Strainer… well, there’s another english word I learned today. Concerning illusion motives – it’s also the first. Are you able to pinpoint the illusion in this miniature “art installation” project? It certainly isn’t that hard to see, but when you do you’ll be amazed how detailed the result really is! I’d like to thank Bernard for showing me this, but I’d appreciate even more if we could once again locate the original source. Enjoy!

Art Installation, Spot The Object, Face, Illusion, Photo, Shadow, Strainer

(53 votes)

Props go to Marcus for discovering and sharing this wonderful 3d pencil drawing created by reddit user fnord-prefect. Totally realistic if you ask me, it almost lures you to try and look under the table to see the rest of the greek columns bursting out from the paper grid. I totally love this one. How about you?

3D Chalk Drawings, 3d, Column, Drawing, Greek, Grid, Paper, Pencil

(72 votes)

I’m really not sure what to make of these three photos below, but I know for certain it would be a hell lot easier if we knew who’s the artist behind them, and what his/her motivation was. Perhaps they were used in some sort of an ad campaign? Maybe for an art installation instead? Anyway, they greatly remind me of a Body-painted motorcycle and crashed car, both of which were recently featured on this site. We have to admit that huge amount of dedication and precision went into this ”Heads in Hands” project. The results are interesting, to say the least. Would you agree? Which one is your favourite? If you have more info, please do share…

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Art Installation, Billboards, Art, Hand, Head, Illusion

(44 votes)

Sometimes when I’m forced to repeat myself (as it happens there is only a limited number of illusory effects and patterns out there), at least I try to wait before I find the next best thing. As our “Seemingly Animated” category is among the most popular ones, it wasn’t easy to find an illusion that could match or even beat our previous champ. Yet I think I have managed to do this with today’s “Anomalous Motion” illusion. What do you think of it? Credit goes to G. Sarcone, the author who created this.

Animations, Buda, Dot, G. Sarcone, Illusion, Motion, Move, Pattern

(46 votes)

George recently shared this magnificent photo on our Facebook channel, where it was voted (by vast majority of our fans) as next featured illusion for our beloved website :D I wasn’t keen on it at first, but it seems that the eyeball in this guy’s sink is one of the best optical illusions our audience has seen in ages. The best things sometimes happen upon us unintentionally, and this is exactly what happened to Liammm when he decided that water circling the drain of his sink would make for a nice photographic subject. Some of our fans even suggested that the illusion is more pronounced when you’re looking at it’s thumbnail, via one of our widgets. Effect in place is called Pareidolia, just FYI.

Out of boredom, I tried to take a photo of my sink draining. I got a photo of an eye shaped whirlpool instead.” – Liammm

Multiple Meanings, Eye, Illusion, Pareidolia, Photo, Sink

(48 votes)

I’m perfectly aware most of you would love to see entertaining and quality stuff posted more often. I keep struggling to maintain quality, which would be hard to accomplish if I’d concentrate solely on quantity. In plain words, it would be much easier for me to post repetitive stuff as well as some lower quality illusions to maintain regularity, but from my experience following the easier route rarely brings better results. New and refreshing stuff is hard to find whole by myself. This is where I also depend on your quality content submissions and discoveries. So don’t be a stranger! There’s a submit link right below in the footer, where it always stood. Oh, and don’t worry – I’m still fully dedicated to this blog and my dearest community! Here’s an illusion I found most appropriate for today’s post :D

Multiple Meanings, Apple, Illusion, Love, Profile, Tasty

(36 votes)

Watch this circle jump to life as soon as you tilt your head, and move your eyes across the image. Does the circular middle section appear to separate from the rest of the figure? Does it appear to be at a different depth or even move? So what is going on around here? Well, Ouchi Illusion is not well understood. In one interpretation the vertical lines can be perceived as being on the same depth plane as the horizontal ones – a strictly two-dimensional image. Your visual sytem can interpret this image as 3D, where the vertical lines lie on a different depth plane than the horizontal ones. The circular contour therefore acts as an aperture. If the two differently orientated bars are perceived as being on different depth planes, then eye movements can cause induced motion. Thanks goes to Brian for discovering and submitting this optical illusion by prof. Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

Animations, Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Circle, Illusion, Move, Round

(32 votes)

Apart from seeing the missing sections of these 4 dark disks as the sides of the square (some will even perceive the square as brighter than its surroundings), as well as perceiving the vague contour lines of a square that doesn’t actually exist, this picture holds another great optical illusion. When the brain sees an image like this, it interprets depth relationships to perceive the square as set on top of black disks – as a result, the inside of the square is perceived as being closer to your eyes than its surroundings, ultimately creating visual illusion that makes you think the area within the square is enlarged! How about that? This non-existent square becomes a magnifier magnifying the text behind it. This specially works for spacings above and below each word inside the rect. See it? More similar interactive examples can be found in this Mind Lab presentation. Enjoy!

Relative Sizes, Illusion, Magnifying Glass, Text

(47 votes)