How Illusion Art Works is a blog about how the human eye and mind can be tricked into seeing things that aren’t really there. From simple visual illusions to complex optical illusions, from impossible objects to illusion photography, and from classic works of art to new artwork created just for fun, you’ll find all kinds of amazing illusions here.
Tricks like these have been used in art and advertising for centuries, so if you want to know more about specific artists or get creative ideas for your own projects, I’ve also included links to some great websites that collect information on all kinds of artists who create these kinds of illusions.
I hope you enjoy this blog, and please feel free to leave comments. If you notice any errors or have suggestions for new posts, please let me know!
This blog exists thanks to the comments and suggestions of many people. I appreciate your help in making it better!
There is a certain fascination in illusion art. It can seem like an impossible task, to create an image that looks real but isn’t. But it is possible. Illusion art, or trompe l’oeil as it is known in France, has been around for centuries. Many painters have worked in the style.
Trompe l’oeil is a French phrase that means “trick the eye.” It refers to the ability of some painters to trick the eye and create the illusion that their painted object is real, such as a vase of flowers or a bowl of fruit on the wall.
Trompe l’oeil allows you to create your own illusions by following easy step-by-step instructions. They are fun and easy to do.
Artists have been fooling the eye for centuries, but there are still psychological tricks that can be learned. Some of the earliest known art is a creation of the human mind. From ancient cave paintings to modern day trick photography, artists have been fooling the eye with illusions.
This blog will look at how these psychological tricks work and show you some great examples in pictures, video and illustrations. I hope to keep this blog as up-to-date as possible. If you know about some great illusion art please let me know!
I am the creator of illusions. I create drawings and paintings that look like something, but are not. I create images that are so realistic they can be hard to separate from things you actually see in real life.
Trompe l’oeil is a French term meaning “trick the eye”, a form of art that is intended to deceive the viewer into thinking that the object in question is real. Trompe l’oeil can be seen as a broader category than illusion specifically, but here I will talk about it as if it were an illusion since that is what I know best and it would be too much to get into all aspects in one blog post.
I have more than 20 years experience creating these types of artworks. As with all artists, my creations have been influenced by the works of others and I have evolved my style over time. This is why I started writing this blog in order to share and show some of my favorite works along with how these were created.
I hope you enjoy them!
This blog is about the illusions that fool the eye and fool the mind. It covers the psychology, perception and science of how we see.
I may also take the opportunity to discuss optical effects in art, photography, film and other media. Occasional posts will be more technical in nature, either explaining a well-known illusion in depth or giving a detailed account of an illusion I have discovered myself.
Tricks with mirrors and other optical illusions have been around for thousands of years but it is only recently that scientists have begun to understand why they work. We now know that much optical illusion is based on tricks with perspective and shadows, which fool the eye into seeing three-dimensional objects as two dimensional projections on a flat surface. For example, people who look at my Penrose stairs illusion are convinced they are seeing impossible 3d staircases.
The blog includes posts on many different kinds of visual trickery (optical illusions, watercolor illusions, impossible figures etc) including some very recent discoveries that I have made myself.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a unique gift that will really make an impression, why not try our patented Optical Illusion Gift Boxes . . . .
If you have any questions about our products or services, please contact us at info@illusiongifts.com and we will respond within 24 hours.
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How does an illusion work?
The key is that the eye and the brain work together to see things that aren’t there. The brain tries to make sense of what it sees by making assumptions about the environment and filling in the blanks. When those assumptions are violated – when something looks wrong – the brain can fill in a blank space with what it thinks should be there.
A classic example is the Necker cube. It’s a line drawing of a 3D cube that looks like this:
Now look at it for awhile, until you really see it as a cube (instead of two facing pages of a book):
What do you see now? Most people see either the top or bottom half flipped over (or both halves, if they’re especially prone to optical illusions).
But remember that it’s just a drawing, and nothing else is around to confirm which side is up. So in your mind, you have to turn the cube around 180 degrees so that you’re not looking at its back side. Then it becomes obvious that only one half needs to be flipped over, not both:
This drawing is an example of how our brain fills in details based on what we expect to be true. We assume that the drawing is two-dimensional, and