Scutigera Centipede 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 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'm seriously creeped out by today's deadly predator.

HE YELLS AND LAUGHS

My team of artists recreate another killer piece of art.

If a centipede this small gives Steve the creeps,

he's not going to like our giant one!

And you can get creative, too.

Art doesn't get any deadlier than this.

Today's creature is guaranteed to give both you and I the creeps.

The spine-chilling Scutigera centipede.

You might have seen a relative in your garden.

Of course, those are relatively harmless,

unless you are a very small insect.

But that's not the case with the Scutigera.

They can get to be up to 20 centimetres long.

And they have a highly venomous bite.

They scuttle around hunting their prey

on 15 pairs of long, spindly legs,

and their snack of choice?

Beetles, spiders, wasps, cockroaches,

even, occasionally, a television presenter.

Oh, it's crawling over my arm!

HE SHUDDERS

Still watching? Well, let's see if our artists are quite as brave.

Time to meet them in the Deadly Art studio.

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

I'm all about getting stuck in.

I'm Jo, I'm a painter, a sculptor, and a general mess maker.

Michelle and Jo are representing the Deadly Art team,

who are always up for a challenge.

And here are the killer shots to inspire their artwork.

Just look at those long, spindly, creepy-crawly legs.

Really, it's as simple as that.

Urgh. Even the word "centipede" makes me cringe.

It's the way they scuttle along that makes them so frightening.

We need long legs, shell-like body.

This is going to be a sculpture

-even Steve Backshall will be scared of.

-Bring it on!

Me? Scared? Never!

Time for some more Deadly Art.

It looks like it's going to be a sculpture made from wood,

lots of metal joints, and a load of copper pipes.

I bet they're going to be its legs.

We want our centipede to look hard and armoured

so we're using metal for our sculpture.

We've copper piping for the legs, but these guys don't just have one pair,

they have 15 sets of them.

That's why we're cutting these down to size.

I can't think of anything more suitable to use.

This Scutigera artwork is going to be massively creepy.

On Deadly 60, I found myself in one of the creepiest places on earth.

Teeming with millions of cockroaches that provide a tasty snack

for the ultimate, deadly, creepy-crawly predator.

This is the Scutigera, the long legged centipede,

I think there's another on the other side of the rock.

I'm being very careful about how I handle this.

It is quite venomous. One of the guys who was living in the area here

was bitten by one of these not long ago, and spent a week in hospital.

So, I'm taking a lot of care not to get bitten.

Oh, it's run over my arm!

HE SHUDDERS

Join me later for more centipede action, if you dare.

But, how are our art team getting on with the creepiest of crawlies?

We've cut out our pipes and are using plumbing joints to construct legs.

As you can see, they're really bendy, and insect-like.

They're actually quite creepy.

We're not just using spanners, are we, Jo?

No, because this is Deadly Art, we've got to use a blowtorch.

And Jo's sections need to be joined together with intense heat.

This is Deadly Art at its most extreme.

Our artists are trained professionals.

Don't attempt to do anything you see in our Big Art.

The centipede is definitely coming together,

so Michelle has plenty of time to show you a doodle.

I'm going to show you how to draw this amazing Scutigera centipede.

So, for the head, I'm going to draw a squashed circle shape.

Then for the body, I'm going to draw a large sausage shape from the head.

The centipede's body is divided into seven sections.

So I'm going to draw lines going across the body to split it evenly.

We have 15 pairs of legs on the Scutigera,

So on one side, I'm going to draw 15 circles

which we'll draw the legs from afterwards.

Now, I need to draw the legs coming down from each one of these circles.

A good tip is that when you get to the middle of the body,

make the legs slightly longer.

So, you've got your 15 pairs of legs on one side,

now you need to repeat it on the other side.

Another 15 legs.

Once you've got all of your legs drawn in, focus on the face.

I'm going to draw two large, black eyes.

Then they have the long antennae coming off them.

So I'm just going to do a nice wavy line.

Now, I am going to finish off the centipede's face.

Once you've got your basic shape,

grab yourself a black pen and fill in the details,

the black marker will really help to bring it to life.

So you're just going over all those original pencil lines.

You'll see the pencil marks really help as a guideline as you go around.

You'll notice as I go around the body,

I'm just doing curvier lines,

just to help show the contours of the centipede's body.

I'm going to colour in those big, black eyes.

So now I'm going to focus on the legs.

Draw over the pencil marks that you originally did,

and then come back upon yourself so you make a double line.

Of course, you have to do this 30 times.

This requires dedication.

And there you have your Deadly Scutigera centipede.

That centipede looks great.

Here's how some of you got on with this when we visited Port Talbot,

in Wales, on a Deadly Day Out.

