Working with various generative AI tools that create images and videos is a quest for the perfect image, where understanding what you're looking for is crucial. With these new tools, the volume of images and inspirations is much larger, demanding a more effective organization.
The original creative process, pre-AI era, is now even more relevant. My goal here is to provide a basic overview of these AI tools, addressing four important points in the creative process and delving into the potential of each of them to unlock new creative possibilities, revolutionizing the way we create and edit images, shaping the future of creativity.
ABOUT MY JOURNEY
My name is Jean Campos, and with over 19 years of experience in innovation and creative technology, I was the Head of Creation and Innovation at Rock in Rio for 4 years. Today, I lead MUVA House, an advertising innovation studio that co-creates impactful stories through animations, 3D illustrations, and games. I have expertise in a variety of technologies, including Unreal Engine, Move.AI, MetaHuman, Nvidia Omniverse, 3D scanning, and many AI tools that I will introduce in this text.
I have had 26 different featured cases on Behance, and I had the honor of being featured on the cover of Digital Artist UK magazine. I have also had works exhibited in art galleries in London and animation festivals in Portugal and Italy. Throughout my career, I have also received awards such as Cannes, Lumière Awards, and Clio, which I owe a great deal to my track record of collaboration with global brands such as Disney, Netflix, McDonald's, Heineken, Starbucks, Brahma, among others.
CREATIVE PROCESS
Rarely do we sit in front of the computer and are enlightened by a perfect award-worthy idea, unfortunately! In general, the creative process is like working in a mine: the deeper you dig, the greater the chance of finding gold.
That's exactly why we need efficient tools to increase the chance of finding gold in a shorter amount of time!
Next, I present to you three techniques that I use on a daily basis: HAPPY ACCIDENTS, UNEXPECTED CONNECTIONS, and FAIL FAST.
HAPPY ACCIDENTS
Taking a cue from the legendary Bob Ross, sometimes the best ideas come from mistakes or accidents!
When something doesn't go as planned, it can open up a new perspective or direction that we wouldn't have otherwise considered. Instead of viewing mistakes as failures, we see them as opportunities to learn and grow.
These "happy accidents" are an essential part of the creative process. They remind us that creativity is not a linear path but a process of exploration and discovery. And with the help of AI, we can increase the frequency and impact of these moments of discovery.
UNEXPECTED CONNECTIONS
The creative process, a journey that combines ideas in unprecedented ways, is accelerated by generative tools. Talented artists use their references and inspirations to create something unique, and these tools assist in that process. Imagine merging a dog and a gelatin into a fun and adorable image, something that would take hours with painting or Photoshop. These tools are powerful for testing ideas.
The unexpected connections that these tools enable can lead to innovative solutions, highlighting an artist in the market. Creativity is about transformation, and we create based on what we experience. Thus, these tools not only facilitate creativity but also expand what is possible, allowing some artists to stand out from the rest.
FAIL FAST
Being a visual artist is like running a startup: you're constantly dealing with significant challenges and limited resources, and there's no time to waste on ideas that don't work or aren't aesthetically pleasing.
The goal is always to surpass your previous work and add a beautiful piece to your portfolio. However, how often do we invest hours or even days into something that ends up deviating from the brief or isn't as impressive as we hoped? Unfortunately, this is quite common!
This is where the importance of generative Artificial Intelligence comes in. If you have the basic information about the character, setting, and camera, you can test and visualize your idea taking shape.
If the idea isn't good, it's better to discard it or modify it quickly. The mantra is to "fail fast" because it's not worth investing energy in bad ideas or ideas that won't work. Generative AI is an excellent tool for this process, allowing you to quickly see if an idea has potential or if it needs to be adjusted or abandoned altogether.
WHAT ARE THE BEST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS that create IMAGES?
Let's explore some artificial intelligence tools that are revolutionizing the way we create and edit images daily here at MUVA House.
MIDJOURNEY
Undoubtedly, alongside ChatGPT, Midjourney is one of the most popular AI systems in the market. With each update, it becomes even more impressive, generating increasingly realistic images and taking creativity to new heights.
