Episode 11 Nine Minute Ninja

Time to get my ninja on.

And my clothes.

Wow. I love this flat! It's so bright.

Ninja murals, my trusty art table.

This place is a part of me. I never leave it.

It's what gives me my ninja skills.

Hmm. What's this?

Property for sale!

Perfect art studio in the heart of Bristol.

Well, can't hurt to have a look... just out of interest.

Hey, look.

Trendy sofa, lovely kitchen, and...

Hang on a minute, that's my flat!

The landlord's selling my flat. He can't do this to me!

DIALS PHONE NUMBER

BEEP BEEP Oh, he's not in.

He's probably out selling flats without telling people.

I'll leave a message. Hi, Landlord, it's Ricky.

You need to come over here immediately. Love you!

No, I mean... No, bye!

The idea of this flat being sold makes me want to scream like this...

HE SCREAMS

I feel like my head is going to pop off.

POP POP POP

That does give me an idea to do some pop art!

Selfie! HE SCREAMS

Here we go. I'll just print that out.

Like a ninja!

I've got some acetate back here

and I'm going to lay that sheet over my photograph

and with a marker pen, draw my main facial features.

Start with my glasses.

You need to use a permanent marker to draw onto acetate,

otherwise your pen marks might smudge.

Just colouring in the glasses.

Here we go.

Look at that. It's already looking really pop arty.

To turn myself into pop art, I'm going to need some dots.

So I'm going to need a hole punch to help me.

A couple more.

I'm just going to empty those dots out. Look at that.

If I stick these red dots onto my acetate outline,

I'll transform myself into a Roy Lichtenstein inspired picture.

WHAM! It's me, Roy Lichtenstein!

You scared me there, Roy.

Ha-ha! I do like to pop art on people. Pop art? Get it?

I used thick outlines, bold colours and I love drawing comic strips.

I also used dots called Ben Day Dots based on printing techniques

from the 19th century.

My work looks like it was created by photographic reproduction

and my work itself continues

to be reproduced and copied to this day.

So you won't mind if I make a homage to your work here then, Roy.

Here's to you.

-Hey!

-Sorry, Roy!

OK, I've got some gridded paper

under here and I'm going to put my acetate outline onto it.

That will help me lay out my dots.

Now I'm going to turn my acetate over so that when I put the dots on

I don't have to redraw the lines,

and I'm going to angle it ever so slightly diagonally

because it's more in keeping with the way that Roy did his work.

Now I'm going to start sticking them on.

I'm using a cocktail stick because it can get

a little bit fiddly and it gives me a lot more control.

And I'm positioning these dots

one square unit of the grid paper apart.

PVA glue is good because it dries transparent.

HIYAH-HA!

That's the last dot done. Quick peek.

Now I'm going to move on to some painting.

And I'm using some bright primary colours just like Lichtenstein.

A bit of red for my top. I've got some yellow. That's for my hair.

And a bit of blue for the top of my shirt.

All right, I'll start with the yellow.

I'm using acrylic paint because it sticks better to acetate.

Remember, I'm painting on the back here

so it doesn't matter if I go over the lines.

Now a bit of blue for my shirt. You don't have to use paint.

You could use coloured markers. Finally, some red.

I'm painting the acetate on top of some white paper.

It's just easier to see where I'm painting.

I think that's done. Let's check it out.

Time for another selfie!

I look a bit dotty.

I'll just print that out.

Ninja skills.

Well worth a frame.

There you go. A perfect pop art portrait.

# Art Ninja! #

KNOCK AT DOOR

I think you're going to love this place.

Just let yourselves in, why don't you(?)

As the advert says, it's bijou

but as you can see it's exciting and full of potential.

This is the living room - perfect for living in.

THEY LAUGH

I could really see myself living here. It's very me.

Who are you guys?

They look strangely familiar.

This old table.

You're going to want to get rid of this monstrosity.

Ew, simply ghastly.

-Yes, one will definitely be putting an offer in.

-Splendid.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

Ah! Some future ninjas.

Ricky, can you make art with an egg whisk?

Not right now, my brain's a bit scrambled.

AWW!

BOTH: Hi, Ricky!

Can you make art with sandpaper?

All right. I choose you.

BOTH: Yay!

-What're your names?

-I'm Nia.

-I'm Mia.

-And where're you guys from?

-London.

-London. Awesome.

Using sandpaper, I'm going to make a smooth picture

of a rough looking Viking.

I've got some oil pastels and my sandpaper.

I'm going to start off by drawing his Viking face

and I'm going to give him a helmet.

I've got a time travel app today.

If you could travel anywhere in time, where would you go?

-I'd go to the 3080s.

-3080. Why there then?

To see if there's actually flying cars.

Do you know what, I was there earlier.

There's flying cars all over the place.

I'm making sure I'm making very thick lines on the page

with the oil pastels and getting a very thick cover.

And I'm blending in the colours

just so it flows nicely from dark to light.

Give him some horns on his helmet so he's a proper Viking.

Just putting some highlights.

I'm going to go back in with some black

and put in a bit of detail now.

Here's how he's looking. BOTH: Wow!

And now I'm going to do something

that's going to make it look super old and mega-cool.

I've got some baking paper here and I'm going to lay it down

with the non-shiny side up, pop my picture on it...

And here's the cool bit, believe it or not,

because I'm going to go and do a spot of ironing.

So I've got an iron set to medium heat.

You need to be careful with irons

so get an adult to help you or supervise.

I'm going to put a tea towel over and that's to protect the iron

and to make the heat disperse evenly across the picture.

Slow and steady wins the race with this one.

Now the heat will melt the oil pastel

and transfer the picture to the baking paper.

Just give it a little check to make sure it's transferring

because it might need some more ironing.

Oh, wow! Look at that.

I'll just turn the iron off and let it cool down.

Let's go and show those guys.

OK so I've ironed my picture.

Time to peel it off.

Oh, yes. It looks super old and worn.

-Do you want to check it out?

-Yes, please.

What do you make of that?

BOTH: Wow!

What would you score it?

-10 out of 10.

-I think it deserves a frame.

Look at that. It looks ancient. Great suggestion, guys.

Thanks very much. ALL: Bye!

# Art Ninja! #

KNOCK AT DOOR

That better not be more people coming to view the flat.

Oh, you again. Come to show some more people around, I suppose?

Fooled you, Ricky. It's me, Gavin.

I was just pretending to be an estate agent.

You mean what I think you mean?

Yeah, the flat's not for sale. Only kidding, mate.

Just my little joke.

-HE LAUGHS

-Your face!

Very funny, Gavin. Now get out, you big practical joker.

No more from you.

Now go to the website and get your ninja on.

Art Ninja!