About

Sebastian Michaels once shot weddings and created artistic portraits by private commission … But after a move to the other side of the country, he took up writing for quite some time … and then, with yet another move (this time to the mountains), he came back around to photo artistry in a big way in 2013, when he founded Photoshop Artistry: Fine Art Grunge.  This was later followed by a number of additional courses and and private groups.

Photoshop Artistry rapidly took the digital art scene by storm and grew to include students in 93 countries around the world, with well over 40,000 photographers and photo artists currently enrolled.

From 2015 to 2023, Sebastian launched a series of advanced groups under the name “AWAKE: Living the Photo Artistic Life,” involving hundreds of his very best students, and began publishing a monthly magazine showcasing their artwork.

Apart from various courses of his own, Sebastian also publishes courses by Photoshop Hall of Fame instructor Dave Cross, acclaimed artists and authors Bob Weil, Susan Tuttle, and Nicki Fitz-Gerald, as well as digital designer Amanda Rockwell, celebrated painting instructor Alena Hennessey, and world-renowned fine art photographer Brooke Shaden.

On a personal note . . . Sebastian lives in the mountains of western North Carolina (near the Appalachian Trail and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park), is mostly obsessed with creative photography, reading, professional chess, and his cats. Beyond these, his obsessions would include Rachmaninoff, Edward DeVere 17th Earl of Oxford, and the philosophy of Ayn Rand.  He is crazy about animals and wildlife.  And he listens to an inordinate amount of Radiohead and U2.
(It’s a good life.)