Bold Tattoo Doubles as a Mind-Bending Optical Illusion

Separately, we enjoy looking at tattoos and optical illusions, so this union is the best of both worlds. Paul O'Rourke of Allstar Ink in Limerick, Ireland created this clever tattoo that will definitely make you do a double take. The swirling column that's inked on his client's arm appears to dip into two deep crevasses of the skin. From first glance, it seems like you could grab onto the “handle” of this person's lower bicep.

The impressive inking combines bold and graphic lines with small-yet-crucial areas of shading. Because most of the tattoo is so flat-looking, these specially-contoured parts are enough to convince us that this fellow has an unusually-shaped arm; we are mistaken thanks to O'Rourke's handiwork!

Paul O'Rourke website
via [Neatorama]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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