How to Draw Optical Illusions (Easy Tutorials)
Want to learn how to draw an optical illusion? Start by fooling yourself. Each card below shows a classic illusion: guess what's going on, reveal the answer, and get simple drawing steps. It's easy optical illusion art with a ruler and a pencil, and every trick here makes a cool optical illusion drawing you can redo at home.
Easy optical illusion drawings to start with
Classics like the Muller-Lyer arrows and the Ebbinghaus circles need nothing but a ruler, a pencil, and a couple of minutes. Guess the trick first, then steal the technique for your own page.
How to draw optical illusions step by step
Most of the illusion cards end with short drawing steps. Solve the puzzle, read how the effect is built, and you have a piece of optical illusion art you can redraw at home or in class.
Optical illusion trivia and quick quizzes
Mixed into the list are multiple choice questions, true or false checks, and type-in stumpers about famous tricks like the Penrose triangle and the vase-or-faces picture.
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1. The simultaneous contrast illusion. Two small squares sit on different backgrounds. Which small square is a lighter shade of gray?
Show answer
Neither. Both gray squares are exactly the same shade. To draw it: pick one gray, then place a copy on a dark panel and another on a light panel. Your eye reads each square against its neighbor, so the gray on black looks brighter than the identical gray on white.
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2. The Shepard tabletop illusion. Two tabletops are drawn as parallelograms. One looks long and narrow, the other short and wide. Are the two tabletop shapes actually the same?
Show answer
Yes. The two parallelograms are identical, just rotated. To draw it: make one parallelogram, copy it, and turn the copy about ninety degrees. Your brain reads each shape as a real table seen in depth, so the one pointing away from you looks stretched even though the flat shapes match.
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3. The Ponzo illusion. Two bars sit between converging rails. Which bar is longer?
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Neither. Both bars are the same length. Draw two lines converging like train tracks, then place two equal bars across them. The top bar seems farther away, so your brain scales it up. An easy optical illusion art trick that works every time.
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4. The Wundt illusion. Two bold vertical lines cross a fan of slanted lines that meet in the middle. Are the two bold lines straight, or do they bow inward?
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They are perfectly straight and parallel. To draw it: rule two straight vertical lines, then add a fan of lines behind them that all point to the center. The converging fan tricks your eye into seeing the straight lines pinch inward where the fan is densest.
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5. The Necker cube. Which face of this cube is the front?
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Either one. The cube flips as you stare at it. Draw a square, draw a second square overlapping it up and to the right, then connect the matching corners. With no shading, your brain can't decide which face is closer, so it keeps switching.
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6. The Kanizsa triangle. How many triangles are actually drawn on this picture?
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None. There are only three pac-man shapes, yet you see a triangle floating between them. Draw three circles at the corners of an imaginary triangle, then cut a wedge out of each one pointing inward. Your brain fills in the missing edges and invents a triangle that was never drawn.
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7. The Hermann grid. Stare at the white crossings between the squares. What appears?
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Ghostly gray dots flicker at the intersections, then vanish when you look straight at them. Draw a grid of dark squares with even gaps. The cells in your retina that handle contrast get confused at the crossings and report dots that don't exist.
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8. The cafe wall illusion. Are the horizontal lines between the rows parallel?
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Yes, perfectly parallel, even though they look like they slope. Draw rows of dark tiles, shift every other row half a tile sideways, and separate the rows with thin lines. The offset tricks the edge detectors in your eyes into seeing wedges.
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9. The Hering illusion. Are the two vertical lines straight or bowed?
Show answer
Perfectly straight. The radiating background makes them look like they bow outward. Draw a burst of lines from one center point, then rule two straight vertical lines across it. The fan of lines fakes depth and bends the verticals in your mind. A very cool optical illusion drawing for beginners.
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10. The Zollner illusion. Are the three long horizontal lines parallel?
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Yes. The short diagonal hatches make them seem to tilt toward each other. Rule long parallel lines, then cross each with short hatch marks, flipping the hatch direction on each neighbor. The angles contaminate your sense of the main lines.
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11. The Poggendorff illusion. A diagonal line ducks behind the bar. Which line continues it, A or B?
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A. It looks too low, but lay a ruler on it and the alignment is perfect. Draw a wide bar, run a diagonal into one side, then continue it out the other side on the exact same line. Add a decoy exit slightly higher. Almost everyone picks the decoy.
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12. The Jastrow illusion. Two curved rail pieces. Which one is bigger?
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They're the exact same shape. The lower one only looks bigger. Trace one banana-shaped arc twice, then stack the copies with a slight offset. The short top edge of one sits next to the long bottom edge of the other, so your brain misjudges the sizes.
