I am an artist w/ over 17 years of experience in digital spaces. I stumbled upon AI art and have thoughts.

I never thought I'd say this but as a professional digital illustrator, I think AI is going to be an asset to my craft, not a hindrance. I've tried a number of different tools and I can say some of the output is stunning. I've finally made a piece I like and because I'm excited about the tech, I want to share it here. I've shared a lot of my process and I'm going to go over some of my thoughts on the tech. I'll also explain how I made it in case you're interested.<br><br>I made this piece using Midjourney on Discord. it's an AI that uses very simple text prompts to generate images. I've found it will run more consistently if you only use very short phrases like "sunset over the ocean" or "deer crossing". I've had success with more complex prompts, but you have to be more specific and will run into more errors.<br><br>I started at a high level of abstraction. I figure the AI is more likely to understand what I mean if I ask for a "forest" and then for "a light wind rustling the leaves" as opposed to "a specific type of tree swaying at a certain speed". I can also ask for more over time. If you look at the album, I started with just a generic forest and then got more specific with the requests. I made a mistake w/ the beach scene by asking it to make it at dusk instead of just having the previous scene at dusk. As you can see, it turns orange. I could have gone back to a previous scene and tried again, but I didn't. I just rolled w/ it bc I was excited to make the piece. I've made a lot of it at this point and I'm more confident I can make the images I want.<br><br>I also learned at a certain point, you have to stop relying on the prompt, you have to rely on the generation feature. it's not perfect, but I've found if I ask the AI to make 8 different versions of something, I can get more of what I'm looking for. You won't always get 8 different images, sometimes it'll repeat certain elements (like a beach scene, for example). Sometimes it will produce a completely different thing from what it had been producing before, so I have to go back to the chain. You just have to be patient.<br><br>I did heavily modify the images. I opened them all in PS and composited them together. You can't expect the AI to produce an image ready for publication. It just won't get everything right. I waded through over 100 images to get to the piece I wanted. I didn't need to wade through 103 images to get a beach scene from AI, I waded through more than 103 images when I took a photo of a beach and had to edit it.<br><br>I don't think AI will replace me as an artist. it's a tool and if I use it well, I can produce wonderful pieces. This is the first one I'm proud of (and made specifically for the piece I'm working on) so I'm excited to see what else I can do here. I'm also happy I get to go into PS and get to do the composition and the end edits. I like using the tools available within PS to make the images.<br><br>I still have a lot to work on in terms of using this tool. I've spent a good deal of my free time messing around with it. I'm planning on using it w/ some of my commission work because I think it will allow me to be more efficient. I just have to wade through more pieces. And honestly, if they wants to make a beach scene and I have to wade through 103 pieces, I'd rather wade through AI images than spend hours wading through my own attempts at spaces. This is where I think the big misconception comes in. Many artists are so afraid of it that they think we'll all be put out of work. I think w/ some patience, it will be a much more efficient tool than trying to draw and repaint and draw and repaint.<br><br>I'd say w/ everything considered it's at least taken me 4-5 hours of time over the last few days to get this far. it's pretty heavily edited. I did a lot of color correcting and I made a lot of little composition choices that end up adding up. I've also been teaching myself how to use it, so it takes longer now than it will in the future.<br><br>I have a lot of thoughts on AI, but I think the most sinister part of the tech is the people trying to get artists to fight it. I've seen so many people try to get artists to make content that's anti AI. I've seen people saying they won't pay for an AI generated image and then saying w/ the same breath they don't care about paying for art. I've seen people saying artists are lazy for using AI. I don't think art will be a thing of the past. it's just going to be a new tool. <br><br>I have a lot of thoughts on the tech. there's a lot of misinformation going around and I'm glad I can say I have hands on experience bc I think it's going to make a lot of art.