Looking back on 2022
It was a challenging economic year and a year filled with good and bad emotional stressors.
My time was used to dive deeper into creating with AI. I began exploring using artificial intelligence tools in late 2020 before I minted my first NFT in June 2021. Three years later, I’m deep into AI creator tools. I continue to be amazed at the sophistication of AI and, more so, by the expansion of our human consciousness with AI.
I learned so much about myself. I can definitely say I am a multidisciplinary creator that uses AI services/ tools to create stories, which are produced in books, digital & physical fine arts, fashions, accessories, home décor, puzzles, and cards.
One of my biggest challenges in creating NFT contracts was burning my art. But to burn helps my collectors, and I want to make them very happy. I remember the day I was visiting Allen Hermes in Redding, CT, back in the 1980s. Allen was in the back of his studio (three-floor studio), burning his old art. I was flabbergasted. He explained to hang onto latent art makes it difficult for him to create new art and explore new techniques. So in the case of NFTs, burning helps with the uniqueness of your art.
I use different AI services to portray my styles. In 2022, my style blossomed, evolved, and matured. My reputation as a leader in the community also grew as I spent time educating anyone interested in AI, Web3, and the metaverse and spatial.
My fine arts style is created using Playform.io – I upload hundreds of photographs I have taken over decades categorized by subject. The physical artwork I made in the 1980s- early 1990s is also uploaded to capture the painting style and technique.
My flowers were a source of romantic magic and nostalgia. The Playform algorithm took advantage of the color, texture, shapes, and sizes to create my personal style.
In January 2022, Art Mine produced my first generative AI model, which creates a unique creation and is minted as a Polygon NFT.
Sky Dreams was my first Playform AI poetry book. It is the first AI-illustrated poem. Sky Dreams collection includes paperback, eBook, and NFT MP4 – I read the poem. The music for the MP4 is AI-generated.
I use the Playform text prompting tool to tell stories. Tales from Space, Sometimes Sh*t Happens captures my science fiction / weird/solar punk / dystopian science fiction and hilarious dark humor. This was my first published (November 27, 2022) work that used text prompting.
OpenAI
I had an account on OpenAI for some time. I was accepted into using DALL-E2 early on. However, I found it tough to use – the images lack the sensitivity that Playform’s algorithm produces. As a result, I used DALL-E2 for only one project, Save the Majestic Amur Leopard, a remarkable piece: I’m donating 100% of the proceeds from the primary sales and 100% of the royalties from secondary sales of Save the Majestic Amur Leopard NFT to Adopt an Amur Leopard through the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Midjourney
I found Midjourney created images have a nice crisp photorealism effect, and the algorithm has better training and understands the vision, creative and technical direction. My latest book, Beyond Darkness, is one of my favorite pieces I produced using MidJourney. It wasn’t easy conveying to the algorithm the effect a black hole will have on the human body. I had to put time into prompting the meaning of horror and gore before I was satisfied with the results. There are 125 pages, of which 90 are illustrated using MidJourney. I wrote the story for this book with enhancements done using GPT-3.
NFTs
I created 105 NFTs sold to 38 collectors, and I’m in 30.33% of Objkt.com users. I love the Tezos community so much that I teamed up with Myknash, Daedalous, Startsomething, Discoinfero, and Orange to help Lily White start TezTown. Lily has a fantastic vision to educate, engage and encourage new creators, collectors, and builders.
My NFTs rose in price!
Collaborations
In 2022, I enjoyed collaborating with people from the tezos community. My first collab was with PixelNFT for the Blind Date Tezos event. We produced a fantastic animated video combining Pixel’s characters with my AI backgrounds and music. The following incredible collaboration was with Eclectic Nature. We merged our two very different AI sensibilities to create The Doorway series.
I also got involved in educational collaborations. I had the pleasure of working with Lucid Dreamer to create a curriculum for creating with AI. We produced a series of helpful educational videos that explained the use of Google Colab and disco diffusion.
The AI community is fantastic. That’s why I embarked on working on an anthology of early AI works by creators using AI. The goal of this book is to be annual that will evolve as AI creative tools change.
Limited Edition Physical Fine Arts
I produced fewer physical fine arts pieces than I had in the past years. However, the Transformational ornamental bowl is a fantastic best-seller for Christmas.
Other Specialty Art and More
On Society6, the best-selling pieces were framed art created using an AI algorithm.
Books
Bookmaking has always been my passion. In 2022, three of my AI-illustrated books were published. I am thrilled with the reception of my books. You can see all of my books on Amazon.
Education
I was busy, busy, busy, to say the least! I talked about AI art, Web3, and Metaverse at University North Florida’s Olli, Ponte Vedra First Coast Cultural Center, the link, Metaverse Business Spectrum, and Hundo.
I enjoyed the conversation with Jennifer Chang, CEO of Playform, on February 10, 2022, for Playform Radio: Art Mine Artist Series. We discussed using Playform AI to create Flower Magic -for Art Mine.
I had fun talking to Scott Byrne-Fraser on October 5, 2022, about How, Is AI Revolutionising The World? for Web3.Waffles.
New Projects for 2023
I’m over the moon with exciting news! I was accepted as an artist on the KnownOrigin marketplace! As a result, I have a new collection only available on KnownOrigin. This collection has a very cosmic theme.
Books
It was beautiful to have Laundrygate Strange Stories About the Future included in Cathy Hackl’s Forbes list for metaverse reading. I’m thrilled that I am progressing with Laundrygate Volume 2, which deals with the Nature of post-humanism. There is a whole section on Levi’s growth and transformation. I trained a chatbot to understand Levi.
New books are coming:
- Laundrygate Volume 2
- Creators Using AI
- Mirror Worlds Collide
I’m working on a new fine arts series using Playform and VR printed on canvas.
Objkt
Available only on Objkt are two new exciting collections Food and Beverage and AI People.
Podcasts
The world is fascinated by AI, and I’ve been invited as a guest on several podcasts to provide my point of view.
Guest, February 6, 2023, Ep. 16. AI-Generated Art: The End of Human Creativity?, Who’s Your Data? Podcast with Galad Barash
Guest, January 29, 2023, Ep.81. Artist/author Tery Spataro, AI Tools and NFTs, The Brainwave Podcast with Gail Hulnick
Coming soon, I will be a guest on 10X for Gen XYZ.