A Chinese artist took a risk in creating these impressive ice sculptures by carving them into the ice while it was still frozen on the river.

Despite the risk of smashing a hole in the ice with the heavy axe he used to fashion the sculptures, the artist identified only by the surname Gao was filmed as he chopped and hacked away to allow the huge crocodile and dolphin to appear under the snow-covered ice.

Ice sculptures have become increasingly popular in recent years, with impressive creations being made from blocks of ice usually on dry land.

However, this is different to the creations of Mr Gao, who leaves the ice on the river as he creates his awe-inspiring sculptures.

It was particularly brave because falling through ice into a river is especially dangerous, with the risk of being swept away by the current below.

The 38-year-old farmer only started making sculptures last year and had such a good response from friends and locals that he decided to be even more ambitious this year with the dolphin and the crocodile.

The crocodile was reportedly over six metres (20 feet) long after it was carved alongside the slightly smaller dolphin on the unnamed river in the prefecture-level city of Tonghua in the south of Jilin province in China.

And Mr Gao does not only limit himself to sculpting real animals, also fashioning an impressive dragon being touched on the nose by a woman in the ice, as one picture here shows.

Afterwards, he was happy to share the videos online where the sculptures were popular as an unusual variation on land-based ice sculptures.