Optical Illusions - Eye Tricks

Optical Illusionist is a blog and gallery site dedicated to providing a stunning selection of mind boggling optical illusions, eye tricks, mind puzzles and other teasers. You can find everything here from impossible objects to anamorphic street art and everything in between.

Can you see through all the optical illusions on this site ? Try referring a friend here and see how they get on, not all the illusions are as easy to crack as they appear.

Please also leave us your thoughts on each of the illusions we feature and check back often for updates, new illusions will be added on a regular basis so keep us bookmarked.

Browse updates: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Category: 3D Illusions
Square and Cross Room
Added on July 2, 2009 | 0 comments
What you are looking at here is not Photoshopped and neither is it the result of a sheet of clear material that's been painted. The lines are painted on the walls in such a way so as to create the appearance of a perfect square with a cross through the middle when viewed from one specific point in the room.

Category: Afterimages
Color Dove Illusion
Added on June 21, 2009 | 1 comment
In this illusion try staring at the dot at the center of the dove. When you move your eyes away you should see the afterimage of a red dove on a white background.

Category: Shape and Color
Fraser Spiral Illusion
Added on June 19, 2009 | 2 comments
Developed by psychologist James Fraser in 1908, the Fraser Illusion appears to be a spiral pattern converging in the distant center with a black, white and grey chequered background. In reality the spirals are not really spirals at all but a series of concentric circles, the background gives the illusion that the circles are spiralled.

Category: 3D Illusions
Bjorn Borg Hollow Face
Added on June 17, 2009 | 0 comments
This picture of Bjorn Borg created and used in experiments at Uppsala University in Sweden appears to be convex in that it is raised outwards from the frame towards you. In reality the image is actually concave, it is pushed inwards away from you. This type of illusion is known as the 'hollow-face illusion'.

Category: Moving Images
Pulsing Vortex
Added on June 15, 2009 | 2 comments
Here's another illusion that seems to move, the image is completely stationary however when you look at it there appears to be a pulsing effect. Its a bit like a large booming speaker, imagine some loud, low notes being blasted out at you from the screen.

Category: Double Meanings
Towels Dog
Added on June 13, 2009 | 4 comments
Here's a picture of a pile of towels being used as a pillow by another pile of towels.. or is it a dog ? This cute little bundle of folds is actually a shar-pei puppy, he looks so much like the towel that you could almost mistaken him for one. Just don't put him in the washing machine by accident.

Category: 3D Illusions
Bottomless Elevator
Added on June 11, 2009 | 2 comments
Here's a trick to play on someone, take one elevator and paint the bottom of it with an anamorphic illusion to make it look as though it has no floor. This fellow doesn't want to stand on it and I don't blame him, the 'hole' looks so real its hard to tell that its only an illusion. Would you stand on there ?

Category: Shadows and Mirrors
Shadow Street
Added on June 9, 2009 | 0 comments
This one is quite confusing, what part of this picture consists of shadows and which of solid figures ? If you aren't sure, try looking at it upside-down.

Category: Shadows and Mirrors
Lunch With A Helmet On
Added on June 9, 2009 | 2 comments
Another illusion from Shigeo Fukuda, in this one he's welded together 848 knives, forks and spoons to produce an object the shadow cast from which forms the perfect shape of a motorcycle on the ground.

Category: Shadows and Mirrors
Shadow Couple
Added on June 9, 2009 | 1 comment
This piece of art by Shigeo Fukuda is little more than a pile of garbage but amazingly the shadow cast on the back wall from the trash shows the image of a couple relaxing with a cigarette and glass of wine.