Revelation and Technique
I like to think I am an amateur art connoisseur. Amateur because, having no professional education in any particular art form, I cannot wax eloquent about the differences between a Dali and a Picasso or between a Mozart and a Bach. But I notice the effect experiencing art has on me. I feel the caress of emotions unknown to me but once known to the creator of that art piece.
I value art’s ability to capture my imagination. If it reminds me of a memory. If it makes me imagine what once was or could be. The medium need not be visual. Music, speech, and writing are equally as powerful as film, sculpture, and paintings. If a creation can touch your heart, it’s art.
Soul stirring art can only be created by one who understands the human condition. And understanding requires observation and reflection. I personally value this understanding more than the technical skill required to communicate it because communication without substance is simply noise. But if an artist cannot communicate, then the world remains ignorant of his insights.
The true great artists are distinguished by the marriage in one person of both a thinker and a technician. And I seek their works to ponder their ideas whenever I can. Technology has given me the privilege to experience ideas across space and time and I appreciate how fortunate we all are today.
Imitation
Of late, I have taken to practicing music and drawing. When I was in school, I had taken preliminary lessons in playing the piano. I didn’t practice for more than a couple of years but I distinctly remember feeling frustrated at having to learn theory and memorize common songs. I distinctly remember feeling that I wasn’t really learning music if I couldn’t immediately play a song I heard on the radio or TV and if I had to have notes labelled on the piano keys. This feeling of inadequacy never went away and it always restrained me from picking it back up.
What changed recently was a determination to play by ear. In other words, I wanted to replicate some of my favorite tracks on the piano. And in so doing, I came to realize the value of music theory. Step by step, day by day, I am gaining a greater appreciation of the development of music theory and the techniques that composers use to develop their melodies and harmonies. Simply learning and practicing and trying to replicate some of my favorite tunes has kindled the existing passion for music into a raging fire. It is an experience like no other.
In a slightly dissimilar fashion, I have taken to replicating some of my favorite drawings and art pieces inspired by some of my favorite media. When I was in school, I wasn’t so good at art class. I didn’t have the technical skill or knowledge required to transfer idea to sketch and to apply color the way I wanted to. This made me believe I was just bad at art. But I distinctly remember being good at replicating reference images. For some reason or another, I came to believe that replicating from reference images isn’t real art.
Again, recently, I simply confronted these illusions and realized that trying to replicate images I admire would be a good way to practice. And in so doing, I have come to appreciate the critical eye for detail that all artists must develop to convey their ideas. Only when you draw and paint yourself, do you understand the mind’s ability to gloss over small details. Each small detail merges to form an image that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I had never appreciated the discipline that art requires of a man.
These imitations serve as good practice but I also consider them a form of meditation on the ideas behind each art piece, whether musical or visual. I know that when I’m practicing, I am constantly thinking of the context of each individual piece apart from the mechanics of bringing it to life. I suppose that is just how we learn.
Amalgamation
This brings me to the secondary purpose of this essay. I am sure you are aware of the furor over “AI art”. Some consider art produced through such means as not worthy of being called art. Some fear the loss of their livelihoods. Some are eager for it as a means to cut costs. And some are simply reveling in experimenting to see what the algorithm throws back at them. I am not here to judge which camp is correct. I only want to share my personal experience and observation of this new phenomenon.
As I said in my previous article, I have recently taken an interest in experimenting with AI art. When people hear the term, they may imagine it to be an easy process. But I have noticed that there are certain barriers to entry to even begin trying it. For starters, if you are planning to produce art locally on your own device, then you need powerful equipment and the installation of certain software. If your device isn’t powerful enough, there are a number of solutions available on the internet that use more or less the same technology but differ in user interfaces, pricing, and so on.
Once you do start, you will quickly realize that the algorithm cannot divine the image in your mind unless you describe what you want in terms that it understands. So while you may be picturing the graceful twirling of a ballerina, the algorithm likely won’t produce an approximation if you only prompt for “a dancer in a white dress”. This was a simple example but what I want to emphasize is that being specific is necessary to get the result you want.
Once you became aware that the algorithms are also limited by their training data, you will develop a critical approach that accounts for what you think the limits are. To flip what I said earlier, excessive specificity will not deliver ultra precise results. For example, the models do not understand the meaning of ‘three’ in “three birds” and will likely draw one or many birds. It’s sometimes a matter of luck. Think of it as trying to corral a wayward robot.
While they may be limited by their training data, there is indeed a lot of data that they have been trained on. A knowledge of art history can help you experiment with many different styles. In this sense you are only limited by your own knowledge. Until yesterday, I had no idea what a woodblock print meant. Having seen it used as a modifier on an AI art piece, I have a newfound appreciation for the style. Artists, who create art for a living, surely have extensive knowledge of different styles. I believe this knowledge will only become more valuable going forward.
As I touched upon earlier in this essay, technique is one factor in producing good art, albeit an important one. But devoid of anything meaningful to convey, art loses its value. Composition is, in my view, how artists convey meaning. A drawing of a man leaping with joy may be pleasing but conveys little meaning. But a drawing of a man leaping with joy and throwing a graduation hat in the air conveys meaning. Now picture this same man doing the same thing in the humble courtyard of his small village home. You get the idea.
We feel. We wish to communicate what we feel. We wish to connect with like minded people. Some understand what we feel, why we feel, and how we feel. Few among them have hitherto had the technical skill to convey those ideas to an audience. But with AI, the skills required to convey those ideas have somewhat changed. If you wish to convey an idea, you need to have the vocabulary to communicate it to an algorithm. You need to have a knowledge of different art forms to depict your composition in a certain way. And you need to have the technical skill necessary to reproduce it with the changes required to align the piece with your vision.
This democratization and skill transformation ushered in by these new technologies is the real AI revolution, in my humble opinion. Remember that an artisan never hesitates to try new tools. But a good artisan doesn’t let the tools dictate to him.
Have you recently taken to practicing an art form? Have you recently tried using AI to create art? What has your experience been? If you would like to continue the discussion, you can reach me through the Contact page.
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