To make a diorama, one needs an artistic vision, unlimited patience and a penchant for controlling small decorative objects.
While many of us have had to make one of these petite 3D models for school, our poorly crafted papier-mâché volcanos with glitter glue don't compare with the professionally made dioramas below.
Strange Worlds by Matthew Albanese
Strange Worlds is a set of hyperrealistic miniature worlds that highlight the beauty of nature and the skill of the artist's handiwork.
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Matthew-Albanese.jpg" caption=""Wildfire" is one of Albanese's Strange World pieces." credit="Matthew Albanese" alt="Matthew Albanese"]
Albanese says it is a combination of old school camera tricks and special effects that makes his dioramas come alive.
"Most people don't realize how heavily my work relies on the photographic process," he told Mashable. "The miniatures themselves are a completely different experience in person than when viewed through the lens."
Each diorama takes Albanese between one and seven months of work. Though, he says he would work faster if he didn't already have a full-time job.
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Matthew-Albanese-Diorama.jpg" caption=""Concrete Sky" looks almost like a water painting. " credit="Matthew Albanese" alt="Matthew Albanese"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Cave.jpg" caption=""The Cave" is one of Albanese's newest pieces." credit="Matthew Albanese" alt="The Cave"]
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals at the American Natural History Museum
These dioramas are full-sized and use taxidermy animals from across the United States.
"The dioramas are unique works of art based on field research and individual specimens collected in the field by museum curators," a museum spokesperson told Mashable. "I think visitors view these dioramas and the taxidermy specimens with a sense of awe and with an understanding that they are a memorial to the creatures that still live among us and those creatures that may be threatened."
The Hall of North American Mammals, which includes a total of 43 dioramas, was restored in 2012 after a year of work.
The City by Lori Nix
These miniature worlds are beautiful and terrifying at the same time. This is what a post-apocalyptic world must look like.
"I am interested in depicting danger and disaster," Nix writes on her website. "In The City, I have imagined a city of our future, where something, either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of its human inhabitants.
Nix fills her dioramas with plants, insects and small animals, showing them as "reclaiming what was theirs before man's encroachment." Her series of miniatures takes viewers back to when Mother Nature reigned prominent, and man's concrete jungles were but a dream.
