Hollow Face Illusion Dragon Without Leaving your desk!

Ever seen those illusions where there is a face that seems to turn toward you? I've seen it in theme parks and museums like the Exploratorium, and the Disneyland Haunted House thing. But, now you can make your own. All you need is a printer and some scissors!
RATE PLEASE, IF YOU LIKE IT.
The drawings came from grand-illusions.com, I have no idea where that guy got them from.

And here is a stopmotion I made for fun. The camera captures the illusion effect at the end.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Download and Print the PDF

Download the attached PDF files. There are 3 colors, red, green and blue, pick one, pick all, doesn't matter, but open it, and print it.

red_dragon.pdf564 KB

blue_dragon.pdf243 KB

green_dragon.pdf576 KB

boombo says: Dec 18, 2011. 11:55 AM

thanks man its awsome but where are the dragons wings?

young skipper says: Apr 17, 2011. 5:17 PM

Hey dude I just want to give you a heads up and say that this is in the wrong category. Just wanted to let you know.

willrandship says: Mar 4, 2011. 10:13 AM

Man, you've got sharp fingernails :P

Nice vid.

pursue says: Feb 26, 2011. 11:42 PM

good!

reverseBungee says: Dec 26, 2010. 9:47 PM

anyone tried? i dunno if i did any thing wrong...
it doesnt seems to work. the dragon doesn't looks like its looking at me.

omnistructable in reply to reverseBungeeDec 28, 2010. 5:58 AM

It did work for me either, I had the folds on the head the wrong way round the first time. I did not watch the video. After watching the video it all came clear to me. Nice Instructable.

reverseBungee in reply to omnistructableJan 11, 2011. 3:44 AM

OOHHHH RIGHT!!!!

now after watching the video, it all seems so logical! for those who didnt get it, watch the video!

thanks omnistructable

reverseBungee in reply to omnistructableDec 28, 2010. 10:53 PM

could be ... cause my office blocked off video streaming thus, i didnt get to see the video here.

well will watch the video tonight when i got home.

thanks!!

Quintonio in reply to reverseBungeeJan 10, 2011. 6:09 PM

If you look at the dragon and look into its eyes for a while and try to think about it being 3d it should work.

-chase- says: Dec 27, 2010. 9:37 AM

Thanks for the diffferent colored versions - this is a fun thing

great for kids and those kids at heart.
- and yes it does work.

you should make a Santa one for next years X-mas
or an Easter bunny one
and a Holloween one

lets see the artist in you

;0)

aarrnnoo in reply to -chase-Jan 2, 2011. 1:21 PM

I don't think he will :) he didn't invent or made those :) I fond them on youtube, everybody uses the same site. He just thought "hey that's fun ! " so he made an instructable :) I find this the best 12 because of the video, before it didn't work but the video really helped me.

drmartintsai says: Dec 27, 2010. 12:27 AM

guys you need to look at it using ONE EYE ONLY. Also just look at it from different angles for a few seconds and the magic will happen.

omnistructable in reply to drmartintsaiDec 28, 2010. 11:27 PM

If it is difficult to see, look at it through a camera lens. Use your cell phone's camera.

GWJax says: Dec 27, 2010. 7:21 PM

This is soo cool to play with. Since I have only one good eye, I did not need to have one closed for the illusion to take place ;). I'm going to have to try to draw out some other sketches to enjoy. If I do I'll post the files for everyone to enjoy. Or I may try to sculpt something out from clay that sits in a frame, how cool would that be..
Jax

JAVA Teacher says: Dec 27, 2010. 7:13 PM

Haha! This is pretty cool man! Worked for me :D Cheers!

prakash.be2005 says: Dec 26, 2010. 5:30 PM

great work man. i am going to try one like this... thank you..

164

Kiteman says: Dec 16, 2007. 5:51 AM

It would be nice if you credited the original creator of the dragon illusion, which has been floating around the internet for some time. Plagiarism is frowned upon here.

