Mighty Optical Illusions » Murals

Google Street View Illusion

Vurdlak — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:34:21 +0000

Google Street View Illusion

Apart from playing with design, I’m obsessed with new internet trends and emerging technologies. As much as I love sharing original illusions with you, I’m even more thrilled when I get the opportunity to introduce you with something you probably never thought of using when searching for optical illusions. Hope you approve my style, where I try to fuse our illusion topic as much as I can with modern options.

I think it’s refreshing to see our standard content, using different approach occasionally. Our friend, João Marques took his time to introduce us to Google Street View. By now, all of you used Google Maps at some point of your life. Well, at some major cities Google’s mobile crew took high res photos of surrounding areas, while cruising down the local streets. This caused a lot of controversy, as sometimes citizen privacy was invaded, but on the other hand – it helped cops catch crooks in Netherlands.

João has been a daily follower of MOI for some months, and decided to give something back. Before presenting us with the illusion, he thanked us for managing this website with wisdom, “posting only very interesting stuff.” Move around this interactive window, and try to spot what João found so interesting…

I was spending some time in Google Street View, when I saw some guys doing something strange in an window. I zoomed more and found that it was a mural painting, and was completely tricked. – João

An Audi R8 for $470 ???

Vurdlak — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:41:20 +0000

THE DEAL seems legit, only problem is you won’t be getting a real Audi for peanuts – what did you expect? Having a Lamborghini Murciélago or an Aston Martin DB9 in the garage might be the ultimate in-your-face moment for your showy neighbors, but realistically, not all of us can afford a supercar. It’s a tragic notion that the people over at Audi Canada want to remedy. The price tag on the 2010 Audi R8 V10 may read $141k, but you can start an ownership cycle with one for just $470. Audi Canada has created a garage door wrap with a life-size print of a red Audi R8 sitting in a garage – quite a clean one too, I might add. The cover may officially label you as a poseur for life, and it certainly won’t be able to take you anywhere nice. I bet quite a number of people will be secretly disappointed to learn how the company will only ship to Canadian residents. If you ask me, the car looks nice but it’s nothing special (Chrysler 300C fan speaking here). Does all this somehow ring a bell? You’re right – BMW HAS ALREADY BEAT YOU ON THIS, AUDI!

Hmm, they say: "Get an Audi R8 for just $469.99 this way". I say: "$$$ for just a poster"?!!

Literate Mural Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:30:16 +0000

Check out this funny looking mural below. It was exhibited in IUPUI’s campus, in the Honors lounge by Shea Strauss. Mural’s design is more than it appears at first glance. There are some words, subtly incorporated into the twisted lines. Are you able to see them? Take your time. Solution – after the jump…

Could you spot this yourself?

As you see, the answer is not so easy to figure out. I was too completely stuck before I found this solution picture on your right. Author behind this intriguing mural is Shea, a designer, artist, student, and manatee enthusiast.

Yesterday, I took some time and fully redesigned the widgets page. This was on my schedule for months, but somehow I kept avoiding this (for ages). Hope you like how results turned out. Old time visitors will probably see this as less important update, but I hope that the new design will present you the widgets in better view, and show you how useful they can be. If you feel like it, I advise you to take a look – who knows, maybe you’ll find something intriguing as well! BTW, I have updated the Newsletter and iPhone App page as well!

Ultimate Mural Gallery

Vurdlak — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:44:29 +0000

I’ve been collecting all kinds of 3d chalk drawings and murals for long as I can remember, and over the time this collection really grew big. Currently there are more than dozen murals I never got time to share with you. So today I bring you the biggest mural collection up to date. Beneath first two examples, you may find attached gallery with dozen of 3D wall paintings that are so incredible, you will have a really hard time believing they are not real. Which one is your favorite? I picked the beneath Mural as the most astonishing one, because only after seeing the second photo (which shows us how the wall looked before it was painted), only then my brain could process the first image as a flat painting. I still have trouble understanding how such a realistic result could ever been achieved. Simply amazing!

Believe it or not, everything you see is a painting on a flat wall!

