In this age of plagiarism algorithms, rampant theft of the arts, and nonartists speaking as if they know and understand the breadth and width of being an artist, I wanted to share some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for a time. I have read and heard so much talk from people who haven't picked up a stylus to create since they were in kindergarten, expounding on how humans create and get ideas. Strangely, they claim that algorithms learn and create in the same exact way. As you know, historically, humans are not algorithms, nor are they machines. Any artist could tell you that all this talk, excuses, and claims that artists are somehow magic and we are keeping secrets is complete garbage.
Before we get too far, I would like to mention that if you have ten artists, you will have fifteen or more methods to do any one thing. We are all different, and our approaches are all completely different. Even if you have two artists making the exact same style of work, they will often have two completely disparate approaches to creating their work. I know this firsthand from learning from artists and working alongside artists at workshops. We all do this in our own unique way, with our own unique voice.
One thing that rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning was the narrative that the algorithms somehow create the way humans do. Somehow, humans can look at art, chop it up, and spit out something. Because that is what the algorithms are doing. The thing is, I have never looked at art to learn how to make art. I look at the world around me. My external inspiration comes from looking at the world around me. The plants, animals, buildings, objects, and everything else I come into contact with are my inspiration. Movies, shows, comics, games, and other artist's works have never been my source of ideas. Sure, I will look at how another artist solved a specific issue - such as how they handled the tensed muscles on a forelimb as a figure sliced with a sword or how dappled light was handled. If I have a problem to solve, I may look at the solutions of others to help them find my OWN solution, or I will simply spend the time and energy to work it out myself - looking at real-world reference.
To put it bluntly, I have so many ideas inside me that I will never need to look at someone else's work to get ideas, even if I were to live five lifetimes. Every day, I come up with more ideas and more things that I would love to create. My observations of the world around me ground my ideas into a more believable reality, and they challenge me to push myself with each piece to be something entirely new for me. My feeling from the beginning with these algorithms is that there is a conceivably ZERO chance that it would generate anything for me that would be new, usable, or good enough to challenge my skill sets and imagination. My work is informed by my (soon to be 50) years on this planet as I live, dream, succeed, fail, laugh, cry, look, listen, and explore. That is a whole lot of variables that you will NOT find in a stolen slurry of art files made by the artists of the world. All that life and living goes into every new piece we make. There simply is no way to create my next work by only looking at everything I have already done. There are times I don't even know how I will meet the challenges I lay before myself. I have to spend a great deal of time thinking, doing thumbnails, and walking through the woods before I discover the solution that is needed.
That is a lot to chew on, so let's dive in and look at some specifics.
In 2013, I had an assignment to design and illustrate a mushroom monster. I looked at plenty of mushroom photos to help with the concepts, and I am familiar enough with mushrooms to draw them from my head. That said, I was not happy with what I was creating. I took a break and went for a ride on the trails with a friend. I came to an emergency stop and dismounted so that I could get a photo of these mushrooms. The moment I saw them, I knew I had my solution. I incorporated this idea of the clustered mushrooms into my designs and knew I had a winner. I submitted my more plain designs as well as the clustered design, and I do not think that there was ever a choice for the client. They wanted the more interesting, grounded, and realistic actually referenced design of the clustered mushrooms.
The Carrion King
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
This is the result of using those real mushrooms in a fantasy creature. Are they 1:1 the same? Of course not. The photo of the mushroom that I took of real mushrooms was a launching pad for more interesting and complex designs that were within me. I needed that real world push to get there.
I had shared this one before, in 2016, long before the algorithms began stealing from us. I shared some of the thoughts I have shared with you today. My thoughts and feelings on this have not changed. I know the artist I am and how I create art. And some of that comes from seeing something, like the top of this figure's helmet, and instantly seeing an entire creation in my head that takes that one little detail and explodes it into something completely different and new.
And to give credit where credit is due:
This image was found in a photo gallery containing this image and many others.
These are screenshots from a video.
Smokestack
9 x 12 - Pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2014 Christopher Burdett
I am not sure anyone could possibly think these two images are related or inspired at all by each other. But this is how I think. This is how I create. I needed a monster for my book that filled a role and had a specific look, and when I saw the pointy-tipped helmet, I knew I had the start of my creature. Before, when I mentioned that you would get fifteen results from ten artists, this would be the perfect example. If you were to give the photo of the warrior to ten artists and ask them to create something from it, you would get a diverse and unique assortment of images. Some would be various recreations of the figure, but there would be plenty, like mine, that race off to left field and are their own creation.
This is a coat hook on the backs of the bathroom doors in the GoogleWorks building in Reading, PA., where the IX convention is held each year. I stared at these hooks enough to know I needed to do something with them. I took the above photo and set it aside until the right moment arrived.
Goarrinn
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2022 Christopher Burdett
Jump ahead to working on book two of the Grand Bazaar series, and I knew it was time to use the hook. IX means a great deal to me, and to have a part of the physical building as part of one of the monster designs means the world to me. The hook is now the Goarrinn race.
Again, this is something I spent a lot of time looking at before I ever photographed it. I have walked by this paint splatter every day on my morning walks for years. I loved its organic shape and form. I knew I needed to do something with it, but I needed the right story, the right creature. I knew it led me to a rather unorthodox design, so I needed the correct story for the book before I could design the creature's look. I took the photo and then spent time coming up with the backstory, and once that was done, the Ut-Louw'Vat was born.
Ut-Louw'Vat
The Grand Bazaar of Ethra Dalia - The Completed Circle
5 x 5 - Pencil, ink, and acrylic paint on paper
Original - AVAILABLE!
© 2023 Christopher Burdett Treated as if they were mere animals as their language is unknown to most, this ambassador was stuck in a livestock pin awaiting sale. It realizes that another being can understand its speech and pleads for assistance. Could an algorithm do something of this level?
Lastly, (I say lastly, but I have so many of these, but I think I have proven my point with these examples) I have a piece that went the opposite direction. A direction I often work in. I have spoken at length about how I shot reference of myself for all my assignments and personal work at the beginning of the concept phase. I act out, often with props and lighting, the creature I want to design. I move, play, and act out the creature in my head as I figure out how this thing would move, stand, and exist in the real world. Sometimes, I will only have a pose in my head, and I will then work it out in front of the camera until I have something that works with what is in my head. From there, I let my brain do its thing as the monster takes form.
Eau-de-nil Elder
11 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2016 Christopher Burdett
Here is the end product of the above photo. I knew what I wanted, but I needed to ground it in something tangible to bring it together. I have many hundreds of images similar to the photo I used to make this creature. They all become things very much the opposite of what you see in the pictures.
I hope this sheds some light on how I work, what I look to for reference, and how I derive my ideas. At the end of the day, all of my creations are in response to the world around me. The good, the bad, and everything in between. My work is extremely autobiographical on so many levels, but the veneer of monstrous imagery gives it an abstraction that allows it to become fantastical. I would like to see an algorithm try that.
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
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