Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Cylindric Anamporphism: an inspiration for my WIP

I recently finished the 5th or 6th or 800th (I can't remember the exact count) draft of my YA Fantasy Novel UNSEEN. (click on the link to see the trailer or it's on the sidebar too.) I think it's finally ready to start sending out.

Although this story is complete fantasy, there are several things that inspired certain aspects of the story. One important object is very much like the cylindric anamorphism shown in the pictures below. The idea is that there is a distorted image on paper but when a cylinder is place in the middle, the reflected image is non distorted.



picture borrowed from Mighty Optical Illusions moillusions.com

It is said that this art form was invented by the Chinese (I think they deserve the trophy for The Culture that has Produced the Coolest Things Award.) and was brought over to Italy in the 16th century, influencing many of the great artists of the time.

this technique was often used to disguise confidential images.

16 comments:

Jacqui said...

That is SO COOL. I am fascinated.

Martha Flynn said...

For some reason, when I look at things like this, I get a little headache - like my mind refuses to accept it!

I'm very curious as to how the device relates to your story!

PJ Hoover said...

It's way cool, Christy! And have fun when you send out Unseen!

C.R. Evers said...

Jacqui, I almost included a link that shows how to create a mathematical grid to make something like this. I thought of you, because I know you would appreciate something like that.

HI Martha! I know, it's hard for my mind to wrap around too. I love stuff like this. Hopefully an agent or editor will take an interest in the story and everybody will be able to read about it! :0)

Thnx PJ. It's half fun and half not. It's hard enough to break through, and even harder w/ the downturn in the publishing industry. I'm afraid to get my hopes up too high. But I had fun writing it! That's what counts, right? :0D

Bish Denham said...

Wow, way cool!

C.R. Evers said...

Thnx Bish! :0)

Brenda said...

Best of luck with "Unseen"...

Congrats on getting it out there in the real world...Good news will follow...for this I am sure...Hugs...

C.R. Evers said...

Thnx Brenda! I hope you're right! :0)

Kelly Polark said...

I hadn't heard of that! Too cool!
Good luck with your Unseen submissions!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is cool. Never seen that kind of artwork before! Best wishes for your manuscript!

sruble said...

The pictures are cool. I've never heard of that before.

Good luck with your novel subs! I like your trailer.

Adrienne said...

Ooh, that's fascinating! I've never seen it.
Good luck with your manuscript!

D.A. Riser said...

That is very, very cool. Everyone who reads Unseen is going to love that. Are you going to show a photo in the book when it's printed or just try to describe it?

Kit said...

That is so neat.
Kit

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

good luck!!!

C.R. Evers said...

Thnx everyone! :0)

DA, you know, I haven't thought that far. At this point I've just been hoping that someone will want to put it in print. ;0) I guess it would be pretty cool to include photo's. Good question!

Christy