When I was 7 years old, I remember running home after getting off the school bus to catch Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting on PBS. It was the highlight of my day, listening to his mellifluous voice while he painted happy little trees. I always loved drawing, painting, and doodling. (I doodled ALL DAY EVERY DAY all the way through college.) I majored in Economics, a subject I knew little of and had little interest for, but I persisted and graduated with a degree. After a few years of floundering in the corporate world, I became a producer for a fashion photography agency in NYC. That experience opened my eyes to a new side of commercial art, so I decided to go back to school to learn the ins and outs of the digital photography business. I spent years honing my Photoshop and editing skills which became a very important tool for my aesthetic and style. I shot everything under the sun - from fashion to weddings to products to portraits, but after 17 years, I have transitioned over to becoming a digital artist.
"What is a digital artist?" you ask.
Great question. In my case, it's like painting with pixels. With the advent of AI image-generating software, we now have the ability to create images with text prompts. This may sound simple, but to generate artwork to incorporate real people into a cohesive setting in a particular style requires quite a bit of problem-solving and creativity. My experiences in programming, editing, and photography have culminated into the perfect set of skills for this new art form.
AI, for good and bad, is quickly taking hold of so many aspects of our lives. I think artists in general are pretty upset and scared by the implications of AI taking over the art world. My hope is to use AI as a tool to create beautiful, meaningful art, to take what I envision and "paint" it onto a digital canvas. AI gives artists the opportunity to unlock their creativity in new ways, and I hope that instead of witnessing the death of the art community, it will create a new generation of artists who will use these innovative tools to create art we’ve never seen before.