When you hit a creative roadblock, pushing through can sometimes feel impossible. But rather than throwing in the towel, you help get yourself back in the flow just by doing some simple brain boosting activities.
One of the best things you can do enhance your creativity is to look for inspiration. By staying curious, exploring your interests, and taking what you’ve learned or discovered to brainstorm new ideas, you can open your mind back up to your desired level of creative expression once again.
To help get it flowing, you can try finding inspiration from something like anamorphic art — a form of artwork that makes a piece appear distorted, until you view it through a certain device or from a certain fixed perspective point. A piece’s reflection in a mirror, for example, will reveal its true appearance. Another piece may not look like anything at all until you view it from a top-right angle, where it all comes together.
Here are 30 impressive pieces of anamorphic artworks that will blow you away!
1. This image of a column reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
On paper, it’s hard to tell what this piece of art is supposed to be. In its reflection on the cylinder, you can see that it is, in fact, a vertical column structure. Credit: István Orosz
2. “La vache qui rit” reflected onto a cone-shaped mirror.
You really have to watch this video to see how awesome this is. The completed image you see in the middle is actually a a bird’s eye view of a cone-shaped mirror with its point facing up. The cone mirror uses the reflection of the distorted image around it to display it correctly. Credit: fdecomite
3. This foot reflected onto a cylinder to complete the body of a person in another piece of art.
Here, you’ll see one very large image of what turns out to be a foot in its reflection. It fits almost perfectly with the lower body of the person in the other piece. Credit: Imgur
4. This painting of a sunflower on the ground.
This painting by Julian Beever shows a sunflower and a structure beside it looking like they’re popping right out of the ground when viewed from a certain angle. Credit: Jorge Jaramillo
5. This world map reflected onto a coffee cup.
Here’s a perfect looking map of the world with all its continents can be viewed in the reflection of the mirror surface of this mug. Credit: fdecomite
6. This cartoon character hanging off the edge of a piece of paper.
A slightly folded piece of paper uses both sides to make this cartoon character look 3D, as if you’re looking down on him from a top view perspective point. Credit: HuskMitNavn
7. This sculpture that appears to be a hand in the reflection of a cylindrical mirror.
If you thought paintings and sketches looked cool when they were reflected in a mirror, you’ve got to check out some sculptures that create the same effect. The actual sculpture in this photo barely resembles any recognizable object at all, but in its reflection, it all comes together to reveal itself as a human hand. Credit: Jonty Hurwitz
8. This detailed cartoon drawing reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
For a lot of people, drawing a regular image is hard enough. Just imagine having to draw something as distorted as this to get its reflection looking just right. Credit: Myrna Hoffman
9. This sketch of a seashore, which reveals a hidden portrait in the reflection of a cylindrical mirror.
It doesn’t really get much more advanced than this. This is one of István Orosz’s finest works, featuring a detailed sketch of a seashore with a sail and two men. When you place a cylindrical mirror over the sun, its reflection reveals a portrait of Jules Verne. Credit: István Orosz
10. This sculpture that reveals its true form as a frog in the reflection of a cylindrical mirror.
Here’s another crazy looking sculpture for you. What looks like just a big, long mess of an object is actually a frog. Credit: Jonty Hurwitz
11. This portrait of Edgar Allan Poe reflected in a cylindrical mirror from a sketch.
If you were impressed by #9, which I’m sure you were, then you’ll find this one pretty incredible too. Here, in another one of Orosz’s sketches, an incredibly accurate portrait of author and poet Edgar Allan Poe appears when you place a cylindrical mirror in the center. Credit: István Orosz
12. This sculpture of a person’s face seen only from a certain angle.
Unless you’re standing in just the right place, these hanging sculptural pieces look like nothing. But when you find the right perspective point to view it from, all the hanging pieces come together to form a face. Credit: Jonty Hurwitz
13. This portrait of Mother Teresa revealed in the reflection of a cylindrical mirror.
This is one piece of anamorphic art that is virtually indistinguishable just by looking at the painting itself. You’d never know it was Mother Teresa unless you saw it properly reflected. Credit: Awtar Singh Virdi
