Nile Crocodile Deadly Art

My name is Steve Backshall and this is Deadly Art.

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

But in this show, my team of artists take my killer moment...

..and turn it into art. And we'll reveal another unique creation.

Along the way, you'll pick up tips,

tricks and techniques, so you can make some art yourself.

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

Coming up on Deadly Art:

I get close to one of the world's greatest predators.

That certainly puts your heart in your mouth.

The team makes some killer artwork.

Imagine coming face-to-face with these jaws.

And you can get involved, too.

Today's Deadly Art is all about an animal

with a fearsome reputation, the Nile crocodile.

There are many reasons why these reptiles have been around

on the planet pretty unchanged for the last 200 million years.

They have monster teeth and a bite which could be the most powerful

in the whole animal kingdom.

They weigh up to 1,000kg - ten times heavier than me.

But what makes this crocodile really dangerous

is that it will eat anything that comes close to the water,

and that can include humans.

Later I come face-to-face with one in Africa

but first of all, let's meet our fearless Deadly Art team.

I'm Jo. I'm a painter

and a general mess-maker.

I'm Nicola.

I'm an ice sculptor, a sand sculptor

and a power tool queen.

Nicola and Jo are representing the Deadly Art team,

who are always up for a challenge.

Here's today's killer moment to inspire them.

A Nile crocodile could lie in wait for three hours and then attack...

BAM! ..with incredible strength, power and speed.

Time for some more Deadly Art.

The crocodile is incredibly strong and muscular.

Let's make a huge sculpture to reflect that.

Yeah, and its skin is so scaly

and tough - we can cover it in mosaic to reflect that,

with different colours as it launches from the water.

-Excellent. And we mustn't forget those teeth.

-Yeah.

There's a lot to do but no doubt it'll look great later.

Our artists are trained professionals.

Don't attempt anything you see them do in the big art.

When I went to South Africa with the Deadly 60 crew,

I realised just how deadly and dangerous the Nile croc can be.

I've got the local paper and there's a story in here

about an eight-year-old who was in her swimming pool

when a Nile crocodile two metres long, chased her

into her swimming pool, grabbed her leg and took her under.

She escaped with 60 stitches and just a week later,

she was back at school. Amazingly brave little girl.

Around here, though, there's not very many animals or people

that get that close to a croc and live to tell the tale.

I decided it was time to meet one and you'll see that shortly,

but let's get back to Nicola and Jo's Nile crocodile.

This wooden structure is the skeleton for our crocodile sculpture.

I'm just going to attach the head.

The next stage is to cover it in chicken wire.

It forms the skin of the sculpture.

Now I just need to finish the head. Thanks, Nic.

This croc is going to be massive!

The resin goes on next. That gives a smooth, hard shell on the surface,

and that will allow us to apply the tiled mosaic later on.

This stuff is really toxic so I'm going to need a mask.

Don't try any of our big art techniques at home.

Nicola's taking a break from the big art to show you a Deadly Doodle.

I'm going to show you

how to draw this Deadly Doodle of a Nile crocodile.

Begin by drawing four oval shapes.

One in the centre for his body, one for his head, another for his nose,

one at the back,

and an upside-down tear drop shape for his tail.

Add two more smaller ovals

for his eyes,

and on his back, some simple crosshatches.

I'm now going to draw a road going all the way up the back,

starting at the nose, over the head.

We've got this section here already.

Two at the back, and all the way up to his tail.

Now we're ready for the marker pen. Start at his tail.

Fill in these lines and add the scutes all the way along.

The scutes are just ridges that form all the way along his back.

Just simple zigzag shapes.

And then fill in the shape.

And then fill in these lines in-between the gaps.

And if you want to, for extra detail,

you can double up on those lines.

And on to his head.

Using these smaller ovals as a guide, give him some eyes.

And fill in that road shape.

Complete the head, but this time, joining the nose.

Give him some wrinkles,

and some nostrils.

And of course, he needs those teeth.

And there he is, gliding through the water,

your deadly Nile crocodile.

I love that submerged crocodile, Nicola.

We visited Crawley, and here's how some of you

got on with your Nile crocodiles in the Deadly Art tent.

-ALL:

-This is our Deadly Doodle!

BOTH: Is this deadly enough for you?

They all looked ready to attack. Keep on doodling.

