three elements I'd like my artists to focus on.

Saltwater crocs are the largest reptile on earth.

They can grow to seven metres long and weigh over a ton.

They have huge jaws, with massive, powerful muscles to drive them

giving them one of the fiercest bite forces of any animal.

Croc are famous for their death roll. They grab their prey

then spin around on their axis, allowing them to tear chunks

out of their prey, or to overcome or drown animals.

Nice.

Another important element is the croc's scaly skin.

They're covered in bony plates and bumps called scoots,

which give them a real prehistoric look.

Those are the essential elements. Mike and Deevina, over to you!

Whoa! Look at that guy! He's ferocious! Look how big he is!

-That's insane!

-Look at those teeth!

That's what we have to do. A model, larger than life, extra deadly.

A huge croc head with all those teeth in it.

Let's get a block of polystyrene, cut a shape out of it.

-Let's start with a template.

-Let's go.

The jaws of the crocodile are absolutely massive.

I'll start by drawing a template of the upper jaw.

Now we cut it out.

Another extreme art, requiring power tools.

Our artists are trained professionals.

Don't even attempt to do anything you see in our big crocodile art.

That's coming on nicely. They're making a real aquatic terror!

Over to Australia, and I'm searching for a croc that's causing trouble.

In Australia's Northern Territory, the rivers genuinely are

full of big crocodiles.

The locals have learnt how to deal with it - it's rarely a problem.

Every once in a while, a crocodile associates people with food.

Then that's a problem and it needs to be moved.

I'm here with local rangers to help them out

and to get as close as you possibly can in the wild to a saltwater croc.

Tonight we're hunting a particular croc that has been taking

a bit too much of an interest in some fishermen on the river bank.

Jonathan's in charge of getting hold of the croc once we get close to it,

using these prongs, which will go into the really hard scales

on the back of the crocodile's neck.

That might seem cruel, but these creatures are so strong,

so hardy, that'll be little more than a pin prick is to us.

It'll be enough to draw the croc close to the boat,

where we can get control.

After several hours of searching,

one of the rangers thinks he's spotted our croc.

I think we've got him.

Dramatic stuff!

We'll return to Australia soon, but back to the Deadly Art studio.

We've got Deevina's template on the side of a block of polystyrene.

Now we have to cut it out.

Using hot wires to cut the polystyrene

is like a knife through butter.

This mega-croc requires a lot of skill.

Now it's your turn. Here's Deevina with a deadly doodle.

This doodle's all about letters.

We'll start with a C - the head of the crocodile.

We'll add another C for the body.

Another one for the body again.

Once you've done that, add smaller Cs for the legs.

Now add a Z for the mouth. Make sure you get it really big.

Draw a sideways V to connect the mouth.

I'll draw my curvy tail now.

Now I'm adding the ridges.

This is like a road going down the hills.

It's getting slightly bigger as you come towards the head.

This helps you locate the eye, in the centre of the road.

That's my sketch done.

Now the secret to a good doodle is being bold with your pen.

I'm filling in the detail of the tail.

Getting the bold lines in there.

Drawing through the legs.

Adding in the V shapes for the foot.

Make sure you keep them nice and sharp.

Getting in his claws there.

Adding the body.

Getting the other leg in there.

Making sure the lines are very jaggedy

to emphasize the rough, scaly texture of the crocodile's skin.

Getting the last claw there.

Into the deadly part of the mouth now.

That crocodile looks like it's been in a fight!

It has a brilliant character already!

Right, now I think it's time for the best bit - the teeth.

I'm going to add some nice, sharp teeth in here.

I'm adding a bold, thick line to emphasise the shadow

underneath the jaw.

To make the eyes look mean, I'm adding in lines above the eyes

for shading and definition. And more lines underneath,

to make it look really angry.

Nice work, Deevina, it looks so realistic!

I'm adding in texture here. I'm doing some scales

to get a nice, rough look.

That's one scary crocodile. Check him out!

Now, that's a croc I'd like to meet! Back to our big art.

So now it's down to scrubbing in all the details

to make sure we get those jaw muscles to really stand out

and the ridges on the head. Go for it!

