Niall Shukla is a talented self-taught artist who specializes in cracking detailed portraits into laminated glass canvases by meticulously striking them with a hammer. Hitting panels of glass with a hammer to create something beautiful sounds counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what makes Niall Shukla’s cracked glass art so fascinating. Using a variety of metal hammers and chisels, the London-based artist chips away at laminated glass panes, creating cracks that ultimately form clear and detailed pictures. It’s an art form that requires mountains of patience and nerves of steel, as one strike too powerful or in the wrong place can result in massive cracks that ruin the artwork, forcing the artist to start from scratch.

Photo: Niall Shukla

“While each strike is meticulously planned in terms of placement and pressure, not every attempt is successful—one wrong hit, and I may need to start anew with a fresh piece of glass,” Shukla told Museum Weekly Magazine. “This process means I can often go through several pieces of glass before achieving the final image.”

Photo: Niall Shukla

A writer and film director by training, Niall Shukla started making physical art as a way of detaching himself from his work, but he never imagined he would turn it into a successful career. One day, he simply posted one of his better works on social media and it got over 4 million view in 4 days. In the following year, he got over 100,000 subscribers on various social networks and had established himself as an artist.

Photo: Niall Shukla

Although cracked glass art is random by definition, as one can’t completely control the way cracks form, Niall Shukla claims that he spends a lot of time planning and figuring out how he will go about creating certain artworks.

Photo: Niall Shukla

“Cracked glass is incredibly monochromatic and therefore incredibly hard to shade with,” the artist said. “You may have an image you want to make in cracked glass or an idea you want to present in cracked glass, but it may be incredibly challenging to portray that image effectively.

 

I constantly have to adapt my plan to the glass and not the other way around. Aside from this, there is a lot of trial and error cracking glass with the hammer and chisel, and testing on multiple sheets of glass before getting to one that I am happy with,” the artist added.

 

Today, the self-taught Niall Shukla is ranked among the world’s best cracked glass artists, alongside established names like Simon Berger or Natnael Mekuria.