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Dedicated to my loved ones, family, friends, mentors- for without you my story would have turned out differently.

Embracing Generative AI as a Creative Professional

Hesitation around Generative AI remains persistent throughout the artistic community. From novice creators to seasoned professionals, I have found many still pause before sharing their true thoughts on the evolving role of these technologies in creative work.

I have been a professional digital artist and designer for a decade, and I can confidently say the pace of change has never been this fast or so vast. Opinions about generative AI—particularly within animation and motion media design—are varied and often deeply personal. For years, many believed these disciplines would be difficult to replicate without practice and experienced artists. But now, we're witnessing tools that make it possible to illustrate complex ideas faster and more accessibly than ever—often without a degree or formal training.

That said, I do believe some schools of thought are more productive than others.

While some institutions take a “wait and see” approach to Generative AI, others have begun to encourage meaningful engagement. I’m not afraid to name names here: during interviews for a full-time professor role at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I saw firsthand how slow some schools have been to incorporate generative tools into their curriculum. In contrast, professors at my own alma mater, the Savannah College of Art and Design, have openly expressed their desire to help students use these tools as creative aids—integrating them into the pipeline rather than rejecting them outright.

As a Senior Designer and professional overseeing a team of creative talent across various disciplines for a very specialized field, we always aim to remain polished, agile, and forward-thinking. With permission, I hope to soon share a case study about the time we dedicated to developing a tool for the NSSI (National Security Space Institute, USSF). However, that's a discussion for another occasion.

This post is the beginning of something new.

It marks the start of my journey in creating a short film—one where I aim to be fully transparent about my process and the tools I use. At heart, I am an academic. Research is a cornerstone of my practice as an educator and as a professional creative leader.

To kick things off, I turned to a concept Liz Blazer once introduced to me: the six-word story. Famously used in literature, this method of storytelling is meant to help someone like me stay focused. Professor Blazer used it as a kind of litmus test—if you can distill your idea down to six words, you likely have something worth pursuing.

So... what did I do? I asked ChatGPT to generate a six-word story that captured a sense of whimsy and fairytale charm—elements deeply tied to my personal style and passions. I also wanted to capture the poetic nature of time.

It gave me this: “She planted time, memories bloomed brightly.”

A profound statement—one I wish was completely mine! That said, this six-word story has become a springboard for me. I have been sketching and taking this idea to digital paper and even the whiteboard during my downtime at work.

With that phrase as my seed, I’m setting out to explore how AI-generated prompts and work can help seasoned creatives like myself channel our artistic energies into meaningful work. This project is deeply personal, unfunded, and free of institutional constraints.

My goal is to share the process—honestly and transparently—including where I deviate from AI and where I lean into it. I hope this exploration can serve as a reference point for other creatives grappling with the role of AI in small-scale production.

My hypothesis is that while I will have some fun generating ideas and creating with prompts, I will quickly turn and pivot toward things that resonate with me.

For now, I use these six words as a starting point.

Logline: She planted time, memories bloomed brilliantly.(AI Generated Using ChatGPT)

The first images that come to my mind are of a young girl receiving tangible time from a tree and then planting her own. It is visually intriguing. It evokes the saying "Money doesn't grow on trees," highlighting the connection between time and it's monetary value. What if time actually did grow on trees? How would such a world appear?

I will be sharing and updating this blog as my time allows- I also plan to keep my work documented in other forums like my instagram.