2012 was a pretty epic year for visual trickery. We stared through telescopes, transfixed by Venus' cosmic trick of the light; gaped in disbelief at a Rubik's Cube that wasn't; and watched with morbid curiosity as celebrities transformed into grotesque mutations of their former selves.

Using only acrylic paint and her own demented sense of whimsy, Japanese artist Chooo-San transforms herself into an entity that escaped from either the Mos Eisley cantina or H.P. Lovecraft's mental monster manual. Here's a selection of her DIY body horror, which she discovered her penchant for after doodling on her arm …