89 of the World's Most Mind-Bending 3D Chalk Drawings

With a background in cognitive psychology, I can’t help but find illusions and other perceptual tricks utterly fascinating. As our modes of sensory input are streamlined for efficiency, this leaves a significant and somewhat shocking margin for error.

Combine that knowledge with the world of art, and you’ve got the increasingly popular trend of forced perspective “anamorphic” street drawings (wherein the image and three-dimensional illusion are only properly visible while viewing the piece from a particular location).

Here are 89 of the world’s most mind-bending 3D chalk drawings, from five key artists in the scene.

Julian Beever

Born in 1959, this British artist studied art at Leeds Met. University. He began “anamorphic pavement illustrations” in the early ‘90s as a busker.

Premodernist and Postmodernist

About to Meet Mr. Newt

Politicians Meeting Their End

Festivals

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Galleries

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Travel

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Ballantine’s

Little and Large

Times Square in Times Square

Taking the Plunge

Galleries

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Travel

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Batman and Robin

That Hemmed-in Feeling...

Beneath Every Carpark...

Christmas Eve in Santa’s Workshop

Travel

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Yorkshire Water

Wheel of Fortune

Babyfood

Babyfood (wrong view)

Swimming Pool in the High Street

Swimming Pool in the High Street (wrong view)

Make Poverty History

Make Poverty History (wrong view)

The Great Green Grasshopper

The Great Green Grasshopper (wrong view)

Snail (Back off, Creep...)

Snail (Back off, Creep...) (wrong view)

Edgar Mueller

This German artist was born in 1968, and taught himself painting as a child (most often painting his rural hometown of Straelen). He started doing street art full-time at the age of 25.

The Ark

The Crevasse

Lava Burst

Waterfall

The Tree

Tribute to Mount Fuji

Energy

Energy(wrong view)

Emerald Cave

Mysterious Cave (in Germany)

Duality

Where Do I Go

Phoenix

Tribute to the Elements

Eduardo Relero

Currently living and working in Spain, this Argentinian artist was born in 1964. He began painting in Rome in 1990, and currently specializes in figurative pieces with a distinctly surrealist feel.

Salida de emergencia del la modernidad

Oraculo Maya

Vida de los huevos

Gladiator

Llotja del mar

Untitled, Sarasota Chalk Festival

La deriva filosófica

Justicia yacente

Hortelano

Corpus

Siempre dentro

Grandes chorizos

Fusión musical

Fusión musical (wrong view)

Cross antes de la campana

Cross antes de la campana (wrong view)

Manfred Stader

German artist Manfred Stader began street painting while studying at the famous Städel Art School in Frankfurt in the early 1980s. Along with Kurt Wenner, he is known for bringing street painting to Old Mission Santa Barbara in 1987.

Untitled, Genussfestival in Bolzano, Italy

Untitled, Lodz, Poland

Visit Wales

Junkers

Orange

Untitled, Ladbrokes, London

Untitled, Hong Kong Illusion of Arts

Green Week, Brussels, Belgium

Reflection of the Cathedral

Astana

Untitled, Bern, Switzerland

Untitled, Nimue Bioscience, Poland

Diablo 3, Gamescon, Cologne, France

Untitled, Babushkinsky Park Festival, Moscow

Untitled, Babushkinsky Park Festival, Moscow (wrong view)

Kurt Wenner

An American artist, Kurt Wenner is heralded as the inventor of “anamorphic” 3D chalk art. He began receiving commissions for murals at the age of sixteen and was making a living off of his art by seventeen. After attending both the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Art Center College of Design, he was employed by NASA as an advanced scientific illustrator. In 1982, Wenner quit his job at NASA, sold all of his worldly possessions, and moved to Italy to study Renaissance art (where he learned about anamorphism, which he would later employ in his 3D chalk works).

Dies Irae