ALL: Deadly Art!

I enjoyed drawing the head because the eyes were fun to draw.

I liked drawing fangs as I didn't think centipedes would have fangs.

I enjoyed drawing the antennae

because they were really long and easy to draw.

I enjoyed drawing the body because it was like a sausage.

That is full-on impressive. Remember to keep on doodling.

Right, let's get back to the Deadly Art studio

and our creepy centipede creation.

All the legs have been bolted and soldered together,

so now I'm just fixing them into this wooden support.

That wooden structure forms the basis of our centipede's body,

but we wanted to create those armoured segments.

For that, we're using these rusty pieces of metal.

Bending them into shape for the contours of his body.

They didn't always look like this,

they were nice and shiny, and I'll show you how we did it.

So we took a normal piece of metal...

covered it in vinegar.

Vinegar?!

-The whole lot covered in salt.

-Salt? It's not a chip shop, Jo!

After a while, it looks like that.

That rusting effect works a treat,

but don't try this at home, you'll get in big trouble.

So it's time to see a bit more from my encounter with the Scutigera.

And, over in Borneo, my team and I got a little too close

to this giant venomous centipede for my liking.

It sounds obvious, but one of the main challenges

of living in a cave is the dark.

The fact you can't actually see anything.

This Scutigera manages to be an incredible hunter

by using its long legs.

You can see, as it moves, it'll just stop and tap some of those legs

over the rock's surface.

What it's doing is using each and every one of those feet

to feel everything about the surface it's moving on.

Building up a mental picture of its environment

and if there's anything there that it might be able to eat.

It makes my skin crawl!

Now, over to Jo for a Deadly DIY.

Here's how to make a Super Deadly Scutigera centipede.

I've taken the doodle from earlier and put it onto some foam board.

The next step is to take some clingfilm and cover it up.

Pull it nice and tight,

you don't want any wrinkles on the front of it.

Turn it over, and if you fold it on top of each other, it just sticks.

Now for the fun bit.

I've got sand and PVA glue,

and I'm going to mix them, 50-50.

That's half and half.

In with the PVA, first.

And then scoop in some sand.

Give it a really good mix.

I love the messy DIYs.

It takes a bit of mixing.

OK, when it's all together, I'm taking a sandwich bag,

and I'm going to scoop it all in.

OK, then we're going to squidge it all down to the bottom.

Squish it all down and then take some scissors

to make a small nick near the corner.

You can see the sand oozing out.

This is just like icing the cake.

I'm going to ice over every single line, every leg, and the whole body.

Oh, yeah. Look at that.

Amazing.

So when the sand is done, take a polystyrene ball,

cut it in half, and pop it where the eyes would go.

Now, this takes about a day to dry, so you have to be patient,

but I promise you, it's going to be worth it.

We'll pop that over there, and take this,

which has already had a chance to dry, nice and hard.

I'll now give it some colour.

I'm just going to take some water-based paints.

I have got a brown, and some red.

I can mix a nice browny-red.

You can try lots of different colours and really make it your own.

OK, let's start getting some colour on that body.

Now, I'm going to go with some black,

this will pick out the sections in the centipede's body.

Going over each section,

taking a lead from where his legs are.

He's got markings going down his legs,

so I'm just going to take my brush across the whole lot of them.

It doesn't matter if it goes on the Clingfilm,

because we'll chuck that away in a minute.

Another marking further down his leg in black.

I'm also going to do his eyes really dark black.

Now, to give him a bit of yellow, to pick out the highlights on his body.

Again, I can just sweep it across all of those legs at once.

I love that noise it makes as it scrapes along those legs.

That's the painting done, now we just have to peel it off.

It does come away quite easily, but you have to be careful,

you don't want to break any of those legs.

I'm being really careful not to pull too hard on those legs.

There we have it, let's put him with his little friend on a rock.

Two Super Deadly sandy Scutigera centipedes.

That's totally brilliant.

Right, back to our huge metal Scutigera.

It's all fitting together nicely.

It looks like they've finished.

The metal sheets really help

to give our sculpture that insect-like armoured body.

We've only used two materials, so simple but so effective.

Well, if Steve is scared of a centipede this big,

he's not going to like our giant one.

I'm slightly nervous!

So it's nearly time for the big reveal.

I asked the Deadly Art team to recreate these killer shots

and turn it into art.

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

That is genius!

I love the different segments of the exoskeleton

and the way the legs trawl out over the floor, it is so creepy.

The rusting effect on the back of the centipede just looks perfect.

Those wispy copper legs are so like the real thing.

It just looks like this centipede is about to start crawling up the wall.

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

That was a truly sublime creation.

Make sure you try the Doodle and the DIY.

We'll see you next time for more Deadly Art.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd