Cities can change so rapidly, leaving behind barely-recognizable versions of the streets we once knew and loved, adapting and transforming along with the rest of the world. It may be a fact of life, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to preserve what we can of the history that’s meaningful to us – even if that just means paying tribute to it with art. Australian-born, London-based illustrator Max Tiles does just that with tiny illustrated cut-outs, which he often photographs against the real-life buildings they represent.

Tilse’s most recent series captures some of London’s most charming pubs, like The Bricklayers Arms in Fitzrovia, which he describes as “a quaint piece of Georgian architecture… the Bricklayers Arms has been a running pub since 1789.” Other pubs seen here include the Coach & Horses at 5 Bruton Street in Mayfair, The Blackfriar, The Crown in Seven Dials, Covent Garden and The Dove on Broadway Market in Hackney.

Tiles also draws miniatures of other major London landmarks, from Big Ben to the Tower Bridge. While backpacking across Europe, Tilse kept a ‘diary’ of sketches of the scenes he liked most, turning them into 5×5-inch postcards.

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A post shared by Maxwell Tilse (@maxwellillustration)

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A post shared by Maxwell Tilse (@maxwellillustration)

You can see more of his work at his website, and purchase prints at his Etsy shop.

In a handful of pages in a book the size of a fingernail, this book artist tells a minimalist story of life on Earth, illustrating pivotal moments with brief text and tiny images.

A beautiful bit of hand-bound book art, The Mini Book of Major Events is just one of a series of micro-volumes made by Evan Lorzenzen, all of which pack large ideas into the smallest space possible.

Of course, selectivity is key – which events warrant mentioning when space is at a premium? Then, how does one illustrate these most effectively at such a minute scale?

Along similar lines, The Little Book of Big Ideas tackles large and important concepts from war and death to love and infinity, again with lovely drawings alongside each.

You might think artist Ben Heine has Photoshopped himself into his own pencil drawings, but he’s actually standing on top of them. Much like the mind-bending optical illusions produced in chalk by sidewalk artists, these are flat drawings that just seem like they’re three-dimensional.

The Belgium-based multidisciplinary artist mixes photography and drawings for the series ‘Pencil vs. Camera,’ one of his best-known projects. The drawings seem to pop out from the page when viewed from a certain perspective, making it look like the artist is interacting with his own creations.

“I just make art for people,” says Heine. “I want them to dream and forget their daily troubles. I used to write poems many years ago, I want to convey a poetic and philosophical meaning into my pictures, each new creation should tell a story and generate an intense emotion, like a poem, like a melody.”

Another part of the series blends Heine’s drawings with landscape photos so they match up. The artist selects a location, draws a fanciful illustration, and then takes a photo of the combined results.

Some cinematic experiences are defined by their built environments, be it the minimalist architectural plan outlines of Dogville or the lavish Mid-Century Modern estate from the Big Lebowski.

Illustrator Federico Babina has taken iconic structures from major motion pictures and rendered them in a way that both shows off the unique character of these charismatic buildings and ties them together aesthetically.

This set of poster-worthy ARCHICINE prints features classics like Rear Window and Star Wars as well as contemporary sets including L.A. Confidential and The Incredibles.

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A quick doodle drawn in the heat of the moment on a napkin at an architectural cocktail party is more likely to be a concept diagram than a phone number. There is nothing architects love more than a sexy drawing with dotted lines, curvy arrows and a few key color accents.

Josh Lewandowski is a Minnesotan architect who is taking things to the extreme, producing a new diagrammatic sketch daily … with a catch: they do not represent anything and are ends unto themselves. The series is dubbed simply Pointless Diagrams.

Of his work, Josh writes: “I started this blog because for as long as I can remember I’ve always drawn and doodled 3d sketches that have an unapologetic dearth of meaning.” He draws his “inspiration from architecture, furniture, engineering, geometry, cereal boxes, Lego instructions, and Etch A Sketch memories. I always use pen and ink because erasing is for wimps.”

The works are populated with walkways, bridges, staircases, pools, trees and more, yet a whole never really emerges from the parts except when the viewer’s imagination takes part. Thus the mysterious and subjective side of the equation.

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