Reality Distortion Aesthetic: Inspiration for Main Project

There’s something mesmerizing about the way reality bends—not just in the mind, but in the spaces we create, the colors we manipulate, the illusions we willingly fall into. The Reality Distortion Aesthetic exists in that liminal space between the real and the surreal, where perception is fluid and nothing is quite as it seems. It thrives on movement, on a world that refuses to be static, embracing the tension between structure and collapse.

Films like Inception encapsulate this aesthetic perfectly—cities folding into themselves, dreamscapes collapsing like shattered glass, staircases looping infinitely. The world of Inception is built on a foundation of logic and order, only to be unraveled, stretched, and distorted until time, gravity, and physics themselves become unreliable. This aesthetic isn’t just about illusion; it’s about the moment when reality itself glitches, when you realize the rules you thought existed were nothing but suggestions.

Inception (2010)

Visually, I have been recently interested in making liquid gradient effects in Photoshop. It mirrors this aesthetic—colors shift in fluid, hypnotic waves, blurring the line between the tangible and the intangible. These gradients mimic oil slicks, refracted light, and deep-space nebulae, evoking a sense of motion even in stillness. It’s a digital representation of an unstable reality, with no reality present at all. Hues melt into one another like a dream dissolving at the edges.

Liquid Gradient – Adobe Stock

Reality Distortion is more than an aesthetic that drives a feeling of knowing something is off but not being able to place it, sort of uncanny but less scary and more fascinating. Stepping into a world so close to ours yet fundamentally, disturbingly different. It’s the beauty of uncertainty, the thrill of the unknown, and the creeping unease that comes with questioning what is real.

I’m still figuring out exactly what my final project will be, but I know I want to capture the feeling of reality slipping, twisting, or becoming something unfamiliar. Whether it’s through shifting perspectives, fluid colors that morph like liquid gradients, or patterns that create optical illusions, I want to evoke that moment of uncertainty—when something looks real at first but reveals itself to be unstable. Maybe it’s through layering, reflections, or warped symmetry, but I want the viewer to feel like they’re caught in a space that doesn’t follow the usual rules. Inspired by Inception’s dream logic and the eerie perfection of Coraline’s Other World, my goal is to experiment with ways to make the ordinary feel slightly… off, like stepping into a world that’s just one degree away from reality.

I have seen many illusions like this with oragami, so maybe I could explore something along this route, I am going to keep brainstorming to figure out what sparks my interest for a finial project!

Mighty Optical Illusions – Impossible Objects