Deep in the forest, where heavy feet sink,
you mightn’t be quite as alone as you think!

Here are some notes about Tom French:

His works are predominantly figurative. He carefully combines detailed photorealism with strong elements of abstraction and surrealism, focusing on the reflection of the conscious and subconscious mind. French’s work often treads the fine line between the beautiful and unsettling, combining technically tight, classical charcoal drawings with carefree, loose and ostensibly unfinished abstract forms. By fusing the technical with lively abstraction French brings life and movement to his compositions. His work seamlessly merges the use of academic tradition with contemporary urban realism.

As for this first top ten list, I thought tattoos would make a great topic -after all, you have to really love an illusion to get one tattooed on you. This first tattoo is my personal favorite because it’s such a classic illusion subject -multiple meaning one. These work really well as arm  tattoos because you never know if someone will view it while your arm is raised or not, making it the ideal location for such a piece. This specific design was done by David Page. On the left, you have a queen, but when you flip her upside down, you have a king.

Next, the skull illusion tattoo involves one of my favorite types of illusions. What’s so great about skull illusions?  Let’s face it, they’re just so cool! It’s also a great idea for a tattoo since skulls are one of the most classic tattoo designs, but this interpretation brings the concept from cliche to chic.

Here’s another excellent skull illusion tattoo, this one involving two clowns holding hands while drinking. The tattoo, by Kate Hoogland, just might contain the most romantic skull illusion I have ever seen.

On the right, we have a brilliant rendition of M.C. Escher’s Drawing Hands illusion. The piece, done by Cheryl Volling, has some absolutely stunning shading, giving it the life-like appearance of the original Escher drawing.

This ambigram tattoo is great in that it incorporates some of the most important aspects of philosophy into an ambigram. It’s also particularly nice in that it is easy to read and doesn’t look strange from either direction, which is one of the hardest aspects in making an ambigram.

This saint/sinner ambigram is also easy to read, but rather than focusing on the arts and sciences, it focuses on religion. I think it really seems to denote the true duality of man.

Here’s another cool religious optical illusion, albeit in a a totally different style. If you don’t see the illusion, just back up a few more inches and then you’ll see that the image comes together to make the face and beard of Jesus.

On the right is another Escher tattoo, this one is on Flickr user’s alan.maia profile and features fish transforming into birds (and vice-versa) artwork. Maybe it’s just me, but I really love how worried that last fish in the tattoo looks.

We’ve featured a few of Del-Prete’s illusions before, but this impossible object tattooed on Flickr user bonstance and seen in the book Masters of Deception is still new.

Here’s a great tattoo with a double meaning. Is it a face or a cartoonish man playing saxophone?

Bonus: While it’s little anamorphic, this one might not technically be an illusion. Even so, the details are amazing enough to make it looks completely realistic.

Now, before I sign off, I thought I’d ask you guys about your own tattoos. After all, if you’re a regular reader of Moillusions.com, you just might be the type of person who’s willing to get an illusion tattoo. So, do any of you have illusion tattoos? And if you do, do you have any links to the pictures online? I know I’m not the only one who’d love to see them.

Also, I’m a big fan of giving credit where it’s due, so if you know who did any of the tattoos that aren’t labeled, please leave their names in the comments. Thanks guys!

Anamorphic art requires the viewer look at the piece from a specific viewpoint or using a special tool in order to actually see the artwork in its proper display form. By the end of his career, Dali was a master of this skill, creating paintings like the one above that required cylindrical mirrors to see the work in its true form, and by painting spectroscopic images that required 3D glasses to take in the full effect.

His most famous work of this type is the Mae West Room in his Theater Museum that was based on his famous painting, The Face Of Mae West. As you can see in the pictures below, the stage appears to be nothing more special than a lip-shaped sofa with a strange fire place and two paintings. When you step up to the viewing platform and look through the lens though, everything comes together into a bizarre portrait of the legendary actress.

The first two photos are my own, but the final image is courtesy of Flickr user asirap.

Anyway, not to distract you from our newest illusion, let’s see what Wyatt Crouse sent in the other day. What you see on your right is the cover of Ray Bradbury’s  book The Halloween Tree. If you have trouble seeing the illusion, try squinting your eyes!

And for the illusion… well, you’ll quickly realize it yourself! It’s definitely not what you first thought. I’ve received this one from Julie, who said she was a little scared when she first saw this, but made her all warm and happy when she understood the illusion. Can you see why is that?

But the problem that buggs me the most, is how the hell the code got auto-injected in the first place??!! If you are an expert in the field of security/wordpress/databases/php please send me an email vurdlak AT gmail.com if you have spare minutes to help. Will keep you updated…

I almost forgot there was a Skull category on this site (strange things happening with my memory lately). Year ago I promised we had enough of these, but I think its about time we ditch that decision.

Check out the “Earthrise” photo on your right. The original was taken on the Moon surface, and shows two astronauts with Earth in their back. But check again! Is there something disturbing about it? Do you see a skull of some sort? It can’t be human! What is it then? If you had an opportunity to see this illusion through one of our widgets first (Optical Illusion of The Day), you probably have seen the illusion instantaneously!

Check the animation below, or simply click this image

Here’s an interesting approach to original Lilac Chaser illusion, invented many years ago… Wait for the animation to load, and concentrate on the center dot for a minute or so. Normally the skulls are disappearing in a clock-wise direction, but if you manage to stay still and concentrated, you will experience an afterimage of the rotating skull in places (where there shouldn’t be any). Hope you understood all this babling.

Originally I got this optical illusion from here, and have to admit: I was forced to crop the above and below embedded letters. Sorry dear fellow webmaster, hope you don’t take it against me – it’s just that the letters were too big and spammy for the illusion to be useful anywhere elsewhere than on its original website.