+ Illustration + AI + Technology Art direction vs artificial intelligence: A helpful tool or an added hassle? AI-powered text-to-image tools are presenting a moral quandary in terms of creative ethics. But is there a way to use such tools while -- + Illustration + AI + Technology -- In this third article of Shades of Intelligence, a new series investigating artificial intelligence and the creative industry, we look at how machine learning might reshape the research stage of a -- know. This article investigates the visual research stage of a project, from moodboarding to art direction. For further investigations into AI and the creative process, head here. As things stand presently with artificial intelligence, it’s fair to say that most creatives have taken a few cautious initial steps into using machine learning. As our survey results suggest, 83% of creatives have already used AI tools, but wariness increases when the possibility of using these tools to actually create imagery comes to the fore. -- the alias Infinite Vibes. Originally a sound designer, the artist was initially attracted to AI as it offered a playground “ripe for experimentation,” as he describes it. A little over two years ago, a friend recommended a very early iteration of a Google Colab AI notebook – where users can write code in a browser format – and Dom, being “a bit obsessive by nature,” was hooked. Since that fateful day in June 2021, he can count on one hand the days he hasn’t opened an AI tool or programme. He’s also busier than ever. “I’ve been freelance for almost -- of colourists and cinematographers. Given his deep understanding of AI’s capabilities, he can also create work fully on his own, and in a style he has taken the time to develop – an approach that is mindful in respect to other artists when it comes to moodboarding, but remains open-minded to AI-generated possibilities. “Art has been my life, for my entire life. I have a lot of sympathy and compassion for traditional -- modern artists. I am very careful about that and put a lot into work that’s not AI.” In short, the work of Infinite Vibes is, he says, “augmented by AI, rather than being dreamt up by it.” A recent example is Infinite Vibes’ music video for Jessy Lanza, I Hate Myself, created entirely by Dom and 15 separate AI tools. A dreamscape of images of Jessy presented as a variety of artworks, I Hate Myself -- The initial visualisation of these ideas will be created by Dom, usually in Blender, but then fed into AI tools for expansion. In this case, that first step began with the idea of a model of Jessy. To make -- extend these to the 16:9 ratio needed for a music video, using Photoshop’s Generative Fill tool. To give the AI Jessy Lanza the ability to sing, Jessy sent Dom an acapella version of the song to be used in another AI tool called SadTalker, which Dom used to make Jessy’s mouth and face move in sync with the song. -- Warp Fusion, which specialises in taking in video files so Dom can augment his animations with AI generation. Stable Diffusion can also be run locally on your own computer and, as it’s open source, “there’s a -- “optical flow” to keep the finished product coherent. “The issue with AI animation is if you’re feeding frames through, it will see every frame as a new image, applying a new diffusion over the top. You then -- and references still lead the work. As you can see in his lengthy process, AI doesn’tautomate his creativity, a process which still needs clarification from those who commission him: “Clients still don’t know -- like I’m filling in the blocks a computer came up with,” he says, referring to his aversion to using AI for idea generation. “Yes, it’s useful for corporate work when you need something that’s good enough -- perspective – I have no interest in manually colouring in the book an AI has come up with. Why bother doing it at all?” -- illustration – who references their own catalogue of work to expand with AI. Based in Buenos Aires, Seba, on the surface, is a traditional 2D illustrator with an enviable list of sought-after clients, from The -- linework and colour palette, many of Seba’s newer, fascinatingly constructed environments, are thanks to AI. -- peers. Respondents from the field of illustration were the least likely to have used AI in their practice, and were also the discipline most worried about AI’s impact on employment: 71% of illustrators stated they were concerned about how AI will affect their jobs, in comparison to 37% of all other respondents. Such concern is of course justified, -- honesty and transparency should be a given in our industry (whether you’re using an AI tool or not). However, until potential regulations are in place, one way to gain a better grasp on AI’s impact on illustration is to experiment, as Seba has. -- images,” he says. “If I feel there is more to explore, I request additional options from the AI.” Then, he’ll take matters back into his own hands, opening Illustrator and vectorising the result and editing -- as an input to which I add prompts (text) to help generate a new image,” the illustrator explains. “The AI takes that information and returns a set of four images based on it, which sometimes align with my -- most of the whole process,” he says, “the search for something new and unusual.” In short: “AI empowers me to extend the visual narrative of my artworks.” -- intelligence”, when it comes to artists’ work being used in wider data