Gen Z Artist Story: Tran Duy's World of Wooden Sculptures

Possessing a huge fan base worldwide, artisan Tran Duy (28 years old, residing in Dien Phong commune, Dien Ban town, Quang Nam; now Go Noi commune, Da Nang city) has proven to everyone that: if he knows how to transform, traditional wood carving art is not conservative but can also create a special attraction.

When village boys cooperate with Marvel

Browsing the YouTube channel "Artisan Au Lac" (Woodart Vietnam), I was quite surprised that after only 7 years of its launch (since 2018), with content mainly directing viewers to the wood carving profession of Quang Nam, the channel has reached nearly 300 million views. Among about 150 videos , many videos have tens of millions of views. The main character in the video with messy hair and a humorous style is Tran Duy. He is also the owner of this YouTube channel with 1.15 million subscribers (as of mid-May 2025). What makes his channel have such a large number of viewers?

Comic book characters come to life through wooden statues by Tran Duy

PHOTO: SX

"The YouTube channel was originally created to promote wooden products created by my father - the excellent artisan Tran Thu - and other craftsmen, such as Buddha statues, wooden wall paintings of all kinds... The number of views on the channel really exploded in July 2019 when I uploaded a video about the process of sculpting a statue of Goku - a character in the Dragon Ball manga series", Duy began the story. Since then, Duy has been known to many people around the world through his image coming from the world of comics, movies... That was also the milestone for the young man to embark on the path of specializing in sculpting virtual characters, hitting the tastes of young people.

In the past 5 years, the statues he sculpted were mainly inspired by popular culture. Among them, there are works that have won the hearts of the anime-loving community through famous characters such as Goku, Zenitsu, Naruto, Itachi Uchiha, Zoro, Luffy... Monster icons (Godzilla, Venom, Colossal Titan...) are also as vivid as if they came out of a movie. Fans of the Marvel movie world almost went crazy when they saw Tran Duy sculpt superheroes: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine...

The monster battle scene was depicted by Tran Duy on wooden blocks.

PHOTO: SX

To create connection and association for the audience, Duy also sculpted clusters of statues depicting fighting scenes between characters in stories or superheroes, such as Luffy vs. Kaido, Luffy vs. Lucci, Luffy vs. Katakuri, Saturn vs. Luffy Gear 5, Hulk vs. Wolverine... Even more amazing, within 60 days, he created a cluster of statues recreating the scene in Avengers: End Game with Thanos confronting Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. "I also made familiar, Asian characters such as Sun Wukong vs. Dragon God. The most interesting thing was when I and the craftsmen carried out a project in cooperation with Marvel Studios, carving 22 Marvel characters to create a special foosball table. The 25 days of sculpting the statues and making the table were very fun and inspiring days," Tran Duy said.

Go beyond limits

Choosing to pursue the path of wood carving with different themes and receiving praise as well as many international orders, artisan Tran Duy has had a long journey of independence with a bold style.

The charisma of movie and comic book characters makes viewers admire Tran Duy's talent.

PHOTO: SX

First, Duy dared to give up his fine arts major ( Hue University of Fine Arts) after 1 month of studying to return to Go Noi (Dien Ban Town) and learn sculpture almost from scratch. "Fortunately, I was born into a family with a tradition of wood carving. Frankly speaking, since I was little, I did not like the sound of sawing, the dusty scene... But perhaps that was a good foundation for me to drop out of university and return to my hometown to stick with chisels and awls and quickly master the craft," Duy said.

To turn a lifeless block of wood into a work of art, Tran Duy devoted all his efforts to one chisel stroke.

PHOTO: SX

To master the skills of wood carving, many people need 4-5 years, but Tran Duy only needed 2 years to go from soulful portraits like coach Park Hang-seo, basketball legend Kobe Bryant... to his first round statues like Goku, Iron Man... He said, in this subject area that is thought to only serve "childish" hobbies, the craftsman must have high skills to create the character's demeanor. He always carefully studies movements and gestures, from there sketching out poses to express the character's temperament.

To make his products accessible to more people, especially international customers, Tran Duy learned how to market. He taught himself how to film and edit videos, SEO skills... on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok... Thanks to creating content in English, large international orders came to him. He also learned about shipping and payment and confidently flew abroad many times to work and deliver goods to partners.

Choosing a different path of sculpture, Tran Duy has succeeded beyond expectations.

PHOTO: SX

Thanks to creativity and the application of digital technology, in 2022, at the invitation of a minister, Tran Duy went to Bhutan to talk about Vietnamese wood carving. On his personal page, Duy wrote: "They want me to pass on to young people not only skills and experience but also the idea of ​​doing new things..." And a sharp artist, craftsman, and businessman like Tran Duy "absolutely agreed".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chuyen-nghe-nhan-gen-z-the-gioi-tuong-go-cua-tran-duy-185251018214627833.htm