Leopard 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 moments...

..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 get close to one of the most lethal predators in the world.

I've never seen anything like this in my life.

My team of artists recreate another killer moment using sand.

It's really life-like, nice work.

And you can get creative too.

So what are we looking at today?

What do you get when you put strength, stealth,

speed and super senses together?

Well, you get one extraordinary predator, the leopard.

Like all big cats, their hunting abilities are second to none,

but the leopard has super powers.

This is an animal that can leap six metres.

They can run towards their prey at speeds of up to 60kph

and they use their camouflaged coat to ambush their victims.

Today's artists are waiting in the Deadly Art studio.

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

I've drawn piranhas, wolverines, and I'm up for today's Deadly Art.

I'm Nicola and I'm the power-tool queen.

Nicola and Mike will be representing the Deadly Art team,

who are always up for a challenge.

And this is a killer moment to inspire the artists -

when a leopard stalks its prey.

This is an awesome predator, it's completely camouflaged in the grass.

Look at him stalking up on his prey.

-I can't wait to get stuck into some sand.

-Let's do it.

Time for some more Deadly Art.

This is going to very handy.

Nicola's a professional sand sculptor,

so you know this will be great.

While Mike's compacting the body,

I'll compact the head in a different way.

This part needs to be stronger,

and it's going to have a bit more detail.

I've got a wooden box, lots of sand, plenty of water

and my favourite power tool, the Wacker.

-You might want to put these on, Mike.

-Right, thanks.

Don't try anything you see in today's Big Art.

The Wacker compacts the sand into a cube, so Nicola can carve a head.

I can't wait to see our Deadly Art leopard.

I got to see the real thing in a rainy Namibia.

It had just been battling with a warthog.

That is so beautiful.

'It's our first clear look at the leopard,

'and we can see the warthog's blood on its fur.'

There's a den there, at the base of that termite mound,

and she's going... She's going in!

No.

Just can't seem to make up her mind.

It just shows how difficult

life is for a predator here.

Everything they might want to eat

has tusks, horns, hooves.

Just imagine what it would be like if every time

you wanted to have a meal,

you had to put your life at risk.

That's effectively what's happening

for this leopard here.

If that warthog's still alive,

it's still a mortal danger to her.

'And yet it's just another day

'in the life of one of Africa's top predators.

'More fun from our furry friend later.

'Back to Mike and Nicola,

'and it looks like the sand is ready to carve.'

I've got my solid cube, now I just need to turn it into a head.

I'm going to start by sketching in the top section of his head.

Mike's working on the body.

Now I have to chip away to get the shape.

It's a big job, but it's really taking shape.

Look at those fabulous features.

As you can see, the head's really coming along now.

Nicola's going to take a quick break from the sand leopard

because it's Deadly Doodle time.

I'm going to show you how to draw this leopard.

We'll start with some simple shapes,

a cup shape in the centre of your page with one straight edge.

On top of that, towards the right, a big triangle will form his nose.

Two more triangles here for his eyes.

Then, add a semicircle

from the top of that triangle

to the centre of his nose

and another one to the corner of his mouth.

Then mirror that line directly above it.

Draw a large V shape on the left-hand side,

square it off at the bottom and do the same at the top.

And on this platform here, add a triangle

and the same on this side, but a lot bigger.

In his mouth, draw a big M shape,

and that's all we need.

Now we can move on to the marker pen.

He looks very angular now,

so when you define your lines

with a marker pen, you can be more fluid and organic.

We will start with the ear...

and move up onto the head,

creating another M shape.

Fill in that second ear, and then onto the eyes.

To make them look extra menacing, make this top line nice and chunky.

Fill in the pupil, then do the same on the other side.

Two circles inside for his eyes.

And onto his nose.

And add that line just there in the centre.

Draw in these cheeks.

And curve that all the way around

to the bottom of his mouth.

Then his neck is using this guideline here

all the way down,

but his jaw comes from the top of his ear.

So you want a second elongated V,

then add a hairy chin at the bottom.

Give him some fangs,

two at the top, two at the bottom...

..and four extra teeth in between.

Fill in the tongue.

Now it's time for those finer details.

An eyebrow, some texture inside his ear and, of course,

no leopard is complete without his spots.

So we'll do some small ones at the top,

and they get increasingly bigger as we move down the face.

Then on his neck, they can be bigger yet again.

