Everyone knows Japanese Maples, right? Those bright, hot-red tress that look like a burning bush. Down the street my neighbour has one and once a year it catches fire (figuratively, of course) and lights up the yard.

Here’re nine great examples of head-on photography that highlights perspective and distance. Your eye can easily follow the line of perspective from foreground to background and back again — and there’s more detail to each than first meets the eye.

Trompe l’oeil, or ”Trick of the Eye”, is where realistic, real-world scenes are painted on a surface — usually a wall or door but in many of the cases Pixellica presents below even whole buildings — and sometimes they’re so real you’d walk right into them. I’ve scoured around for a couple weeks tying to find the best ones.

Vladimir Kush is an artist similar in style to Rob Gonzalves, although he takes a bit more fantastical of a perspective. Kush is remarkable at using simple, natural elements as fixtures in his paintings, and brings a feeling of humanity and emotion to his work.

Manga is instantly recognizable to almost everyone – from Pokémon cards to animated films. The style is cool from an artistic standpoint because a lot of motion & attitude is conveyed using relatively few strokes of the pen. The style is almost minimalistic in nature. Nakamura is unique in that the artist creates more detailed work while staying clearly in the boundaries of the genre.

Twisting perspectives is nothing new: Maurits Escher had been creating mind-boggling sketches since the 1930s, and other artists have either mimicked the style or given it new life. But Robert Gonsalves takes the motif and turns it on it’s head using bright colours and paint. Check out his website to see many more examples of his work.

Music is important – music has been called therapy, inspiration, retreat, freedom… you name it. But a lot of the time what’s in the jewel case is just as important – and who of us hasn’t gone out and bought an album just because the artwork grabbed you? Pixellica provides a short list of albums with not only great music (well, most) but also stylish, graphical artwork.

Sam Nielson is a artist at Disney Interactive Studios – and his unique style of illustration can be seen in films like the animated Disney feature “Bolt”. Sam’s work captures a caracaturesque quality and cool lighting style, and delights people of all ages. Check out more of Sam’s art at his blog.

This theme park is in East Berlin, Germany, and opened in 1969 – providing millions of people each year with countless hours of fun and good times. The Ferris Wheel itself was a landmark in the area. All the memories are now overgrown with weeds and given to the elements. See more of Oliver Schade’s photographs of the Spreepark Plänterwald amusement park.