Crown Of Thorns Deadly Art

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 get to pick up some 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 dive deep with a surprisingly deadly marine predator.

The Deadly artists push art to the max.

And we've got a very cool deadly doodle to show you.

Today's Deadly Art animal has up to 21 arms and could be

one of the most destructive animals I've ever dealt with.

This is the crown of thorns starfish.

The spines that cover the starfish can deliver

a venomous toxin, which, if I were to stand on it,

would be incredibly painful.

But that's not what makes them deadly.

Imagine an army of mini killing machines,

travelling over a coral reef and eating it as they go,

turning this

into this.

Their killing method is one of the most grotesque I have ever seen.

I'll tell you more later on,

but first of all,

let's meet the artists who are waiting in the Deadly Art studio.

I'm Michelle and I just love working with different materials.

I'm Nicola.

I'm a power tool queen.

Nicola and Michelle represent the Deadly Art team,

who are always up for a challenge.

And these are the killer shots to inspire their artwork -

their lethal spines and their strength in numbers

mean that these lethal killing machines are simply unstoppable.

You don't expect a starfish to be so destructive.

They're like an army crawling across the seabed, destroying the coral.

We should represent that in the artwork.

-So steel for the seabed and foam for the starfish.

-Let's get on with it.

'Time for some more Deadly Art.'

We've got a sheet of steel. This is going to represent our ocean bed.

The perfect backdrop for our story.

We'll have the destroyed coral down here,

the army of starfish here making their way up here.

-The starfish are on a mission of destruction.

-That's our seabed.

Let's make the starfish.

'I think it's really important that art can relay an important theme,

'the destruction of coral by the deadly crown of thorns.'

For the starfish, we're using expanding foam. This is amazing.

As I spray it into the shape, it expands.

-How cool is that?

-As it expands, it sets. We're making loads of them.

When they're dry, we'll paint them.

'Great foam spray!

'There are some superb techniques in this challenge.

'While they get on, on Deadly 60,

'I went diving in the beautiful waters of Mozambique.

'I was on the lookout for the deadly crown of thorns.'

Look at this!

This is exactly what I was hoping to find!

This big, bizarre, pin-cushion-like creature in front of me

is a starfish.

But it's a special kind of starfish. I'm not going to pick this one up.

It's a crown of thorns.

All these spines covering the arms have venom

and certainly, this far underwater,

the last thing I'd want would be to get nailed by this.

It potentially could kill me.

However, that's not the reason why this,

the crown of thorns starfish, is going on the Deadly 60.

'No, I've not gone completely bonkers.

'This is a starfish, and if you think starfish

'are just like star-shaped rocks, take a look at them speeded up.

'Our starfish, the crown of thorns, hunts and kills coral.

'They creep up on their defenceless prey on tube-like feet.

'To eat, they throw up their stomach lining out through their mouths,

'over the living coral.

'That's the yellow stuff that looks a bit like cabbage.

'Its stomach contains highly toxic digestive juices

'which dissolve the coral, killing it.

'So the starfish pulls in its stomach

'and using those tube-like feet,

'moves on to feast on a fresh part of the coral reef.

'Just one of these deadly critters is destructive enough,

'but if there's lots of them,

'they can devastate a once lush coral garden,

'reducing it to a brittle, lifeless skeleton.

'Let's check out how our Deadly Art team are getting on.'

We've decided to introduce a bit of pop art theme.

That's why I'm using all these fabulous colours.

I've got pinks, yellows. It's going to be great.

'Amazing colours.'

The crown of thorns has loads of venomous spines.

We're making them out of silicon.

'Those spikes look great, but there's a lot to do.

'Michelle's going to take time out from the Big Art now

'to show you a Deadly Doodle.'

This is a crown of thorns starfish.

I'm going to show you how to draw one.

I'm going to draw three large ovals in the middle of your paper.

One large one in the centre and then inside that, a smaller one.

Inside that one, a really small one. Now I've got my three ovals,

I'll draw lines connecting the inner circle to the outer circle

and these lines are going all the way round the starfish.

I've got my lines drawn in.

Now to build up our starfish, I'm drawing a curvy line up

and back down again, like a V shape.

And repeating this on the other ones.

When I get to the back, I'm bringing the line up and out, instead of in.

Like that. And coming back round the other side of the starfish,

for my bottom line, I'm just drawing a line up to connect it.

