Remix Season 3: Embracing AI-Powered Creativity with DUGums
Hey there, and a warm, enthusiastic welcome to the freshest entry in our blog series!
In our upcoming blog post, get ready to dive headfirst into DUGum’s captivating creative universe — it’s going to be a lot of fun!
Artist Bio
My name is Doug Saunders known on Remix as DUGums. I am guessing I don’t fit the typical Remix demographic as I am a retired High School English teacher with no art background. However I do have a fascination with all things “A.I.”
I was an early beta tester for Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. That experience alone was enough to get me hooked on generative A.I. I have only become more addicted to creating art since discovering the Remix app.
Could you provide some insight into the specific AI techniques or algorithms you employ in your artwork? How do you choose which ones to use for different projects?
I don’t feel like I have a particular style, or a set way of creating images. I think if you look at my profile on Remix, you’ll see that this is true. There are certain areas of art and photography that I like to focus on — the absurd and surreal (see my Scandinavian Christmas Rituals) — landscapes of all kinds with particular focus on the Southwest desert — and more recently creating photographs that are indistinguishable from the real thing. And I can’t help but claim the title to being the “Minion Man.” There is something about popping a minion into a creation that just cracks me up. I like to produce images that are humorous, and unique. Being able to remix other artists prompts with tweaks and changes is another stellar feature of the Remix app and the Remix community. Artists on Remix expose their prompts for all to see and reuse. It’s a wonderful way to learn prompting as well as a way to create something completely different from what the first artist had in mind. I’m always flattered to have one of my prompts remixed.
If I had to describe how I create the prompts for my images, I would say it falls into the typical format and the absurd format. The typical format would be to come up with a subject and think about the environment, the lighting, maybe an artist or artist’s style, and the mood.
With Remix this is made even easier with the Magic Wand feature which will help flesh out even the most basic ideas you may have. The absurd format I often use is to juxtapose words and descriptions along with genres, styles, and artists or photographers and see what Remix produces. Some of my stranger creations are produced this way.
How do emotion and passion play into your art?
It’s the childlike wonder (even at my advanced age) of watching my prompt come to life that always plays on my emotions. Sometimes, what appears is a fail of the highest order, other times something I didn’t know could possibly exist hits me like a surge of adrenaline. With AI I can direct the creation of landscapes never seen on earth, compose scenes defying physics, and envision creatures that evolution forgot.
I can emulate historical art styles blended together in new ways, minions included! Remix, makes it easy to delete the “fails” and keep re-rolling and tweaking your prompt, it’s hard to produce something you don’t enjoy.
Any advice to artists on how to think about this accelerating change created by AI tools?
If I had to advise artists on using the Remix app I would encourage them to look at the creators whose art they enjoy and follow them. So many of the creators on Remix will share not only their prompts, but if you look on X (Twitter) you find them generously sharing the basics of how they put their prompts together.
I highly recommend the following artists: LinusEkenstam, icreatelife, AllenT, Amira_Z, Mayorking, Hbcoop, aziz4ai, and TechHalla. Of course there are many others who are just as generous with their instruction. I have learned so much from each of these fine artists and you will as well.
In what ways does AI enhance your creative expression and push the boundaries of traditional artistic techniques? And, what’s your favorite thing about Remix?
A.I. and Remix allows me to bring imaginative concepts to visual life that I could never hope to produce with my limited (some would say, non-existent) drawing skills. It takes care of the technical execution so I can focus on creativity and imagination. And Remix enables new forms of remixing and iterating that change the artistic process. Anything I can describe, I can generate.
Finally, what sets Remix apart from other apps is the social aspect. Being able to comment and communicate with other creators who are so supportive and encouraging gives me so much pleasure, purpose and motivation to keep creating.
Thanks for joining us and stay tuned for our next artist highlight.
