A talented artist has created breathtaking intimate portraits by using detailed maps of the world as his canvas. Cardiff-based illustrator, Ed Fairburn, combines the patchwork of roads, terrains and rivers to for his unique sketches. Photo: Ink on a 1977 road map of Germany. (Photo by Ed Fairburn/Rex Features)

The dapper beasts are the creation of Barcelona-based artist and photographer Yago Partal, 31, whose work has achieved a cult following online. In his latest project he has merged photographs and illustrations to create a set of quirky animal portraits. Photo: “Hare wearing a v-neck jumper and shirt”. (Photo by Yago Partal/Barcroft Media)

See also: Zoo Portraits By Yago Partal. Part 1

Shanghai-based artist Hong Yi, also known as Red, used 750 pair of socks to create a rather unusual sock portrait of famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. Yi, which is famous for her Coffee Stain Portrait, spent over three weeks on the project and used black, white and grey socks. (Photo by Ohiseered.com)

Actress Liv Tyler poses for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at T-Mobile Village at the Lift on January 21, 2012 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

New Zealand Paralympic swimmer Cameron Leslie poses for portrait at the Millennium Pool on March 26, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)

After 12 years photographing models, musicians, and celebrities, Brad Wilson decided that he wanted to photograph something a little more unpredictable: wild animals. Photo: Serval. (Photo by Brad Wilson)

“A Kind of You” is a documentary work of an uncanny asian tradition, where monkeys are trained and dressed to act humanlike in order to ask money from the bypassers. Modern city culture has turned the old tradition in to eerie and haunting act of cruel street theatre where animals become something else, never able to reach our expectations”. – Perttu Saksa. (Photo by Perttu Saksa)

SEE ALSO: «Topeng Monyet: The Masked Monkeys Of Indonesia»