DIGIT-AL ART: HANDY COLLECTION UNVEILED
Here's a collection of art for the DIGIT-AL age as these fascinating illusions of landmarks, places and even a banana are made using just a pair of hands. The quirky collection of images were created using hand models and body paint to create visions of a castle, church, and two footballers flying into a tackle. London based photographer Ray Massey KNUCKLED down to capture the images with each of the designs each taking a day to paint and shoot with the help of hand artist Annie Ralli. Together they made a FIST of also bringing to life a pen and pencil pot, a ribbon, mosque and cute wildlife adaptations of a daisy and a ladybird. Each image sees the hands and fingers carefully crossed, bent, or partially hidden to the millimetre to cleverly angle the palms and digits into the lifelike images. The intricate detail was then painted on the shapes and blended in to create the illusions, including one creation that sees a hand arch down to appear to become a banana skin. In others a sporting trophy is created by two joined hands bending at the knuckles and two hands are cleverly pushed together to form what appears to be a cosy bed. Ray said professional hand models had to be used for the shoot because fingers are often so unattractive to look at. He said: "Hands are always particularly difficult to shoot, they are not pretty items, they're basically very ugly. "The benefit of a good hand model is not just having good hands, it is also important to be able to pose your hands. "So we had to employ professional hand models. Our biggest concern was to use proper body painting materials, in order not to damage their skin. "Most of the images took four to six hours to paint, the rest of the day is spent capturing images and the hand painting artist adjusting elements accordingly.
Other great stories
COUPLE RECREATE ICONIC SCENES FROM THE NOTEBOOK
A Canadian couple celebrated their engagement by recreating iconic moments from the film The Notebook .
ASTOUNDING ASTRONOMICAL IMAGES TAKEN IN GARDEN
AN ARRAY of colours, from pinks to blues and oranges, fill the night sky to create an amazing collection of interstellar patterns .
CHIPMUNK YOGA
ARM extended and head flung back, this little chipmunk performs a loose-limbed yoga move .
OTTER FAMILY FIGHT
Splashing around in the water, a mother otter and her son are tangled in a family feud .
VIBRANT WOODPECKER FEEDS HER YOUNG
A middle spotted woodpecker swoops into her nest and feeds her young in a forest in Trentino, Italy .
CROC VS BAMBI
A BAMBI was dramatically caught in mid-air by a greedy Nile crocodile in a once-in-a-million flying pincer move .
I WON'T GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY STAB VEST, SAYS ATTACK VICTIM
A man who was stabbed ten times in a frenzied and random attack has told how, two years on, he is too scared to leave his house without his STAB VEST .
SECRET POOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT
HIDDEN in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a secret oasis awaits intrepid travellers .
TUNNEL FOR VICTORY
What lies beneath this building site? Britain's great hope of winning the pre-WW2 arms race against Nazi Germany .
THE DOCTOR WON'T SEE YOU NOW
ONCE A doctor’s surgery, family home and office, an array of medical equipment is scattered throughout this abandoned home .
MY 20 YEAR SECRET - IT'S NOT ALOPECIA OR CANCER, I HAVE TRICHOTILLOMANIA
A mum who has hid behind the hair loss condition alopecia for the last 20 years has bravely revealed a secret compulsion to tear out her own hair that has tormented her since she was a child .