Midjourney is the result of an independent research laboratory that explores new forms of thinking and aims to expand the imaginative capabilities of the human species. I believe that soon our image banks will be entirely generated by AI, and Midjourney is at the forefront of this revolution.
ADOBE FIREFLY
Adobe Firefly is Adobe's response to AI art generators like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. It takes AI image generation to a new level by enabling text-to-image generation and applying styles to text.
One of its key advantages is its native integration with Photoshop: in one place, you can generate images and visual effects, with access to the most powerful editing tools in the market. Another major positive factor is that Adobe is addressing copyright concerns for artists.
MAGE.SPACE
Mage.Space is one of the most powerful platforms in the market, providing over 80 pre-trained models of Stable Diffusion for any user. When it comes to AI-based image creation and editing, this platform is unparalleled, offering the best controls to achieve high-quality results.
For instance, with Midjourney, it can be challenging to control precise details with high quality in an image, especially when working with an uploaded base image. However, with Mage.Space, you have complete creative control to do whatever you want, as shown in this example.
STABILITY.AI
Long before Photoshop introduced its version of Firefly, creatives around the world were already using the Stability plugin for Photoshop. This plugin allows users to generate and edit images using both Stable Diffusion and DALL•E 2 directly within Photoshop.
It is a powerful tool for image creation, enhancement, upscaling, and much more. With Stability.AI, users have access to a range of advanced features that can significantly transform the image workflow process.
DREAMSTUDIO
The online platform of STABILITY.AI, DreamStudio, simplifies the image creation process by providing effortless access to Stable Diffusion models.
With early access to the SDXL model preview, users can be the first to experiment with new enhancements and create art, photographs, and illustrations in any style. Additionally, DreamStudio enables creatives to replace, add, and edit elements within their images, making it a powerful tool for expanding creative possibilities.
TOPAZ GIGAPIXEL
Topaz Gigapixel is one of the most widely used tools in the market when it comes to increasing the resolution of images. It uses an AI technology called "Upscale," which creates information where it doesn't exist.
Remember those futuristic movies where the detective zooms in infinitely and identifies the criminal? It's the same idea.
Gigapixel AI excels at one thing: increasing the resolution of images in a natural way. This is quite challenging to achieve. Most upscaling algorithms struggle to properly fill in the missing pixels, resulting in low-quality and pixelated images. However, with Gigapixel AI, you can achieve high-quality results.
UNSTABILITY
Unstability is a powerful AI image generation tool that operates without filters or censorship. You know those situations you may have encountered where the prompt goes against company guidelines? Here, that is minimized, and you can generate more daring images, including nudity.
It's the power of image generation without limits!
SWITCHLIGHT
For anyone who has tried adjusting the lighting of a photo, they know how time-consuming it can be, and often the result is not as expected. But now, with SwitchLight, that has changed.
This incredible tool uses the most advanced AI technology to compose your images with the ideal lighting and background in a much faster way. With it, you can achieve the perfect lighting and the most suitable background for your photos, saving time and ensuring a high-quality result.
Throughout this guide, we explored the revolution that tools like MIDJOURNEY, ADOBE FIREFLY, MAGE.SPACE, STABILITY.AI, DREAMSTUDIO, TOPAZ GIGAPIXEL, UNSTABILITY, and SWITCHLIGHT have brought to the world of creation. They not only optimize the process but also multiply the creative possibilities at our disposal. Recognizing that creative perfection is a constant, hard work, and not an occasional flash of inspiration, reinforces the importance of having the right tools by our side.
The techniques of HAPPY ACCIDENTS, UNUSUAL CONNECTIONS, and FAIL FAST are just the tip of the iceberg. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, we can deepen our creative journey, exploring new territories and perhaps finding the "gold" we are looking for more frequently. In short, the AI era is not here to replace the creative process but to enrich and enhance it.
Embrace these innovations and allow yourself to discover unexplored horizons in your art.