Let's get back to the Deadly Art studio.

Our huge artwork is taking shape.

This is the fun part.

I'm smashing up lots of different colours of tiles,

which I'll put onto the crocodile to create that lovely skin texture.

Just like normal tiling, I'm using some tile adhesive to put them on.

Although this looks great fun, don't even think about smashing tiles up.

I'm working on some finer detail over here.

By using some of these smaller, yellow pieces of tile,

I'm creating that menacing eye.

The tiling will take time,

so while they do that, let's return to South Africa.

Knowing about their power and strength,

not to mention their teeth,

'made me nervous about a Nile crocodile encounter.'

This is an interesting situation. I'm at a waterhole with Ross

and he's spotted, just under a bush,

maybe six or seven metres in front of us, quite a large crocodile,

out of the water.

It's likely to be fiery and feisty

so we have to be quite careful of how we approach it.

'We stay at a safe distance but just in case,

'Ross has a high-tech piece of kit to keep the crocodile at bay.

'It's...a brush for cleaning a swimming pool.'

Move back, move back, move back.

She's going to come. Move back.

I wonder if...

That certainly puts your heart in your mouth.

What you saw there is a great illustration of how reptiles hunt

and what makes them so well adapted to their environment.

They can lie still for weeks or months, not moving a muscle,

but when they have to, they can move with explosive speed and power.

And speaking of amazing, here's a cool DIY for you.

I'll show you how to make this crocodile pen holder

out of foam and a plastic bottle.

And as they're waterproof,

you could even use it as a toothbrush holder.

Starting with the bottle, I've removed the lid

and marked out where I'll cut it out.

-Be careful with scissors.

-This is quite difficult.

You might need to get some help with this.

We'll save that bit for later.

We're going to start off using this as the bottom jaw.

I've cut out a piece of green foam. Just whip those off.

And stick it down in the middle.

Fold these up.

More sticky tape for the side part.

And then fold them in.

Wrap the green foam around the bottle.

And then, to make that jaw shape, I'm just going to cut into it.

Tuck all that in nice and neatly.

A little spot of glue.

Now, for the inside of his mouth,

a bit of red foam with some tape on the back.

This piece of foam is the same shape as the bottle section.

Now for those all-important pearly whites. We'll glue them in.

The next part is we take a suction cup and a polystyrene ball.

This is so it can stick to the bathroom mirror. Lots of glue.

And the ball just sits in there. A bit more glue on the top.

And there goes the suction cup.

Pop that over there to dry.

So using the piece that you cut out earlier,

do exactly the same thing, so it looks like that.

To give it extra detail, I've got some lighter green foam

that I'm going to stick along the top.

And now for his eyes.

Another polystyrene ball, which I've cut in half,

and coloured yellow with felt-tip pens.

Then take a marker pen... Ooh - he's got it.

I'm going to make it into reptile pupils,

which are usually just slits.

I'm just going to glue them on.

I've got these two moon shapes which are going to be his eyelids.

Again, just a dab of glue.

And there's the top of his head.

Put them together. Glue here and here.

His jaws are wide open.

And there you have your crocodile pen or toothbrush holder,

and with that suction cup, it should stick to any smooth service.

Snappety-snap.

Make sure you try THAT at home.

Back to the big art. Love the teeth.

Imagine coming face-to-face with these deadly jaws.

The final stage is to put the crocodile

-in its natural environment, the water.

-Such a great idea.

Well, Nicola and Jo have reached the finish line.

So, what do you reckon to our Nile crocodile?

It looks amazing, launching itself out of the water.

The multicoloured mosaic has captured the texture of his skin.

But these jaws - so menacing, with teeth ready to attack.

Totally deadly.

Nearly time for the Big Reveal.

I asked the Deadly Art team to recreate these killer shots

and turn them into art.

So let's take a look at the finished result.

That is so dramatic! It looks as if the crocodile

is bursting through the floor,

scattering tiles everywhere.

The monstrous mouth, bristling teeth, is so menacing.

Those burning yellow eyes, reflecting the light.

You don't want to be in the water with that!

The green light gives a ghostly, swampy feel.

A perfect killer moment, captured in art.

Art doesn't get any deadlier than this.

What an incredible creation.

Make sure you try the doodle and the DIY and we'll see you next time

for more Deadly Art.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd