Waiting For The Rain To End
“The less you move on the ground
the more the world moves around.”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
(If you stand still, the world will move on without you)
I am currently in an early experimental phase (hence, at least part of the cause for the many posts) with AI, using many of my archived photographs as muses for subject matter and occasionally borrowing and learning art styles that inspire me. My goal is to evolve these borrowed styles into my own unique genre, or at least find parts of established styles that interest me. This process leads to the creation of various images centered around a specific theme, helping me refine both skills and personal taste. As I’ve mentioned before, creating images from text reminds me of programming; however, it is much less disciplined, allows for greater visual creativity, and is less predictable, with unexpected results being common.
The images displayed in this post can be classified as “Digital Watercolor Illustrations.”
The inspiration for this series of images came from a photograph made in Cangas de Onís, Asturias, during our road trip in Northern Spain in June and July of 2014. It was during a brief rain shower that I noticed a well-dressed, mature woman waiting under a stone structure for the rain to stop. It caught my attention, hence the original photo. She was in a grey skirt and a red overcoat, carrying a cane, with a distinguished look. She more closely resembled the woman depicted in the first illustration than the later ones. I definitely elevated the style in the later illustrations.
Yes, on the experimenting and wanting to find your genre. Each one will open new doors and as you say unexpected results. I am enjoying what you a creating with AI so please continue with this. I personally like the first one and I’m not sure why. Maybe because she is lost in thought which I do all the time.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, Monte. We will see if this leads anywhere, but even if it’s just a brief distraction, it’s enlightening and enjoyable.
I like the blending of illustration & watercolor styles to the photo. Experimenting is fun for sure. The questions of where does the human end and AI begin (or visa-versa ? :) ) will persist of course and that is a increasingly tangled web.
That’s a valid question, Mark. It’s a fluid situation that will continue to evolve for some time. It will likely lead to many changes in how we operate and possibly impact our society as a whole. I can envision a future where it could pose significant challenges or even end us. However, when I look around, it appears we don’t necessarily need AI to bring about these dire possibilities. Taking a more optimistic perspective, however, perhaps AI will ultimately save us.
There is a documentary that just hit the theaters that Tristan Harris is promoting that I want to see that attempts to bring the apocolyptic views of AI with the overly optimistic views together. There is was a recent quote from him that a sandwich has more regulation on it than AI right now, and without adequate guardrails, trouble is coming. He is the voice of reason in all of this to pay attention to. I’ve found it useful to test some ideas on for different approaches to some topics.
I agree with Tristan’s views, and there will probably be trouble ahead. However, we have idiots in our government now who can’t even agree on the simple things; there’s no way they can understand, much less deal with, AI.
Meanwhile, I’m just trying to make some pretty pictures. 😉