The Illusion of Confusion

by greeenpro in Workshop > Science

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The Illusion of Confusion

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Illusions can be downright freaky at times. Here's a tutorial on a baffling perspective illusion! This drawing is hard to believe until the proof is shown.

There is no way that the 2 thick, black lines are the same height, right? Let's look a little further into it and see.

Here's a video that showcases and explains the full effect of the illusion:

Materials

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You will need:

1) A piece of 8.5 x 11 paper(cut to 8.5" x 8.5")
2) Ruler
3) Pen
4) Two crayons or colored pencils(preferably orange and yellow)

Beginning the Drawing

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-Cut your paper to size (8.5" x 8.5")

-Draw a 3" vertical line 1" in from the left side of the paper, with the bottom of the line starting 2.75" up from the bottom of the paper. Make the line very bold.

-Draw an identical 3" vertical line 6" in from the left side of the paper, with the bottom of the line starting 2.75" up from the bottom of the paper. Make this line very bold as well.

As you can see from the photo, it looks almost impossible for these two aforementioned lines to be the same height!

Finishing the Drawing

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-Use the photo below as a guide for drawing the rest of the picture.
This picture is worth a thousand words, and is a drawing that you can look at and duplicate yourself.

-Color the drawing as shown with crayons or colored pencils. The coloring helps to "sell" the illusion more than just a black and white version.

-The "grid" effect shown on the walls provides for a sense and feeling of depth in the drawing. This also "sells" the illusion well!

Proving the Illusion

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I recommend that you have a ruler or other measuring device handy when showing this to others. They probably won't believe you until you show them the actual measurements of the two lines in question. The back of a business card, for instance, works great as shown! :)