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Incredible Body Painting Turns Torsos into Mind-Bending Optical Illusions

Amazingly, these mind-bending optical illusions aren't made with the help of projections or Photoshop. Artist Natalie Fletcher painted them directly on human skin! The Oregon-based body painter created this impressive series completely freehanded with an airbrush. She calls it Just an Illusion, and the “canvases” feature bright base colors of fuchsia, cyan, green, and yellow. Black contour lines help fool our eye into thinking that parts of a torso are popping out at us.

It was serendipitous that Fletcher became a body painter. She started her career a few years ago after moving to Bend, Oregon and coming across an ad for it while looking for a job. Since then, she has masterfully developed her talent and recently became the winner of the GSN TV show Skin Wars. Fletcher also just started a body art project titled 100 Bodies Across America where she'll paint two paintings in each state.

If you love seeing optical illusions on skin, check out this incredible tattoo by Paul O'Rourke. You'll do a double take!

Natalie Fletcher website and Facebook page
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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