Enter fulltext hereCape Town, January 4th, 2013 – In December 2011, Fotolia made the news with the TEN Project. One goal: democratizing digital creation by bringing together in a common project, for the very first time, « digital art », « graphic resources » and « pedagogy ». For this second Season, Fotolia got a selective casting of 10 notorious international artists, and 2 more ones, kept secret for now. These authors are invited to express themselves on a free theme, and to share their pro tips with the web community, thanks to the PSD files they offer for free, every month for 24h. Argentinian Digital artist Gustavo Brigante will open Season 2 of the TEN Operation with an artwork composed around the work theme.

TEN Season 1: 10 artists, 10 themes, 10 months and 10 PSD

A communautary and educational initiative, the TEN projects results from the collaboration between Fotolia and two graphic communities, Wisibility and Amkashop. Every month, for 10 months, Internet users could download for free, for 24h, the digital creation in PSD format of one of the 10 best digital artists, made from Fotolia images.

The TEN Collection was an absolute success, with more than 170,000 PSD downloads from the dedicated website www.tenbyfotolia.com, which welcomed more than 500,000 unique visitors during this first season.

This first edition was closed with a wide international contest organized on Facebook, allowing digital art passionates to challenge the original 10 artits on the artworks they hadcreated for the TEN project. With more than 1,200 posted creations, and a viral reach of 250,000 personnes, this more than satisfactory result showed once again the enthusiasm raised by this operation in the graphic community.

TEN Season 2: an international casting Creators with diverse cultural influences

After the enthusiasm generated by the first edition, Fotolia renews the experience and will unveil, on January 10th, the first composition of the TEN, Season 2 Operation. This time, Fotolia selected 10 famous international artists, from the countries where the image bank is located (Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom and Germany). Fotolia will also present two « special edition » artworks, from a French couple of artists, and from an American artist, under a format yet kept a secret.

« Building on the success of Season 1 and the enthusiasm of creative communities present on the five continents, we could invite international artists this year who, not only will share their creative secrets, but also will be cultural ambassadors for their countries, through their testimonies and their creative choices. The selected artists are also totally free to express their universe in the works they propose. Fotolia therefore continues with its goal of democratizing digital art across borders.», explains Oleg Tscheltzoff, the CEO and co-founder of Fotolia.

As in the first edition, Internet users will have access, each month, to the PSD file of a new artist, with all its layers and resources, for free and for 24h. Each composition will come with a making-of video shot in the artist's country of origin, and subtitled in 12 languages, so the public can learn more about his/her creative universe and work methods.

Getting closer to the artist, thanks to Social Media
On this second edition, Fotolia decided to focus on Social Media. TEN A month before launching a new artwork, new users will be able to discover a sneak preview on a Facebook page, the backstage making-of video, featuring the artist as he/she goes about his outings with the team members, and interact with the artist live by chat, on few other surprises. Interactive Q&A sessions between the artists and the fans will also be set up on https://www.facebook.com/TenCollectionSouthAfrica

What's more, Fotolia will offer its fans an exclusive extra 24 hours to download the free PSD!

An online TEN by Fotolia shop
Another Season 2 feature: Fotolia will allow users to buy directly from the TEN Website prints of the artists' works on various products: posters, t-shirts, and wall canvas with worldwide shipping

The TEN by Fotolia Season 2 website www.tenbyfotolia.com was reimagined to enhance user experience and is now available on every hardware platform (computers, smartphones and digital tablets). Furthermore, the website and browsing experience have been upgraded to immerse users into the heart of the artist's universe with maximum space to highlight his creation.

A multichannel communication set-up
To go along the success of this second edition, Fotolia set up a wide communication plan. An offline and online media plan will be launched worldwide on December 10th. The image bank also planned direct marketing and display actions. To promote this project, Fotolia benefits from the support of partners such as Adobe and Wacom.

Before the official launching of TEN Season 2, on January 10th 2013, a « coming soon » page is already available on the www.tenbyfotolia.com website, to present the concept to web users. They can subscribe directly online to receive premiere alerts about the availability of each new artwork, thanks to the TEN newsletter. They can also access the making-of videos, presenting the next artist and his/her upcoming work.
Argentina inaugurates Season 2

On December 10th, Fotolia will present the first artist, Gustavo Brigante. His composition will be available in PSD format from Thursdat, January 10th, 2013 for free and for 24h.

Gustavo Brigante Gustavo Brigante is an Argentinean graphic designer and illustrator. He created a website in the 90's with Javier Cencig, where they share their common passion for experimentation and graphic design. He worked for several clothing brands in 2001, and then broadened his works to other fields, like logo and type design. A self-educated and multidisciplinary artist, Gustavo likes challenge and risk. His references now include big brands like Johnnie Walker, Hugo Boss and MTV, and he is part of the famous KDU crew. Gustavo Brigante now works in his own studio in Buenos Aires for several international clients such as Johnnie Walker, Hugo Boss ou MTV.

To usher this second season, Gustavo Brigante offers a composition on the Work theme, entitled « Manos a la obra »*. The artist found inspiration in his latin-american origins, to come out with this work. « Digital art and graphism are a way to innovate and impress, especially when it comes to free compositions. I can therefore let a part of me express itself. I accepted to take part in this project because I am self-educated myself. From my point of view, the best way to learn is to practice, and persevere. »

*Let's get to to work

A personal work, with Latin-American influences
« After I chose the theme I wanted to express myself about, I searched for the ideal visual to make this creation. I could then note how easy it was to find the photos of my choice on Fotolia. I wished to make an image with very specific criteria (characters, outfits, etc.). In a few clicks, I found the ideal image for my search, both from the style and from the general aesthetics points of view. As I came near the end, I needed one additional photo, for the central part of my work. I then took advantage of my encounter with the TEN team to organize a shooting session, in which the cameraman took part as a model. I then imported his photo into Photoshop. To obtain graphic consistency, I managed a few adjustments of colors, shades and exposition, without damaging this original image. This allowed me to bring together stock images from Fotolia, and personal photos. As for the methods and tools I used, I chose among others Photoshop and 3D, which enabled me to give another dimension to my creation. The last step, but not the least, was to integrate the shadows of it various elements. To learn more, see you on January 10th, 2013. »

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