I've been using google images for years this way: I write the text description of my characters in the manuscript, then copy/ paste it to images. I've gotten a LOT of my character pix that way. I'm excited to try a whole new way to get the images that are 'my' characters!
It's good to continue hiring real artists for books, too, though -- AI is also being used to replace writers, so right now might be a good time for the creative community to stick together and support each other.
Thanks for the Midjourney tour! I didn’t know that you can’t solely own a Midjourney piece. I can imagine some interesting court cases in the future. (Or maybe I should have Midjourney imagine them for me!)
thanks so much for this and for your enthusiasm. I still can't get my mind wrapped around the concept of using bots to create art. My son, creative director for a large company you've heard of, says I'm being to anal about it that, in fact, a lot of artists and graphic designers are using it and it's another "tool." Still weird, though. And all I can think of is how I feel about writing bots.
Anyways, thanks for your post. Really appreciate it.
Thanks for this great guide! I’ve been curious about experimenting with Midjourney for a while now, but I wasn’t really sure how it worked or even where to get started.
The images you were able to create look cool and this seems like it could be a really great tool for writers. (I definitely have a bunch of photos meant to represent characters and landscapes in my story, but they’re not perfect.)
I’m a little leery about making and using artwork I don’t have exclusive rights to, but that’s maybe something that can be dealt with by combining images in photoshop, etc. I’m curious about the specifics.
And of course as a traditional artist, I cringe at the idea that people will replace “real” art and artists with this. Obviously it’s easier and cheaper to let an AI churn out hundreds of custom images in the time it would take to commission an expensive piece from an artist. But artists don’t paint what they see, they paint what they feel. No computer will ever be able to replace that.
As an artist I’m on the fence about it. Yes, for non-artists it’s a great resource much like Google Images, Pinterest, or Instagram, but I worry. Already an artist’s time and resources are ignored when a customer looks at the price of an original piece. We frequently are lectured that we overprice our work when many of us are charging less than if we paid ourselves minimum wage for the time we put in. What will happen when anyone can produce such images with just a handful of keywords? Will this eventually be seen as equivalent to a painting that took an artist weeks to create and required years of practice to get to that level?
I am absolutely against this sort of stuff. I think it's reprehensible, and as someone who does my own illustrations for my novel on Substack, it feels like I'm being assaulted. This is very wrong as it will be wrong when (and it's probably already happened) someone uses AI to write the novel/short story and then proceeds to use AI to make pictures to go with it. Do you consider it a good thing for artists are replaced by machines? All I have is my talent, my intelligence and my hard work. Please do not use a computer to replace what nature graced me with and what I strive for.
I love this!
I've been using google images for years this way: I write the text description of my characters in the manuscript, then copy/ paste it to images. I've gotten a LOT of my character pix that way. I'm excited to try a whole new way to get the images that are 'my' characters!
It's good to continue hiring real artists for books, too, though -- AI is also being used to replace writers, so right now might be a good time for the creative community to stick together and support each other.
Midjourney is an amazing tool for fiction writers.
Great, easy to grok overview. I will be sharing this with more than a few folks!
Thanks for the Midjourney tour! I didn’t know that you can’t solely own a Midjourney piece. I can imagine some interesting court cases in the future. (Or maybe I should have Midjourney imagine them for me!)
thanks so much for this and for your enthusiasm. I still can't get my mind wrapped around the concept of using bots to create art. My son, creative director for a large company you've heard of, says I'm being to anal about it that, in fact, a lot of artists and graphic designers are using it and it's another "tool." Still weird, though. And all I can think of is how I feel about writing bots.
Anyways, thanks for your post. Really appreciate it.
You sure have intrigued me, Jackie—this I soooo cool! Thanks for sharing with us!
Mind blown.
Thanks for this great guide! I’ve been curious about experimenting with Midjourney for a while now, but I wasn’t really sure how it worked or even where to get started.
The images you were able to create look cool and this seems like it could be a really great tool for writers. (I definitely have a bunch of photos meant to represent characters and landscapes in my story, but they’re not perfect.)
I’m a little leery about making and using artwork I don’t have exclusive rights to, but that’s maybe something that can be dealt with by combining images in photoshop, etc. I’m curious about the specifics.
And of course as a traditional artist, I cringe at the idea that people will replace “real” art and artists with this. Obviously it’s easier and cheaper to let an AI churn out hundreds of custom images in the time it would take to commission an expensive piece from an artist. But artists don’t paint what they see, they paint what they feel. No computer will ever be able to replace that.
Those are some pretty cool characters that you created. I might have to try that program out. Thank you for sharing.
As an artist I’m on the fence about it. Yes, for non-artists it’s a great resource much like Google Images, Pinterest, or Instagram, but I worry. Already an artist’s time and resources are ignored when a customer looks at the price of an original piece. We frequently are lectured that we overprice our work when many of us are charging less than if we paid ourselves minimum wage for the time we put in. What will happen when anyone can produce such images with just a handful of keywords? Will this eventually be seen as equivalent to a painting that took an artist weeks to create and required years of practice to get to that level?
I am absolutely against this sort of stuff. I think it's reprehensible, and as someone who does my own illustrations for my novel on Substack, it feels like I'm being assaulted. This is very wrong as it will be wrong when (and it's probably already happened) someone uses AI to write the novel/short story and then proceeds to use AI to make pictures to go with it. Do you consider it a good thing for artists are replaced by machines? All I have is my talent, my intelligence and my hard work. Please do not use a computer to replace what nature graced me with and what I strive for.
Been fooling around with another AI for images/- wonder. Love ❤️