An Artist Recreated 15 Iconic Scenes on Leaves and Paper and Left Us Speechless

When your work is so unique, the art you create can go viral very quickly, and you might even receive a phone call from Disney. Al least this is what happened with Kanat Nurtazin’s amazing leaf cutouts. His artwork is so neat and perfectly executed that he makes it look like a piece of cake. But if you keep reading, you will see that it took him a lot of time to master his craft and get to where he is now.

He started drawing as a hobby in 2013.

Kanat is self-taught and he learned everything he knows through endless practice. It usually takes him 6 hours to finish one leaf cutout, but that wasn’t always the case. He used to spend days and nights perfecting his skills, and he would even sleep only 3-4 hours per night while staying up to practice. He was always interested in mixed-media arts, but leaf art was the one form of drawing that captivated him the most.

He collects his leaves from August until October.

As he says, “I collect them in parks and I like them to be different colors, especially fall leaves are very beautiful. Sometimes I ask my friends from overseas to bring rare types of leaves that have unusual shapes.” He also draws the same designs on paper and glues them on the leaves so that he has extra support. This is because sometimes the leaves break due to the wind, and making a second one would be very time-consuming.

He worked with Disney on Maleficent 2 and Frozen 2.

Because of his work going viral on the internet, a well-known company contacted him in order to collaborate. “It was unbelievable that such a giant company noticed me and my art. The experience I gained helped me a lot in terms of confidence. It was unfortunately only a one-time thing, but I am always glad to work with such companies.”

In 2018, he had his own exhibition.

“In 2018 I held my personal art exhibition and part of my work included leaf cutouts. And of course, I would like to be showcased in an art gallery, but I probably would like to try this in foreign countries. At the moment, I have my personal projects going on and I am trying to open an online shop with my artwork. So mostly I am concentrated on that.”

He knows a total of 70 different drawing methods.

When Kanat started his drawing journey in 2013, he wanted to learn 100 methods of drawing. “Some of them are pointillism, food art, art with fluorescent tape, carvings, etc. It is getting harder to find new methods and it takes time to create something new.” But, he hopes that in the next 3-5 years he will be able to learn many more drawing techniques.

What do you think of Kanat’s art? If you like it as much as we do, consider giving him a follow on Instagram because he definitely deserves it.