ART FROM THE SOUL: CHRISTY ALDRIDGE

Savannah speaks with Christy from Grim Poppy Designs this week about her art and the struggles she faces with the advent of GenAI on stock photo sites.

Savannah sat down with Christy Aldridge from Grim Poppy Designs to discuss the art from her soul as Memento Mori Ink continues its crusade to lift flesh and blood artists up!

SAVANNAH FISCHER: Tell me about your personal experience in the field of cover design?

CHRISTY ALDRDIDGE: In cover design, I did my first cover about 10 years ago. It was for my own book, my first self-published book. It was a photo I took and a lot of filters and manipulation. Had no clue what I was doing but I still love it. From there, being an indie author, I realized that the cover of my book was just as important as the writing and I started learning how to make covers that looked appealing. After doing a few of my own, I had friends that wanted things similar and I would create covers for them as well. Around 2021, I decided that I wanted to offer my services to writers just like me. Folks who had low budgets, were just starting, but still wanted something that looked good. At the time, a lot of the Premades I was finding on websites weren’t targeting the horror audience in a creative way. The covers weren’t reflecting what I saw the horror writers wanting and what I wanted to see as a horror lover and reader. Granted, indie artists in the genre were creating amazing covers, but the premade sites were definitely not good. And each one had their own style, and I felt like my style was unique enough to join in.

SF: Are you a traditional cover artist, or do you consider yourself a graphic designer?

CA: I’m not sure. I happen to live in this weird middle ground because I grew up drawing. I started with pencil and paper (often photo copy paper because I didn’t get my first sketchbook until I was about 14). But I also experimented, my style starting with anime, moving into realism, and then sort of coming back to graphic comic art, and then I think I just landed somewhere in between the three. But when I started doing cover art, I didn’t think drawing translated well when I managed to get them to a computer, so I started learning how to use stock imagery and photographs. And I really enjoyed it as well. I also began drawing digitally and found a love for it, so I guess the two terms I tend to use the most are just artist or creative.

SF: What originally drew you to the field?

CA: Necessity at first. I needed covers and couldn’t afford them. But after branching out with a few friends, I figured I had a knack for it. People seemed to like the stuff I created so I started making Premades and from there, Grim Poppy was born!

SF: What have you seen since the rise of AI? How has it affected you personally and the field as a whole?

CA: Since Gen AI became a thing, stock sites have become awful to navigate. Think of the most common thing you can find an image for, and I can guarantee you that AI images will pop up before normal images. It makes the process of gathering assets longer and more difficult, because either feels like the stock sites want you to use the AI images instead. And on a more personal level, after AI, I noticed more people questioning my art. Sometimes it feels like if you don’t go out of your way to prove everything you do isn’t AI, someone out there is waiting with a pitchfork to accuse you. I’ve seen artists that have been creating art online for years, decades, accused of AI and it’s so sad that artists aren’t allowed to create anymore. I can’t imagine the younger generations of artists coming up that will have to combat against it with everything they draw.

SF: How has the advent of AI impacted your income?

CA: I don’t know if it has. I can’t personally say that anyone has went to AI instead of me, though I know there are likely folks who have. I can say that the people I work with knew what I offered and they return. So I try not to focus too much on whether I’m losing people outside of that.

SF: What steps do you use to prevent the accidental use of AI elements? How do you verify the integrity of your elements?

CA: My biggest trick is checking dates. If it was uploaded before 2021, I trust it. If there’s something after that date, I run it through a site called Hive Moderation. I prefer it over most other AI detectors because it breaks down which generator might have created the image and how likely it is.

SF: What should the general public know about AI as a whole, and AI elements?

CA: That it’s soulless. And that it’s getting harder and harder to differentiate what is real and what isn’t. I think that’s why it became so popular so quickly as well. Social media has always been easily fake. AI was a way to make unreal things real, so obviously people latched onto it. It’s an easy way to create something without having to work for it. But it will never touch a real artist and their art.

SF: In what ways do you combat AI’s intrusion into art?

CA: By creating art. I think that’s all we can do, honestly.

SF: What should the public look for when attempting to verify art?

CA: The hands and wonky eyes are pretty much set in stone, but with it growing more sophisticated, I think you need to look at the smaller details. Not for mistakes or whatever, because I think art isn’t meant to be perfect, but AI attempts to make it perfect. Things will be perfectly symmetric, or too smooth. And then there’s that guy feeling. AI tends to feel very uncanny valley in its appearance. Like there’s something off, even if you can’t quite place your finger on it.

Savannah R. Fischer is the permanently exhausted pigeon in charge of two well-loved chaos gremlins. When not with her family, she can usually be found in her cave, wrapped in an oversized blanket and dreaming of spinach puffs. She wants to show her gremlins that they can do hard things, even when it’s scary, like pulling the wrong lever and ending up in a pit of alligators. No llamas were harmed in the making of her works of horror.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.