Russian String Artist Creates Stunning Portraits by Twining Threads

Instead of straightening the teeth to restore a toothy smile, this dental assistant puts a smile on the faces of his viewers with his art. Meet Konstantin Hlanta, the Russian string artist, who creates incredible works of art by tying colorful threads around nails. And the amazing details that he goes into is to be seen to be believed.

Hlanta is a trained dental assistant, but art remains his foremost passion. He went on to express this passion by taking up string art three years ago. It was while watching the video of his favorite band, Linkin Park, performing their hit ‘Numb’ that he saw a woman making a drawing. This inspired him to take up art and his friend introduced him to string art.

Since Hlanta is a huge fan of Linkin Park, his first work was the portrait of the band’s lead vocalist, Chester Bennington. He used 1,300 meters of thread, 600 grams of nails, 116 hours of back-breaking labor, and oodles of patience for this portrait. Since then, he has created pieces of many film celebrities, sportspersons, and musicians. These include actor Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, actor Heath Ledger as Joker, singer-songwriter Adele, and many more.

Hlanta’s string art process is simple. Once he gets an idea, he figures out what emotions or feelings he wants to infuse into his artwork. Based on this, he figures out which body part will represent it best. This done, he makes the sketch on cardboard and places the nails at appropriate positions. He then erases the sketch and goes about twining colorful pieces of strings around the nails to create his stunning masterpiece.

From afar, his artwork resembles a realistic painting, but a closer inspection reveals the colorful threads wrapped around nails that give a kind of life to it. He explains on mymodernmet.com, “It’s like drawing with pastel or acrylic paint. I add colors to needed areas, and make different shades and shadows by using threads of different colors.” From portraits, he has now turned his focus to still life and animals. His original works include ‘Marionette and the Hand’ and ‘Warmth’.