Sri Lankan Digital artist Bandula Samarasekera has been awarded the UK Photoshop Creative Magazine Editor's Choice Award for his amazingly life-like portrait ‘L’Oreal Model’, which was published in the August issue of the magazine.

UK Photoshop Creative Magazine is a monthly print magazine that is considered by professional digital artists the world over as one of the leading sources of knowledge on Photoshop, and it is described as ‘The Biggest and Best Photoshop Magazine’.

This is the first time a Sri Lankan Artist has been recognized internationally in this category. Undoubtedly, this accolade is a great honour for Sri Lanka.

Bandula’s creative arts and digital virtuosity have been recognized and regarded highly by the editor of UK Photoshop Creative Magazine. In fact, some of the artist’s fantasy arts will be featured in the magazine’s October issue.

Bandula’s skills continue to be recognized in a wider international circle. UK’s Advance Photoshop Magazine has sought him out as a contributor who can help readers gain perspective on his creative design process.

On invitation by the magazine Bandula is poised to soon share one of his complex Photoshop projects, which will be published in the Advance Photoshop Magazine as a tutorial. The idea behind it is to benefit Photoshop users around the world and share insight into his skills. 

It is indeed a great achievement for Bandula who started off as an artist making contributions to newspaper comics and freelancing for ad agencies before starting his career in advertising back in 1986 at JWT and then joining LDB Lintas in 1993. He was also an editor of a popular children’s newspaper.  

This is what Bandula had to say about the feat, “I’m really happy that I could put my country in the limelight. What mesmerized me in the original rendition were the girl's eyes. It was so expressive, inviting, in fact, it almost spoke to me. That's the reason why I took the challenge. I wanted to capture those expressive and alluring eyes, which seem to have a mind of its own.”

Bandula is a talented specialist who has worked as a visualizer using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator exclusively as well as Freehand and Painter software to create astounding works of art. He has won numerous accolades from Adobe international for his outstanding works of digital art.

Bandula has also an impressive gallery of digital portraits of both local and international celebrities and VIPs, this includes a portrait of His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa that was presented to the President. Other digital portraits in his repertoire include Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Sir Edmund Hillary, Richard Gere, Charlton Heston, Julia Roberts and more.

Bandula is also the only Sri Lankan to be invited to attend the world famous Abode TM 2007 exhibition held in London. He believes that it’s a positive sign in the right direction that Sri Lankan artists are embracing digital media to express themselves.

 To check out more of Bandula’s work and to view his award-winning digital art, visit www.bcomarts.com

The artist can be reached on [email protected]

The award-winning image along with details of the award is also featured on UK Photoshop Magazine’s Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525866654146366&set=pb.131712343561801.-2207520000.1378284698.&type=3&theater