Here's a slightly more contemporary version from DWA magazine:

xenobiologista in reply to KitemanDec 26, 2010. 7:35 AM

Kiteman, I think you're being a bit harsh. Plagiarism is when someone not only copies another person's work, but tries to pass it off as their own. Unless Chartreusnot edited this Instructable between the time you saw it and the time I saw it, they clearly said they copied the design from another website and they weren't the original author. There are plenty of other Instructables where someone posts illustrated and detailed instructions on how to make something where they give credit for design/idea to someone else.

164

Kiteman in reply to xenobiologistaDec 26, 2010. 3:25 PM

Since you replied to a three-year-old comment, I'd guess he did.

Chartreusesnot (author) in reply to KitemanDec 16, 2007. 2:05 PM

I got the drawings from grand-illusions, the guy has some pretty cool stuff there. I guess he scanned the originals, which came from the "gathering for gardner"...?

164

Kiteman in reply to ChartreusesnotDec 16, 2007. 2:45 PM

I was wondering about "Gathering for Gardner".

It turns out that it's a sort of Ubergeek charitable convention .

Chartreusesnot (author) in reply to KitemanDec 16, 2007. 3:50 PM

"Purpose : The Gathering for Gardner is a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote the lucid exposition and discussion of new ideas in recreational mathematics, magic, puzzles, and philosophy." yup, thats just dripping with geek sauce...

njmalhq in reply to ChartreusesnotJan 5, 2011. 12:12 PM

One can't talk about g4g without mentioning Gardener himself. Who will be sorely missed, as he just passed away last year. I actually saw one of those dragons in his library, just as he was packing it up to donate to the local library, as he was moving into a retirement home.

For those who don't know, he used to run the Mathematical Recreations column in Scientific American. His puzzles collections are in a class by themselves. As are his collection of essays on everything from mathematics, science, philosophy, religion, ... A true intellectual giant of our times.

JakeTobak in reply to KitemanDec 16, 2007. 9:36 AM

You you have a link or something where I can print the cut-out and make my own K-9?

grafkaal in reply to JakeTobakDec 26, 2010. 2:08 PM

You can use this one. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5042745/papercraft-k9.pdf

164

Kiteman in reply to JakeTobakDec 16, 2007. 9:46 AM

Sorry, it was in Dr Who Adventures - a kids' magazine in the UK. Maybe if you contact the video's owner - he drew it, after all.

3DMHuff says: Dec 26, 2010. 10:56 AM

I wonder what this would look like if you enlarged it to a 36 inch posterboard? I have a friend that makes signs, everything from small yard signs to massive bil-boards, and I will ask him how big he can make this. See how many people I can get to drive off the road.

Hey Kiteman, thanks for letting me know about Dr Who Adventures. I've been a fan for years but didn't know they had this, being in the States and all.

hohum in reply to 3DMHuffDec 26, 2010. 2:54 PM

use a pantograph to make an exact model bigger,

tanniynim in reply to 3DMHuffDec 26, 2010. 11:28 AM

I've got a magician friend who made one of these out of a couple sheets of plywood.- this exact design, except it had a longer tail and more folds to make it look even more realistic. Ended up being about 4-5 ft tall. He painted it in fluorescent green and orange and white and lit it up with a black light. It was *really* weird.

Biggsy says: Dec 26, 2010. 2:15 PM

Just spotted this from the newsletter, It looks great welldone :D Brilliant stop motion video :)

Grant L says: Dec 26, 2010. 1:01 PM

LARGE version seen throughout the video below. There are several versions on the web. Besides the dragons and dog, I think I have a cat and a horse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URLRdcnU6Hk

IGTB says: Dec 26, 2010. 12:10 PM

Hi, just wondering if there is a way to mask this pdf image have with other images, say another animal or cartoon figure etc. has anyone else thought of that yet with this concept or approach. I would love to lay over a custom image I have, I guess I will experiment on it some.