Cape Town, May 10th, 2013 – Fotolia’s TEN Collection Season 2 invites web users to a trip around the world of digital creation, with the greatest international artists from the countries where the image library is set. The first 4 artworks were downloaded over 110 000 times on their release day.
Mike Harrison will be the May artist, unveiling his original artwork, “Just a game”. It will be available for FREE for 24 hours in PSD format, on Friday, May 10th on www.tenbyfotolia.com
Mike Harrison sublimes animal energy
“It’s really great to be part of the TEN project. For me to be able to represent the UK out of all the possible artists in this country is an honor.
I wanted to do something based on a powerful animal, one that would allow me create good energy and complexity. So, using a bull as my main theme, I wanted to create a high energy illustration loosely based on bullfighting, but adding a playful aspect to it by using certain colours and elements.” explains Mike Harrison.
His subversive and colourful composition, mixing up digital and traditional arts, clearly illustrates the “sense of energy”. “Built from Fotolia Stock images and hand drawn elements, I worked without any established order. I was constantly re-arranging everything all the time throughout the process to work out which elements worked best and where, mixing materials and unstructured layers to obtain a homogenous and purely graphic composition” … as well as a unique and surprising result.
A self-taught jack of all trades
Based in London, Mike Harrison is a 28-year-old freelance graphic designer and illustrator. This self-taught artist discovered himself a passion for digital art after a university course in new technologies.
This atypical course can be felt in eclectic works, mixing modernity and tradition. Drawing, illustration, typography as well as 3D, photography, animated design and web design: Mike Harrison loves trying endless new techniques and supports, in order to improve his art skills.
Energy as a creative motor
Mike Harrison finds inspiration and influences in the « energy of life », « just like when you look at the world from a train window.”. “This wakes a mechanism of unconscious thinking in me. To see or hear something can trigger an idea weeks later, without me remembering its origin. ».
His favorite domains: sports and editorial. “In the sports area, I find this stimulating energy that I can amplify in my works. And in editorial illustration, what I like is the visual transcript of action, sometimes more impacting than words”.
His surrealistic and lively work owned him a worldwide recognition, allowing him to work for clients as notorious as Nike or the Wall Street Journal, and to publish his contributions in renowned reviews like Computer Arts and IdN.
Meeting the artist
Two videos, subtitled in 12 languages, were shot in the artist’s work space. The first one, which features his personal world, can be viewed on the TEN Collection Facebook pages as of May 6th. The second one, which reveals his creative techniques, will be available on D-Day, May 10th, on http://www.youtube.com/tencollection and www.tenbyfotolia.com.
About TEN
TEN is a creative, digital and educational project created by Fotolia in 2011, which aims at democratizing digital art. TEN, as in 10 artists, 10 countries, 10 months and 10 PSDs. This unprecedented project allows any web user to download for the PSD source file for free over a 24 hour period, for ten of the world’s best digital artists. This allows the artists to share their work techniques, and cultural influences. Each user can access the set of layers, graphic elements, and style effects held in each PSD, and appropriate them to use them in his/her own work. This community initiative was born from the cooperation between Fotolia and two well-known graphic communities: Wisibility and Amkashop. TEN is also supported by national and international partners, such as Adobe, Behance, Wacom, Design Times, Design Indaba
URL: http://www.tenbyfotolia.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FotoliaSA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenCollectionSouthAfrica
YouTube:
Author: Michelle Haarhoff from Fotolia – South Africa. Originally distributed by MyPR.co.za.
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Images:
Mike Harrison’s image Photographer: Mike Harrison / Fotolia
Mike Harrison / Fotolia Photographer: Ten Collection / Fotolia
Mike Harrison Photographer: Ten Collection / Fotolia
