Catch me if you can AI Art

An AI Art review by an artist

Nuff* said about AI replacing artists. And the fiasco about an ai app's popularity in just 5 days after its launch with an insanely large investment by a tech. giant.

So I tried a paid AI art generator that is supposed to be the most popular one as of now and this is what I got. 

What was even more interesting is big brand names invested in it. Do they want this trend to continue or do they want to do away with dealing with human employees and go all automation and robotic? Is a real question I would like to be answered in clarity. 

So to do my initial take before I feel, this ultimate wish that we humans do not have to think or be intelligent anymore, this is what I found at least after my preliminary research. 

I put a search on this app that has a base membership of $20 per month, 

“Grandparents enjoying intriguing conversations with their grand kids" and one image that came up is this....

The composition is okay BUT.......

I am elated to know that..... 💪 as an artist I can still stay in business with intelligent people who do not fall for short-cuts and hope to make good with free offers. Those who still believe that "There are no free lunches".

Following is my quick-sketch with reference to the above.... just a quick one with no detail and no frills attached typical of what any human artist would create.

 

I see that not even the basic quality is reached by this so-called AI generated App* that charges a minimum of $20 a month on their online space. That too, as we all know with each search, our very dear ideas get instantly owned by the platform. We become part of their research for them to try and replace as much as what we behave based on our discretion. It is like a vacuum-cleaner soaking up we users information 24-7. Is that cool? I leave it to your own judgement.

So the above was the AI rendition whereas below is mine. Where I had to use discretion used by my own living blessed brain. ;o)

A quick sketch made by yours truly from the sketchy AI composition. 

Can non-artists make-do and make their own art with such an app? 2023 © rembrandz.com

Is this what we call making our lives easy and replace the artists, animators, content-producers? 

At this tiny size, I give it to this App*, one can pull it off to include this App* generated art (you see in outline) for your rough communication but... 

Come on now! Let us not think that "one size fits all" and get excited or even panic depending on which side of the convo. we stand on. We can agree that it is definitely not a replacement for a human talent who has invested in their passion to serve with art for decades on end or even centuries.

If an animator uses a $ 3000 software to create perfect animation with the animator’s natural and learnt intelligence and with decades of experience and education, then someone comes with an App* one day, stating "get an animator and the software for just $67 - lifetime membership" or "come to this marketplace and get world-class animation starting from $1. Wow! that would have been so ideal!?! 

I can’t even count the number of people to have tried all that and come back to me so annoyed by the low quality, non-committal behavior with faceless art and attitude they have been put through “in their own words”. I take them in "but" with some caution because if they are folks I would want to have a long-term work rapport with I don’t want to work with folks who at a bat of an eye let go of one service and run to another like choosing a commodity product. Little do they realize that they are part of the issue and no answer to a sustainable future.

Anyway, as we are still at a nascent stage for AI art although it has been a good more than couple of years of this trend... this no doubt saves a lot of time if we use it responsibly. With this, people are making good of the opportunity including me (without being cut-throat and being an opportunist and not being inclusive and use it fairly). 

Although by popular belief, it is said by thought-leaders that this technology should improve in a couple of years. I question is... and I can't get rid of the thought the longer I keep wondering.... "will it?" 

When ChatGPT is trying to replace even developers. The very developers who I dreaded writing codes to replace we artists! I would ask these developers, what will happen to you? If you give up the privilege!? Over the years since the 80s, as luck would have it for me I had opportunities to be a full-time entrepreneur, a full-time developer. But as an artist I could see from both sides to judge and use fair-play from all sides. So those developers and techies who want to live in the world of automation. This is my big question. :o)) Will AI replace these developers?

I believe faceless services can certainly be replaced. You may see my point after you read the following.

In a popular podcast someone asked Neil deGrasse Tyson “is he worried about AI replacing him?” and his prompt answer was “no”. 

Because AI maybe able to replace whatever he does but can never replace “Him”. He pulled out the example of the “Starry Night” a rendition of the 19th century Dutch Painter “Vincent Van Gogh*" Tyson being his ardent fan. He said AI maybe able to replicate Van Gogh’s style but without a Van Gogh where would that style have come from and so AI can never be a Van Gogh.

Another thing I noticed and feel it is important to mention and remind everyone who are going all gaga* over AI tech. is that these Apps* are not human organic creatures. Don’t get me wrong, although I am also excited that such apps are cutting down my work man-hours a lot, I don't want to forget that the usage of these tools are only limited to we human's own limitation and will not be the same between two different human beings. While these are robots (bots*) programmed by human beings like you and me from various ethnicities, race, creed, gender, region, culture, sentiments, mindsets, political leanings, various mental dispositions, woke* culture and are only limited to the humanness of the developers of these Apps*.

Check out the following for instance:

I searched for “ Smart cute girl doing sports”. Check out what result I got on the AI Art Generator while in my mind I was wanting cute girls like this….

But NO….this is what I got. Very basic and just not what I would have liked to see, it seems like the App* looked at addressing only a single set of viewers imaging cute girls to be looking like the below. 😩. Quite frustrating even on the first try.

On the AI Art Generator I did a search “ Smart cute girl doing sports”

I opine that this could only mean that there has been insufficient research that has gone into the making of these apps*…the developers have not given exhaustive parameters enough for the app* to generate, by addressing different permutations. But only it has obviously given us a generic stereotypical result.  Seeing such a huge gap only made me pleasantly surprised. Here lay my opportunity to think that my art career-passion and investment since the past 3 decades are still relevant. 

The missing answers mean, human imagination is still relevant and proportionately depends on how many more billions are pumped into this. 

