How to Draw Optical Art

Optical art, or op art, is a movement from the mid-twentieth century. Op art seems to "dance" depending on how close to or far from the piece the viewer is located. It fools the viewer by creating a sense of movement and 3-dimensionality on a flat picture plane.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Cardboard or any thick paper larger than the sheet you will be working on
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Pen

Instructions

1. 

   Draw a curving design up the left side of the cardboard with a pencil. A more complex design will result in a more complex piece.

2. 

   Cut out the design out and keep the smaller half, which will serve as your template.

3. 

   Place the template against the right side of the paper. Trace with the pen.

4. 

   Keep tracing while moving the template to the left. You can move the template slightly to the left or right to get more line variation.

5. 

   Move the template up and down to add other layers to your design.

6. 

   Continue tracing and moving the template to the left until you reach the edge of the paper.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with different colored pens to achieve different effects. The closer together you trace the lines, the tighter the piece will be and the more it will appear to "dance." If you don't want the completed portion to smudge as you are working, rest your hand on a small piece of paper while you are working your way across.

References

• Op Art

Resources

• Optical Artist Bridget Riley