At school, I was so bad at art, that in a violently misguided attempt to distract my art teacher’s attention away from my latest masterpiece (Nuclear Explosion Over The Harbour) I jabbed him in the leg with a compass! Huge apologies, Mr Buckley.
Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot of hugely talented photographers, illustrators and graphic artists, and their ability to interpret my appalling scribbles and create something wonderful has never ceased to amaze me. But I still wish I could do it myself, sometimes, just a little.
Enter AI. Whilst ChatGPT and other text-based AI technologies are both disruptive and useful (interpreting impenetrable client briefs, re-ordering my shopping list in aisle-order and writing facetious replies to anodyne in-bound sales enquiries on LinkedIn), I’m talking pretty pictures here…
Side By Side
Over the past few months, I’ve ‘wasted’ countless hours playing with visual generative AI tools like MidJourney and Firefly, creating some awesome mind-blowing images – visual inspiration during brand development, image placeholders for web designs and more.
The branding image above was created by us to show the possibilities of the new branding we created for our client, Side By Side. It took 5 minutes. 10 years ago, an image like this might have taken 2 weeks, and involved a top-class still life photographer, assistant and retoucher at a likely cost north of £5000.
Quite frankly, it’s a revelation – at last, after years of personal frustration, I can now create virtually any image I can imagine – and that’s really quite moving.
Using tools like RunWay, you can easily make these imaginary scenes (like the simple headshot I created, above) that bring static images to life – mind-blowing, at least to 13 year-old me!
My experiments are a bit more Harry Potter than Fritz Lang for now, but heh!
Now we’re talking!
Others have pushed the available tools much more. Put AI tools in the hands of real film-makers and animators, and the results are just incredible.
One of the best examples I’ve seen is this wonderful 30-second film for Adidas, created by filmmaker Dave Clark, who made this film ‘in his lunch break’!!
It’s unofficial, but heh, it’s still a work of a creative genius who’s clearly mastered the power of AI already. The music track: Take Off Everything (Kendrick x Radiohead) is a belter, and shows how a good choice of track and tight editing are such crucial parts of any video/film, it just works so well, and all visuals were created, not filmed.
And this was made a year ago – he’s doing even more amazing things today, you should check him out…
Adidas AI – Dave Clark
I’m well aware of the issues surrounding the use of AI for many of us, but as a long-term early adopter of new technology, I am here to embrace and wrestle with it, to prove my worth with mastery of it, and ultimately, add it to my increasingly large tool belt.
Who’s with me…??
More
Dave Clark
Adobe Firefly
Runway
Related thoughts
Things aren’t always what they seem
I'm not sure if there's a Japanese word for that (there should be) but I am consistently drawn to any design, product or work of art that takes a different view...
Typography matters…
Sometimes (always) small details are important – an anonymous support group for the families of those affected by Artificial Intelligence, already??