sets. Interestingly, Seba’s AI experiments are also continuously well received amongst his community online. Much of this respect seems to be the result of Seba outwardly demonstrating his process, posting the original, the failures and the final AI-collaborated piece together. “I believe that showing the visual progression of a work from conception to completion can inspire curiosity and value,” he says. “In addition, my approach to AI focuses on free exploration… This constant search for innovation and authenticity is what can help create a connection with -- much of his work will be in tandem with an art director’s brief, the illustrator states how integrating AI into this back and forth could be viewed “as a positive thing,” he says. “I think it opens a door to a closer collaboration between [illustrators and art directors].” For example, Seba recently collaborated with fellow AI-inquisitive artists to generate prompts separately “and, once we had the images we liked, -- approach could be applied with an art director who set out to work with AI. We could each bring our perspective to the table and, from there, we would begin to generate images that would gradually approach a final -- Outside implementing AI as part of the dialogue between art director and commissioned artist, there are of course agencies developing -- Wagner’s Ring, Base pitched the idea of leaving artwork generation in the hands of AI – a concept loved by the designers creating the work, and the opera house itself. -- Not only offering a conceptual nod to La Monnaie’s programming, using AI in such a large campaign seemingly offered Base the opportunity to create a boundary-pushing, experiential identity system. Not to mention -- team member recalls a distinctive level of excitement towards the use of AI, sentimentally likening it to the same feeling they had as students. “It was so fun,” says design director Aurore plainly. “We -- into still images” through animation, also working with Tokkin Heads, “an AI that generates characters and the facial features to apply a templated animation, or just record with your webcam to create an -- framing interpolation, which generates in-between frames for a type-to-image transition. The final AI tool the team employed was Upscayl, used to upscale every image generated to principal resolution. -- Although these steps appear simple when noted down, the actual process of working with AI in a design context wasn’t without its challenges. Firstly, the imagery generated by Dall-E tested the creative limits of -- culture of content. We understood that we were still needed, which is the whole question around AI.” Like Seba’s communication approach, since completing the La Monnaie project Base has been extremely open, and proud, of this use case of AI as art direction and design. As pointed out by Manon: “It’s our duty to -- Arguably this is due to the fact that AI was only implemented due to its relevance for the overall theme of the opera season at hand, rather than “an excuse not to work, or have AI as a buzzword,” says Bruce. “On this project I received a lot of questions about whether AI is going to replace our jobs. In our personal experience, I think in many ways it can. But that’s more of a choice than an actual fate you have to accept. There are a few agencies working towards owning AI as their unique selling point, but I’m not sure whether that’s the strongest way -- will take our jobs.” Interestingly, since completing the project Base hasn’t used AI tools to this extent again, because, with this experience in mind, the concept hasn’t called for it. Within the context of using AI tools creatively, the moodboarding, commissioning and art direction steps discussed here are arguably the -- we’ve been careful to collaborate with individuals whose use cases of AI mirror our own sentiment, particularly in how they treat data sets that include other artists’ work. -- example, earlier in 2023, a group of artists filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt for copyright infringement on their outputs – a case later dismissed. There is also currently little -- Dounia Rebeiz. Although the project cases referenced here voice the positives and negatives of using AI tools at these specific steps, we do advise that text-to-image technologies are used diligently by the -- Shades of Intelligence: 83% of creatives are already using machine learning tools – is now the time to get on side with AI? -- Can AI help you win your next brief? -- Will AI mean that creative directors get stuck in an “echo chamber” of design? -- Stable Diffusion: Stable Diffusion is an open-source, text-to-image model developed by Stability AI. Using text prompts it can create lifelike, detailed imagery which, while potentially useful, has raised -- or removing content. As part of the Adobe suite, it’s arguably the most widespread visual AI tool currently available. -- open-source family, Warp Fusion can be used to create moving image visuals using artificial intelligence to turn video into animation. Animate Diff: Animate Diff is a further AI video generator which can create animate text-to-image prompts. Unlike other tools, it doesn’t -- Midjourney: Midjourney is another available AI tool which can create text-to-image generations from inputted prompts. It is currently -- Dall-E: Developed by OpenAI, Dall-E is a further text-to-image AI tool currently available. Users can create new imagery from prompts or