How to Become a Trompe-L'Oeil Painter

As their name indicates, trompe-l'oeil pictures are meant to fool the eye into thinking it's seeing something it isn't. The very earliest of trompe-l'oeil painters apparently tricked live birds into trying to eat a bunch of painted grapes. Although learning to paint trompe-l'oeil pictures can be a lifelong pursuit, a few tips can give you a good start on painting one of these tricky masterpieces.

Instructions

1. Practice three-dimensional painting techniques. True-to-life shading and highlights add to the realism of painted objects. Observe the ways in which real-life objects reflect light and gather shadows, and try to emulate this three-dimensionality in your painting.

2. Learn about perspective. Renaissance painters discovered that perspectival lines could create realistic-looking rooms and make the placement of objects appear more natural. Trompe-l'oeil painters all have a good understanding of the way our eyes take in natural perspective scenes.

3. Study color. Sometimes, all it takes to make something look realistic is to get its color exactly right. Some trompe-l'oeil painters just practice mixing paint colors to see how many realistic color variations they can create.

4. Make every object and person its actual size. Because trompe-l'oeil paintings are meant to fool the eye, everything needs to look as much as possible the way it does in real life.

5. Add real objects to your trompe-l'oeil pictures. Combining real bits of molding or mirrors can sometimes make the painted portions of a picture even more realistic.

6. Try using trompe-l'oeil stencils. Some trompe-l'oeil instructors encourage their beginning students to use realistic stencils, in order to get the feel for imitating life through painting. You might find them a good tool during your learning period.

Tips & Warnings

• Try not to show only fragments or parts of each object or person. A painting will look more realistic if it depicts something whole.

• Start small. Trompe l'oeil painters are known for their architectural fakeries, such as making a plain ceiling look like a vaulted one or decorating the exterior of a plain building with realistic balconies. However, a beginner should start with more modest projects, like a spider in the corner of a room or a small potted plant on a ledge.

Resources

• See a famous trompe-l'oeil building exterior at www.traveladventures.org.