It took Brusspup about 10 hours to create this anamorphic optical illusion paying homage to the 1982 movie Tron.  He describes the process of taping the Christmas lights to the wall as “painstaking” as they kept falling off.  Thankfully, he was patient enough to see it through to completion.  When discussing the illusion, he offers the following:

I had a lot of fun creating this illusion.  Ok, not really.  First of all, I spent 1 week searching for the right type of lights.  Every place was sold out.  I just about gave up on looking but decided to try one more mom and pop store.  Sure enough they had the lights I was looking for.

For another great illusion from Brusspup, be sure to revisit the Swimming Pool Illusion.

Is Ben Heine suffering from a multiple personality disorder or is this just an optical illusion?  Here the real illustrator can be seen with an over-sized red pencil facing the anamorphic photographer.

The series of photographs below show how the sketch evolved on a giant sheet of white paper.  Ben first drew the outline of the anamorphic photographer and then went back to complete the shading and finer details.

When speaking about his artwork in general, Ben offers the following:

I just make art for people. I want them to dream and forget their daily troubles. I used to write poems many years ago, I want to convey a poetic and philosophical meaning into my pictures, each new creation should tell a story and generate an intense emotion, like a poem, like a melody.

(via Ben Heine)

Optical illusions involving hidden skulls have been around for a very long time and modern artists continue to produce them.  In this version with a fantasy-art theme, a woman wearing a white hooded cloak and black shirt stands in front of a group of white and black candles with her arms extended.  Two candle holders behind her form the eyes of a skull, her shirt becomes the nose and the rows of candles transform into the teeth.

If you happen to be interested in looking at this image on a more regular basis, it is also available as a free 1280 x 800 pixel desktop wallpaper.

Last week, we posted the first place winner of the 2014 Best Illusion of the Year Contest.  Today’s illusion is the third place winner called ‘A Turn in the Road’ by Kimberley D. Orsten and James R. Pomerantz from Rice University in Houston, Texas.  This illusion video shows three images, two of which are matching images with a third image that does match the other two.  Viewers see one image as odd, but it’s one of the two identical images that is seen as being different.  Orsten and Pomerantz call this illusion a “false pop out.”

John Pugh designs very large trompe l’oeil optical illusion murals and he is doing exactly what he wants to be doing.

I have found that the “language” of life-size illusions allow me to communicate with a very large audience. It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked. Once captivated by the illusion, the viewer is lured to cross an artistic threshold and thus seduced into exploring the concept of the piece.

His 2007 mural below located in the visitors lobby of the Juvenile Hall in Sacramento, California was commissioned by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.  It looks as if there is a cut out in the wall leading to an area with trees, green grass, rocks and a small stream.  In reality, the entire scene is painted on a flat surface.

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The 10th annual edition of the Best Illusion of the Year contest was held on May 18, 2014 in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Taking home the prestigious first place prize were Christopher D. Blair, Gideon P. Caplovitz, and Ryan E.B. Mruczek from the University of Nevada Reno.  Their illusion was a new twist on an old illusion called the Ebbinghaus Illusion.  In the original illusion, two circles are presented side-by-side that are identical in size.  One is surrounded by larger circles and the other is surrounded by smaller circles.  When asked which circle appears bigger, people typically assume that that one surrounded by the smaller circles is larger than the other one.

In this updated video version, the circles surrounding the center circle expand and contract.  As they do, the center circle seems to also change in size even though it remains the same.  Have a look for yourself.

Without seeing any of the other candidates, do you think that this was a good choice for first place in this contest?

Using a 22 by 21 grid of baseball cards, mosaic artist Ken Knowlton created this portrait of his grandson titled Nicholas Jensen (Little League Pitcher).  The final mosaic, created in 2002, measured 32 inches wide by 40 inches tall once completed.

The further that you stand back from the image, the more recognizable the young boy becomes.  If you squint your eyes slightly, you will also be able to see the boy better.  A close-up photograph, showing the detailed pattern of baseball cards, can be seen below.

In the foreword of the book Masters of Deception by Al Seckel (Sterling Publishing), Douglas Hofstadter describes Ken Knowlton’s “coarse-grained pointillism” as “pure visual magic”.  It would be difficult to argue with that statement.

(via Ken Knowlton)