Mike Silcher

Digital Art

Where structure breaks and rebuilds.


Created in Photoshop and Illustrator, this work explores repetition, distortion, and layered designs, balancing control with instability. Color acts as a signal, pattern creates tension, and geometry drives movement.


An ongoing practice since the late ’90s, shaped through cycles of construction, disruption, and refinement. The work moves across print, fabric, installation, and digital spaces, shifting scale, depth, and perception as it adapts to context.


Nothing is fixed. Everything is in motion.

All personal digital artwork was created from the ground up using Photoshop and Illustrator. No AI tools were used in the process.

Photoshop, Painter, & Illustrator: Side-By-Side

Wendy Crumpler | Sybex Publishing

2000 – 2001


In the late 1990s, I began exploring Photoshop and Illustrator as tools for expression, focused less on production utility and more on visual experimentation and digital art.


During this period, I worked as a teaching assistant at UCSC Extension alongside Barry Haynes, supporting both foundational and advanced students, while deepening my understanding of early digital workflows and creative production systems.


I shared my digital artwork with Barry, who later introduced it to Wendy Crumpler for her publication "Photoshop, Painter & Illustrator: Side-By-Side". My work was selected for inclusion in the book, which explored the intersection and combined use of multiple creative applications.


This period marked an early intersection among experimental digital work, education, and published creative output—when Photoshop, Illustrator, and Painter were becoming defining tools for digital artists.