That looks like great fun!

OK. So we've finished our big crocodile's head.

We've got both the top and bottom of our jaw, all carved and sanded out.

And we've interlocked them with our big, powerful jaw muscle.

Now, before we even start to think about painting it,

we have to add in the prehistoric skin.

That's one of our essential elements.

Yeah, and for that we've got this latex sheeting.

We're going to cover the whole of the head with it.

And extra thick latex shapes for those individual scales.

Great work, guys.

Let's head back to Australia, where we found our troublesome croc.

He's a good size!

The croc's rolling. This is... part of the way it feeds.

He's using... clamping down those massive jaws

then using its bulk to tear its prey apart

but it's also using that now to try and escape the noose.

It takes quite some shifting.

OK... watch!

I mean, look at the size of the tail down there,

next to Mark the cameraman.

I mean, that is just packed with muscle.

He's absolutely magnificent, as close to a living dragon

as you'll ever get.

Fancy making your own living dragon?

Here's Mike with the DIY.

I'm going to show you how to make this deadly, snapping crocodile.

First you need to start with a hinge for a mouth

and for that, I decided a CD case would be perfect.

It's basically already a mouth.

Let's start with the bottom jaw. Take half of your CD case.

Now, to get that curved shape in the mouth,

you need to take half of a cereal box.

I've covered mine in black sticky-backed plastic.

You could also paint yours. This is just to help with the skin texture.

With double-sided tape, and some black tape, secure it in place.

All right, that's half of your mouth finished.

To get that skin texture, bubble wrap is perfect.

Get yourself a piece of it.

Now we're going to paint it with a mix of PVA glue and green paint.

Give it a good mix.

The PVA glue helps the paint to stick to the plastic.

If you don't use PVA glue, your paint will flake right off.

Give it two coats, then let it dry

and you'll get this. I've added different shades of paint here

to make the skin more realistic.

Now you just have to stick this to your mouth.

Peel off our double-sided tape.

Make sure you leave extra at the end so we can wrap it around

and make the end of the mouth nice and neat. Tape it on one half.

Stick in it place.

To create the end of the mouth, we'll use a tucking technique.

Fold in the sides.

-Bring this up to the middle.

-Just like wrapping up a present.

Take a piece of tape, secure it in place.

To hide your piece of tape, get yourself a bit of red card.

Peel off your double-sided tape again.

Place that down on top.

There's half of your mouth.

What would a crocodile be without deadly teeth. For those, you'll need

three pieces of foam board.

Cut them into nice, angular sharp teeth.

Again, peel off your double-sided tape.

And the last one, the front teeth.

That's your bottom jaw finished. You'll do another one

for your top jaw, but for this one,

I've done a pinch and fold technique to make the nostrils.

We're going to use the CD case again.

Clip it in place, and there you have your working jaw.

The last thing you need to add are those cold, staring eyes.

Get yourself a polystyrene ball. You can buy this at any craft store.

I've cut mine in half, painted it yellow, one for each eye.

Now you need to take another bit of your bubble wrap

that you painted like skin,

place it on top,

wrap it around and tape it in place.

Two more pieces of tape to outline the eye.

To draw that angry look, draw your pupil just off centre.

And there you have your deadly snapping crocodile!

Nice DIY!

Back to Deevina with our big crocodile mouth.

Wow!

I'm painting the inside of the mouth a really lovely, fleshy colour.

The powerful bite of the crocodile can tear apart its large prey

in no time, and that's because of these bad boys.

It's time to place the teeth.

ROARING

And our croc mouth is ready for display.

Look at our model - it's absolutely huge!

You can understand how any prey who saw that coming at them

-would be very scared.

-The strength, the jaws, they look so powerful.

And the skin. These guys have been around since the dinosaur age.

The way we layered up the latex

has definitely given our croc a prehistoric look.

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.

ROARING

Whoa!

Look at that!

Look at the way the crocodile is smashing its way

through the Deadly Art studio's concrete floor!

This has definitely recreated my killer moment.

The teeth look sharp and fierce, and the scaley skin is so realistic

this contender's got to be high on my list to the Deadly Art gallery.

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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