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Salavat Fidai
Russian artist creates unbelievably detailed miniature figures on a pencil lead. Salavat Fidai lives in Ufa, Russia. He uses a pencil not only for drawing, but also as a stock for mini-sculptures.
Salavat Fidai
It takes him 6-12 hours of work for an average statue. Complicated models take 2-3 days. “I have breaks, sometimes lasting a couple of days, to give my eyes a rest."
Salavat Fidai
Salavat shared some of his trade secrets with RBTH: "I use a craft knife and magnifying glass. In some cases even a microscope for the tiniest details."
Salavat Fidai
“How did I take up such an unusual hobby? I’ve been making works of art for a long time, always based on experiments. In the 2000s I was fond of photography. Last year I started doing miniature figures."
Salavat Fidai
"I started with a mini portrait of Van Gogh on a matchbox, then drew mini pictures of countries on pumpkin or sunflower seeds and grains of rice. Early this year I experimented with graphite, after which my first micro sculptures appeared,” says the artist.
Salavat Fidai
“After being laid off from work, I started to paint. My parents are professional artists and art-school teachers – they taught me everything I know and handed me the baton, so to speak. I used to paint a lot during my school years. I made my first micro sculptures at school, carving them from chalk.”
Salavat Fidai
“I sell my works on Etsy. It doesn’t bring in much revenue, but my fans and regular customers are there — some of them are collectors, mostly from the US, but also from Europe, East Asia and Australia.
My compatriots don’t pay much attention to me.”
Salavat Fidai
“Now making sculptures is my main occupation, my way of earning a living. I was an office worker for 25 years and got fed up with it. So I decided to dedicate myself to art and realize my potential. I think now is the moment when I have something to tell other people and know how to do it.”
Salavat Fidai
“How do I choose my images? It depends on different factors, nice music, a good movie, a dream… Sometimes I create custom orders or use suggestions from Instagram followers. "
Salavat Fidai
"There are plenty of ideas but limits to what you can create using brittle graphite, and inspiration sometimes strays...” You can find more information about
Salavat and his works here.
