Pencils are wonderful things—be it writing, drawing or sketching—they help you create various forms of art. But are they works of art themselves? One look at Russian artist Salavat Fidai’s sculptures and you will attest to the fact that pencils are, in fact, pieces of art as beautiful as the ones created with them.
With an X-ACTO knife and tons of creativity, he takes carpenter and art pencils and carves their leads into miniature sculptures. Much like artists Diem Chau and Hoang Tran (about whom we wrote previously), the minuscule nature of Salavat Fidai’s work is what makes it so fascinating. His website is filled with pictures of quirky pencil lead carvings ranging from popular movie icons to monuments from across the globe and we’ve put our favourites together in this article.
A fan of miniature art, Ufa-based Fidai also paints on seeds and matchboxes. The process of carving pencil lead is as delicate as one would imagine—it requires a steady hand, correct knowledge of how much pressure to apply and sound judgement of depth. Think back to your primary school days and recall how easily the pencil lead cracked because you applied a bit too much pressure while writing. Salavat Fidai’s ability to carve that same pointy bit of lead into an intricate sculpture is nothing short of a superpower.
The pictures of his micro work are taken with a macro lens to truly highlight the insane amount of detail that goes into each creation. Look at the carving of the Eiffel Tower, for example. The criss-cross pattern is visible as clearly in the miniature rendering as it is in the original. We love the variety of sculptures he makes—there’s Master Yoda, Batman, a T-Rex, the Big Ben and even Wall-E!
A full-time artist, he sells some of his miniatures, paintings and photographs through his Etsy shop. It is not surprising to find that he has over 91 thousand followers on Instagram and his feed is filled with enchanting photos of his finished work and their making-of videos. If you think his sculptures of buildings and hands are awe-inspiring then his double heart piece (featured in the gallery above) will blow your mind. We’re still trying to figure out how he went about that one because it seems virtually impossible. But hey, so does having Darth Vader’s head at the tip of a pencil but he sure did make that a reality.
We’re definitely fans of Salavat Fidai and his art. Be it Bart Simpson or the Colosseum, one thing is for sure—his pencil sculptures are on point.
