The Photo Artistic Life is about celebrating the world of digital artistry. Internationally acclaimed Photoshop instructor Sebastian Michaels self-publishes a print on demand magazine with the art created by his advanced students every month. In this interview, he tells us more about his product and using Peecho’s print on demand service.

Can you tell us something about yourself?

‘’My name is Sebastian Michaels and I'm an internationally acclaimed Photoshop instructor with over 16,000 students in over 93 countries around the world. Every month, we publish all the art that my advanced students (my "AWAKE" group) create. We've hit our 25th issue this month, plus 2 special black-and-white editions, so we published 27 magazines through Peecho. Each is just over 100 pages long and makes for a stunning tour of the artistry my students produce each month.’’

When and why did you start Living The Photo Artistic Life?

‘’I decided to create Living The Photo Artistic Life as a means of showcasing the artwork produced by my advanced students. It became an enormous hit worldwide. It also helps us promoting our online portfolio site, where students can sell prints of their work. And of course the students absolutely love the quality of the Peecho prints. They're AMAZING. Just stunning print quality.’’

What is The Photo Artistic Life about?

‘’Living The Photo Artistic Life is about celebrating the world of digital artistry. The subtitle of the magazine expresses it well: it's about "Pushing Photography Further." It's about taking photos and not just editing them, but turning them into works of art. The group itself is really built upon the idea of living more richly imaginative lives, creative lives far beyond the ordinary. The magazine each month is a celebration of that.’’

What kind of assignments do you give your students?

‘’Each month I give my top "KAIZEN" students various assignments to help push them further in their work, get them to think more broadly as artists, and move them toward opportunities to be actively selling their work. This month we're taking a somewhat different approach and everyone is creating artwork associated with a cause or charity close to their heart … and then donating the work to them to help in their fund-raising efforts.’’

What are examples of special things your students created?

‘’The most "special" thing my students create is our magazine every month. That's always a big, big deal. A lot of work goes into it, and the talent in our "AWAKE" group is enormous. What's more, our students submit their work for publication in the sensational print magazine Somerset Digital Studio — which comes out twice a year. For the past two years, they've included feature articles by me in them, AND a full 75% or even more of the art published in each edition of the magazine is created by my students. This further brings a great deal of attention to our online portfolio of work.

Why is Peecho the solution for you?

‘’Peecho was the perfect solution for us because of our international presence. With over 16,000 students in over 93 countries around the world, I needed a high-quality publisher that could deliver (quite literally: deliver all over the world!). Even more important, the quality of the printed work is FABULOUS. Each issue is an absolute treasure. In all the time we've been publishing (and we have a total of 27 issues out now, spanning over two years), I've never had a single student that was not super enthusiastic about the quality of the printed editions. They make beautiful gifts as well and are perfect for coffee table books. It helps that our artwork is so jaw-dropping, of course, but the presentation of the work is absolutely world class — and that is worth a lot!’’

Who are your customers and how do you promote the option of buying a print?

‘’My students are of course the primary buyers of the magazine, but it's clearly sold well beyond that circle. I promote the issues each month on our magazine site and this in turn gets promoted on my blog and on Facebook.’’

Have you already created your own magazine? Sell it via Peecho

If you’d like to make a profit from the creation of your own magazine, consider printing it on demand and selling it via Peecho without any cost.

All you need to do is create a free account on Peecho, upload your PDF, set up your catalogue and profit, and share a checkout link with your audience.

Check our website and Help Center for more information, or contact us at support@peecho.com.