Hello peeps, fellow curious minds!
Guess what’s the hottest topic right now in the creative arena? Yesss, AI. And as someone who’s always up for a good laugh, I can’t help but wonder how it’s going to affect my clients and my work in the future. Is that something to laugh about or cry about?
Let’s find out!
Are you ready to dive in with me as I take a closer look and have some geek-fun. For starters, let’s talk about the world of book illustration.
Will AI take over and make book illustrators like me obsolete?
Can clients now survive on robotic illustrations alone?
Oh, the suspense is killing me. So before I die, let’s explore the impact of AI on my work. Is it a game-changer or a deal-breaker?
In this mini-series of blogs, I will be looking at what all the fuss is about.
Episode 1: First steps
So, where do you start? Well, obviously on Google, because that’s where I left my brain.
Now, I must confess, I’m a little scared of AI. So, to be safe, I used an incognito browser to search for AI generators… you know, to be sure I was anonymous.. then later on I logged in to an AI gen site with Facebook. Imma genius, haha.
Anyway, I decided to ignore that privacy breach, and risking it all, I carried on with my AI exploration. 😀
I’m currently working on my new children’s book called Norbert’s dream. So I am going to use this as a jump point for my exploration:- Snails. The book will be an AI-free experience, may I add, unless I find an AI that draws like me and I can have a holiday instead haha.
So on this project, I am both the writer ( my usual client) and the illustrator.
As the illustrator do I need to worry?
Can I get the same results without ME? Let’s see…
Playing...
Alright, gulp , this is the scary bit where I see hope coming crashing around my feet… the darkened spiral of my shredded career in tatters as the world uses AI instead of my drawings…
A little dramatic don't you think?
Is it? Wibble. Let’s hold hands as we spiral down together into the unknown future! Hmmm, who knows, maybe the robots will finally take over the world and we can all relax….ahem
OK. Let’s see. I’m using the site called GenCraft. It was one of the first that popped up and I liked the look if it. You get 10 free ‘tries’ a day without signing up to anything.
I typed in the prompt “Grumpy snail”
More like melted snail...
That’s just disturbing…haha. Ok this is actually quite theraputic so far. OK, nine tries left to generate something on my free account.. ok what now..
I typed “grumpy snail spitting out vegetables” to see how it could interpret something silly. I’m kinda hoping that AI doesn’t do silly, then I’ll be ok…
Jeex though, that made me giggle a lot. This is fun, or rather a great distraction. You really should try it.
OK. So weirdness is off the charts. I wonder what Dali and his contemporaries would think about this technology? Talking of which these guys have brought Dali back to life.
After spending 15 years in 3D animation I have to say it would take a helluva lot longer than 5 seconds to make that image traditionally. Great lighting.
Be brave, try the cartoon style...
To give AI a chance (!) I’ve now chosen the ‘cartoon’ setting, so let’s see what it’s got.
I used the prompt “snail eating vegetables”
And this is what happened…
JEEX. hahaha.
Actually, I like the colours.
Hmm, now I’m thinking about writing a book about THIS guy…Poor Snuffles the AI snail just dreamt about being normal…hahah
But seriously...
Ok this adventure is just beginning. Clearly, the tool is extraordinary in many ways. I feel after having played with it for the first time, that if I was a fantasy artist, or a video game designer I would be pretty pissed off right now as it does that stuff pretty well. And how original is this?
There are so many issues with AI...
No, I’m not just talking about the freaky finger generation thing! The biggest issue, HUGE infact, is copyright which I will cover in another episode as I am still yet to understand all the ins and outs of it, but as artists we need to.
There is a general and understandable panic from the artistic community. The panic that maybe painters felt when photography was introduced, radio DJs when TV was invented and musicians when Spotify was born. For sure some people will be outta work, but I DO think however the real artists and the ones that manage to put some real personality into their work will be safe… at least I think they are safe so far.
So right now AI is still developing. It is still possible to tell if it’s AI … but soon..?
Knowledge is power and we are most often afraid of what we don't understand.
I am hooked, however. As a naturally curious person, I must play with this shiny new toy… so I can learn how to break it... and save the world! Mwah hah ha ha See this episode to find out how.
Next time...
Next time I am going to try and push AI to do something silly and see what happens. Does it have a sense of humour?
And while we’re at it, let’s see if it can match my design skills too by feeding in some real client briefs and seeing what it produces! That could get interesting!
So let’s catch up soon, and make sure you give that lovely brain of yours a break. Try following the wonderful wisdom of our AI snail – generated using an AI poem generator…
For the snail is a poet, with its silent contemplation,
Creating beauty in motion, with no need for explanation.
So may we be inspired, by this humble snail’s grace,
To write our own stories, at our own unrushed pace.
That last line is rather ironic for AI.
To find out how I generated the poem and whether AI can write the books for you to illustrate instead see this episode. To see if AI can understand client briefs go here.
Keep it real Peeps!
Love and hugs
xx
Norbert’s mum.
