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HOW TO HAVE FUN CREATING MASTERPIECES OF DECEPTION
NATALIE SIRETT
Arcturus
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Arcturus
This edition published in 2010 by Arcturus Publishing Limited
26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street,
London SE1 3HA
Copyright © 2010 Arcturus Publishing Limited/Natalie Sirett
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without written permission in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any
unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The publisher has made every effort to research picture credits.
Any errors or inaccuracies should kindly be reported to the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-84837-455-3
AD001129EN
Printed in China
About the author
Natalie Sirett trained in Fine Art at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and went on to study painting and drawing at
The Royal Academy Schools, London. Selected solo exhibitions include Night Stories at Diorama Arts, London; Physical
Geography at the Alchemy Gallery, London, and The Deluge at Talisman Fine Art, London. Group shows include Spirit of
London at the Royal Festival Hall, London (prize-winner); several Summer Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London and
the National Portrait Awards at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Work as an illustrator includes the children's book
Would You Tread On A Quadruped?, a collaboration with Anthony Barnett. Sirett was a contributor to History: The
Definitive Visual Guide.
Picture credits
6 Rene Magritte The Treachery of Images, c. 1955 © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2010. Photo © Christie's Images/Corbis;
28-9 M.C. Escher Drawing Hands, 1948 © 2010 The M.C. Escher Company - Holland. All rights reserved, www.escher.com;
30 Rene Magritte The False Mirror {Le Faux Miroir), 1928. Oil on canvas, 2114 x 3VA inches (54 x 80.9 cm). The Museum of Modern
Art, New York, purchase. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2010. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Photo
Scala, Florence; 34 Don Stewart Hummingbird, 1996 © Don Stewart 2010. All rights reserved; Back cover top right and 38 Shigeo
Fukuda Poster, 1975 Thanks to Shizuko Fukuda for permission to reproduce this image; 40 Salvador Dali The Metamorphosis of
Narcissus, 1937 © Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation, DACS, London 2010. Photo © Tate Gallery, London 2010; 46 Rene
Magritte The Blank Signature (Le Blanc-Seing), 1965 © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2010. Photo © Phototheque R. Magritte -
ADAGP, Paris 2010 ; 54-5 M.C. Escher Bond of Union, 1956 © 2010 The M.C. Escher Company - Holland. All rights reserved.
www.escher.com; 66 Bridgeman Art Library; 69 M.C. Escher, Symmetry Drawing © 2010 The M.C. Escher Company - Holland. All
rights reserved, www.escher.com; 82-3 M.C. Escher Metamorphose III, 1967-8 © 2010 The M.C. Escher Company - Holland. All
rights reserved, www.escher.com; Front cover and 98-9 M.C. Escher Relativity, 1953 © 2010 The M.C. Escher Company - Holland.
All rights reserved, www.escher.com; 110 Antar Dayal, Dice © Antar Dayal/lllustration Works/Corbis; 112 Giorgio de Chirico
Melancholy and Mystery of a Street, 1914 © DACS 2010. Photo: Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Rome; Back cover top left
and 117 Scott Picunko, Figure with Large Shadow© Images.com/Corbis; 125 Giorgio de Chirico The Return of Ulysses, 1973 ©
DACS 2010. Photo © Bridgeman Art Library; 126 Bridgeman Art Library; 127 Selznick/United Artists/The Kobal Collection.
Contents
Introduction 6
Materials and Equipment 10
1 GAMES WITH REALISM
SECTION 14
2
GAMES WITH PERCEPTION
SECTION 34
3
GAMES WITH PATTERN
SECTION 56
4
GAMES WITH PERSPECTIVE
SECTION 84
5
GAMES WITH LIGHT AND SHADE
SECTION 102
6 GAMES WITH SUBJECT MATTER
SECTION 120
Index 128
Introduction
What are visual illusions?
By making any kind of visual image you are creating an illusion -
a false impression of reality. If you paint a bowl of fruit, it is not
an actual bowl of fruit. It is just paint on paper, but the paint is
arranged in such a way that you will find it hard not to have
both bowl and fruit-like thoughts. You see something, which
most definitely isn't there.
The Treachery of Images CCeci n’est pas une pipe’), Rene Magritte, c.1955
6 Introduction
In realistic art there is an unspoken contract between the artist
and the viewer, laying out the rules of a game. The viewer
agrees to be convinced by the artist's impression of reality.
The artist agrees to make his impressions as realistic and
convincing as possible.
In his series of paintings The Treachery of Images, the surrealist
artist Rene Magritte openly breaks that contract. By adding the
written warning 'this is not a pipe' underneath his painting of a
pipe, Magritte flags up the fact that we are seeing an illusion.
A visual illusion is an image that tricks the viewer, making them
think twice about what they are seeing.
Why make visual illusions?
I have always enjoyed art that plays games with how we see and
what we are seeing. For me, the great appeal of a work like
Magritte's (not) pipe is that it offers me a more complex viewing
experience. Once you have given up the pretence that the painting
of the apple really is an apple, all kinds of new possibilities arise.
Art that plays games with perception offers you as the artist the
opportunity to show something more than an illusion of reality.
You can make images that reflect dreams and imagination. You
can intrigue, amuse, mislead and unsettle your viewer, forcing
them to stop and question just what it is they are seeing.
In this book I will be examining a range of visual illusions that
can be made using artists' materials. Using both inspirational
examples by masters of illusion and step-by-step exercises, I will
break down and explain the options and techniques available.
The aim is to help you develop a range of new skills to use in
your own work. Making illusions is a playful business, so the
book is divided into a series of games:
Introduction 7
Games with Realism
Focusing on techniques for creating
credible, three-dimensional
illusions.
Games with Perception
Looking at composite and
dual-identity illusions.
Games with Pattern
Investigating a wide range of
patterning techniques to create
constantly changing images.
8 Introduction
