Radical Hope Blooms
It was at least 2 years ago when I digitized a loose collection of my botanical abstract paintings in all kinds of traditional media, and used them for training an artificial intelligence model in Playform. I’ve worked with these images off and on, never really clear on what their outcome would be. Recently, I selected some generations from Playform and blended them in Midjourney, loved what was happening, and then finished them up.
Radical Hope works this way - a trust that a future goodness will exist, despite not knowing how we get to it. 🖤✨
I selected the options available to print these on with a few things in mind - my favorite papers, the acrylic blocks and prints that I’m obsessed with, and some other prints that are more affordable. If you like this series and want to get a print or a few (they look so so good in a grouping!) let me know if I can help you pick out the best options for you.
/describe
There’s a new feature in Midjourney, called Describe. You upload a photo and give the bot the /describe command. It gives you 4 descriptions the uploaded image. I’d played around with it with some images I had saved while testing the new rating system and voting on images from the new version (version 5). It was pretty cool to get descriptions about the art, especially because it links to any artists it mentions. It’s a neat way to explore styles and come up with new prompt mixes. I uploaded my own art as well, and it didn’t turn up artists I thought it might, and turned up some that haven’t influenced my work, but that I could see visual similarities in.
You can test out these new prompts by clicking the 1, 2, 3, or 4 buttons below, that correlate with the prompts above.
For testing these new features, there are places within the community where you can chat about them, give feedback, etc. Of course, someone uploaded a selfie, and the results were quite funny. It made me wonder… and I ended up quite enjoying results of my own 😂
The results were ephemeral, so they didn’t stay around and I didn’t realize it to get screen shots, but I was excited to see the terms “nerdcore” and “health goth” (I’m not sure what that is, but it sounds appropriate), as well as “apron with hair” and “distinctive nose” …. that’s right, all my Jones nose fam out there, it calls it “distinctive”!
But I wonder what “teethcore” is, and what “in the style of focus on joints/connections” even means?
AI is SO weird, and I love that…
Please enjoy these alternate versions of me, generated with all the weirdness that is a health goth, teethcore, dinopunk, socially minded, genderless, extremely gendered, deconstructive, light hearted, master of ink, cripplepunk, humanistic empathy, smilecore, photo taken with provia, woman with purple hair and a distinctive nose…
And, as for the links to artists:
It’s a super cool feature, because I am a nerd who loves art and art history, and one of the first things I geeked out about with AI text-to-image stuff was how much interest is being created in art history, and making it so accessible to people it wasn’t accessible or interesting for before! EVERYONE LEARN ART THINGS!
I wonder if other traditional artists have tried this out with their own work, and what results they got about artistic influences? If you use Midjourney, have you tried out /describe yet?
We have enough.
Expressions of Radical Hope: “We Have Enough”
Every week, I listen in to Midjourney Office Hours. I find so much of it fascinating, and I take notes to update my learning collective people to fill them in on changes, new features, and philosophy. There is a channel on the Midjourney Discord for the “daily theme” - you can choose to get notified when this theme changes or not, but it’s people in the same channel making art on the same topic. Often, this daily theme changes to reflect something discussed in office hours - like robot squid. I usually include some of these images with the update to the learning collective. This week it wasn’t really related, and I felt inspired by all the topics of discussion in general and made some abstract painting images. I try to prompt shapes, colors, styles, and materials I actually use.
I also used combinations of these ideas: new computer science, art history, biodiversity, responsibility, exploration, community, infinite compute power, radical hope, a beautiful future, post-scarcity, and monkeys looking for bananas in new places. (😂 It's always a good time!)
After making these images, I also used the /blend feature to really get something I was feeling. I took this image into Photoshop and used the neural filter Super-Zoom to upscale. Next up, I opened the upscaled image in Adobe Fresco to get painting - the live brushes are really lovely. If you’re a traditional artist working with AI, someone who has painted in Photoshop forever, or a new artist starting with AI-generated images and learning to paint digitally, definitely check it out.
I’m loving the tools that Midjourney has for making art, but also the community. So many acknowledgments of systemic issues and how we can have a better future. So much awareness that we have enough, for everyone. If I could see this community as a sea of people, I imagine many of them have these sparks of radical hope glowing within them… (Now there’s another thing for me to go prompt) 🖤✨
Irish
Who knows what truth is behind Ireland’s lack of snakes or St. Patrick, but I’ve always been curious about my Irish heritage, and the pre-Christian (Catholic, of course) roots. So, I did some photographic style prompts in Midjourney today involving pagan snakes, Irish lasses, and lots of clover 🍀
Enchanted AI Art
I’m excited to announce that the Visionary AI Art Learning Collective is LIVE!
Wait, the what what?
Okay. So I met these two fabulous women who were as excited about using AI to create as I have been, and we talked, and IDEAS! They had launched Magical Stock Art, and had been getting requests from people who wanted to learn how to make art this way themselves. …So I’ve been teaching AI for Fine Artists and AI for Creative Expression, and we’ve been testing and figuring things out. It’s been awesome to see people get inspired by the process of creating with AI art tools!
There is also a LOT of hate towards AI art tools being used right now. So let me dispatch it - with the many, many, many conversations I’ve been having, it comes down to fear, misinformation, and systemic issues.
As women, we are legendary at transforming fear into love through creativity and community.
THIS IS THE VIBE!
After I did a residency with a big community component in September, I knew I wanted to teach people how to use AI art tools, and I was already doing it as part of explaining how the heck I make my art. I believe I can make this a little less scary for people! - I genuinely LOVE people, and my enthusiasm for what others are creating is deep and authentic. I also think it’s important for womxn to pick up these tools and show up in this space because it’s crucial that we influence it!
So, I’m leading the Visionary AI Art Learning Membership! And you can join me there!
AI Art School
Curious about AI in art? Want to learn how to use AI in your established art practice, or to use AI for creative expression with no prior skills required? Join me…
I’ve started teaching classes about how to use AI in your creative practice! I’m really excited about this, because I want to share the magic that I sensed with AI in my own art practice with other artists, and develop the use of creative AI as a tool for reflective practice for anyone.
I’ll be teaching these first classes with a newly formed AI Art School, and if you’re interested in learning, there are two courses right now - one for fine artists, who already have a body of work, and one for anyone who wants to learn to use AI as a tool for creative expression. These are beginner level courses, so if you’re totally confused, or curious but don’t know where or how to start, these are for you!
The link below will take you to Rebecca Tolk’s website for further information and check out, don’t be alarmed, this is correct! I’m teaching the evening cohort of the AI for Creative Expression course, so click on that sign-up link to learn with me as your guide!
The Artist & The AI
This is a presentation adapted from a talk I gave during my residency at Sulfur Studios last month, a little about me, my work, and how I came to include AI in my creative process.
( Fast Evolving Tech Disclaimer: The data in the presentation was up to date when made, but could be different at the time of reading this)
FEATURED POSTS
