Ramon Bruin’s Anamorphic 3D Drawings

A 31-year-old Netherlands-based artist is creating startlingly realistic 3D illustrations that appear as if they are coming right off the paper all with the help of a pencil and a vivid imagination.

Ramon Bruin developed the technique he calls anamorphosis through his experiments in airbrushing, a style he studied at the Airbrush Academie in Lelystad, Netherlands, and promotes through his company, JJK Airbrush.

“Airbrushing is a great technique for making paintings with depth and realism,” Bruin said, adding that it was the “subtle gradient” you can create with an airbrush that first attracted him to the style.

Bruin picked up his first airbrush about 10 years ago, but he only began creating the 3-D illusion drawings in 2010.

“Within these 10 years I tried many different techniques and styles,” Bruin said, explaining that he started doing the pencil drawings in an attempt to capture that same “gradient” that he was drawn to in airbrushing.

To make the anamorphic drawings work, Bruin had to make sure that not only the drawings looked 3-D, but that the pictures of the illustrations looked 3-D as well.

“This depth can only been seen from a certain angle,” Bruin said. “I also experimented with light and with the correct light it appeared the drawing came off the paper.”

In other words, to see the 3D effect, you have to view the illustrations from a specific angle.

Anamorphosis involves drawing a detailed but distorted image that appears like a three-dimensional scene when viewed from a certain angle. Bruin adds a bit of dramatic touch by inserting hands, pencils and other props into the photographs of his illustrations, heightening the 3D feel.