24 Comments
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miter's avatar

Good tips! I thought I was gonna have to lean on AI for making my album covers this year, but photos plus pixlr was way more fun and yielded better results, especially when getting help from my wife. I think AI images can look pretty obvious and similar, but they can also help provide something particular if you are going for it. Though, now editing software (of all types) seems to be getting "AI" heavy. I do like it better as a tool than as "the creator".

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Justus's avatar

Yeah AI went real quick from WOW to hmmm to overplayed. If someone is going to go through a lot of time prompt engineering I think it’s most likely a better use of their effort to search the archive of humanity.

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Priya Iyer's avatar

Thank you for adding me to this fantastic community. I’m familiar with some of the writers you mention here, but I’m off to check out the new-to-me work. Happy holidays, and have a fantastic 2024!

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Justus's avatar

Thanks! And have fun as well close out the year!

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Mick J Scott's avatar

I think your posts look great 👍 thanks for the mention too. And guess what? We’ll have a look at drawing eyes when we move on from the cartoony stuff on I can’t draw for toffee. And guess what again and coincidence of coincidences I’m posting a story about AI on Flash Fiction Friday tomorrow. Would you believe it? Hope you’ll drop in to have read 🙏

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Justus's avatar

Thanks! And I look forward to your story tomorrow, there's a lot of synchronicity in this world!

The funny thing about my little drawing for this post is that I messed up the hand, missing my index finger, just like a good AI would!

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Mick J Scott's avatar

He who can draw perfect hand can draw anything!

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Justus's avatar

ha! I got a while to go before sniffing perfection...but at least my right hand is a willing and patient model, hopefully he won't leave me for a while yet!

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Mick J Scott's avatar

Ah, you left handed? Just a thought as all my quick marks are done right to left you may find it easier to try them the other way round like a mirror image. It depends how you draw.

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Justus's avatar

ohh I will try. I'm so used to adapting to "right supremacy", but maybe I should mirror it around for once!

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Mick J Scott's avatar

Well if you think about it drawing is like say a martial art it’s all about body mechanics. How you sit stand hold you pencil or brush. So when I being right handed draw my numeral 3 I start at the top and pull the first mark push down at an angle for the second and pull the round bit at the bottom. You would be pushing when it’s easier to pull. If you see what I mean. Have a go and see what happens!

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Hazel Burgess Art's avatar

I’ve got this real aversion to using AI for anything, so was heartened to read your essay on this.

Talking about faces, a fun thing to do is to draw “blind”... that is to draw a face without looking at your hand on the paper. Maybe I’ll do my second Substack post on that subject as I’ve got plenty of examples!

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Justus's avatar

Ohh yes! Love to see it!

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Hazel Burgess Art's avatar

Great! I guess I can only share images in my posts, yes?

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Justus's avatar

Yup you can’t share images in comments. Only in your newsletter and in Notes (if you use the social media platform)

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Reena Kapoor's avatar

I hear you - always use only my own photographs. And I love that it’s all part of a multimodal creative exercise...

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Justus's avatar

Yes! I love the term multi-modal. Even when i am picking out images just for a thumbnail, i feel like I’m scratching something beyond then words.

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Pamela Leavey's avatar

Justus, thank you so much for including me in this wonderful post. I wish I felt up to fully responding, but will quickly say, always including an image in each post is best practice for online writing and engagement. This is going into my topics to write about when I am fully recovered.

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Ann Collins's avatar

Very informative-- thank you for sharing this work. Also, it makes me feel good about my own iPhone photography that makes up 99% of Microseasons. It’s not perfect but it is original!❤️‍🔥

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Justus's avatar

Your photos are great too! I definitely know when a Microseasons Post is up on my feed!

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Ann Collins's avatar

Your work is instantly recognizable to me, too!

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Justus's avatar

Thanks!

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Ann Collins's avatar

And regarding AI-written accounts: there is a ton of AI writing on Substack. It’s often obvious if you’re reading closely.

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Justus's avatar

yeah, it's a stink that you notice after a while...especially when they can't even be bothered to create a fake person in the about section....

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