This is exact same wall before the Mural was painted on it

Check the mural gallery below to see more of the stuff we never published before:

Puzzled Businessman Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:33:00 +0000

I have just stumbled upon this interesting mural in my mailbox. Maria Dentura asked our readership whether the mural below contains a partial painting of a passing businessman, and if his “other part” (in the background) belongs to a similar person accidentally passing-by? I have to admit that the image fooled me when I saw it for the first time. Moments later, I noticed more accompanying details, which then revealed the optical illusion. Hope you like this submission, and are willing to share your view on it. Sorry people, Dirty Harry has just started, so am off to watch my favorite crazy detective. Logging off…

Kurt Wenner’s 3D Money Vault

Vurdlak — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:08:00 +0000

As the vault doors swings open, loads of cash fall out and money notes flutter through the air. Millions of pounds spilling out of a vault at London’s Waterloo Station stopped many commuters in their tracks. But (as you might have guessed) all was not quite as it seemed. Jay Kleinrichert pointed me to this new “Sidewalk Drawing” created by renowned American artist Kurt Wenner. We have already featured Kurt in one of or previous posts, and one of his murals is still used as thumbnail representing our illusion application for Facebook. Wenner is former illustrator for the U.S. space agency NASA, who began street painting in Rome in 1982 and translated anamorphism – the technique used by artists to create the illusion of height – into a new way of painting to give depth. The art form became known as anamorphic, illusionistic or simply 3D art, and has gained huge popularity around the world. The drawing Kurt created was commissioned by company called “Compare The Market” to represent the £16 million their customers have saved this year so far. The vault took Wenner four days to create. This picture has to be viewed in 3D to get the full effect…

Cartoonish Mural Painted Building

Vurdlak — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:37:00 +0000

If you wonder yourself how come I’ve posted Mural optical illusion two days in a row, the answer is more than simple. Yesterday’s post inspired me to refurbish Murals category, and to give it new shine. I have collected all the mural posts from this site’s archive, and arranged them to show little icon and description inside the previously mentioned category. Feel free to jump inside “Trompe L’Oeil” Murals section (French for “Fool the Eye“), and you’ll quickly understand what am I babbling here. Related to this announcement, I have added interesting black and white/color photo I found lying on my hard drive. The photo below was manipulated to look black and white, so that the mural jumps out, which helps spotting it more easily. I adore this kind of art, and wish there were similarly painted surfaces back here where I live. Still nothing here, but I’ll keep you informed if some artist shares my idea and starts painting buildings and sidewalks :)

Tree Mural

Vurdlak — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:35:00 +0000

I understand that the line that separates Murals (Trompe L’Oeil) and 3D Chalk Drawings is very thin, but horizontal/vertical rule is something that guides me on my quest, when deciding which category posts like this one belong to. More specifically, if the realistic drawing is painted on the flat horizontal surface, I usually go with 3D Sidewalk Drawings. If the painted surface (that hides optical illusion) is vertical, and makes you believe what you are seeing is more than a painting, I usually categorize that post under Murals. Well, the rule doesn’t apply every time, but it helps to know that Murals are usually the ones painted on sides of the buildings. So, now you probably learned that being in command behind this website isn’t very sophisticated and intellectual work after all! Now enjoy this awesome Mural below! Illusions with trees are always fun! Especially this one.

Painted Electric Boxes Illusion

Vurdlak — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:48:00 +0000

Optical Illusions in real life are great, specially if someone makes them interactive or even better – useful. Best example are those masked Cell-phone trees. Today’s post is similar in its nature. Would you believe me if I told you that these awesomely painted blocks below, are in fact electric boxes? You heard me right – those ugly looking piles of metal and concrete. Well, looks like someone had enough of them, and decided to decorate them a little, presenting us with free public exhibition. The first one pictures birds on a balcony fence. For the most part birds look somewhat real, except the last one. The second box is painted in a style of a giant fish tank. The third is of a book shelve with shadows. It looks quite real from a distance. The last one pictures a cute little cat chasing a butterfly through a window.

I’m going to add this illusion to our newly designed “3D Chalk Drawings” category. As I promised I started re-designing all other categories as well. For now, you can check “Afterimages” section, since it has been updated and completed. Enjoy!

Marvel Comics Superhero Mural Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:49:00 +0000

What you see below is the portrait of Marvel Comic’s superhero, The Thing. I believe he is one of the Fantastic Four. This has to be one of the best examples of trompe l’oeil I’ve ever seen. The mural was drawn by Justen Ladda in 1981, at PS 37 in the Bronx – New York. If you jump inside the article, you can see more examples of Justen’s work, along with “Side View” photos of The Thing and others to see how they were done. In my opinion this is truly awesome. I imagine a projector was used and the spots were filled in, which isn’t exactly easy, but probably easier than manually figuring out what paint goes where. Some guys, like the sidewalk chalk guy, seem to do it from scratch, which is definitely talented!