Using AI For Art, Images, And Book Covers With Derek Murphy

Generative art tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion are taking AI art into the mainstream. What are the opportunities for authors? What are the problems and controversies to be aware of? I talk about these issues and more with Derek Murphy. In the intro, I mention my J.F. Penn NFTs with AI-generated art based on words from my novels; Microsoft will incorporate DALL-E into design products [TechCrunch]; Meta's Make-A-Video and Google's Imagen Video [TechMonitor]. You can also find more podcast episodes and tools at TheCreativePenn.com/future. Derek Murphy writes urban fantasy, YA, and romance fiction as D.S. Murphy, as well as books for authors on writing and marketing. He has a Ph.D. in literature and is also a visual artist, designer, and course creator. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why AI art is such a fascinating emerging area — and how it can help existing artists improve and iterate their creative ideas fasterThe tools available — DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable DiffusionHow prompting works and determines the quality of your output, and why iterations and curation are so important as a creative director with a visionHow AI art generation tools might replace stock photography sites The problems with AI-generated art, including the use of living artists as models, copyright, and moreUsing AI images for ads and emotion-driven content that might help sell more booksHow book cover designers and other artists can use AI tools in an effective way You can find Derek at www.Creativindie.com and on Twitter @creativindie. You can go through Derek's Midjourney tutorial here. Transcript of the interview (lightly edited) Joanna PennDerek Murphy writes urban fantasy, YA and romance fiction, as well as books for authors on writing and marketing. He has a PhD in literature and is also a visual artist, designer and course creator. So welcome back to the show, Derek. Derek MurphyHi, thanks for having me on. It's been a long time since we've talked. Joanna PennIt has indeed. And I mean, you and I go way back. Now you designed some of my early book covers — Derek MurphyI want to say it was like 15 years ago or something, I think I found one of your books in Portland, a long, long time ago. And I was really excited. Because I wanted to be a writer. So that kind of got me on to the path. Derek designed this beautiful cover for Desecration, when it was just a standalone novel Joanna PennYeah, I mean, it's kind of crazy how long we've known each other online. But you were on the show in 2014 talking about book cover design. I can't believe how time passes. But give us a bit of an update. What does your author business and your author life look like right now? Derek MurphySure. I started with fine art. I was a painter. I did my PhD in literature. And then I was doing editing and painting. And then I transitioned towards book cover design. So I did that for quite a long time. But book cover design has changed a lot in the last 10 years because of all the new technologies. But in the last few years, I switched more to passive income with some courses, so that I can focus on my fiction. And in last, basically, five years, I think I've written like 20-something novels, but I haven't finished a whole series yet. And this month, I'm finally finishing a full series, which is kind of a big deal. So I've been doing just enough work to get by. But now that I have a finished series, I think I can focus more on my fiction as income revenue, which hasn't been the case so far. Joanna PennWhat's your fiction name? So people know. Derek MurphyI use DS Murphy. And then I also use Drake Mason as a pen name. And it's mostly like Twilight with mermaids and vampires and things like that. So young adult, plot-heavy fantasy, I guess. Joanna PennThat's cool. And we might come back to the mermaids because you've got some cool stuff on that too. I wanted to talk to you because I know you're a multi-passionate creative, you're very visual, also with words, obviously. But today, we're talking about AI for art, which is pretty contentious in the world as we record this in October 2022. But let's start with the attitude to AI. Why are you interested in AI as someone who's done some pretty traditional work in the creative sphere? Derek MurphyRight. So as an artist, I understand the frustration, because it's weird. Like, I was never the greatest artist. I had really big ideas, and I just couldn't execute them with oil painting. Now I could recreate the same idea much better in a minute. And it just looks awesome. So I'm not exactly torn, because I like the art that I'm making, I think the AI art is, is really, really good looking. It's really fast, I don't have to pay a lot of money for designer and wait for designs. So for me, it's new enough that when I share images, it's going to make a ...