Mighty Optical Illusions » Billboards

A New World-Record-Breaking 3D Chalk Drawing by Reebok

Jill Harness — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:12:35 +0000

We feature a lot of chalk drawings here, but this one stands apart from the rest if only because it is the new Guinness World Record holder for largest chalk drawing. The creation by Joe and Max, was commissioned by Reebok to help promote their CrossFit sneakers (hence the brand name seen on the left side of the canyon above). The creation took a full week to complete (it rained most of the week) and stretches 1,160.4 square meters (3,807 square feet) and is 106.5 meters (345.5 feet) long. That’s a serious jump in size from the last Guinness Record holder for the title, Chinese artist Qi Xinghua’s Lions Gate Gorge, which stretched over 892 square meters.

Actors pose with gym equipment on what the Guinness World Records bills as the world’s largest 3D painting, at Canary Wharf in London (November, 2011)

This record-breaking drawing was created in London’s West India Quays, Canary Wharf, but even if you were in the city at the right time, the chances you got a glimpse of it are pretty slim…despite taking seven days to put up, it was removed the day after it was finished.

Impolite Optical Illusions Gallery

Vurdlak — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:09:50 +0000

I receive over a dozen illusion submissions each day, and sometimes these submissions include somewhat “edgy” content. The problem is, they often work really well – sometimes even too well to be precise! Then it comes to me to decide how should I handle this situation most precociously.

Even though I may endorse such optical illusions that ONLY imply NSFW content (while in reality being perfectly safe), I still wouldn’t want them showing inside your desktop widgets and gadgets, potentially bringing you in awkward situation of some sort. Thus, I have decided to place this simple, non-related socket illusion (above) to have something to fill your gadget with. Before you start complaining how these might lack taste, I can assure you the illusions they hold work really great! Hope you like what you’re about to see inside this article! Looking forward reading your comments.

See Your Little Ones Grow!

Vurdlak — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:27:48 +0000

I have just received this optical illusion from my former classmate – it’s a promotional poster for some sort of product called Horlicks. I’m not gonna tell you what the the illusion here really is, as I have confidence you’ll manage to spot on your own. I’m sure you will find it sooner or later. Yet, there is a chance you won’t like it as much as I did (which is mostly because it managed to fool me when I first saw it). The only hint I can give you is this: if you think you’re seeing a hand holding a magnifying glass, think again! BTW, I was surprised how no one answered my earlier question :( !?

Nestle’s Nescafe Illusory Poster

Vurdlak — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:39:35 +0000

Kahla Glasheen has been following this site each day for a couple of years now. One thing Kahla noticed is that we never featured one particular historical illusion – a poster Nestle created for their Nescafe coffee. After little research, it turns out this poster originates all the way back in 1930s. The illusion is intuitive, and in fact you should be ablre notice it quite easily. Yet the beauty and simplicity of the poster is what I really liked about it!

One thing that surprised me was your reception of our recent cinemagraph illusion. I thought you’ll be astonished, mesmerized, surprised even, yet it seems I was wrong. The difference between simple animated .gif files and cinemagraphs is not easily distinguishable. However, having more luck than taste, seems I wasn’t so wrong after all. Some of our users noticed that this “Psycho” illusion holds another well hidden easter egg inside it – a frame featuring some sort of skull-ish X-ray layer, one that isn’t so obvious.

Have to admit, I never noticed this before! It’s such a shame you didn’t react positive on cinemagraph illusions, as I had few of them lined up to be published soon. The beauty behind them should lye in the fact that only single detail gets animated, while rest of the photo stays just what it is – a still photo. Apparently it takes lots of time to create them. Check out this gallery and see if I can change your opinion ;D

Bottle Cap Shaddow Billboard

Jill Harness — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:01:36 +0000

A shadow sculpture is an art piece that is not seen by viewing the actual materials that create the sculpture, but by viewing the shadows reflected from the sculpture. Some of the most famous artists in this realm are Tim Noble and Sue Webster, who we have featured on the site more than once, and Shigeo Fukuda.

But as advertisers always like to take the work of famous artists and repurpose it to promote their own products, it is not entirely surprising that this technique has since been incorporated into billboards. Of course, that’s not to say these ads aren’t artistic in themselves. After all, it takes a lot of thought and energy to design something that will be displayed outside, but only be visible at certain times of the day.

As a matter of fact, this particular New Castle billboard was created by another set of artists, Ellis Gallagher and Pablo Power. It is made up of more than 3000 bottle caps and can only be seen at night when the external light shows on it at exactly the right angle.

Believe it or not, this billboard is in my town and I still haven’t even had a chance to see it. I think it’s time I head out that way to enjoy the illusion in person.

Illusory Coca-Cola Logo

Vurdlak — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:30:44 +0000

I have just found this illusory coca-cola can showcased on Deceptology blog. It works in a way where empty space between two slippers forms a globally recognizable bottle shape (logo). Very similar ad was already featured by Cola for their Zero line of caffeine drinks. Dunno if you can recall us featuring it in the past.

Still, both examples borrowed and then inverted the idea from an old-school example called Rubin Vase, one that usually features a bottle of some sort, that can either be seen as central bottle or empty space between to head profiles. I believe you already know what I mean, even if my explanation turned clumsy ;D

Save The Animals Poster by WWF

Vurdlak — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:46:26 +0000

World Wildlife Fund (or just WWF in short) is an organization we mentioned few times in our past. It’s an organization which protects endangered wildlife and environments, tackles climate change and promotes sustainable use of resources. But what WWF also does, it creates one hell of a memorable billboard campaigns. To raise awareness around their cause, they need their message to stand out and differentiate itself from the rest. And what could be better to promote this worthy cause than using a poster with built in game, one that traps you into the world of rainforest wildlife? Not only have I learned one interesting fact today – that rainforests only cover 7% of our planet but harbor more than 50% of the world’s species – I’ve also learned there is pile of hidden animals present in this poster below. Open the picture in full-size (by clicking on it) and see how many hidden animals you can find. Let the games begin!