All the pencil lines are drawn in, so I'm changing to the pen.

I'm just going over these original lines,

bringing them out with the black marker.

At this front bit,

I'm drawing an oval shape cos this is the leg right in front of you.

And the same for this one as it's right at the front.

As I'm going round the back,

I'm just following the lines round, making them nice and bold.

Now I'm going to go down each leg, drawing a central line.

To really bring the starfish to life, I need to add the thorns.

These are just short vertical lines. You can add as many as you like.

Just make sure you keep these short lines pointing up.

There's a lot of thorns!

I'm going to bring the centre of the starfish together

by joining up all those lines.

In the centre, I'm adding some more thorns.

For the final part, all you need to do is rub out the pencil lines.

Without those pencil markings,

you can see the lovely shape of the starfish.

Brilliant! There you have your crown of thorns starfish!

'Brilliant, Michelle! How did some of you get on drawing this doodle?

'We went to Port Talbot in Wales

'and here's all the action from the Deadly Art tent.'

You go up like that and down.

ALL: Deadly Art!

ALL: This is my crown of thorns starfish.

I liked drawing the spikes on my starfish. It was easy.

I like the way we drew the ovals and it suddenly turned into a starfish.

This is my doodle. I liked drawing the circle and the spiky legs.

I enjoyed watching the picture slowly turn into a starfish.

'They all look brilliant. Keep on doodling!

'Let's get back to the Deadly Art studio.

'I'm looking forward to this bit.'

I'm finishing off this section of the seabed.

It's going to represent the beautiful coral.

The sad side of our story is that the starfish destroy that coral.

That's my job right now.

'Remember, Nicola is a trained professional.

'Don't even think about attempting anything you see in this Big Art.

'Smouldering! Welding is a great way to demonstrate the destroyed coral.

'Now Nicola's got a starfish DIY for you to make at home.'

These deadly creatures are simple to make.

You can make your own crown of thorns starfish

by getting hold of some basic kitchen sponges.

Stick two together, end-to-end, using double sided sticky tape.

This will give you the perfect length

for each leg of your starfish. Two sponges makes two legs.

Draw a line from corner to corner and cut through it.

Mind your fingers. Get an adult to help you.

'You can use scissors, but be careful.'

Discard one of them and we'll concentrate on making one leg.

This is where your sculpting skills will come in handy.

We want our leg to look a bit more natural,

so trim off the corners of each side, so it becomes rounded.

When your leg is rounded,

you'll need to make a little point at the end.

You also need to take off the corner from the top edge.

They need to fit together.

By taking away this corner, they'll fit nice and snug.

Don't throw these away.

We'll use them to create this detail down the centre of each leg.

We need to make a slit up the centre,

leaving a section at the top and a section at the bottom.

I'm going to use a blue off-cut from one I made earlier.

I've stuck two together

and the friction of the sponge will keep this in place.

Feed it in, all the way down and trim it off.

Now it's time for those deadly spikes! I'm using pipe cleaners.

Cut them into small segments

and fold over the top to remove any sharp edges.

'You must bend the pipe cleaners over,

'otherwise you might hurt yourself.'

Using a scalpel, make some small holes all the way down,

each side of the leg.

You must get an adult to help you.

Then pop each one into place and once again,

the friction of the sponge will help keep it secure.

And there it is, one starfish leg. Time to finish it off.

I've got six more and this will fit securely into place

with some double sided sticky tape.

If you put magnets on here, it'll go anywhere, like the real thing.

Finished! Now it's time for our starfish to join his deadly friends.

'Good work, Nicola. Back to the Big Art and it's looking good.

'That's it. They've reached the finish line.'

I love the bright, funky colours of the starfish.

That pop art theme works well.

Especially in contrast to that industrial metal.

Welding it was cool!

We've captured the deadly nature of those crown of thorns starfish.

Good work!

'It's time for the big reveal.

'I asked the Deadly Art team to recreate these killer shots

'and turn them into art.

'Let's take a look at the finished result.

'Wow! Look at all those colourful starfish!

'The starfish are all colours of the rainbow,

'but on the flipside they are killing machines on the hunt.

'You can sense this army of starfish laying waste to a coral reef.

'From the dark remains of the coral to the blazing display

'of the starfish, this is a kaleidoscope of marine munching!

'Nice work, team! Art doesn't get any deadlier than this!'

That was a sublime work of art. 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