This makes me think with concern, if this is not going to get humanity out of hardship, when billions of beings are suffering bare existence on this universe while we sit back and experience this privilege.  Are these AI innovation investments actually helping humanity. 

Where AI Art works for me:

Whereas, I found generic searches on these apps* are more to the point but quality and detail has still a long way to go except if we indicate specifically for example - impressionism or abstract feel, that could be used as is because of the nice color harmony AI generates. 

(Note: The scope of my discussion here is only art.)

So guess I have another couple of years to dabble as a normal real artist before AI catches up with me. 💪 

Hopefully by then, I will have moved to another level as an artist.

All said and done I am very excited at this new revelation in the whole equation of the world order in art, that is changing the way we live lives in so many levels.

Happy 2023 again!!! Looking forward to an even more innovative one for we users of technology.

Nuff* slang A phrase used to underscore or conclude one's argument about someone or something. "Nuff" is a colloquial shortening of "enough." Hollywood as an industry is totally out of ideas. Look at the huge amount of remakes and reboots coming out each year—nuff said.

App* COMPUTING

an application, especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device.

"I've just installed the app on my phone"

* Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history

Gaga* very enthusiastic and excited about someone or something. Example "moviegoers went gaga over Harry Potter"

Bot* an autonomous program on the internet or another network that can interact with systems or users.

Woke*  (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination".

How to get a professional logo designer - work on your much-needed company logo

    

 Types of Logo Designers

1. High-end 
2. Mid-level cutting corners to serve to let more Small and Medium Enterprises afford quality Logo Designers
3. Low-end - Printing press Designers, online marketplaces etc.

1.) High-end and Mid-level providers usually offer the same quality and are usually equally experienced.

High-end designers are given high budget to deliver high quality work at the quickest time with 3 options at least at a time the client requests for.

2.) Mid-level providers: if they lower the rates that means they accommodate small entrepreneurs to get good quality work.But at a longer time duration, and with extreme etiquette and protocol to follow through and interact with each other with personal attention. So, In return they expect accommodative, low pressure and ethical behavior for the favor these high-end design houses provide you the client.

3.) Low-end designers are the least reliable because their over-heads are very small to none and it is ok for the small entrepreneur to be over-vigilant, working with this category of designers who may have 

1. Come up the ranks without education, 
2. Without proper experience and 
3. Without exposure and work ethics and 
4. And may also not be reliable and not well-rounded because their only purpose is delivering design like a commodity and object or cheap mass produced item. 

When an item is delivered, mass-produced just as there are many manufacturing defects because of no personalized production methods, we get cheap stuff from cheap companies who may not even be having a recognized license. For example, either a visiting designer who does not have a license to work in the UAE or who works online-meaning they do not have any license except a free registration on the various marketplaces for instance, not costing them anything.

This crop of designers cannot be compared to the real life Designers offering personalized service.

Most/all professional real branding designers ask for a 50% advance. Whereas online marketplaces becoming popular because of the low price factor, do not require the client to pay a 50% advance to go to the designer, instead they have an Esgrow account. The designers here are quite unsure of how the job online may turn out and sadly work with some suspicion of the situation whether this amount in the Esgrow account will come to them or not (work with real questions whether the client may cancel midway, what if they do then they go through the hassle of filing a dispute which in case may result in them getting the advance or not. In most-likely situations the designer does not get the money that was locked up in an Esgrow account while they started work. So there is always a designer working with suspicion of this system. In some cases we find the freelancer has disappeared with a no-show on a delivery date. I have experienced this sitting in both sides as a designer and a client. And so the client also has a good reason to stay / work with a certain amount of suspicion. 

Sadly many times, jobs here turn out shaudy because designers are cutting down quality, support because they can't afford to offer perfect service when they are not paid commensurate to the job. Working online or getting to know someone online (basically with a faceless account) has it’s big drawbacks. Although in rare cases, if managed well or out of sheer luck, good jobs have come to be. Such design-services and real life designers cannot be gauged side-by-side with online providers under the same umbrella of expertise and know-how and work ethics. There is always value in a one-to-one personal interaction and High-end and Mid-range providers have to be recognized accordingly and treated as such, above cheap and bad work for the passion and care they offer among good design delivery and proven real-life records.

Benefits:

1. The protocol is have a contract (through direct payment) between you and the artist.
2. Choosing (1) or (2) is a sure way for a unique design, personalized.
3. After the payment 50% advance you set the time for the first draft. 
4. Provide all the supporting material. Exhaustive info to help the design team to come up with a design proposal for the logo.
5. The artist may give 2 or 3 options or just one based on your agreement and the value of the project.
6. Look at the explanation on the supporting research material.

Problems may arise if:

1. If you are not convinced by the design this is your opportunity to make changes based on what is provided to you. 
2. If you find it is completely off-track. List down specific points why and check if you have given enough reference to the creative team to help them with the research into your expertise and field. 
3. If you have failed to already give it, then it is your call to make amends and provide more information at your expense because if you did not get what you looked for 
4. or don’t know what you are looking for, chances are that the designers will not be able to provide you an agreeable logo.

What you can do to resolve any issue:

1. And they just can’t keep churning out designs after designs with no clue. That is wasting either party’s time. Because the artists are designers and if you have asked and settled with the lowest value affordable to you, the artists will be there only to design for you and you have to be providing them with all research material in your field of expertise.
2. Remember that the artist is not an expert in your field and they don’t have the ability to research beyond being the color and compositing masters to create that unique logo for you with the knowledge you provide them about the business and market.
3. If you need their expanded expertise, you will have to keep in mind that you should be able to extend a larger budget for the creative team to bring in branding and communication consultants beyond pure design.