Midjourney - a new creative approach

... Pictures with a convincingly photographic quality can sprout from concise prompts, just like a short poem may conjure up a whole world. With AI collecting more and more passengers along the way she regards it as possibly the first mass transit to art. Rather than to fear its consequences she believes we should embrace AI as bringing about a much needed change to the world of art and entertainment.

However, when looking at the results of Mynxii’s  stunning journey into AI you might have fun looking out for some hilarious flaws. Far from being caused by a lack of experience using the system these just reflect the state of the art in generative AI. In fact much the same mistakes are made by nearly all those systems in their current incarnations, despite having been developed independently.


Interview
 
Mynxii, After Hours seems to be something totally different from what we have been seeing from you so far. I understand that it is your first expedition into AI? 
 
Yes indeed. I had been ill recently and while being forced to stay home I took the opportunity to have a look into it. I’m actually just now discovering how to make AI work myself. I have no idea how to really expand on this and its true form. There is so much more that this technology will teach me than I will ever know.
 
Let me try to understand the approach: You verbalize an idea into a format (prompts) that would lead to something in Midjourney’s AI? 
 
It is brain to paint. Instantly. This is useful for all mediums. This is the new modern. It is the fastest and most permanent way from point A to point Beyond. This won’t replace artists. However, this seems to be art’s first mass transportation. 
 
When starting out, I was desperate. I was just practicing prompts. Over and over and over again. Things didn’t happen the first time. It took a lot of trial and error. Sometimes the images looked muddy and crazy and not what I wanted. But after that, it took a lot of practicing seeing the next level and the next level and the next picture and the next picture and expanding and expanding and exploring, because it doesn’t happen perfect the first time. And one thing is true: Ideas take place when they appear.
 
Would this mean a transformation of the creative process behind a cam and in the interaction with objects (i.e. models) before the cam onto a very abstract level?
If the AI would have had a very strong impact on the creative result though, would you say that this is a potentially evil impact, because a tool that acts within its own logic framework would influence your personal creativity?
 
Not evil. For the first time the history, artists are able to instantly conjure what they’re aching to make real. It’s up to artists to adapt. This happened with the invention of the camera. Painted portraits became irrelevant. In turn we got Rothko. Paint into purity. Evolution from basics.

By having a closer look into some images one can detect some funny flaws that are quite bizarre, like the handling of chopsticks or weirdly shaped hands and shoulder blades...
 
Come-on, it is tech in its infancy. Flaws across the board. I am sure we will see a lot of progress very soon. There are new versions of the program coming out every week. 
 
Looking at the number of images you produced – how long did it take you?

Each story took about a full day. It started with a simple idea and a starting sample prompt I’ve learned creates the most realistic images for me, and then tweaking that prompt over and over until new characters and a whole world start to develop- one finished image at a time. I do take images I’m happy with and edit in my own editing programs to tweak the finals to enhance them and give them my final treatment. I’ve lost hours going down this rabbit hole of imagination. 
 
If you would have to boil your first experience down to something. What would you tell us?
  
AI is like poetry. Poetry is all about saying everything with the least amount of words. For example, this poem by Ryszard Krynicki:
 
      “Poor moth,
I cannot help you,
I can only shut out the light”
 
AI prompts are entirely about boiling down elements to their most potent form. The least amount of words to make a new reality. It often transcends language.
 
Was this experience you will follow-up in the future, or has it just been a detour? 
 
This hasn’t been a detour. I believe this is going to become a new reality for everyone in this industry. I don’t think anyone should fear this change. In fact, this may be the tool entertainment and art has been needing. It is lawless. Perfectly imperfect and dangerous. More than anything, we all need discussion on this.
 
More of Mynxii´s excursions into AI could be found here