MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski has discovered the art AI Midjourney for herself and finds a place of relaxation here.
Do you remember that girl who used to sit at the back of the window at school and scribble something in her exercise book? I was that girl. Every day without exception I picked up the pencils, almost pressed my nose to the piece of paper and drew.
Those days are over.
At some point this adulthood came and now I have to save my time, but above all energy. Painting and drawing are crafts that require constant practice. When I sit down and draw, the frustration is insane because I’m not up to the level I was 10 years ago. Rusted out.
Then I discovered Midjourney.
Midjourney as a playground for your own imagination
Midjourney’s artificial intelligence generates images by typing text commands into a Discord bot.
All of the images you see in this article were created using AI.
Within a few seconds, Midjourney spits out different variations of pictures that I give her as a commission. While my hands and craft are rusty, my imagination is not.
Every day images bubble through my head that I don’t want to forget.
When I have a busy day, letting my imagination run wild with Midjourney is pure meditation for me.
But don’t think that the AI will do what you want it to do. It is the rarest case that Midjourney implements an image exactly as I had imagined. In general, it takes a lot of practice to be able to use the text commands in such a way that you get a result that you can do something with.
The more understanding you have of imagery and the technology behind images, the better your results will be. People who have learned the craft of image composition have an advantage when using AI.
Midjourney once asked me to create a dancer in a green dress. In my description, I attached great importance to the dress and how the dancer should move.
But the AI has a mind of its own and found that the dress alone was actually enough.
AI decried as the death of art
Art AIs such as Midjourney or DAL-E are the subject of controversial discussion. There was a lot of criticism when someone won an art competition with an image made by an AI.
In fact, these AIs are going to have a big impact on us. People who earn their money by creating artworks fear for their jobs. Midjourney could even radically change how games are made.
A very big point of criticism is how the AI creates its images. Midjourney scours the internet for images that the AI finds that match the commands. This is what creates the images.
A text command that can be given to the AI is to orientate itself towards a specific artist. So I played around with it and had pictures made in the style of the famous surrealist Salvador Dalí.
I can understand why it makes creators grumpy when the AI wins art competitions and can also mimic styles from different artists.
And yes, it is quite realistic that AIs will reduce at least some of the artistic jobs. That’s what new technologies do. Since the electric street lamp, there is no longer a need for someone to light the lantern in the evening.
I once had a terrific art mentor who taught me the saying, “Art comes from claws” and there’s a lot of truth in that.
Because using references and looking at what others are doing has always been normal in creative craftsmanship. It never needed an AI for that. You learn from people you like, draw their pictures and at some point make something of your own out of them.
Those who directly demonize new technologies will be left behind over time anyway. I’ve already spoken to various artists who use Midjourney as a source of inspiration. They create their own references with the AI and bring them to the screen or further process the images digitally.
When the first digital artists were out and about with their iPads and Photoshop, there were already the same debates. That’s not art and spoils the craft!
Happiness in art, no matter how it came about
One thing is certain: artificial intelligence is unstoppable and is getting smarter all the time. At the moment we are not yet ready for them to completely replace the heads behind the images or texts.
The machine still needs to be fed and it’s not perfect yet. I’ve always found my happiness in art, be it text, images or video games.
For me, the focus is on art doing something inside me. And I’ve certainly seen some AI-generated images that touched me.
That is the definition of art for me and always will be.