Digital Art and Generative AI Course
Hello, My name is Mandy Morehouse. I am currently majoring in Multimedia Communications Graphics. My Graphic experience is what I learned in this school alone and ended up falling in love with it. I have learned so much in past courses with Marina and I hope to learn just as much this quarter; specifically, digital art principles, AI tools, and how to combine them for creative expression.
Final
Final
I decided to go with surrealistic collage with composition use and AI integration.
I wanted the piece to visually represent the fragility and unreliability of memory, especially in this age of digital technology. I wanted the static and “glitchiness” of it to suggest that our recollection isn’t fluid, like a a garden with digital anomalies.
The distorted garden and fragmented placed “memories” symbolize the unreliability of human recollection. The glitches and codes represent the influence of digital technology. This piece is dreamlike in a sense but heavy on the blurriness of memories.
I used AI Firefly to generate the garden scene, incorporating the layered composition and the pixelated concepts. The use of AI really enhanced the symbolism of the piece.
I learned so much from this final piece. I gained so much knowledge from this class and was able to enjoy this final piece creatively. These assignments have taught me so much about art in the past and where art is headed in the future. It is amazing to know how far we’ve come but also to know how much of the past we still use and incorporate into our work now. These past few weeks have definitely helped me understand myself a lot more and who I want to be as an artist, likes, dislikes, etc. I appreciated this journey and expereince. Thank you for passing on your knowledge Marina!
Advance Digital Painting Techniques
This week was creatively stimulating. I tried to use texture mapping in the tree bark to add realistic detail as well as the pillars. Finding seamless texture in painting techniques was a little hard and I used my brush strokes to add the extra details. I wanted to lighting to add to the fantasy like moos and added shadows to define forms. By making some of the trees in the back have less detail I created a depth manipulation to create a sense of depth. Combining all of these techniques helped create this whimsical piece.
Exploring and Integrating Art Styles
Art has always been a messy, beautiful overlap of influences. Ive always liked art but never took the time to learn the different styles until I started school. This assignment has me really thinking about these different styles and what it means for myself and how I view others art. That being said I really dove into the styles listed and chose what I found interesting or remotely close to my own style. I decided to draw these to get a personal feel of what it’s like to create these art styles. I used my iPad and a digital drawing app.
Art Nouveau
Fauvism
As an untrained artist, I realize these pieces don’t follow each rule as it should. Honestly, I just wanted to get a feel of what these styles are.
I first chose Art Noveau. A style that flourished in 1890 and 1910 and embraced the beauty of nature with its flowing lines, stylized flowers, and added touch of whimsy. This style seeks to bring artistry and craftsmanship to everyday objects.
I really took a liking to the women portrayed in this art style and tried to replicate it in the first image shown.
The second style I chose was Fauvism. An art movement in the early 20th century France. Fauvism has bold colors, painterly brushwork, simplified forms, and emphasis on feeling.
I played around a lot with this piece and learned so much about each art style. Blending them was a vision in my head that, if I had proper training (or study), worked really well. I executed the emotional impact but lacked the understanding of how it works. This assignment has shown me that it’s just a powerful act to put a vision onto something regardless of formal knowledge.
I know I didn’t have to but I tried something else as well.
Ive always liked the colors of pop art and the beautiful imperfections of surrealism. I feel like when blended there is a dreamlike atmosphere, especially with food. Combining familiar objects in unexpected ways. I definitely went heavy on the pop (colors) but all in all it’s a delightful blend of multiple styles.
I had a lot of fun creating this piece and I think I relate more to this than any other art style. One thing Ive learned in this assignment is that i’m not limited to one thing. There is so much to learn out there and I can’t wait to learn them.
Reflection
Art Nouveau: the flowing lines of this style and the organic forms in the artworks are why I selected this style. Im drawn to the styles elegance and its celebration of natural forms.
