Japanese artist Naoshi‘s art is colourful, kawaii and a little bit surreal, and even more impressive when you find out it’s made with sand! It’s called Sunae and involves filling in areas on sticky paper with colourful sand. You can watch Naoshi in action in this video.
Naoshi has a new book of work available called Ice Cream Work, which follows the adventures of Ice Cream Man throughout a working week where he turns up at a birthday party, in sunflower fields, on the golf course and more.
Each spread is full of clever little details and bright contrasting colours and patterns. It would be really easy to forget all these details are painstakingly made with sand if it wasn’t for the texture. If you love colourful art, food and nature, this is well worth adding to your bookshelf as you’ll be sure to find something new every time you pick it up.
Ice Cream Work is published by Overcup Press and can be ordered online for $14.99 or through your favourite book store.
If you fancy giving Sunae a try, Naoshi also sells kits in her Etsy shop alongside prints, originals, t-shirts and more. This reminds me that I have a kit I’ve never used so I’ll have a go soon and post the results on Instagram.
Marceline is the co-founder and editor of Super Cute Kawaii and author of The Super Cute Book of Kawaii. She also designs cute character goods as Asking For Trouble. Having visited Japan five times, Marceline is enormously inspired by all things Japanese and especially loves bunnies, space and any kind of food object with a happy face.
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