Shamekh Bluwi, an architect and fashion illustrator based in Amman, Jordan, creates beautiful paper cut-outs with women whose dresses become whatever you hold them up against. Besides being beautiful fashion drawings, they also seem like an excellent tool for coming up with inspiration for new fashion designs; simply hold up one of his drawings and see what sort of architectural lines, repeating patterns or images the women in his elegant cutouts would look good in.

Earlier this year, Belgian film-maker and artist Vincent Bal stumbled upon an uncanny resemblance to an elephant in the shadow of his tea cup. This gave him the idea for Shadowology, a series of doodles that interact with the shadows of simple, everyday objects: a banknote, some ice cubes and a flower, for example, can turn into a church, a woman and a hippy. “I draw a few lines and I get my image. It’s really the shadows that inspire me”, Bal says. Here: “Stonedog”. (Photo by Vincent Bal/The Guardian)

The barren landscapes of the south-western US provided inspiration for photographer David Clapp. He visited Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona as part of his project on other-worldy locations, with surreal results. Here: An infrared image at dusk of strange clay rock formations in Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness in Farmington, New Mexico. (Photo by David Clapp/Barcroft Images)

Roof-topping enthusiast Daniel Lau takes a selfie with high-rise buildings down below as he stands on the top of a skyscraper in Hong Kong, China on August 15, 2017. A craze that began in Russia has now taken hold in Hong Kong, one of the world's most vertical cities. Mr Lau said he had been inspired by Russian climbers and that he was unafraid of the vertiginous heights he scales. (Photo by ImagineChina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Lido cabaret dancers perform during a demonstration outside the cabaret as dancers, other employees and union activists are gathering to try to save their jobs and the history of the cabaret, known for its dinner theater and its “Bluebell Girls” revue, Saturday, May 28, 2022 in Paris. Amid financial troubles and changing times, the venue's new corporate owner is ditching most of the Lido's staff and its high-kicking, high-glamour dance shows – which date back decades and inspired copycats from Las Vegas to Beirut – in favor of more modest musical revues. (Photo by Thomas Padilla/AP Photo)

Performers Aidee Arely Ramirez Arellano (left) and Viridiana Mayte Arica Rico from Banda Monumental De Mexico who are part of this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo cast, display their Monarch butterfly costumes in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh on Thursday, August 25, 2022, ahead of the final weekend of this year's show, Voices. The butterfly costumes are a tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, inspired by an image of the Duke of Edinburgh watching the butterflies migration during a trip he attended to support conservation of the species. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

This photo taken on November 6, 2023 shows people posing for photos next to the statue of “Hachiko” in front of Shibuya station in central Tokyo, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the legendary dog's birth this month. A century since its birth, the tale of the loyal companion who had waited at the Shibuya train station for its master to come home – not knowing he had already died – continues to inspire the public, who have made the statue a singular landmark at a glitzy hub of Tokyo's street culture. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

Alex “Torreto” Vellios, a 26-year old barber sports his tattoo of an open razor as he holds a real razor while preparing for his first customer of the day at his Torreto barber shop in Frankfurt, January 6, 2015. Inspired by a childhood trip to the barbers with his grandfather in Greece, Vellios, a formally trained hairdresser and self-taught barber, fulfilled his dream of opening his own gentleman's barber shop five months ago and has turned it into a successful male grooming and shaving business with customers now waiting up to three to four weeks for an appointment to see him. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)