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This Amazing Japanese Artist Brings Little Stones to Life By Painting Adorable And Realistic Animals

Stone artist Akie Nakata, is a Japanese artist who turns found stones and pebblles into adorable animal paintings you can actually hold in the palm of your hand.

The Japanese artist was inspired by the natural shapes of each stone she comes across, and chose the ones that perfectly capture their own destined characters.

Akie has loved collecting stones, ever since she was a child. She began her stone paintings in 2011, while she was walking along a river bank, she noticed a particular pebble that looked like a rabbit. She brought the pebble home and began painting what she saw on its surface.

From that day on, the self-taught artist has grown fond of painting life to each stone she stumbles upon.

“Stones have their own intentions, and I consider my encounters with them as cues […] to go ahead and paint what I see on them,” she said.

Meanwhile, the process of completing the work is quite detailed.

After sourcing the animal-shaped stones, she makes sure that she positioned the backbone in the right place and the character she’s going to paint does not disagree with the natural shape of the stone.

Then, she carefully paints the stone’s surfaces with acrylic paint and brings her creature characters to life. Lastly, she paints the eyes of her creation and will consider her work completed only when she sees that the eyes are now alive and looking back at her.

The Japanese artist explained her work and said, “To me, completing a piece of work is not about how much detail I draw, but whether I feel the life in the stone.”

As a result, Akie’s stone animals look remarkably realistic, starting from the dogs and cats to owls, mice, elephants, and even an entire opossum family.

Take a look at some of Akie’s amazing stone creations below:

#1 Owl