Author Ninja Skills Nine Minute Ninja

It's a new day.

Better get my ninja on!

And my clothes!

QUACKING

Aww.

Ooh! CRASH!

One day, I'm going to write a book about my ninja adventures,

but first, I'm going to make...

..the Art Ninja Secret Book!

So, I've got an old food packaging box here,

and I'm going to cut off the front.

I'm putting tape around here, just to neaten up the edges.

Now, I need this box to look like pages, and I'm going to

create that illusion by using some string and double-sided sticky tape.

I'm just going to peel off those bits.

VOICEOVER: And now its time for the string.

Carefully wrap the string around, on top of the double-sided sticky tape.

I'm going to start off at the bottom, and start rolling it round.

I need to be neat with this, cos I want it to look like pages.

The last one. Snip it off!

Now I need to make the cover.

So, for that, I've got a piece of card.

I need to mark where my spine's going to be.

So, let's have a look. Like that..

..and the other side.

And then, to get a nice fold, I'm going to put the ruler down,

and bend the card over the ruler.

VOICEOVER: And the same for the other side.

To make the edges look neater, I'm going to cover them in masking tape.

Do the same for the spine.

Sweet!

Nice and tidy.

So, to draw my design, I've got a couple of bits of card.

VOICEOVER: I'm doing a scary skull and facial features, separately.

You'll see why later.

I'm just cutting out these pieces with scissors.

And I'm cutting indentations, so this bit looks like teeth.

I'm going to draw around my skull to make a slightly bigger one,

just about half a centimetre border, all the way around.

When these two are layered up,

it'll really make it pop out from the book.

Let's get that cut out, as well.

Stick the smaller skull onto the big one,

just using a normal glue stick here.

Now I'm going to put on the teeth

and the nose,

and then the eyes.

That's the skull for the front, but I want a smaller one for the spine,

so I'll just ninja another one.

WHIPPING

And some bones.

Ninja skills!

Stick these to the cover of the book with the glue stick.

The spine.

And the crossbones.

Now it's ready for painting.

So, we've got two lovely blues over here.

A light one, and a richer, dark one.

I'm going to start with the light blue,

just give it an all-over base colour.

If you're doing this at home,

you'll need to put some newspaper down to protect your table.

Right, I need that to dry so I can do the detail,

and I'm going to use my ninja skills.

There we go!

I've painted the inside a darker blue to give it a bit of contrast.

Now I'm going to add some detail with a smaller brush,

so just a tiny bit of paint on the brush, and then with what's

left, I'm just going to pick out all the embossed edges.

Going to take my time on some bits here to blend it in,

using a dry-brush technique.

I'm also painting the edges of my cover dark blue,

and that's to make the book look old and worn.

There we go.

Now I'm going to stick my pages on the inside,

with a bit of double-sided sticky tape.

Two bits on the back should do it.

And one on one side of the string,

cos that's going to be where the spine sticks in.

And one final finishing touch.

Some lovely golden corner protectors,

that I'm going to hold on with double-sided sticky tape.

There you go, check it out!

Need to hide my chocolate on the inside.

Gav will never find it in there!

But it is hard to keep this book a secret,

because it's such a thriller!

I found out I had plenty of ancestors for my autobiography.

According to this family tree website,

I come from a long line of ninjas.

I wonder which one's my great-great-grandfather?

There's a chef that cooked really quickly.

Cake ninja.

Maybe it's him!

IN FRENCH ACCENT: Cake is served!

SQUELCH CRASH

VOICEOVER: Not cool.

An artist that uses autobiographical details in their work is

Grayson Perry.

He was known for making vases, so I'm going to make one of my own.

-All right, Ricky?

-Oh, hi, Grayson. Nice of you to turn up.

Did you say "Turner"? Yeah, I did

win that Turner Prize in 2003.

And you're looking smart.

I know, I put my best dress on specially.

I do have a CBE award, you know,

for services to contemporary art.

Here's some of my work now.

Wow! You'll be a "sir" next!

Or should I say, "sir-ramic"?

Er, stop with the jokes,

Ricky, I'm...glazing over.

All right. I'll pop you back over here.

So I've got myself just a normal party balloon,

and I'm going to blow it up, about the size of a melon.

There we go. Tie that off.

I've got myself a snack tube.

Take the lid off, and with a pen,

and quite carefully, I'm going

to draw a circle around the bottom

of the balloon, over the knot.

And at the top, too.

And these two circles need to be perfectly in line with each other.

I've got some newspaper and some glue mix here.

Three parts glue, one part water. And I'm going to papier-mache

around my balloon,

leaving the two circles on

the top and the bottom empty.

If you find it tricky,

put a little bowl down to hold your balloon in place.

If you're doing this at home,

you need to put newspaper down to protect your surfaces,

and you'll need to do several layers

to make sure it's nice and strong.

I'm making sure that my papier-mache goes right up to my drawn circles,

up to the very edge.

Looking good!

Now, I need that to dry.

WHOOSH!

There we go. Ninja skills.

Chop the end of the balloon off...

PFFFT!

Ha-ha, great noise.

Slide in my snack tube,

so it sticks out either end.

I'm going to hold it in place with some masking tape.

I'm using my same glue mix from earlier.

I'm going to cover it in a layer of coloured paper.

And paper gives it a lovely texture.

While it's still wet, I'm going

to add my autobiographical features.

Pictures of my friends and my life, just like Grayson Perry.

Some long strips of coloured paper to wrap round the top.

Just going to slide them underneath that silver bit.

I could wait for this to dry before I add some finer details,

but I'm going to use my ninja skills.

There you go. Ninja skills.

And I've added some black pen detail.

An autobiographical vase,

in the style of Grayson Perry.

Maybe, rather than a book, I should do a vlog! It's more lucrative.

Mmm! Delicious!

What are you doing now?

Here, try this refreshing kumquat and quinoa-ade drink for the vlog!

Mmm... Mmm!

HE RETCHES SPLASHING

BUBBLING

That's disgusting! Why are you drinking that?

Drinks people sponsor the vlog!

Well, can I sponsor you...

to leave me alone, please?

Now, go to the website, and get YOUR ninja on.

Art ninja!