Artificial Intelligence - and how it helped me break free
Talk about a hot topic, am I right? A traditional artist, advocating for AI?! The horrors! Well, hear me out.
The first thing I remember really ever creating were literally traced images of characters I liked in coloring books. I would sell them in elementary school for 10 cents (with inflation that’s probably like a dollar today!) And for the longest time, the idea that in order for someone to like what I created, that it would have to come from someone else’s mind was a real bummer to me because I never took the time to learn to draw.
I got really into art around 2016 and I remember always feeling so constrained, held back, by not being able to get the cool ideas in my brain onto paper. I would Google things that I was trying to envision but I rarely could find just what I wanted. And even if I did find an image I really liked I would be hesitant to try and paint it due to potential copyright issues - another topic entirely.
I took a break from art entirely around 2018, just in a funk I suppose. (Thanks Covid) And it wasn’t until 2023 that I really exploded artistically, and though there were a number of factors and influences, one of them might surprise you: Artificial Intelligence. I’ve been a gamer nerd for as long as I can remember - you may notice some of my work is inspired by them in fact. But I’ve always loved new tech and when I heard about AI, specifically regarding its use in art, my mind just.. exploded.
At first, I was like anyone else playing with a new toy. I put in all kinds of silly, ridiculous ideas just to see what it was capable of, how it treated certain words. The very first idea I put into it though, was from a dream I remember having years ago that I always thought would make a cool image. I had tried once to create it digitally but gave up pretty soon after I started.
My first ever Midjourney (AI) creation
I was also very interested to see how AI would handle non-finite concepts. How would a robot depict “Love”? Turns out, most of the time, with hearts and reds and pinks. But what if I asked it to depict “Love so bad that it hurts, two figures slightly abstracted, embrace –no hearts”
Pretty cool, right? The first thing I truly “created” with AI was a little picture book for my daughter, who loves her little puppy Oreo. I thought it would be super cool to make a book about the two of them. I came up with a concept for a story and went to work. There was certainly a learning curve - you have to learn how to talk to robots. Anyway, after a LOT of trial and error followed by some YouTube videos I created my first picture book - it took a few days and I did do a little Photoshopping on a few of the images, because that would have been easier than having the robot do it.
The book was a hit! And it was pretty fun to create, while presenting a number of challenges - I had to figure out a way to try and get a similar “look” to the images, and had to train the AI what I wanted my little girl and puppy to look like. Now, it’s still not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good! Here are a few images from that book.
A month or so later, I decided to do my first painting in 5 years, and my first pastel painting in I’d guess 7 or 8. The inspiration? A quote from “The Lord of The Rings” that a friend of mine had sent me years ago that I always wanted to create but never did.
It took several attempts to get the look I was going for…
Until I eventually got it.
Midjourney image reference for the painting “Curious”
The prompt: red fox, looking over his shoulder, sunny day, green fields, large tree far in the distance on the right side of the scene, artistic style, watercolor style
“Curious” - soft pastel - 2023
And that was the start of something. I gradually built my confidence, developing my own style, using the AI as a tool, like a ruler, or projector.
One question I get asked frequently: “Where do you get your ideas?” The truth is my ideas come from my head. But I use technology to put those thoughts into a cohesive vision, as a starting point. Some people view this technology as “cheating” and I get that to a degree. But I wonder if the caveman said that the first time that he held a stick against the wall to help him draw a straight line. And you know what? That might just make a cool painting..
I hope that my work displays my own artistic vision - that the viewer sees the emotion of a person and not that of a robot.
Also, if you are interested in using AI in your own work, or just for fun, I recommend a program called Midjourney, which has a free trial, and there are numerous other completely FREE to use image generators you can play with on any web browser.
