As the coronavirus pandemic drags on and cities across America continue to scramble to provide care to their citizens, it can be extremely disconcerting and anxiety-inducing to be stuck in one’s home with no access to outdoor group activities. Paradoxically, even though there’s so much going on, boredom is a constant companion. Fortunately, artists like Mo Willems are stepping up to provide the masses with mental stimulation that’s accessible from home, and artist Gergely Dudás has now joined the digital throng with entries from his books of illustrated brain-teasers. Via his Facebook page and his website, Dudás has most recently been promoting an Easter-themed illustration that challenges the viewer to find the egg that has a heart drawn on it.
Dudás periodically catches the attention of the internet with his work, which also includes children’s books like Bear’s Merry Book of Hidden Things and Bear’s Spooky Book of Hidden Things. Back in 2015, Dudás first went viral with an illustration he made of a sea of snowmen, within which he hid a sneakily concealed drawing of a panda. Almost instantly, he had established himself as a Where’s Waldo?-caliber illustrator.
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While practicing self-isolation, many people have found themselves drawn afresh to the diversions and games that they enjoyed as children. Rather than burdening themselves with lengthy novels or rote tasks, adults everywhere are now finding it necessary to self-soothe with the simplest, most digestible media possible, which is where illustrators like Willems and Dudás come in. Sure, it can seem a little goofy to spend an afternoon following along with a YouTube video of a grown man making up a board game on the spot, but if there’s one thing that a pandemic makes clear, it’s that any and every coping mechanism available to you is pretty much going to be acceptable no matter what.
Plus, it’s humbling to recognize that illustrated Easter egg brain-teasers, decades-old video games and much-beloved young adult novels are actually more difficult and complex than you might have remembered. Go ahead: we challenge you to take a look at Dudás’s pastel, bunny-populated puzzle and see how long it takes you to find the heart-decorated egg hidden there.