What is Op Art? Short for Optical Art, it’s a style of art that uses optical illusions. There are many variations on this idea and this style of Op art uses curved lines to create an image that look 3D- like it’s popping off the page. Op art is an abstract form of art that creates the illusion of movement, swelling, hidden images, flashing, or vibrating patterns. There are many art movements that studied the relationship of color and line in abstract form. However, this style of abstract art exploded in popularity and exploration in the 1960s.

MATERIALS:
+ paper
+ pen
+ colored pencils or crayons

Draw a curved line across your paper. Make it a gentle wave of a line, not a rolling storm.
Create an odd number of dots across that curved line. My example has 11 dots. Try nine to start. I do not recommend more than my eleven. Spread them out in an uneven way- some closer together and some further apart.
Now connect those dots with low curved lines- create bumps. Start on one side of the line. I began on top. This is your first row.
Repeat the directions that you used to create your first row. Continue for a while. I only went half way up the top half of my paper.

Once you’re finished on one side, repeat the same directions for the opposite side, in my case the bottom.

Choose some colored pencils. I decided to make each little wormy shape two coordinating colors. You can see for the first section I colored that I chose a pink and red. I colored lightly in the center of each curved section and darkened the corners. This creates the idea that the wormy shape is rounded and the top is higher than the bottom (corners). Continue to finish the wormy column.

You can continue coloring with the same colors you chose at first or you can switch it up. I chose to move on to two violet colors. Same instructions went for these colors as well. Color in as many or as few wormy columns as you would like. The more you do the more practice you get.

Happy making!

Optical Art Drawing