Awesome Illusions

Artist Nagai Hideyuki creates drawings which seemingly defy the laws of optics, bursting forth from his spiral notebooks to produce an impressively 3-dimensional appearance. Watch how he draws them over on YouTube.

Antonio Santin’s ongoing series Rugs is composed of hyperrealistic oil paintings. Antonio distorts the patterns and simulates shadows to make it appear like there’s a body hidden underneath each carpet.

For his latest visual trick, Brusspup shows off an illusion which makes it look like a bunch of balls are rotating around inside a circle, when in fact they’re each moving in a straight line. Original illusion by Arthur Shapiro and Alex Rose-Henig.

YouTuber Benjamin Dalsgaard Hughes shares this trippy painting in Windsor, England that reveals a different perspective depending on how you look at it. The trick is simpler than you think. We wonder if it works just as well in person.

We’re used to optical illusions, but sounds can play tricks on us too. The Pulse on WHYY demonstrates how we make sense of gibberish by providing our brains with context. Part of the Your Brain exhibit at Philly’s Franklin Institute.

A neat trick that makes clear objects dipped into liquid appear to have vanished. The secret – using glycerol or another clear, viscous liquid with the same refractive index as the outer glassware. Yeah, science!

To show off the impressive imaging quality of its Pixus printers, Canon created a series of optical illusion prints which blur the lines between reality and paper. They also printed a life-size Gundam. Wonder how much all that ink cost.

An Honest Liar is a biographical film about James Randi, the retired magician who made it his life’s mission to expose paranormal and occult claims. But it seems as if Randi himself may have perpetrated a grand hoax.

Artist Takeshi Murata created this mind-bending illusion which appears to be a molten sphere of metal that is constantly flowing. The effect is based on a zoetrope, using strobe lights and synchronized still images. Read more here.

Another neat stop-motion video from chalk artist Chris Carlson. Watch as the classic mobile game Snake comes alive. Can you believe we only had this and Space Impact before, and now we have freakin’ XCOM on our phones?

Illusionist Darcy Oake joined this year’s Britain’s Got Talent to showcase his award-winning skills. Watch him make doves appear out of thin air. And then some. We wonder what’s in his right jacket pocket. Skip to 1:22.

Like Zach King, Thai comedian Bie The Ska loves to share short clips of illusions that involve visual effects and camera tricks. The difference is that Bie is insanely pleased with himself. WHOOOOAAAAA

Juggler Lindzee Poi uses four rings to create optical illusions. Matching his movements with the song Comptine d’un Autre Été from the Amelie soundtrack, Lindzee made it seem like the rings were suspended in midair.

Swedish magician Charlie Caper promotes his country’s capital through card tricks. Stockholm – the fastest growing source of clean water for all kinds of Internet-connected couples. Also 5,6,7,8 and 9 are not coincidences.

The guys from the quirky Tumba Ping Pong Show mess with our heads yet again, with another brain-twisting clip that you’ll need to play over and over again to figure out. Hint: It’s done with mirrors. We think.

Richard Wiseman shows us a simple trick that makes it seem like you can make objects appear out of nowhere. Like many magic tricks, the key here isn’t obscuring what you see, but playing with what you think you’re seeing.