I find these elements and the form and function in Art Nouveau inspiring. The challenge lies in balancing the flow and decorative line work. Im really interested in how I can incorporate the graceful lines into my own art style. Creating better flow in my curves and flowing shapes in a stylized way. I hope this emphasis on beauty and elegance could add a new dimension to my work. Through line and form, Art nouveau has shown me that those things can invoke serenity, grace, and sensuality.
Fauvism: The bold, non-naturalistic colors in the artworks reminds me of how color is really important to inspire emotion. I tend to limit my color palette and Fauvisms unrestrained use of color is far from my current way of doing things. I am also inspired by the how artists fearless approach to color and their willingness to use it expressively, rather than descriptively. The challenge lies in finding a way to integrate this boldness while maintaining the balance and harmony I strive for in my work. I definitely want to use a wider range of color and explore how different color combinations evoke different emotions. I hope by understanding Fauvism it can help me to use color more intentionally and create a narrative I want to express.
Extra:
Popart: I really like its bold graphic quality and its celebration of popular culture. I find its ability to elevate the mundane and find beauty in the everyday inspiring. I hope that understanding pop art can help me engage with contemporary culture and explore how to use familiar imagery to communicate ideas or emotions.
Surrealism: Creating dreamlike atmospheres have always been a go-to for me. I want to embrace these concepts more often in my work and get out of being grounded in reality. I hope this style can help me create more layered narrative in my artwork by using symbolism, metaphor, and dream imagery to convey complex emotions.
Exploring Surrealism with AI Collage in Photoshop
I kind of struggled with this assignment. Trying to find a flow, a concept, and even a portrait. Im still not too confident I did this right but I love making collages and seeing the different types of collages and art elements is inspirational. I really went through the creative process this week and I hope it shows. I feel like it’s still kind of choppy looking, any suggestions on how to make it look smoother?
Mastering Emotion, Style, and Mood in AI Art Creation
Generating art and where it came from:
Photorealistic style is a style of art that aims to create realistic images that look like photographs.
It is an art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily in the US. Photorealistic artists typically use photographs as their source material. They pay close attention to detail, light, and shadow, striving to capture the nuances of their subjects with precision.
Today, photorealism continues to be a relevant and influential art movement.
Nostalgic art has a certain magic to it. It taps into our memories, evoking a sense of longing for a past time, often childhood or adolescence.
This style can manifest in various ways. Such as, retro designs, vintage color palettes, and imagery that takes you back to specific memories. But it’s not just about replicating the past. Nostalgic art often adds a contemporary twist, blending the familiar with the new. It’s a way to connect with the audience on an emotional level, sparking shared memories and creating a sense of collective longing. Nostalgic art has a unique power to transport us back in time.
I haven’t used much of AI before starting this degree but just in that short amount of time it has grown into a tool worth exploring. Adobe Firefly is a powerful tool for Ai creatives. I can see its potential to be an asset to empower artists with tools and accelerating their workflow.
Its Text to Image was an amazing way to portray my vision and I really used this tool along with Photoshop to create my assignment.
Reflection
Firefly Prompt: impressionism style painting of a used backyard, a child’s bike leaning against the fence and flowers fill the yard. Focus on a few stuffed animals sitting around a wooden box being used as a table on the ground forgotten for the time being; beautiful and rural scene; nostalgia, sepia tones, soft focus.
I tried to make my prompt as specific as possible. Just to lay the baseline of my vision. I wanted a photorealistic, nostalgic feel to my piece and for all the elements to tell a story.
It did pretty well at rendering part of the vision. I really liked the painted theme but I couldn’t get it to really portray what I was feeling.
I tried different styes and as pretty as this one turned out the lighting gave more of a daunting
vibe. I needed it to be softer, more nostalgic, give it a softer golden hue.
