Illustrative Illusion

Yesterday we looked at the depth achieved through applying unique polymer techniques that allow for a smooth surface to look like it has variations in the depth of that surface. But this can also be done with some good standard methods of optical illusion as well.

MaryKot created this pendant for a challenge using grays on the Parole De Pate blog. When you first glance at the piece you might think there are over a half dozen round elements sunk into the surface. Then like me (and I don’t have the best vision), you might have thought all the circles were just caned illusions. Then you realize some are sunk, and some are just color change. Or value change to be precise. It’s the change in value that gives the illusion of depth. In this case, it’s also well placed, as the darker value in the flower is toward the thicker center, where a cut out in the clay surface would look darker, and it gets lighter towards the edge, which is just about right, although it would get kind of Escher-esque if the black inset circles were more apparent. But the change in value and the nicely balanced design makes this a good example of a illustrative optical illusion.

Go back to our own week on the study of gray starting early in October for more on the use of value and illusion. You can see more MaryKot on her Flickr pages and her blog.

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