Then just some whiskers to finish off.

And there he is, your Deadly Doodle.

That leopard looks great!

Here's how some of you got on with this doodle,

when we visited Crawley on a Deadly day out.

You all joined the team in the Deadly Art tent

and drew some incredible leopards with Nicola.

Down here with this line all the way down to the bottom.

Wow, look at those!

Wow, I'm really, really impressed.

Fantastic.

Here's my Deadly Doodle of a leopard.

Here's my Deadly Doodle.

Here's my Deadly Doodle.

Oh, I'm seriously impressed!

Remember to keep on doodling.

Let's get back to the Deadly Art studio.

Nicola's using water and a brush

to create the leopard's fur texture.

And it's all about the killer stare.

Our leopard is on the hunt,

so we need his eyes to look really determined.

Mike's making that powerful tail.

That's looking nice.

Now, one last little technique.

If you do a little undercut like this,

just at the base of the tail,

it makes it really pop out from the sand.

You can see that adding detail really makes a difference.

Look at that huge tooth.

Now back to a stormy Namibia,

and our leopard had moved closer.

I do not believe this,

this is Africa's most elusive,

most secretive cat just wandering round,

trying to figure out what her next move's going to be.

I've never seen anything like this in my life.

If she gets any closer, don't move a muscle.

'Knowing that she's perfectly capable

'of springing into the back of our truck in an instant

'certainly heightens the nerves.

'She's closer than any of us had ever dared hope.

'But an experience I'll never forget.

'Let's join Mike, who's got a very cool Deadly DIY to show you.'

I'm going to show you how to turn a normal bin into...

the deadliest bin you've ever seen, a leopard bin.

So you start with a normal bin and you need to cover it in fabric.

I'm going to work on this piece, it's a plastic bottle piece,

for our nose and our mouth.

So we're going to get a two-litre plastic bottle.

Just cut out the top third.

Use half of this bottle, so cut that in half.

Take care when you use scissors.

OK, now we've got our plastic piece.

We secure that to our foamboard with some tape.

With our nose and mouth completed,

just like our skeleton bin, got that piece done.

Now we cover it in fabric.

You can use normal craft glue, it just takes longer to dry.

When you get to the end, fold that piece down to create that nose.

Glue the top section to the lid.

Now to cover up the middle of our mouth.

For that, you need two foamboard pieces, same size as your lid.

Then we add on that pink tongue.

This is made of foam, but you could also use cardboard.

And we've got the same thing again - a pink foam nose.

Perfect.

We'll use the underside of leopard fabric

for the inside of the ear, just like that.

So we'll glue that down first.

OK, we'll just tuck all those pieces in.

Then to cover up those folds, we use our other fur piece

and glue that on top.

Flip it over,

fold over that flap.

And when you've made two of them, stick them to the head.

Right, it's really taking shape now.

Now for the eyes.

As you can see, we have used two pieces of a paper cup here.

Grab our paper cup. Cut out the bottom of that,

so it makes it really easy to cut it in half.

Cut it in half again.

Now we can cover them in fabric.

Now we can work on the eyes.

You have to get my favourite craft store item, the polystyrene ball.

I've taken one ball and I've cut it into four sections.

We need two of those for the eyeballs.

I've gone ahead and

coloured my eyeballs in.

I've got green, yellow and black

to offset that leopard fabric pattern.

That's all secured, now we can attach our face back to the bin.

Now, the last thing you need to add are those deadly teeth.

There you have your finished deadly leopard bin. Feeding time.

That'll make a perfect addition to any bedroom.

Back to our sand leopard. Mike and Nicola are spraying

beautiful spots of paint onto the sand.

That's it, one Deadly Art leopard completed.

I absolutely love it.

Yeah, I'm really happy with this one.

I love that he's larger than life

and the muscle definition really looks like the leopard

in that killer moment.

And the way you've captured all that character in his face,

it's really life-like. Nice work.

Earlier, I asked the Deadly Art team to recreate this killer moment

and turn it into art.

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

I love this!

Lurking down amongst the dry grasses,

this sand leopard is perfectly camouflaged.

I love the way its sinuous shoulders

really bring out the musculature of this incredible predator.

And the paws are huge.

He just looks like his eyes are fixed on me ready to pounce.

I can't believe this is just sand.

The head and the eyes are focused on its prey.

A perfect killer moment and a perfect Deadly Art.

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

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