OPTICAL ILLUSION PICTURES

Optical illusion pictures are always interesting and no matter how much of the internet is stuffed with all of those “gaze for 30 seconds and turn around” things, most of the time, we really do follow that instruction. To speak quite frankly, we like to get fooled around, and even more than that we really enjoy figuring out the rebus, afterward. In this article, we have compiled some intriguing, but rather easy examples of optical illusion pictures, that combines trickery and taste for the best effect. In a case of success, you're more than welcomed to give your artwork a perpetual stay by making a print of it! Warning - a bit of shaky feeling might appear, regarding the second part of the article!

Optical Illusion Pictures that Seem to be Rising from the Paper

One of the most popular ways to manipulate our perception of vision is to create an artwork that somehow seems to be spatial or to possess the sense of depth. This gives an ordinary decor a magical quality and the somewhat boring wall art paintings and prints found in your hallway will hook people from the second they enter your property. Though one may think that it’s an easy piece to create, the truth is something very far from that. The particular example of 3D art you can see here, demands a very good understanding of light and tone relations. After all, we strive for something that has an aesthetic quality as well as the ability to fool us into stretching our arm towards the inside of it. We strive for optical illusion pictures!

Useful tips on creating your new 3D wall decoration!:

• A suggestion of spherical form happens through shading the object situated the furthest from a light source. It (can be a specific texture) gets progressively lighter as you are getting closer to the light source. An obvious, but somehow still forgotten precept
• When you’re making a sketch, think about the viewer’s perspective. That is, whether he/she will be looking at your artwork from above or from a side? Aside from that, it’s the usual routine - closer objects are pictured larger, while those in the distance - smaller
• While sketching, keep the lines that’ll make up invisible objects (those that will not be visible when the picture will be finished). They will help you understand the spatiality of the object.
• The falling shadow is always darker than the shadow on the object. Close to the object, it is at its darkest!
• Want to add it a sense of depth and enviable glossiness? The choose acrylic glass as its material foundation!

The Psychedelic Vibe

You may have noticed that some of these optical illusion pictures actually have an exquisite sixties appeal! Some of them look like pieces that would adorn the walls of Austin Power’s love headquarters! In some respect, it’s not surprising, considering the fact that 60’s were largely about psychedelia, tripping (not because of a wire in your way) and all kinds of substance-induced sensations. Taking all of this into account, we have a little manual for you to create your own tribute to the swinging decade! The most basic of these can be created with a single set of color markers at your disposal!

• Get your paper and markers
• Use your black marker to draw a curved line across the whole page (from left to right, obviously), something like a worm on its way to somewhere. Then Draw a bunch of these curved lines from the bottom to the top of the page. They can sparse and they shouldn’t be completely identical. (Still using the same marker or pencil, for that matter)

• After that, draw a cross contour shapes over each of the worm-like figure. From the middle of each figure, this cross-contour line goes like a wide letter “U”, while below the middle line it should be like the letter “U” only upside down

• At this point, you should have a scene with many worm-like figures, each of them divided into many sections. All that’s left to do now is to color these sections! Two different hues (which can consist of three color-related tones) for every worm-like figure, colors that can repeat, in case there’s another worm-like figure in between!

Black and White Sensation

These optical illusion pictures usually boast a capacity to provide an acid trip-like experience after just 30-50 seconds (depends on the format - image or video) of staring at them. Definitely sounds promising (by that were not suggesting that acid trips are something to strive for), but usually, they fail to deliver a serious, long-term hallucinogenic effect. What we get is a 15-second dizziness (if it's a rotating structure) or a strange face before our eyes appearing every time we try to blink. However, it’s still an interesting and in a certain sense, rather interactive art, that has a nice minimalist vibe to it! To make strictly black and white optical illusion pictures is a pretty simple operation. This time, you might as well get through with only one black marker, because what we will try to create is an age-old thing, known as "Zollner illusion"!

• Draw a chevron-like pattern (a multitude of inverted "V" letters, in a close succession). All of them - exactly aligned, parallel and pointing to the right (all the spears of V's are pointing to the right)!

• Already seems kinda insidious? In a herringbone pattern, draw another row of chevrons. This one has to be parallel to the previous pattern and should point in the opposite direction! Remember - the more accurate the angle of the chevrons, the stronger the illusion will appear to be!

• Now, below the second row of chevrons, draw another one, that's completely identical to the first one! Again, accurately parallel to herringbone pattern above (the ends of "V's" should osculate)

Now take a close look and witness the practical, home-made magic! The result should look similar to the picture below. You can see how each herringbone pattern seems to get increasingly narrow towards its end. But it actually doesn't! All of them are completely identical and geometrically straight!

*While it's a nice and simple example of optical illusion pictures, it's also a nice and trendy pattern (variations of it are actually found on numerous T-shirts) to use simply as wall art decor! In case you really consider this idea, visit our page and pick the wall art type (canvas, acrylic, aluminium or forex) you prefer!

*A Historical trivia! The optical illusion was first noticed in 1860 by the German astrophysicist Karl Zollner on a dress fabric!

There are numerous approaches to creating optical illusion pictures. The ones we've picked can actually be looked upon as something for the beginners. We encourage you to experiment and develop your ability for trickery and visual arts, in general! Even if the illusion's not there, you will be one, beautiful wall art piece richer!

« Back to Blog list Design your Canvas »