Internet users love optical illusions, and thousands of them make the rounds online. In most cases, viewers can figure out an illusion within a few minutes. Plenty of people recognize the image before themselves in seconds. Rarely does an image come along and stump a large number of people. Recently, Savannah Root shared an image that has since been shared over 30,000 times. It continues to stump the average viewer.
Where did this illusion come from?
At this point, information on the photo’s origin isn’t available. Root mentions that someone named Josh solved the illusion for her. That doesn’t mean he created the drawing or illusion, though. Either way, thousands upon thousands of Internet users have now discovered the image thanks to Root’s original post. She mentions that the illusion stumped her for well-over an hour, and other users mention longer discovery times.
The Image
The image itself appears to be created wholly from black permanent marker. With a quick glance, viewers will see dozens of potential things. Some see a banana, wings, claws, and a tail within the image. Not everyone sees the illusion as a whole without being explicitly told its actual image. In fact, one might even think the image is nothing more than a cruel joke without an actual reveal, but that’s fortunately not the case here.
Comment after comment on social media includes users feeling stumped for the longest time. However, another user posted an edited image with clues to the image’s solution. This particular image is a cowboy with half of his face obscured by a dark shadow. Everything makes sense after this explanation, although some users report still not being able to see the intended image.
Occasionally, an optical illusion takes the Web by storm. The shadowed cowboy continues to be shared on social media today. It’s difficult to explain exactly why the illusion is so difficult for viewers to discern. Perhaps the black-only area of the image looks too much like a random mess of space. In the end, an illusion like this is worth seeing at least once!