I remember almost a decade ago the “experts” were saying the last thing artificial intelligence would master would be the creative arts. Judging by my experience with Midjourney it is already well on its way.
AI Art platforms like Midjourney had been sparking my curiosity for a while and, recently with a reminder from @bozz, I thought I'd try it out. Out of curiosity I thought it would be interesting to input entire poems into Midjourney to see what the AI would come up with. Some of the art hits the bullseye and reflects the poem distinctly others, I'm not so sure about.
When I look at the art I'm not so sure about I wonder if my brain is just trying to draw associations between the art and the poem, allowing me to see connections that aren't really there. After all, the human brain is very good at doing this, it's what happens if we stare at the clouds too long.
All in all this made for a very interesting journey. Soon, I'll be creating an autographed limited release series of each piece of art with the poem inscribed along the outside edges and will auction them off. I'll be donating a portion of the proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association in my Father's memory. More on this soon to come.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. Please let me know your thoughts on this little experiment of mine.
shoulders squared,
our best angle
for the camera.
is now just an
inanimate object,
a frozen moment,
soon to be judged
and measured against
all imperfections
that came before
and every assumption
that comes after.
This one, for some reason creeps me out a little and I can't quite put my finger on why but it didn't totally miss the mark. I thought it was interesting the AI choose a female form for each version.
is the conjuror
of many contradictions,
in which we live
is a lavish stage
of grand illusion,
with sharp edges
and serene softness,
twisted knots,
and breathless beauty,
but our soul's mirror,
it takes such courage
to gaze into it,
and admit our thoughts
create everything we see
it's not bravery,
sometimes we're just
tired of being broken and
simply have no more
tears to cry.
This is the most abstract of them all. Although I struggle to directly associate the art with the poem I see correlations. Each picture has a liquid or mirror quality to it. I'd be interested to get your opinion of it.
the will
of the Universe,
silent point
at the center
of our stories,
no struggle,
no question,
no sorrow...
only joy and love,
I surrender.
This one is my second favorite for so many reasons and, to me, it has the most merit when it comes to the quality of the art.
of darkness is drawn tight
and the incense smoke hangs still,
muse settles in
and I become its channel
in its soft murmurs
that possibilities and hope
are still within the reach of my mind
makes me forget my wounds,
my worries and
the prickly ache of time passed
it’s easy to see my scars
make me who I am
but do not define me
my muse is otherworldly
and Heaven sent,
it leaves me lifted,
wrapped around me
I can brush the
the frigid throes of this world
from my shoulders
with head raised,
proud of each facet of my soul,
happy in every cell of my being,
filled with the anticipation
of what might be.
This, especially the upper left quadrant, is my favorite and I feel it's married perfectly to the poem. It's both haunting and deeply introspective.
it seems like
such a
fluid interplay
of randomness,
so convincing.
it is lose
ourselves
in the
intellectual maze
of thought,
chasing meaning
after elusive
meaning.
for order in
wretched chaos
that we
lose sight
of the fact
that we’ve been
here in
this beautiful
garden all along.
This are reminds me of the distant future or possibly an alien world. To me, this one is like a window to a future I'll likely never see in this lifetime.
What do you think?
Enjoy the rest of your day! Be well.
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
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Brilliant stuff. I'm a person who studied Visual Art and University, and was looking at generated art (particularly fractals) and other algos back then. I've played with Mid Journey a little bit over the last few days and I'm impressed at how well it truly understand the artistic vernacular when I give it prompts that have real "impact" within context of "capital A", academic Art.
I'm looking forward to creating some work that I've never been able to produce because my drawing skills are not what they should be. I majored in Photography and Digital Media, and if I had this tool a decade ago; I imagine my thesis would've been about this topic instead of representations of death in art, which is what it ended up being about.
Your use of the word ephemera as on of your titles is also apt, everything we produce as humans is ephemeral; and that's the very beauty of our creativity.
Thanks for sharing this post. I've followed and hope to see more from you in the future.
Thank you! I think fractals are especially fascinating/mesmerizing. I've had a lot of fun with Midjourney and I think it was an interesting experiment.
I do worry about the impact it'll have on human creativity but I can already see human creativity kicking in with AI-generated art. People are releasing tips/tricks for prompts to allow people to create exactly what they're looking for. We're in a sort of sweet spot now where AI still needs us but soon it won't, it'll be creating things all on its own without any sort of human intervention.
Thanks for reading and for your comment! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with on Midjourney!
I've got so many images and ideas floating around that it is going to be difficult to curate them in a sensible manner, but it is just like culling images from a photographic session. I must be relentless and ruthless. There's some manual adjustments I'd probably make to the outputs as well.
Awesome! I found this. It might help: https://medium.com/mlearning-ai/an-advanced-guide-to-writing-prompts-for-midjourney-text-to-image-aa12a1e33b6?source=rss-6da3ddbb7e05------2
I tried the link, it 404'ed, but it is quarter past one in the morning here, so something for me to study further tomorrow. (If the link is working)
So interesting. AI might reflect what we feel while writing or reading a poem.
As the Universe is mentioned in the poem I SURRENDER, AI uses sky objects for the verses...
Wouldn't that be something if it understood the actual emotion behind it? I'd never considered it to be that advanced yet but it might be.
