Duy Tran: Stunning wood carving sculptures of Dragon Ball, Gundam, Attack on Titan, And More
Wood carvings are one of Vietnam’s traditional handicrafts, but instead of religious-themed works, DWoodart Studio specializes in stunning sculptures of popular anime, manga, and video game characters.
Artist Duy Tran does many of the pop cultured works at the studio but is also joined by the studio’s other talented artists.
Like many young artists of today, Duy started pursuing his love of art by attending university classes.
He enrolled in the College of Arts at Hue University in Vietnam. Although the skills and knowledge he picked up there were helpful, Duy discovered that sitting in class was not the same as being a creator.
Duy decided to follow his passion for woodworking by dropping out of art school. His brothers and uncles worked as carvers in his home village, so he returned home to start learning more tricks of the trade.
Although Duy recognizes that attending school is often essential, dropping out seemed to be the correct decision at the time. “It saved me a lot of time,” he says. “I’ve had the time to learn new skills, like sculpture, and also have time to do my favorite things, such as traveling in a foreign country.”
It only took Duy three years to complete his apprenticeship program in woodworking. His deft skills quickly earned him the reputation of being an artisan. Since Buddha pieces often sell well, that was the primary focus of his work.
It was profitable and eventually led him to try something different.
That’s when he created Goku for the first time, a fictional character from the Dragon Ball manga series. Although the original was small, the love that Duy experienced while making that piece by hand let him know that he’d stumbled across his calling in life.
Duy says he spent considerable time searching online to find the best image to use for his Goku sculpture. After printing the photograph, he transferred it to the block to start the sculpting process. His friends were impressed, especially since it was his first creation that wasn’t a Buddha statue.
That success led the artist to consider pursuing other figures to expand his portfolio. Now his goal is to introduce the concepts of Vietnamese woodcarving to the rest of the world.
Unlike other woodcarvers, Duy Tran uses a relatively straightforward process to create his sculptures. It all starts by selecting the right block to serve as the inspiration for his piece.
Once he has the materials, the artist prints a picture that attaches to the piece. He cuts the block to size using a circular saw. That’s when the other tools start to create more sawdust, ranging from electric chisels to hand saws, producing the most delicate details.
He started by creating tiny pieces that would represent a standard bookshelf statue. He is now producing items on a massive scale, including a dragon that he worked to carve using a chainsaw.
Most of his sculptures come from one piece of wood. Although he has focused on game characters and the Marvel Universe in recent works, Duy has remained true to his manga roots. His online store features scenes from Naruto, Attack on Titan, and Dragonball Z. He recently started working on a T-Rex Transformer that he expects to retail for around $1,290.
Duy Tran used the success of his art to create Woodart Vietnam with the help of his father, one of the country’s greatest woodworking masters.
More information is available at woodartvietnam.com.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/npra0MRcmbI
- https://www.instagram.com/woodart_vietnam/
- https://woodartvietnam.com/
- https://leonacreo.com/wood-carvings-sculptures/
- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/02/incredible-wooden-statues-of-dragon-ball-gundam-attack-on-titan-and-more/
- https://us-east-2.console.aws.amazon.com/polly/home/SynthesizeSpeech