Firefly Prompt: make reference into a futuristic style with children toys left in the walk way and bikes leaning on the fence
Reflection:
I really wanted the piece to create a nostalgic feeling, I think that was my main goal this whole assignment. I want to look at this picture and feel like a child just ran from the scene for a second, toys forgotten. The focus was to be on the childs things while the lighting and the photorealism set the mood of the piece. I felt that I needed to get descriptive, down to where it should focus, and “the used backyard.”
Final; Forgotten Childhood
Firefly Prompt: A used backyard, children’s bikes lean against the fence and flowers fill the yard. Focus on the children’s stuffed animals on the ground forgotten for the time being; beautiful and rural scene; Vintage style painting of nostalgia, sepia tones, soft focus.
In the end it came up with a pretty great baseline. I used photoshop to clean somethings up like the stuffed animals and making them look like dolls, and making sure the bikes look like bikes. I hope I was able to show the right emotion and mood in this assignment. I still have a lot to learn, but Im getting there!
Visual Storytelling and Illustration
Starting this assignment took awhile. Coming up with a clear idea was rough for me this week. Eventually I came up with a fox who collects lost dreams. I drew a handful of sketches that could possibly catch that aspect of my story. I wanted the focal point to be the fox in an almost magical place. I wish I had taken more time to solidify these sketches, maybe even create the setting and other perspectives.
When I got to firefly it took awhile to find the right mood for the visual story I was trying to create. I went through a lot of different AI generated art before finding something very close to what I was envisioning. I went away from my cartoon aspect. I felt that this style (water color painting, children’s book) gave the right kind of mood and provided me with options to create more story elements.
Firefly AI Generation:
A wide, panoramic view of the Woods at twilight. Focus on the tranquility and mystery of the setting. Tall, ancient trees with gnarled branches reach towards the fading light. A faint mist clings to the forest floor. almost unseen figure in the foreground, his back to the viewer as he gazes into the woods.
Firefly AI Generation:
A close up of water color painted russet-furred fox interacting with a butterfly. The butterfly is central focus, its delicate wings shimmering brightly. The butterflies colors are vibrant and ethereal, combination of pastel shades with iridescent highlights. The fox is carefully guiding the butterfly into a basket. Basket is intricately woven and decorated. A wide panoramic view of a whispering woods at twilight; focus on the tranquility and mystery of the setting; tall ancient trees; a faint mist clings to the forest floor. Deep blues and purples for the twilight sky, transitioning to softer greens and browns in the woods. Style; water color painting, children’s book
Firefly Ai Generation:
A close up of water color painted butterfly and russet-furred fox standing at the edge of a cliff, a red door is open to another bright world is open in front of the fox. Tall magical mountains are in the distance; the cliff edge is magical, an other-worldly place. Focus on the details of the cliff and its edge; Soft, ethereal colors, pale blues, greens, and violets; create a serene and magical atmosphere. Style; water color painting, children’s book
These are my final digital illustrations visual storytelling.
A dream got out to explore and got lost on its short adventure. The fox who has magical abilities goes to find the lost dream and lures (catches) it in its basket. The fox takes it back to its magical home with a magical door and returns it.
I used Photoshop to add more story elements such as the darker setting, the dream butterfly, and the red door that leads to the home of these dreams. I kept the fox and the dream the focal point because I felt it drew more of a central message.
I had a tough time with this one, mostly because I wanted to integrate the AI aspect a little more (for practice and for different techniques). I went outside of my comfort zone and I know I can do better. It isn’t my best visual “storytelling” and it motivates me to create more so that I feel comfortable doing this at any given moment. Though I feel this way, I think it turned out pretty well. The fox is a cute aspect to the story and it seems magical and emotional. I could continue on with the story and make the lost dream and its adventure the focal point. Either way, this learning experience was fun, it really put my storytelling skills to work.
Integration of AI in Digital Art
This week was really fun! I had a concept in my head but it became something entirely different. I am okay with that. Layering on generative AI wasn’t a first time experience, but using it to create this was a whole new thing. I am grateful for the learning experience.
