David Fuhrer is a self taught digital painter with a passion for making some of the most creative and vivid art around. David is an extremely talented and he explains how he creates some of his art by mixing 3D elements with painting. David also gives us a look into the type of tools he uses to create his lively artwork.
1. Welcome to PSDTUTS! Please introduce yourself, give us a brief bio, tell us where you're from, and how you got started in the field.
My name is David Fuhrer. I was born in 1985 in Switzerland. I'm a self taught Digital Artist who grew up in a beautiful place in Switzerland. Since a child I loved to be creative in any way. From building my own toys, to drawing.
I started with digital Art in 2003/2004 and created my Portfolio back in 2005. My work is based on my imagination and life. Most of the work is created over weeks or even months. Beside my illustrations, I work three days in an agency as an interactive designer. I do Flash and some Photoshop stuff there and also coding Action Scripts.
2. Give us a visual of your work area, what tools do you use with Photoshop? Why do you use them? What makes them better than anything else out there and how do they benefit your work?
I use all kind of tools that help me create what I want to do. It also depends a bit on the style I’m doing. What makes Photoshop so interesting to me is that I can work more detailed in an image manipulation or painting than any other program. I also love Sketchbook and Painter. Sketchbook is cool for sketching out something and Painter has a very nice brush engine. It’s just hard to make it work so that it would be ready for printing.
Photoshop is great for doing print works and getting things done really clean. Tools I like to use are the Brush tool, Pen tool, Smudge tool, Cloning, and I also started to use Paths for my guidelines since you can get them out the stage and match them up.
3. What would you say is the most interesting thing about graphic design?
I can't really say. I'm not much into what graphic design is anymore. Graphic design is like designing Magazines, Advertisements, Product Packaging and more. My work is based on me and not a product or company. To me it’s like a diary and output of my mind.
4. What is you favorite type of design? Would it be something unique and out of the ordinary or something else?
Its hard to say. But it would be something surreal. I don’t like real things too much. I mean I love a lot in a technical view or cinematic view, but not as a piece of Art to hang up on the wall.
5. Your design "Blue Moon" is an amazing look at the earth from the perspective of the heavens, can you give us a look into how you came up with the design as well as the process to make it?
I don’t really remember how I came up with the whole thing. I thought about doing some kind of surreal planet where the Mountains come out. I started it like a normal planet painting in Photoshop. I found a lot of different techniques on the internet.
For guidelines I used 3d programs. I just made a sphere there. The mountains are also made in 3d and rendered as guidelines. In Photoshop I mixed everything together by just painting. Used a lot of techniques in Photoshop to create different things. But Basically the brush engine is what I used the most.
6. What techniques do you think are essential to your type of design style?
There aren’t many secret techniques that I use. But mostly I use a lot of the brush engine. It’s amazing what you can do with it.
7. Are you the type of designer to use outside resources like stocks or textures in their designs? If so then where do you find them and what are your favorites?
Yea sometimes. I also use references to paint when I need to. I just use Google to find things.
8. Thanks again for providing PSDTUTS with this opportunity to interview you, any final thoughts? What would you tell other designers that hope to be as good as you one day?
Just do what you like to do. Then the more you do the better you will become. Try out things and experiment a lot. Thanks a lot for the interview I really appreciate it. And I’m really sorry for my bad English. It’s not my main language.
Where to find David Fuhrer, AKA Microbot, on the Web
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Px October 22nd
Impressive work
( )Ryan Hickman October 22nd
Wow awsome work…never been first, love the new design!
( )Wes DeKoninck October 22nd
Nice read and an interesting look at how simple ideas lots of time can yield beautiful and intriguing artwork. Beautiful works David…keep them coming
Also, an editorial note, there are one too many “Davids” in the portfolio reference title at the bottom of the screen and the link for the pic under Question 8 is null. – Thanks PSDtuts!
