AI and Art: A Slot Machine Analogy

Being a lifetime artist, I have experience creating with traditional tools, digital, and now AI. It is really interesting to see how the creative process has evolved over time. Traditional methods require a completely different mindset. There are many levels of creation. At the entry-level, you have pencils, crayons, and chalk that you directly apply to a surface. It becomes an aim-and-shoot situation. All you have to do is choose an implement and a surface, then go for it. Often, you start with no plan; there may be reference material, or you could be staring at a blank page. The next step just happens. Spontaneity is the rule. If you are lucky, you are operating on automatic, riding the wave of creativity. You operate on unconscious confidence, basically uncovering a creation that already exists. The eraser is rarely used because mistakes are not part of the equation. Your job is to get to “The Zone”. “The Zone” is a place of joy that is hard to describe. It’s like surfing a wave. You don’t know how long the ride will be, but I’m going to enjoy it while I’m here.

Mechanical drawings, painting, and airbrushing require some planning. The artistic approach and process are determined by the intricacies of the inspiration. This can include using models, reference material, rulers and tape, a light box, frisket paper, and other traditional tools that contribute to your vision. Preparation contributes enormously to our artistic endeavors. There is usually a planning process before you lose yourself in an artistic trance. Sometimes it doesn’t work. You can plan all you want, but your rudder may change direction mid-stream. Your new direction may uncover genius; it might reveal lunacy, but overall, you are using your expressive tools in a way that should be treasured for a lifetime.?

Digital art entails learning how to be creative with pixels and vectors. The skills needed to use the Adobe Creative Suite are in no small order. Photoshop prowess takes hours and hours of experience to learn the basics. Depending on your focus, Photoshop on its own is enough to keep you busy. Effects and plugins are a whole discussion of their own. Add Illustrator; now you are using vectors. To confuse you even further, you can use Photoshop and Illustrator together. There is still another bridge to cross. Animator, Premier, and After Effects have their own disciplines; you can make things move in a thousand ways. 3D is a whole new level. Learning Maya and Blender taxes your creative brain to the point where all of your other art knowledge is put in the back seat.?

As of about a year ago, AI became the next frontier. The list of AI creative apps is exhaustive. Dall-E, Bing image creator, Midjourney, Leonardo, Craiyon, Stable Diffusion, Firefly, and more. Prompts are your way of standing out. There are so many angles that make or break your creativity. What I’ve noticed is that it makes me lazy. The quality of art made in one minute replaces hours of time crafting a difficult art piece. Heck, it even has four versions. You get to see a near-final version immediately.?

This doesn’t happen easily. It’s a lot like going to Vegas and playing slots, but with a twist. You have to give the slot machine directions before you hit the button. This is where things can go sideways. Your prompt can be sincere, detailed, and true. You can ask for a picture that contains specific needs and get back an artistic surprise, oftentimes with extra fingers. You can use ChatGPT to develop your request or learn long-winded prompts trying to coax the machine to create what you want. One thing it does is make you more flexible. “Close enough” becomes the norm. You can also take your Midjourney creation and make AI adjustments using Photoshop.

Overall, the final art that AI creates is pretty darn amazing. The images are really impressive, but what they lack is passion. The inspiration for the art piece is a prompt. The art resonates at times and truly fits the story, but it’s not the same as painting with tears in your eyes. Oftentimes, art hurts. Prompts don’t hurt. I created a nice parrot in Midjourney and animated it in After Effects. I use it as a Zoom background and get numerous compliments. I can’t take credit for the rendering; I wrote a request and it popped out a creation that could take weeks or months to create traditionally. I didn’t ache during its creation; I was more amazed. Damn, that looks sweet. That’s a lot different from “Look what I made.”

You can’t stand in the way of progress. The art process has been permanently altered. This article isn’t intended to diminish the value of AI art. It’s more about perspective, time, and incentive. If you want cool art fast, it is absolutely available. If you craft a piece and spend the time, your creation will be way different. Choosing your method has to do with your inspiration, skill level, and commitment.