At some point the AI stopped working and wasn’t able to generate anything I asked of it. I took a break after that, came back and it worked fine.
Definitely want to practice this more and make it a skill.
Digital Art Techniques and Tools
Prompt on Adobe Firefly: Big, old creepy tree house in tall field of grass. Rainy, stormy weather. Hills in the distance. Magical tone and feel, hyper realistic.
Prompt on Adobe Firefly: Illustrated woman swimming in ocean with goggles; long tall red seaweed; sun shining through surface
This week’s assignment was cool. I liked the reference sketch concept and adding it to Firefly. It was pretty fun to play with play with and see what would come up from my terrible sketches. I found that even with a reference sketch I still had a hard time with prompts. Im sure we’ll practice more with that but I’ll be sure to practice a little more in my free time. The underwater AI photo kind of made me laugh because of the bad hands but I was impressed by how accurate it was to recreating my sketch into something new.
AI Generated Images using Adobe Firefly
AI prompt: “Woman dancing with flowy clothes, sketch, drawing, realism”
Effects: line art, Bold lines, Sketch
Overlay, 80% opacity
AI prompt: “Whale swimming through a pink field of flowers”
Effects: Hyper realistic, Fisheye
With fire fly addition, Color Dodge, 60% opacity
Wow did I learn a few things in this assignment. I haven’t really worked with AI tools (correctly anyway) so this was a whole new experience for me. Im not too sure if I got the hang of it yet but I can’t wait to hone in on these skills. I played around with Adobe Firefly for a while, practicing the process, prompt writing, and using different types of effects. It could be frustrating at times if I wasn’t patient but in the end I got the concept. Can’t wait to learn more!
Composition and Design Digital Art
“Spring”
This was a fun assignment. I really had to think about a piece that would tell a story and I eventually came up with this. I called it “Spring”. The bears are the central part of the piece, surrounded by a dark cold forest. The sun is peaking through because the seasons change and there is always more to come. Its not often that Im able to create something that not only has an internal meaning when you look at it but also a visually engaging piece.
Week 1; Introduction
ERIK JOHANSSON
I couldn’t choose just one art piece. Erik Johanssons works has filled my feeds for a long time now and I always admire his work. A Swedish Photographer and visual artist known for his surreal and thought provoking imagery. He defy’s logic and challenges my perception of reality. His works often leave viewers questioning what they see and inviting them to think about the possibilities of the impossible.
Here are a few of his works that I admire. His “Give me Time” piece catches my eye all of the time. It shows the overwhelming weight of modern life. The image showing a man struggling to pull a massive clock across a dry landscape could just about symbolize what you want it to. I think its story is to showcase the constant pressure to race time, deadlines, and societal expectations.
The color contrast between the vibrant green field and the cold, metallic clock face highlights the disconnect between nature and the artificial constructs that govern our lives. The man’s figure really stands out, almost emphasizing the isolating nature of this struggle and having no one to share the burden. Johansson’s attention to detail amplifies the dreamlike quality of the scene. This technique not only draws me into the image but also shows the craziness of the situation, inviting reflection on my own relationship with time and the pressures I may face.
Give his other works a look on his Website here (https://www.erikjo.com/work)
Where Stars and Ocean Meet
Other works and inspirations:
“Where Stars and Ocean Meets” is a Photoshop piece I made back in Spring quarter. Within Professors Shipova’s classes I am able to learn new skills and have the freedom to use my own creativity. I have a thing for manta rays (if you couldn’t tell already) and in this particular assignment I wanted to portray the magical way it swims, almost like they’re soaring. Witnessing a manta ray swim is an unforgettable experience.
I wanted this piece to tell a story about the magical differences with the ocean and space. Though space and the ocean tend to be my muse’s, I like to find my favorite parts about something and emphasize on that. I want the narrative of its inner beauty to do the talking, hopefully let that influence others to also see that beauty.