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)

Grand Rapids (Michigan) based illustrator and artist Scott Gundersen creates his portraits from thousands of used and recycled corks. Starting with a large photograph that’s transferred to a drawing, Gundersen pins each cork to the canvas, creating a correlation between the hues of the wine-stained corks and the value of light or shadow in the portrait. Scott Gundersen has made these incredible portraits, one using 3,621, 3,842 and the other using 9,217 natural wine corks.

Many of the 12 million people who entered the US through New York’s Ellis Island wore traditional dress from their homelands. Here: A Ruthenian woman circa 1906 from the region historically inhabiting the kingdom of the Rus, incorporating parts of modern-day Slavic speaking countries. Her outfit consists of a shirt and underskirt made from linen embroidered with traditional floral-based patterns. (Photo by Augustus Francis Sherman/New York Public Library/The Guardian)

Artist Amber Wheeler of Minneapolis, Minn., has given her 2-month-old boy just that. All she used was some Photoshop and well-timed photos. Using simple black lines – much like the ones in this series of cat Instagram portraits – Wheeler transformed her son into an astronaut, a superhero, and a cowboy without spending one dollar on costumes.