I can undestand how an AI runs at a production line, but this is something interesting and strange.
Your poetry skills are incredible. Contradiction is my favorite of these, but The Curtain is not far behind, and The Garden is speaking to me in a way that I know I'll read it again a few times. Such a beautiful spirit you have, reflected in your gift. <3
We're on the same schedule today! I just came here from posting...the first one I'm actually rather proud of in a long while, I'm shaking the rust off of my writing skills.
Thank you so much, @Dreemit! I'm heading over to read your post now! : ) P.S. We went back to the fair yesterday and they have elotes!
Wow I didn't know such programs existed.
I love your poems and images can really help to add extra depth to them. It sometimes takes me longer to choose the image, than it did to write my poetry.
I am learning a lot about surrendering at the moment, so that poem spoke to me the most, but each one was beautiful xxxx
Thank you @trucklife-family! I have a hard time choosing images to pair with poetry sometimes too. Giphy.com is a great help. You can search keywords and it makes the process so much easier. Surrendering gives us so much power and freedom, doesn't it? It's kind of counterintuitive but it does. Thanks again for your kind words.
I've never heard of this artform Eric, I'm sure it must have been such a wondrous experience seeing your beautiful poetry in this kind of art! It's totally beyond me, but I want to learn more.
My most favourite is The Window; your words resonate with how my life has played out thus far. The art is equally stunning!
Your pure soul comes through in your poetry and I feel so blessed to have met you here!
More research into the awful debilitating Alzheimer's disease is much needed! It's a beautiful gesture from you in memory of your beloved father💔
Thank you very much Lizelle! This is relatively new and there are other AI-art engines cropping up. Dall-E is another one. It was fun initially but about a week into it I realized how much I missed collaborating with a human artist. This will probably be my one and only foray into it. I'll still auction these off eventually, probably in the October-November timeframe. How has your week been?
Our thoughts are indeed much more powerful than many of us would think. Our thoughts can affect a lot of things, including our and other people's lives. Some people say that every big thing, or every monstrosity in the world started with a simple thought.
I very much agree. Thoughts become things and, in large part, we are the architects of our own realities.
In the garden is my favorite among the selections... both the poetry and the artwork. This is my first time hearing about Midjourney. I am impressed with what I see and now feel I must go check it out.
Your poetry is wonderful and I applaud your intentions of donating a portion of the proceeds to the
Alzheimer's Association in remembrance of your father <3
Thank you Tamara! I hope you have fun with it! I really feel like they're on the cusp of a breakthrough with Alzheimer's treatment. There have been so many promising discoveries in the last few years. My brother and I both have the gene, that doesn't mean we'll develop it but it still kind of feels like a race against time.
Yes! Hope is never misplaced and with all the advancements in the field, the future seems a little brighter!
I will be rooting for you and your brother, rooting that the gene causing the disease remains inactive and rooting for a cure in the near future. Alot of people are in the race and I also root for them <3
Thank you! It seems like so many more people are coming down with Alzheimer's at younger and younger ages. You can help but wonder if something environmental plays into it.
I normally browse over much of the stuff I encounter on this platform but I keep rereading this post, especially your piece entitled CONTRADICTION. I am still trying to figure out why it resonates with me. As someone who does a little poetry, I am amazed at the interplay of AI with this art form. I must look into it myself. Great post.
Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed it, Nicholas! I really love when I come across something I have an unexplained connection with like that. If you make an attempt with Midjourney please tag me on the post, I'd like to see it.
Hi Eric, you have blended your art and poetry so perfectly. I am in awe of every artist and author like you. You can write artful words in no time. While me to write will take a very long time.
I like the pictures of women's bodies from some of the pictures you share. Thank you my friend.
Thank you Eliana! I can't take credit for the art though, the computer generates it from the poem. I think it did a decent job though. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I have always like your poetry and adding it to this art ify AI, it definitely shows how lovely both can be.
Thank you!
I can tell from some of your stuff that the AI definitely has a "theme" or color scheme where it is most comfortable. That green/orange/red area seems to be a favorite of it. I like the fact that it gives you four images. That seems to work really well with your poems because if you piece them together it gives you a full picture of what the poem may have been saying. Awesome stuff!
Thanks! Yes, one of my British friends (whose also an artist) said the same thing. She saw an over-arching theme to them all. It really lends itself well to releasing it as a series. I hadn't even thought of doing that until she pointed that out.
Very cool! I know looking back at some of my creations, I feel the style is similar to some of yours. Who knew AI could have an overall style. There's a better word for what I am trying to say, but I can't think of it at the moment. 😝
There are similarities in style! It's funny because I've also seen Midjourney create some crazy hyperrealistic art too that looks like photographs but I'm sure there's a specific prompt to make it shift to hyperrealism.
Yeah, I think I have seen people use the tag hyperrealistic. I could be wrong though.
This is the first time I would be hearing of such combination with poetry and art which I think is something more interesting to know about and learn.
It's been fun to dabble in!
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https://medium.com/mlearning-ai/an-advanced-guide-to-writing-prompts-for-midjourney-text-to-image-aa12a1e33b6
wonderful
Oh em gee! THat is a nice way to prompt Midjourney! Thanks for this! might try for myself.