Man makes intricate art designs out of leaves

By Brelaun Douglas via SWNS

A man turns nature into art with his intricate leaf cuttings featuring anything from ballerinas to flamingos, Dobby the elf and Harry Potter. 

Kanat Nurtazin uses a sharp razor to cut his drawings on to leaves and his unique art has even caught the attention of Disney.

He began making leaf cuttings in 2013 as a hobby, and as of November 2020, estimates he has created around 500 of the foliage cut-outs. 

Kanat, from Kazakhstan, said: “I was searching for work and I started experimenting with different things: writing poems, creating music and I stopped on drawing."

He had seen cutouts on paper before and returning home in autumn when there were plenty of leaves on the ground and decided to use them instead of paper.  

Kanat, a senior manager at Nazarbayev University, added: “I was a self taught artist and it was interesting to me to use different materials." 

His leaf art is a part of a project he calls his "100 methods of drawing," which experiments with different techniques. 

In November 2020, he had almost 70 methods, including some that use fluorescent tape or coffee packets.  

Kanat poses each cutout in front of the sky, buildings, flowers or anything else that fits in with the design on the leaf, and takes a photo of it.  

He estimates he has produced around 500 leaf cuttings over the years, but doesn’t have a favorite one. 

Kanat began posting the photos of his cuttings on Instagram, where they gained popularity, and he was even contacted by Nickelodeon and Disney to help create content for them. 

However, Kanat said that he still does the art mainly as a hobby, but he will sometimes auction them off sending the proceeds to charities he sees are in need. 

Overall though, his leaf art is a way for Kanat to express and share himself with the world. 

“Art for me is something to transfer yourself to another place, to be alone with your feelings and thoughts.

“It’s just a place where I can be myself and share my ideas. Some of my works are touching social problems and I try to express myself with the help of art.”