When last we caught up with artist Salavat Fidai, he was painting tiny Star Wars faces and Van Gogh reproductions on pumpkin seeds. We marveled at his technique with small brushes, and now it’s time to be impressed all over again that his micro-skills with an Exacto knife are every bit as sharp.
Via time-lapse, and with wonderfully jaunty music on the soundtrack, the video above shows him gradually paring away the “lead” graphite nib of a pencil, to produce everyone’s favorite single-word speaking salvage bot, WALL-E. It’s pretty apropos, too–Eve’s main squeeze was always good at repurposing things, and now he himself gets made of a repurposed writing implement.
As discovered by the Awesomer, Fidai makes a habit of this kind of sculpting, having also used his skills at righting writing implement points to create Big Ben, the world’s smallest violin, and an Imperial stormtrooper. But perhaps best of all, especially if you’re J.K. Simmons, is the one the artist did of a mythical flying lizard, so we can ask the Whiplash-ish punny question: Is he Russian, or dragon? (Answer: both.)
And yes, I’ve wanted to make that pun since I saw the movie. Who knew a pencil sculpture of WALL-E would be the perfect segue?
Trying to sculpt at this micro level would make most of us feel like breathing fire, or trashing the world around us, so it’s great that someone with the exactitude of Salavat Fidai is here to do it for us. What tiny creation would you like your tip transformed into? Pencil (metaphorically only, please; you all have keyboards now) your answers into the comment fields below.
Featured image: YouTube/Salavat Fidai
