Illustrations sometimes include drawings or paintings within their scenes. Seeing a picture depicted inside a picture feels like opening up a matryoshka doll. Don’t stare for too long or you might fall down the rabbit hole!

Go a layer deeper with this collection of illustrations featuring illustrations.

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, does that mean a picture within a picture is worth two thousand? Here on pixiv, you’ll sometimes come across illustrations with the tag #絵中絵 (#enakae, lit. “drawing inside a drawing”). By featuring another illustration within their drawing, artists can add another dimension or extra level of mystery to their art. Sometimes, the scene can be as straightforward as a character working on a painting, while other times, the characters within the drawing might be looking at the main subject of the drawing (drawingception much?) or directly at the viewer.

Take a look at these illustrations, and you may just find yourself drawn into these works.

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