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser

Vurdlak — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:39:46 +0000

Mr. Mike Libbey, one of our loyal contributing fans, has just informed me how Warner Bros recently published new teaser poster for their Batman franchise. Titled The Dark Knight Rises, the film is scheduled non-sooner than summer of 2012, which I find too distant in future to pay any attention. Still, the poster holds one awesome optical illusion! The illusion is more obvious than not, and those of you using our “Optical Illusion of The Day” widget will probably spot it immediately! What I adore in these commercial billboard/ads type of illusions, is how professional and modern they are. After all, big companies like Warner wouldn’t want some low-profile media agencies deal with their campaign, wouldn’t they? If you like what you see, be sure to check full-size original poster which can be found here. If you’re lucky enough to own A2 paper printing machine, you just might print this and hang it somewhere in your room!

Popcorn/Ice-Cream Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:27:24 +0000

Apologizes for skipping Tuesday (illusion wise)! Something technical came up, which asked for immediate attention. No need to go into much detail, but it was an issue I believe had something to do with our bandwidth. Anyway, let me share these two posters to make up for it. When I first saw them, I remember they both managed to trick me. Now that some time has gone, I can’t recall what was their original intention. Dunno, were popcorns only intended to resemble a skull pile, or was it the other way around. Similar goes for the second photo. Be sure to share your opinion. Anyone knows what was this campaign for?

Faces in Hollywood Posters

Vurdlak — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:04:28 +0000

Strangely named user – BitPartDamaged, discovered two movie posters containing a “hidden” face. One is more obvious than not, and the other… heck, both of the faces are obvious! What is not so obvious is these aren’t faces at all, rather parts of the surrounding material that only resemble a human face. In first case we see a wrecked building, whose wreckage resembles a face, and in the other one – it’s all about photos and post-its Russel Crowe maniacally collected (in order to free his wife from prison, but this is another story…). Am not sure if the first poster for movie called “Carlos” belongs to Hollywood production, but I’m sure “The Next Three Days” is, as I’ve seen it few weeks ago. BTW, are we really incapable of establishing communication with Facebook (talked about the issue here) ?

Disappearing Dots Poster

Vurdlak — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:50:32 +0000

Here’s one you probably missed seeing in the wild! Check out what Oxy did as part of their “Disappearing Dots” campaign. Sure, the effect has been more than re-re-cycled on our site, but the idea behind it qualifies it as very smart optical illusion advertising! Old-timers will probably remember how Ariel did something similar back in the old days… Anyway, focus on the bottle for half a minute, and see the surrounding dots completely disappear! When you’re done, you might want to check similar ones (links in this text and color adapting category).

Chupa-Chups Missing Pieces

Vurdlak — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:28:02 +0000

Just came back from Paris yesterday evening. Can’t say I enjoyed much. Apart from marvelous architecture and breath-taking historic sights and museums, it felt like any other European metropolis. Perhaps I expected too much, thus was little bit disappointed. I enjoyed seeing Napoleon’s resting place at Les Invalides, and Louvre museum the most. There were so much tourists, I couldn’t stop feeling like one. Perhaps if I had some local friends, they could help me experience local life (and point me where I could eat some good food), ultimately making the trip much more interesting…

Sorry for such a long intro, just wanted to inform you I’m back now (and how last few posts were set to automatically appear each day, and were written few days ago ;). It’s also why it took so much time to get your comments approved. Now that I have charged my batteries once again, let me roll up my sleeves and continue sharing some good stuff! For today I bring you two posters that feature Missing Pieces illusion we featured some time ago. Seems that Chupa-Chups company jumped the optical illusion billboard wagon as well!

Hand Painting Billboard Collection

Vurdlak — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:05:45 +0000

Christina Bad has been following our little website for over a year now, and “absolutely loves it“! Some of the hand paintings she sent were already featured on this site, but luckily – not all of them. Old time viewers will immediately recognize Guido Daniele’s style and signature. I really enjoy when such great content gets discovered, and then professionally produced by advertising agencies. In this case Guido’s “handimals” were used to promote Body Art & Graffitti Expo by uShaka Village Walk. Enjoy!

Dragon Age Illusive Poster

Vurdlak — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:12:33 +0000

Let’s see how long does it take you to notice the illusion in this poster below. It was originally used to promote computer game called Dragon Age II, but I managed to dig up this draft version lacking all the promotional text. The billboard was first spotted by Chris Anderson, who decided to share it with us. He explained how he had seen this poster of a bus shelter couple of times before he finally spotted the negative-space illusion it hides. This is the best clue I can give you, except maybe what you find may represent all of the dragon’s victims ;)

Candies Poster Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:27:15 +0000

One of our fans who goes under the nickname erwtj3 discovered this optical illusion poster below. It was used as an ad for some kind of candy product. Once you learn the tagline behind this poster, it’s much easier to see the illusion it hides. The tag-line went something like this: “If you love liquorice, all you see is Panda“! Now hurry, and be the first to spot the hidden animal in this idle surrounding below! You can see the original poster, one including tag-lines and candies – here.