I've been working a lot on my Mayan-inspired art project called Lightbearer lately. And recently I started using AI to help me come up with ideas and variations on imagery.
This batch of four marker pieces was based on some of the output from my AI exploration, mixed with a little Mayan art reference.
I’ve been working on this series for a long time now, and the stuff I’m making ranges pretty widely in how much it references Mayan art. Additionally, I’ve recently been fascinated with using AI in my process. I use a variety of AI tools, in a variety of ways.
Here’s some of the output from one session working with AI.
These images were generated using Dalle-mini, which is a text-to-image generator. These types of generators take a while to dial in a look that you want. For me, I’m just looking for it to give me new ideas. I don’t need the AI to give me a final art image.
So once I get some fun, usable stuff from the AI, I immediately start filling a few sketchbook pages with sketches. When I’m doing these, I’m not concerned with replicating the AI output. I’m trying to “collage” the best bits of the output into new single images.
The whole process is super fun for me. I love seeing what the AI makes. It feels a little like fishing. Each session, I’m just trying to catch a few good fish. And of course I love sketching, and honestly, I always feel like I should be sketching more than I do.
So that’s it! Please let me know if you have a method for using AI or other generative art methods in your own art making!