Back from a visit to Japan, art director Mike Stefanini agreed to walk us through the creation of his latest illustration compiling the visual elements that most stood out to him during his trip. The novelty of this piece: it was designed entirely using Surface Studio, Microsoft’s tool designed especially for creatives.

Mike is working on Surface Studio in The Vaults at The Hoxton Paris

Mike works on his illustrations like one might approach a puzzle: he assembles and arranges their visual elements to create a composition that highlights his key inspirations. With Surface Studio’s large screen, he can move from one task to another — from searching for inspiring images and drawing the first sketches to working on the illustration’s color and composition — all while remaining in the same workspace.
He says it best himself: “Having all of these windows open on the same plane allows you to stay focused on your idea and to visualize the whole of your creation more easily.”

The ability to incline Surface, switching from desktop mode to drawing board mode, allows Mike to be physically involved in his work. For him, the all-in-one- and space-savermemanage my projects– without switchings”

Each element of the composition requires special focus. It’s a game of back-and-forth between the different parts of the drawing, each created separately from the others. On one side, the rising sun; on the other, Mount Fuji. For Mike, drawing on Surface Studio’s touch screen using Surface Pen provides a similar experience to drawing by hand. “I feel immersed in my work, like I’m using a large drawing board. Everything is super intuitive.”

And the shortcuts made possible by the palm-sized wheel, which Microsoft has named Surface Dial, almost replace the keyboard, allowing Mike to work with both hands directly on the screen.

True object of design with its clean lines and its modern appearance, Surface Studio inaugurates a new category of devices for creative transforming the workspace into a digital creation studio. The great innovation is the ability to tilt the screen to easily switch from a tablet function to a computer function. For Mike “having a tool all in one is a real saving of time and space that allows you to realize from A to Z your projects on the same tool”.

The illustration takes the viewer for a stroll in and the eye bounces upthe country. A true object of design, with its clean lines and modern appearance, Surface Studio inaugurates a new category of devices that aim to give the creative workspace a digital transformation.

Special Thanks à The Hoxton Paris