In the introduction to this 'AI and Creatives' series, I spoke about learning more about how AI will impact the creative industry and how we - as creatives - can find a solution to feel a bit more in control about the whole situation. This time I'm looking into how AI can be used as a tool in creating art work.
Speeding up the monotonous tasks
When I'm writing these blog posts out to you, there are a few shiny little AI assist buttons at every step on my website. AI can help from choosing SEO (search engine optimisation) keywords to writing all of the content for the blog post.
Even though I could save myself a load of time and click the button to make AI do everything for me, there's nothing much in that for me. I wouldn't learn anything by letting the computer write my work for me and I wouldn't feel any emotion reading it back - I just wouldn't connect with it as a piece of work and neither would you.
However... if AI can do a better job of choosing the right keywords to help others to find my website then crack on! I see that as a worthwhile use of AI, to save my time to do a task thats straight to the point and requires little creativity and connection from either of us.
How AI can make light work of 'art'
Adobe Photoshop has a new feature on it where you can simply type in a few prompts and voila! You’ve made a piece of ‘art’! easy peasy. If you’re not an artist and you’re in the mood for something new on your walls, brilliant, bang in a few keywords, click the ‘generate’ button and you’ve saved yourself hours of trailing around Etsy and print fairs. (Please don't ask me who owns the rights to these AI generated images - I've no idea how that works).
On the other hand, if you are a creative person reading this, it is a bit scary that ‘art’ can be made so quickly, easily and cheaply. It appears that our industry is at risk and that we’ll be replaced before we can get over our fear of the white page.Â
Having a play with some prompts on Photoshop to see what it would come up with,
I typed in the monthly prompts that I share on my newsletter to see what it would produce.Â
The result is that it certainly makes something but I definitely don't feel a connection to it and I wouldn't know where the rules stand on using or crediting this 'art work'.
As artists, how can we benefit from this new AI tool?
Can we train it to know what we like and to come up with some starting points for us to work on?Can we make it produce some prompts that will get our brains into gear? Can we choose how we use it to streamline processes?
Will it make us lazy?
Will we discover a way to make AI work for us and just get lazy with our ideas? What's the point in working hard when something else will do it all for you? Will we just get to the 'right answer' quicker and not learn any important lessons or skills along the way? I'm sure we'll see how this plays out over the next few years!
So Now What?
My ideas for this situation might change over the next few years but as it stands, in 2025 I believe that if we are conscious about our use of AI, we can keep our control over it and stop it from running away with our creativity.
AI is there to use (or not use) as a new tool. If you don't want to use it, you don't have to. You'll never loose anything by continuing to learn, develop your own skill set and being aware of what's new around you.
Using AI is a bit like using the internet, it can help with some aspects of a project but ultimately, the project needs your hand stamp, your cabinet of curiosities and your personality woven into it.
Next time I'm talking more about personalityless content and how important it is to connect with what we're consuming.
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If you have any comments on AI as a tool or personalityless content, please do drop your ideas into the comments box!
The Artificial Intelligence spaceship has crash landed. Having travelled from it's far away futuristic planet, it's here to shake things up and it's here to stay. Continuing to make an impact on every industry, it feels like we're stood to one side, watching and waiting to see how this will impact us. (That's my very dramatic take on it anyway).
As I sat down to write this post, there's a shiny 'AI-suggested post topics' button winking at me from my blog page. One click of that little icon and the whole blog post will simply write itself. Easy peasy. I could click on that and go and do something more meaningful like cleaning the bathroom or pairing my socks. So why am I still here typing??
After having reached out to the lovely folk who read my monthly newsletters, I got a lot of feedback that they're worried about how AI will impact the creative industry. I initially started writing this post to calm nerves and ease worries but actually, this topic is much deeper than just the surface level panic. Over the next few blog posts I'm going to have a look at different ways that Artificial Intelligence is having an impact in the creative world in particular and if there's anything we, as creative people can do to feel a bit more in control.
I've taken part in digital detoxing and moving away from many aspects of social media (I'm still partially living under a rock) and I'm fascinated by it all, dipping my toes in from a safe distance. How do you feel about it?
If you work outside of the creative industry I'd love to hear your thoughts on AI and how it's impacting your work. If you're in the creative industry I'd love to hear your burning questions and opinions on this AI topic.
Updated: Jan 31
For me, 2024 was full of some beautiful and precious moments. I watched friends get married, welcomed new additions into the world, explored the Peak District in all weathers whilst making new friends and very proudly claimed the title of 'Aunty Moll' as my little nephew arrived.
In 2022 when I was reflecting on the previous 12 months, I decided that I wanted more drawing in my life and less scrolling on social media. That's the moment I started a drawing journal and I've kept it up since. I wanted to capture the mundane or massive parts of my day and develop my drawing skills as I went along.
It's not a Pinterest perfect journal by any means, I've missed days, I've done a half-arsed effort of some pages and used the complete wrong materials for the paper weight. It's all part of a learning experience with nice memories tied up in it.
Looking back over the 5 sketchbooks I've now filled, it's easy to see little bits of growth that I might not have noticed so much day to day. Each drawing of myself, my hair gets a little bit longer, every drawing of my close friend, she recovers a bit more from a serious illness and my little nephew grows a little big bigger (and cuter).
I've chosen 12 pages to share with you from 2024, big and small moments.
Putting this post together to share with you, I've realised that there is more cohesion to the drawings than I originally thought. I could go back into any of them and add a bit more, edit some bits, add colour etc but I quite like how they are just all starting points with the potential to be developed. I'll leave them alone for now.
It could've been easy to just dump the photo versions of these moments onto Instagram and that would've created a very different looking year. I've put a bit more effort into this diary for myself and it's far more precious to me to enjoy an hour or so looking back at the drawings and enjoying this whole body of work instead.
Did you find a way to capture your year in a creative way? Are you planing on capturing your 2025 in a new light? Photography? Videography? Drawing? Audio?
I've written a post here about starting your own Drawing Journal, my biggest tip about persevering with it is to try and identify what might not be working for you and how to change that so that it works better for you.
Drop me a note in the comments if you decide to take on the challenge! I'd love to hear about what you're making
