Glenn Marshall
[AI Art Weekly] Glenn, what’s your background and how did you get into AI art?
I first started working with 3D animation about 25 years ago. Around 15 years ago, I shifted my focus entirely to generative art using code. This field was much more exciting and innovative to me. I became fascinated with the abstract and metaphysical aspects of art and how to convey philosophical ideas using numbers and algorithms.
Soon after, the development of text-to-image synthesis with AI began, and I was an early adopter of “Big Sleep,” an open-source Google Colab project created by Ryan Murdock. Although rudimentary, it was revolutionary. I could articulate my imagination and watch as it was visualized by a machine, which sparked new creative areas of my brain.
“Fight!” by Glenn Marshall
[AI Art Weekly] Do you have a specific project you’re currently working on? What is it?
Yes, it’s quite exciting, actually. I currently have short and feature films in development, and I’m using AI and Virtual Production (The Volume). I will be shooting in a few weeks and using AI for production design, as well as stylizing and rotoscoping live action elements. Unfortunately, I can’t provide many more details at the moment!
[AI Art Weekly] What drives you to create?
This new technology allows for the creation of things that have never been seen before and enables storytelling in ways that were previously impossible.
“Standing forever” by Glenn Marshall
[AI Art Weekly] What does your workflow look like?
Browsing YouTube for videos that I could take and transform. Creating videos and animations has always been my main thing with AI. With Automatic1111, fine tuned stable diffusion models, ControlNet and other tools, the creative possibilities are getting crazier by the day and we’ve definitely reached the stage where AI is a serious creative tool for mainstream TV, film and Animation productions.
[AI Art Weekly] What is your favourite prompt when creating art?
I have never been a prompt wizard. Instead, I rely on transforming videos and stills into something unique using simple styling prompts. For instance, I have enjoyed applying the Giuseppe Arcimboldo, art nouveau style to some mindfulness coloring pages, using ControlNet to work on a piece by Escher or simply applying the Pre-Raphaelite painting style to a Robert Palmer music video.
“The end of the world is nigh.” by Glenn Marshall
[AI Art Weekly] How do you imagine AI (art) will be impacting society in the near future?
To say that this will cause disruption would be an understatement. Ironically, I believe human artists will become more valued. We’ve just gone through the phase of people saying “wow, can you believe a computer made this amazing art?”. But now, it’s so easy for anyone to create amazing AI art, that one day soon we might see a “real” painting and say “wow, can you believe a human made this amazing art?”.
[AI Art Weekly] Who is your favourite artist?
The Surrealists, namely Dali, Magritte, and Escher, are the obvious ones. I believe they would have been blown away by AI.
“Landscape of Cadaques” by Salvador Dali
[AI Art Weekly] Anything else you would like to share?
Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, wrote to congratulate me on the success of my AI film, ‘The Crow.’ He also informed me that his friend, Mylene Farmer, France’s top female pop star, was interested in using it during her concerts this summer. So I gave it to her to use!