Bert Monroy

About this Series:

All digital paintings in this section were created entirely in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop without the use of scans.

Artist Statement

I consider myself a Hyper-realist artist. I love to paint. I use the word paint for lack of a better word. My medium is actually light. I have a passion for making things happen on the screen. Finding a new way of doing something and finding a new room in my imagination is what I love about the work.

Artist Bio

Bert Monroy was born and raised in New York City where he spent 20 years in the advertising industry as an art director and creative director for various agencies as well as his own. Bert currently lives with his wife in Berkeley, California.

Upon discovering computers with the introduction of the Macintosh 128 in 1984, he embarked on a new digital career. He embraced the computer as an artistic medium and is considered one of the pioneers of digital art. Bert’s work has been seen in every major trade publication of the computer industry. His work has also been featured in scores of books which include Making Art on a Macintosh, The Photoshop WOW Book, The Illustrator WOW Book, The Art of Digital Painting, The Grey Book and The Photoshop A to Z in Japan.

His work has also been used to introduce many software products such as Photoshop, VideoWorks (predecessor to Director), PixelPaint, SoundCap and ImageStudio.

Bert was a founding partner in the New York firm Incredible Interactivity that was responsible for interactive multimedia presentations as early as 1986 before the terms had been coined. Presentations were created for such clients as General Motors, American Express and Knoll International.

Bert co-authored The Official Adobe Photoshop Handbook, which was the first book on Photoshop and the only one for almost two years. It won various awards. He also co-authored Adobe Photoshop: A Visual Guide to the Mac which was published in 14 languages, Photoshop 4, published in Japan by Agosto and BNN, and Photoshop Channel CHOPS, co-authored with David Biedny and Nathan Moody, which concentrates on the most advanced features of the program not covered anywhere else. In 2000 he released his first solo book from New Riders called Bert Monroy: Photorealistic Techniques with Photoshop and Illustrator. It concentrates on the techniques he has established over the years in the creation of his fine art works. It is available at Amazon.com. His second solo book Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy, from New Riders, is another compilation of his techniques specifically for Photoshop 7.0. January 2004 saw the introduction of Commercial Photoshop with Bert Monroy, from New Riders. It is also a compilation of techniques but deals with Bert’s commercial illustrations where photographs are sometimes used. This book deals with aspects of production that the two previous technique oriented books did not — such as image retouching. In his latest book, Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy: Digital Painting, published in 2008 from New Riders, Bert shares with the reader the techniques he has developed in the creation of his photo-realistic paintings.

An accomplished teacher and lecturer, Bert has served on the faculties of The School of Visual Arts (New York), Center for Creative Imaging (Maine), California College of the Arts, the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging (California) and currently teaches at San Francisco State University. Bert was a regular on Tech TV and now hosts Pixel Perfect with Bert Monroy, a weekly Photoshop podcast for Revision3.com. He also consults with and trains corporate clients, including Pixar, Disney Animation and Lockheed/Martin. His film credits include work for Industrial Light & Magic, Pacific Data Images, and R/Greenberg Associates. Bert also continues to serve his installed base of clients which include Apple Computer, Adobe Systems, Pioneer Electronics, Fujitsu, SONY, AT&T, Chevron and American Express. A popular speaker at many worldwide conferences, Bert currently teaches a national seminar: Photoshop Creativity Tour for the Kelby Media Group.

Bert is a member of the Photoshop World Dream Team. In 2004, Bert was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame.

Bert Monroy’s Website