Anamorphosis Explained: How to Draw it in Real Life

Anamorphosis is a distorted projection that becomes recognizable only when viewed in a special manner. The application of anamorphosis dates back to the Renaissance. Before, artists drew every figure on the same plane. An example of this would be Ancient Egyptian wall paintings shown on the left in the collage.

Starting from the 15th century, artists began to draw the illusion of perspective by using mathematical practices. Imagine you are drawing a car parked outside of the house through the window. If you draw the figure directly on the window from a constant perspective, the result would be the same as the actual car. The reason is that your brain has done the process of adding depth to the picture. However, try appreciating the painting from a different angle. The drawing will lose the three-dimensional effect. Thus, Renaissance artists came up with methods to create anamorphic drawings. First, artists draw a figure on a normal surface. Then they use light and strings to project the figure onto the canvas.

Creating an anamorphic drawing on a sidewalk would be using the same principle. Bring a window and choose an angle, then draw the figures onto the window without moving your position. Once you finish, place a projector at where your eyes were and project the image on the sidewalk. Then draw on the sidewalk according to the shape projected. The image would be the trickiest if people look from the same perspective as you were drawing.