Through its educational and creative art campaign TEN, stock library Fotolia continues to make digital art accessible to everyone, and to promote digital artists from around the world.
Every second month, Fotolia brings together two internationally acclaimed artists – one photographer and one graphic artist – to collaborate on a joint piece of art. The art piece reflects their different cultures and artistic backgrounds, and reveals their unique vision of the future.
TEN’s latest artist duo is made up of two artists from the Far East: South Korean photographer Mi-Kyung Kim and Japanese concept artist Kenichiro Tomiyasu from Tokyo's INEI Studio. And their piece, 'The Future Shangri-LA', reveals an intriguing vision of things to come.
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Creative process
Mi-Kyung Kim and Kenichiro Tomiyasu from INEI Studio
In creating this dream of utopia from a Far-Eastern perspective, which mirrors western representations of the Garden of Eden, the pair aimed to blend together their cultures, techniques, styles and tastes.
The 'nature' element came from Mi-Kyung Kim, who had grown up on the green and luscious island of Jeju, while the 'supernatural' was INEI Studio's contribution, stemming from his interest in sci-fi and video games, a key part of Japanese culture.
These two opposing worlds are perfectly integrated in 'The Future Shangri-LA', where springs glowing with supernatural light are pictured alongside the tranquillity of nature beneath a starry sky.
Free PSD - limited time only!
On Monday 10 November the PSD file, including all the layers, filters, settings and resources the artists used, Mi-Kyung Kim’s photos and Fotolia’s images, can be downloaded for free at www.tenbyfotolia.com. The photograph used to create the work, as well as 10 other pictures from the shoot, will be on sale on Fotolia's website.
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You can also follow these two artists on their creative journey – from their first meeting to the finished work – via a making-of video, which will be available on 10 November at www.tenbyfotolia.com and on TEN's official YouTube channel. Meanwhile, you can view the teaser video below:
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Tom May is an award-winning journalist and author specialising in design, photography and technology. His latest book, The 50th Greatest Designers, was released in June 2025. He's also author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine.