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13. The Delboeuf illusion. Which solid inner circle is bigger?
Show answer
Neither. Both dots are identical. Draw two equal dots, then ring one with a big loose circle and the other with a snug one. The tight ring makes its dot look bigger. Restaurants use this trick with plate sizes.
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14. Schroeder's staircase. Are these stairs seen from above, or from underneath?
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Both. Stare at it and the staircase flips between a top view and an underside view. Draw a zigzag of steps between two parallel diagonals. Without shading there's no clue about which surface faces up, so your brain alternates between the two readings.
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15. The classic reversible picture. Do you see a vase, or two faces about to argue?
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Both are correct. The vase and the two profiles share the same outline. Draw one wavy face profile with a forehead, nose, and chin, then mirror it. Close the top and bottom and the empty space between the faces becomes a vase. Figure and background swap places.
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16. Is this page bulging out at you, or sinking into a hole?
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It's completely flat. The shifted circles fake a 3D tunnel. Draw a big circle, then draw each smaller circle slightly lower than the last. The drifting centers read as depth, and the flat page turns into a hole. One of the easiest 3D drawing tricks there is.
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17. The 3D ribbon trick. Why does the strip in the middle look rounded?
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Because every straight line arches up as it crosses the strip, your brain reads the strip as a raised tube. Rule a set of straight horizontal lines, mark a strip with two faint verticals, and bend each line into a gentle bump inside the strip. This is how the famous 3D hand drawing works too: trace your hand, then bump every line inside the outline.
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18. One of these three shapes is a perfect circle. Is it A, B, or C?
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B. A is a wide oval and C is a tall oval. Your eyes are surprisingly bad at spotting a true circle next to near-circles. Artists check by turning the page upside down, which resets your judgment.
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19. You want to learn how to draw an optical illusion for the first time. Which one should you start with?
The ribbon trick needs only a ruler and a steady hand: straight lines everywhere, small bumps in the middle. It teaches the core idea that bent lines read as depth.
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20. In the Muller-Lyer illusion, what actually changes how long each line looks?
Outward fins stretch the line in your mind and inward fins squeeze it. Flip the fins and the same line changes apparent length.
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21. What makes anamorphic street art look like a real 3D hole in the pavement?
The drawing is heavily distorted. From one exact camera angle the distortion cancels out and the scene snaps into 3D.
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22. Which pencil technique does the most to make a flat drawing look 3D?
Light and shadow are the strongest depth cues you can draw. A consistent light source plus a soft cast shadow lifts a shape right off the page.
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23. Why do the tiles in the cafe wall illusion look slanted?
Every line in it is perfectly straight and level. The half-tile offset between rows creates false wedge signals in your visual system.
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24. You're drawing the impossible triangle and it isn't working. What's the most likely fix?
The whole trick is in the corners. Each beam must pass in front of one neighbor and behind the other, which is impossible in real 3D but easy on paper.
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25. Optical illusions happen in your eyes, not in your brain.
Most illusions are created by the brain's shortcuts for judging depth, size, and edges. Your eyes report the scene fine; the interpretation goes sideways.
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26. The Penrose triangle can be built as a solid object that looks impossible from every angle.
Real sculptures of it only work from one exact viewpoint. Step to the side and you see the gap or twist that makes it possible.
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27. Adding a small shadow under a drawn object makes it look like it floats above the paper.
A cast shadow separated from the object is a powerful depth cue. Artists use it to make doodles hover.
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28. Street art drawn stretched on pavement so it looks 3D from one exact spot is called ___ art.
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Anamorphic
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29. The famous impossible triangle is named after the mathematician family that popularized it in the 1950s. What's the name?
Show answer
Penrose
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30. In the vase-or-faces picture, the shape you notice is the figure. What do artists call everything behind it, the part your brain ignores?
Show answer
The background
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FAQ about How to Draw Optical Illusions (Easy Tutorials)
Do I need art skills to draw these optical illusions?
No. Most of the classics here are built from straight lines and simple circles, so a ruler and a pencil cover nearly everything. The drawing tips explain the one trick that makes each illusion work.
How do the puzzles on this page work?
There are 30 cards. Look at each illusion, guess what your eyes are getting wrong, then tap to reveal the answer and the method behind it. A few multiple choice and type-in questions test what you remember along the way.
Are these optical illusion drawings good for kids?
Yes, the whole page is family friendly. Kids around eight and up can copy the simpler line illusions, and the short explanation of why each trick fools the brain makes a nice mini science lesson.
Once your sketchbook is full, put your eyes to the test in our Mind-Bending Optical Illusion Gallery, or trade drawing for decoding with Rebus Puzzles for Kids.