( )Diego chavez October 22nd
Great interview, i like his works
( )thegreenmandarine! October 22nd
n1 pieces idd.
( )I like the surreal sensitivity of this artist
Sean Hodge October 22nd
@Wes – thx, I got those issues fixed.
( )jbcarey October 22nd
Ha! answer of the year…
“I use google to find things….”
( )DKumar M. October 22nd
His Work is really Impressive. including some nice and simple ideas.
( )I just saw Davids Deviant’s previous work. his way of working is really creative and somehow inspirational !!
Dan October 22nd
I agree surreal art is the most appealing type to admire hanging on a wall. Life like art is great but the type of art he creates is just something to view for hours discovering something new each time
( )Alvaro October 22nd
Soon graphic design will become the 8th art!
( )NetOperator Wibby October 22nd
I really love that futuristic plane thingy illustration. No idea what it is, but it’s definitely inspiring. I love reading interviews about talented artists.
( )Kid October 22nd
Like David said I dont think I would consider this Graphic Design either, just Digital Art. Uhm…..great Digital Art.
( )Djavan October 22nd
Very good work
( )macias October 22nd
holy smoke ! unbelieveble…
( )insic October 22nd
his work is amazing. I cant believe he can do it.
( )Jane October 22nd
This is so so cool! awesome…
( )Ali Jafri October 22nd
Well, THAT’s impressive. Keep up the good work!
( )hid October 22nd
Nice work.
( )Jimi Ninja October 22nd
Nice to see some interesting and quality style… I like your work a lot.
( )Cheers for giving the interview.
wYh0iUt October 22nd
Awesome :O
( )Respect
VertigoSFX October 22nd
That’s wicked cool. I love the creativity…I also love these interviews…quite a few the last few weeks, very interesting to read.
( )Dy October 22nd
Really amazing works..
( )gogipatiala October 22nd
Thanks a lot friends it was just great …..can we ask for a tut or practical tips from him
( )Byron Nahasaopenpetalong October 22nd
Nice read and an interesting look at how simple ideas lots of time can yield beautiful and intriguing artwork. Beautiful works David…keep them coming
Also, an editorial note, there are one too many “Davids†in the portfolio reference title at the bottom of the screen and the link for the pic under Question 8 is null. – Thanks PSDtuts!
( )Joefrey Mahusay October 22nd
Woooooow! Im inspired with his awesome work!
( )Mabuc October 22nd
Hes one of the best, Inspiring thoughts from him, I like it!
( )loswl October 22nd
Very interesting interview and a very talented artist!!…I love his “down to earth” answers…
“Graphic design is like designing Magazines, Advertisements, Product Packaging and more.”
That is basically what you learn in graphic Design School
)
“I just use Google to find things.”
Priceless!!
)
( )Thodoris October 22nd
Great artist. He is really down to earth!
( )Conrad Gorny October 22nd
Wow. He has a crazy brain, love this bloke.
Conrad Gorny
( )Freelance Graphic Designer
http://www.conradgorny.com
John October 22nd
Thanks for the interview PSDTUTS.
David…your work is amazing there is no other way to describe it. Just shows how far I have to go in my own work.
http://cruciald.com
( )povesto October 22nd
Hey MICROBOT,
Nice to hear an interview with you. You are a great artist.
( )Tanaka13 - Créations du Net October 23rd
very nice and inspirative article. A very talented artist!
( )thank you very much for that interview
BlindLabs. October 23rd
Nice!!
( )Greg October 23rd
I have to agree this is another great down to earth interview. Its exciting to see you grab these kinds of artists.
( )wow-sky October 23rd
amazing works , I like them ^_^
( )Mikkel October 23rd
Amazing images, boring interview…
( )Rijalul Fikri October 28th
Wow, amazing work.
( )Web Design Showroom January 13th
This guys clearly amazing at CG Art – wonder whether he’s any good at web design as well? That would be a winning combination
( )