It's hard not to love miniatures. After all, they're just so cute. But making them can be a hassle, because to make something look realistic on a miniature scale, you probably need all kinds of uncommon and expensive materials and tools, right?
Well, not if illustrator and tiny diorama creator Mar Cerdà has anything to say about it. She creates stunningly lifelike dioramas and dollhouse-like constructions using nothing but paper and watercolors.
Just like one clever artist and mom showed us when she built a beautiful dollhouse using nothing but an old cardboard box, you don't need very fancy or exotic materials at all when creating something like this.
Mar's pieces look no less polished and skip no detail even made with just paper. She cuts, folds, and paints each component of the room she's creating to make a perfect miniature version.
She also draws a lot of inspiration from movies and TV, so you may even recognize some of these places!
All of the surface details, including wood grain, wallpaper, fabric, and tiles, are painted with watercolor. She sometimes even includes people!
Take a look at what she's created and let us know your favorite in the comments.
[H/T: BoredPanda]
Looking at these up close, you might never even guess they were miniatures. And even if you could tell they were on mini scale, you might not realize that this is all paper!
The detail in these tiny scenes is so deceptive, you'd think you were simply looking at a photo of someone's home.
But here's what's really going on.
In each piece she creates, Mar painstakingly draws, paints, and cuts out each component of the room, from furniture and fixtures to tiny accessories and details.
Then she puts them all together into a diorama, like the kind you might have made in school for a project.
Of course, hers are a bit more detailed than most!
An illustrator by trade, Mar also has a background in cinema and audiovisual, so putting together a scene like this comes easily to her. It also gave her an appreciation for space and how a space can be designed.
"I firmly believe that a character can be defined by a space, even if [they are] not present at all."
So even though there may not be any figures in her dioramas, you can get a sense of who the occupants might be.
Mar's dioramas have delighted people around the world.
She also works as an illustrator but, she says, sometimes two dimensions just aren't enough!
And when you consider the tiny scale of her dioramas, they become even more impressive.
Besides assembling and cutting, she also paints each component of the scene to give it color and texture and to bring it to life.
These little row houses were created inside little fish cans. and were inspired by the colorful homes in Portugal.
You can see much more of Mar's work on her website, as well as on Instagram and Facebook.
SHARE her tiny paper wonders with anyone you know who loves miniatures, or who looks back fondly on creating dioramas for school!
