A group of imaginative artists has shown that magic can be made from a few simple lines in the sand.

Beachgoers at New Zealand’s Mount Maunganui had to do double-takes at a three-dimensional marine scene that was created on a stretch of sand.

Local artist Jamie Harkins (pictured at front) oversaw its creation. Inspired by 3-D chalk drawings on pavement, he said he was keen to take the concept to the beach.

“We’ve seen other people doing stuff on beaches, but it’s always been geometric, flat shapes, like a pattern, so we thought we’d get into the whole 3-D thing,” he told the New Zealand Herald.