Bill, I always enjoy reading your blog. Today you hit the nail on the head. Technical friends get to convince me that AI is good for artists because it frees up the artist to create cheaper and faster. People who say this don’t understand artists. Like you wrote, art for me is my meditation, time to block out the world and focus on the beauty of creating something. “Cheaper and faster” is part of the problem with today’s world. Why does everything have to be faster? Slow down! 

I grew up in a small town where our imaginations were our best toys. I did this drawing for my brother-in-law and I think it says it all.

Thanks for the enjoyable reads! 

John Reiss 

John Reiss Fitness

John@jreiss.com

www.jreiss.com

www.johnreissfitness.com

(949) 735-2666

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Like it or not, AI is here, it’s growing, and it may have benefits that we’d be foolish to ignore. So, I researched image-generating programs to learn that Midjourney is currently the highest rated program among artists.

Midjourney

Midjourney has 4 plans: Free …. Basic ($96/year) …. Standard ($288/year), and …. Pro ($576/year). Upon joining the Basic Plan, I submitted my first request or “prompt” which was “/imagine: stormy seas, waves crashing against rocks, in the morning, cloudy, high contrast, photorealism, --ar 3:2.”  (--ar = aspect ratio) Within one minute, I was amazed to receive 4 credible images in response to that single prompt.

After two days playing with Midjourney, I realized AI could eliminate many limitations to my current painting approach. I’m a slow, representational, maritime painter, who prefers to paint in my studio from my own reference photographs rather than paint quickly, a la plein-air on location. (Rarely, I’ve used another photographer’s image, but only after asking and being granted their permission.)  Consequently, my dependence on reference photos limits my compositions.

For example, I’ve never been able to take pictures of (or from) a commercial crab boat in danger, at sea, during a storm. Neither am I old enough to have ever witnessed historic whalers being towed on a “Nantucket Sleighride” by a harpooned whale with a barkentine whaleship in the background. But within a minute, Midjourney will provide 4 pictures of any such prompt. And, because I typically paint on full sheets (22”x 30”) or half-sheets (15”x 22”) of watercolor paper, I specify the images should be an aspect ratio of 3:2. Perhaps a few examples will best demonstrate Midjourney capabilities.

Example #1 /imagine: closeup of dungeness crab vessel, Oregon, in stormy seas, cloudy, misty, subtle colors of yellow, orange, and purple in the sky, photorealism, seagulls, evening, --ar 3:2

Example #2 /imagine: Circa 1850s, Nantucket sleighride, closeup, historic picture of whalers in an open whaleboat being pulled by a submerged harpooned whale across rough seas, morning, cloudy, misty, subtle sky colors of orange, pink, and blue, --ar 3:2

What are copyright restrictions with Midjourney?

If you are a paid subscriber (with either the Basic, Standard, or Pro Plan), all generated images may be used commercially. However, with the Free Plan, images may only be used for personal or non-commercial applications.

The lack of copyrights works both ways. Any image generated by anyone on Midjourney is treated as public domain. “This means that anyone can download, use and modify the published images however they like. Additionally, generated images will always be visible and available to all in the Midjourney Discord server. The only restriction arises if you’re a company generating more than 1 million USD in revenue annually. In such cases, you can only use the generated images commercially if you’re subscribed to the Pro plan.”

How many images can I generate with the Basic Plan? 

The Basic Plan provides about 200 image requests per month. And for each request or “prompt,” Midjourney provides 4 image variations…. or a total of about 800 different images, all provided at “fast” time, or within one minute of each prompt.

How many people use Midjourney?

There are about 18 million members of Midjourney with about 1 in 10, or 1.8 million, online at any time. Each can generate an image with 4 variations every minute.

Conclusions

1.   There are millions of people generating images at any single time. Midjourney is just one of many AI image generating programs available today and there will be many more even better in the future.

2.   Because of AI, anyone can now become a “digital artist.” The quality of images is no longer dependent on talent or life-learned skills such as drawing, painting, or imagination. There may be an art to writing effective “prompts,” but there are also prompt generating apps available.

3.   Fortunately, AI image generators do not mix and apply paints with time-honed techniques. There still exists value and demand for art made by hand. But that value is being challenged by the sheer number of images to choose from.