Watch These Intricate Illustrations Come to Life Using Sand and Light

With the flick of a wrist, what appears to be a watercolor or ink drawing of a scenic landscape reveals itself to be a pile of sand arranged in intricate configurations on a light box. This is the work sand artist Yuko Tamura, who has developed a knack for coaxing complex scenes from simple grains. Ranging in complexity from a insects on leaves, and a family's carnival portrait, Tamura's work is notable not only due to her attention to detail, but also because she takes advantage of sand's ephemeral nature, constantly changing her illustrations to advance comic strip-like stories.

Tamura stages her sand illustrations as performances, singing in front of an audience as she draws each sandy frame. So far she has performed at weddings, art exhibits, workshops, and festivals throughout Japan, and even has a DVD for sale whose title loosely translates to Voice of the Sketch. See her process at work in the self-made video and local news coverage below:

Visit Yuko Tamura's website for more of her sand paintings.

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