14. This street sketch of an alien raking leaves underneath the sidewalk.
It’s hard to tell which leaves are real and which have been drawn with chalk in this street art example. The little green alien really does look like he’s holding up the edge of the sidewalk! Credit: David Zinn
15. This portrait of a girl reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
In this piece, it’s not terribly difficult to recognize the image of a girl in the flat painting itself — although it looks incredibly warped. On the cylinder, the proportions of the girl look much more appropriate. Credit: Vera Bugatti
16. This sketch of clawed fingers jumping out of the paper.
It’s hard to believe that this is a sketch at all. The position of the paper, the cutout pinky figer, and the hand behind the paper make everything look so 3D. Credit: Alessandro Diddi
17. This drawing of an outdoor setting reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
According to the publisher of this piece by artist William Kentridge, the image was projected onto a table and spun around in circles in a dark room. The table itself looked like it was spinning while the image appeared to fly out from the cylinder. Credit: Nathan Branch
18. This drawing of a clothing iron that appears to be ironing out the sheet of paper it’s been drawn on.
Here’s a simpler example of anamorphic art — a basic black and white drawing of an iron and one side of the paper crumpled up, creating the illusion that the iron is flattening out the paper. Credit: HuskMitNaven
19. This beautiful painting of a flower garden reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
Every detail of each flower petal can be clearly seen in the reflection of the cylinder placed in the center of this painting. Credit: Lori Fossum
20. This human finger reflected in a cylindrical mirror from an enormous sketch.
It’s pretty incredible to see just how distorted an artist can make his painting look on paper for it to look perfectly normal in its reflection, from a certain distance with a cylinder of such a specific diameter. Credit: István Orosz
21. This floor painting that seems to reveal a harbor directly beneath it.
In this piece, the artist did an incredible job with painting broken chunks, edges, and cracks from the floor itself to make it look real. A docked ship in a harbor with cargo can be seen through the hole in the floor. Credit: Manfred Stader
22. This street drawing of a creature that appears to be eating an outdoor stone bench.
Now this is pretty amazing. The grass and leaves drawn on the bench blends perfectly with the actual ground behind it. Credit: David Zinn
23. This sketch of a nude woman reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
From the same artist who created the Mother Teresa piece, this one features an incredibly detailed nude woman that appears so distorted on paper, you’d never be able to identify it without seeing it from the perspective of the cylinder’s reflection. Credit: Awtar Singh Virdi
24. This portrait of Medusa reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
Printed on encylopedia text, a lithograph using the chine colle technique can be seen to portray Medusa. The reflection on the cylinder reveal the true persepctive of the artwork. Credit: rocor
25. This sketch of a wooden cube frame hanging from a rope.
Here’s another fantastic piece from the same artist who drew the clawed fingers. With two sides of paper positioned at a right angle along with a small section of a corner cutout, this sketch of a cube frame looks as if you could reach out and grab it. Credit: Alessandro Diddi
26. This painting of a human eye drawn section by section on a railing.
Here’s something a little different. You can find railings all over urban places, but rarely do you see such a gorgeous piece of artwork come together and pop out when you look at one from a certain spot. Credit: Zebrating
27. This sketch of a tree reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
On paper, this work of art only looks like a whole lot of lines and squiggles. But in the cylinder, a tree appears with a couple of birds flying above it. Credit: 9gag
28. This man’s face reflected onto a cylindrical mirror.
The detail that went into this piece makes it look like a real photo of a man’s face. Of course, it only looks that way in its reflection. Credit: István Orosz
29. This drawing of Charlie Brown and his round head created by rounding the sheet of paper he was drawn on.
If you know the popular cartoon character Charlie Brown, then you’ll recognize him here. The roundness of his head is created by curling the sheet of paper. Credit: HuskMitNaven
30. This work of street art creating the illusion of a massive sinkhole.
Standing right at the bottom of this piece of street art makes it look like the road has caved in, revealing a waterfall and a deep pool of water beneath it. Credit: Kurt Wenner
