Holy Vincent Van Gogh, my eyes are starry!
Paint me green and call me a Picasso painting!!!
By the brushstrokes of Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa’s smile is broader than ever!
Let me tell you about the first time — me — a professional illustrator, used DALL•E an artificial intelligence open-source art creator. It was mind-blowing. I felt as if I’d been handed a magic wand and suddenly realized I was the most wizarding wizard of all!
Picture this: me, the illustrator sitting at her desk, minding her own business, and suddenly she hears about this incredible AI program that can create images from mere words. She thinks, “Huh, that sounds pretty neat; I’ll give it a try.”
So she fires up DALL•E and starts typing in some descriptions… descriptions such as, show me an image of a woman with shoulder-length hair looking into an Italian piazza. And then, like magic, stunning images start popping up on her screen, all created by the AI. And not just any images – we’re talking about mind-bogglingly complex, intricate, and detailed visuals that would take hours or even days to create by hand… and they capture fairly accurately the essence of the actual cities the designer has requested the AI to reproduce.
The illustrator’s jaw drops as she realizes the potential of this program. She starts typing in all sorts of bizarre, abstract, and whimsical descriptions just to see what DALL•E will come up with next. She then types in descriptions of illustrative styles, like creating an illustration in the style of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night or Matisse’s colorful fauvist patterns. And the results are nothing short of amazing.
Suddenly, the illustrator realizes that with DALL•E, she and other professional illustrators can create images they never even dreamed were possible. They can take their imagination to whole new heights and produce work that’s more detailed, more nuanced, and more awe-inspiring than ever before.
It is like discovering a secret door to a world of endless possibilities. The illustrator can’t wait to explore every inch of it. She feels impressed, elated, and totally astounded by the power of DALL•E. And who can blame her? This AI art creator is an absolute game-changer, and it’s bound to make any professional illustrator feel like a kid in a candy store.
But the illustrator’s golden euphoria starts to fade, and she grows pensive and unsettled. Will human-drawn images become obsolete? Will there soon be no need for human designers? Will this kind of technology eventually replace HER? She ponders this for the rest of the day, wrestling with many emotions, and starts feeling slightly depressed. Eventually, however, she brightens realizing that while DALL•E art creator is an impressive AI program that can create stunning visual images, it’s highly unlikely that it will ever fully replace a professional illustrator or gifted artist. While DALL•E can generate images based on textual descriptions, it lacks the creativity, intuition, and problem-solving skills a human illustrator possesses.
Professional illustrators don’t just create images – they bring ideas to life. They use their artistic skills, knowledge, and experience to transform abstract concepts into concrete visual representations. They make decisions about composition, color, style, and tone that reflect the intended message and audience of the work. And they do all this while maintaining a personal touch, bringing their unique artistic style and vision to every piece they create.
Moreover, a professional illustrator and artist can work with clients to understand their needs and preferences and create custom illustrations that meet their specific requirements. They can also work collaboratively with other professionals, such as writers, designers, and marketers, to ensure the illustrations fit seamlessly into the project.
So, this designer/illustrator has concluded that she can live in harmony with DALL•E art creator. She realizes she is on the threshold of a new era. And just like the first time she turned on a Mac computer and booted up Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop programs, events that also changed her world forever (in a FANTASTIC way) DALL•E art creator has the same potential to be as important a graphic design tool.
Once again, new things are looming large on the horizon for artists. DALL•E art creator is the next step in the art world, and there will be no going back. It will be an innovative and cutting-edge design application for illustrators. Still, it cannot replace the unique combination of creativity, intuition, and technical skill that professional illustrators possess. This graphic designer is comforted by the thought and excited to see what will come next!
Artist’s note. Caution: Playing around with DALL•E art creator is an easy way to go down a deep rabbit hole and lose many hours of your life. The results are never quite perfect, and it takes a bit of a learning curve to give the proper instructions to “the machine” to produce the images you want. Still, I was amazed by the accuracy of the scene settings when I told the AI to create illustrations set in specific cities in Italy, Arezzo, Florence, Orvieto, Lucca, and Montepulciano. I downloaded the images I liked the best and took them into Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, where I continued to manipulate the images to fine-tune them manually.
The images posted above are images I used originally in an article that appeared on the Studentessa Matta Italian Language Blog to promote the 2023 Matta Italian Language Immersion programs that will occur in Arezzo (June 11-12, 2023), Lucca (August 24-Sept 2, 2023) and Montepulciano (September 10-22, 2023). If you are interested in learning Italian and want to immerse in the Italian language and culture, click the button below to learn more and enroll! Andiamo in Italia!
