If you’re into striking artwork, why not explore 3D drawings? From trippy linework to realistic cast shadows, there’s lots of ways to create an optical illusion with art. To get you inspired, we’ve collected loads of pics from talented artists – find one that sparks your interest and put your own spin on the technique at home!
Mandarin drawing
Create a 3D effect by playing with the foreground and background of your artwork. By layering the mandarins and playing with perspective, this artist has created the illusion that the fruit is sitting on top of the paper.
Turkey drawing
Photographing your art at a certain angle can make it look more real – staging it even more so! Have a bit of fun and interact with your art as if it’s really there to sell the illusion. The light source also adds to this, as the highlights on your drawing should come from the same direction as the highlights on you!
Checkered drawing
Manipulate a pattern to trick the viewer’s eye! This artist has used red and blue tones (like in 3D glasses) to affect how we look at this drawing. The rippled squares in the middle almost appear to be caught in motion when contrasted with the clean squares around them. Clever!
Beetle drawing
Bring a critter to life on your paper by carefully adding cast shadows. Drawing the shadows at a certain distance and angle from the subject creates the illusion they’re sitting above the page. Notice where the legs bend how the shadows are distanced? This adds to the realism!
Watermelon drawing
Try cutting around your drawing to make it appear in front of the paper. By having the point of the watermelon poke out above the paper, it creates a foreground and background, enhancing the 3D illusion.
Realistic leaf drawing
Image: @personallypennedandpainted
Practice hyperrealism by keeping your reference next to your sketch. This will help you keep an eye on shadows, highlights, and light sources so you can replicate them as you draw. Plus, it can be a fun game to guess which one is the artwork at the end!
Twisted drawing
Play with line directions and distance to create a 3D effect. This talented artist manipulated perspective and dimension by layering some lines in front of others and changing their thickness to create depth. This technique can be applied to clothes when drawing figures to capture fabric wrinkles in movement.
Realistic fruit drawings
Practice realistic drawing by following along with our fruit art lesson. See up close how to draw cast shadows and make your fruit pop off the page. Go the extra step and cut out around the top of your drawings to enhance the illusion.
Ripple drawing
Create an out-of-focus effect by outlining your shapes in reds, blues, and yellows. This will make your artwork look as though it was photographed in motion but the lens didn’t focus properly, adding a blur to the piece. What pattern would you try this effect on?
If this collection of optical illusion sketches has inspired you, #montmarteart or tag us @montmarteart on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what you create! You may need some markers, watercolours, or coloured pencils to kick-start your artwork.
If you want to see more art, browse our Inspo collection. You can sign-up to Creative Connection by popping in your email down below to get stacks of free art projects sent straight to you. We’re here to keep you inspired!
