Imagine if you said to an artist: can you please draw me an an art noveau style sprite in the woods with fireflies at night? The artist would have to ask you a million questions. Hair colour, eyes, general colours and so on. Not the AI. It just throws up a guesstimate, and what you get can be an utter suprise. I loved the second rendering that Midjourney did for me in the Discord server. For some reason they've decided to place the fireflies in a *jar*, which wasn't really what I meant, but I love it anyway. I have many questions about this wood sprite it drew, but I love it. 

And so began a little post Christmas dinner wormhole into AI art. I have a lot to say about this so it won't be the last post i write on it, but I did want to share a few things as I eat the last of the homemade stollen and drink wine.  

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AJg3pkdXCtTBMXMdShqa8yVJhN9e3SUWySqaf9d33tJCYVC1bBBw8VoE5o9e843.png)

One simply enters the Midjourney Discord server (google it) and puts in /imagine and then any words you like. It seems to do a little bit better if you give it the *style* of art you want - artists might do better, as they might be a little more specific in this regard. You a few free ones before you subscribe. 

Please bear with me hear, because by the time I get to the end of this hour of experimenting, Jamie and I have ended up with something pretty bizarre. You ready? 

Okay, next I threw in something like 'fireflies jar deer hare night' and they put said things *in the jar*. Interesting. Careful what you wish for. And I think it thought I wanted a cross betweeen a hare and a deer. There must be some strange animals popping up in the AI art world. The stuff of nightmares. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AJecMCmAB1NBKgWiqP8mA1nWZZhqu2Q1bYkCoNegFHW2CsvjSgnGDZ8L8GFSTEs.png)

The AI seems to like odd mash ups. When I put in 'forest mushrooms path herbalist black and white etching' it thought some giant mushrooms and a house within a mushroom might be the go. And anything that *might* resemble a herbalist is someone walking down the path with a mushroom umbrella as a hat. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AKCJ1mVkT3C7QHqekFRdrM93Gv6z6CSyFP2kZYoC7iGbmhtEsFzCW1CiQdivh9r.png)

Then I realised my imagination was limited to mushrooms and gardens and felt a little lame and paralysed. As I watched the server, people were throwing up some really cool things like a mash up of a cucumber and a strawberry or beautiful futuristic artistic buildings. When I entered the words:

> permaculture garden paradise eden mountainside abundance greenery photograph 

It was *almost* what I imagined, but not quite. I realised I was struggling to really explain myself. Did I need to add 'farm' and 'vegetables' and a few other specifics? This wasn't permaculture - it was a jungle of tropical plants. Nothing like what I really imagined. What did I imagine? I don't really know - I don't have a visual eye. 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AK7vfrnAXRaa5aeoN3n2c2dsdEt3nDme79Q3z1vTpBWFyBBjSUKsVQpPFb7w4LQ.png)

This one was weird - I had put in 'waves surf dolphins stand up paddle boarder woman' - the second image is so odd as her legs are cut off. She *is* the board. And the dolphin is more a whale in the first one. I found myself annoyed at her very typical frame - thin and svelte. This wasn't me. And the 'dolphin waves' were - um - waves that were dolphins. Nicely played, AI. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AKCHyFoBtVmL6sfJyKJYv1ySLPz85jHjhG7KGdzzKetpvP3qXR1RYWqTHQviE2H.png)

Do I like Midjourney? Seemed like a fun wasted hour. I might go back in when I do one of my fiction stories and try to see if I can summon an image to suit. Should I credit it Midjourney? Is it truly *mine* if my words summon it? It does make me feel uncomfortable. 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AL1e6zDcArR3RayqaCcRvnSomrQqqAEuCd6hdaKrTwAwrmGV5TzoFzb5DHJ8FKn.png)

And whilst it can do a Landrover 110 linocut, kinda, with wierd windows,  I bet you it can't do a Landrover 130 panelvan as none of them exist in the world. We made the only one, using our own imagination. 

When I ask it for a sepia toned victorian photograph of a woman with feathers in her hat and a fox, it did okay - but that's not a freaking fox. And what is that bird doing in her hat in the first image? Oh okay, I asked for feathers. 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AK2CgG76khJX5cJ8S7mN32TYcatHDUzF8sr5bxDz56E8UGNDgLDGHb4f1Q6Xqqv.png)

What about if she holds a sloth? These aren't sloths! I'm glad I'm not actually paying for these! I'd want my money back! I mean, did they even go to the zoo as a child? Someone take this AI to the zoo! 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AK2CNDWRReKKFYQqBeuLgThBsySJHsttvVFNyXuEUmLq4vNhJbZNoL3o6XxMm7V.png)

Now I know Christmas delirium has truly set in. Wait - one more. What if I ask for this: 

> victorian woman sepia photograph holding a penguin with bats in her hat riding a horse? 

The AI throws a flipping wobbly, is what happens. 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AKGbNrcLf74Hz1qDDLMXAJreiZSeQVH8Vni3dDukmeGsaFvJgtujJ5MmKGgZn3W.png)

I think I better stop now. It's getting hysterical. Jamie's putting on a womanly voice and squealing: 'Andrew!! Why do I have to pose with the raven bat horse EVERY year! I have already lost three fingers!'

Okay one more. Jamie's getting involved now, although he's asking the question - what if you are spontaneously creating these people in alternate universes? 

> woman in a forest with a bow and arrow shooting a kangaroo in the style of wes anderson. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/AKFASNpj4TpZCUzn76m4wFLePMi1uUH8uGCxufSNDYXaZfRrc9Y6C1CzLaAWSWi.png)

Um, see anything wrong here? 

And of course, despite the poorly machine created animals, you have the whole issue of how these AI have learnt by *being fed artist's work from all over the internet without permission*. There's a whole ethical quagmire - and legal of course - to get through before we all feel *comfortable* about this. 

But perhaps the firefires and wierd moose rabbit hybrids are already out of the jar, so to speak. 

Perhaps human art is already dead.