Experiments with AI art

Using Midjourney for creative inspiration

I recently started experimenting with creating art through AI and using the images as references and inspiration for my own work. I’m working with Midjourney, which is an AI program that generates images from text prompts. You can also include photos in the prompt, which influences the style and colors of the images that the AI creates. I’ve been using photos of my own art and combining it with work from famous artists as well as different text prompts to create really unique (and sometimes bizarre) artwork. I’m really inspired by the images that Midjourney generates because they’ve sparked so many ideas for art-making that I wouldn’t necessarily have thought of on my own.

Here’s a quick explanation of how I’ve been making AI art.

I gather together a few images to start working with. I pick images that have aspects I would like to use in my own work, such as the color palette, texture, brush strokes, imagery, or composition. I also add images of my own work that I’ve already created. Then I write a short prompt of my general vision for what I want Midjourney to make.

For example, I combined the images above and this text prompt: expressive oil painting. medieval inspired. gothic painting. landscape with hills and trees and gardens. flowers with tall stems and leaves. ghostly figures in the distance. birds. stars. abstract shapes. earth tones. pale pink.

From that prompt, Midjourney gave me these images!

While none of these images are exactly what I was looking for, they all have interesting little details that I can pick out to recreate in my own work. The beauty of AI art is in it’s weirdness, like the wonky shapes and mysterious beings.

In this image, I especially love the pink sky with clouds and the shape of the tree on the left. I also think the overall composition is nice. So the next time I paint, I might try adding in some of these things!

Here are some more images I’ve generated with Midjourney with various prompts.

I find it really fascinating that this process of creating images through Midjourney is extremely similar to how the artist brain works. It takes existing images and ideas and synthesizes them into something new, which is the same thing we do as artists! For example, I’ll go to a museum and make mental notes of the things that inspire me. Colors, lines, shapes, imagery, or anything else that I want to try out in my own work. All this information gets tucked into the back of my mind and then influences how I make art the next time I pick up a paintbrush. All art is derivative, nothing is completely original. Your artistic style is unique because it is a combination of everything you consume and enjoy. Midjourney just makes the process of synthesizing information a little bit quicker.