That thought occurred to me as I struggled with the incoming storm surge of yet another technical evolution. There are really no answers to all the questions. It will rain on some parades, and not on others. It’s like Alice’s deck of cards in Alice in Wonderland. It will mean to us whatever it will mean.
I used Artificial Intelligence in the process of illustrating my book, “The Crow Factory.” Here’s an example:
Looking back, as I explored a couple of the new AI art apps, I found they were a help, but not the whole package. The industry probably will arrive there—but it hasn’t yet.
To bring the desired illustrations all together, I needed to do a lot of cut-and-paste, cropping and drawing–because I wanted a specific look, specific actions, and an overall consistency of style. Fortunately, the AI that I used had a database that included my subject matter of crows and had the right atmospheric touch for my project. Eventually, I ran the results through an older computer app that gave them a cohesive, antique litho look. The biggest benefit of using AI was speed. It quickly found all the reference photos I prompted. (Work-arounds were needed on what it spat out, since it only supplied static choices, but I was pleased with the finish.)
The only thing it would not offer was a dead crow hanging from a fence post—which figured into the plot— so I had to draw my own.
