Ruardy x AI Calendar 2024

Images of the calendar are the result of rounds of generations in Midjourney. I’m fascinated by how much Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has evolved in recent years. It’s amazing that people with ideas can access creativity tools like image generators and implement their projects more easily. Rapid visualization has become significantly easier,  AI tools is a big help to professionals too. I don’t think illustrators’ work will disappear because of generative AI. Photography has been around for a long time, but people still enjoy and value paintings. Automatic logo generators have been available for a while too, yet people who want custom solutions still order logo designs from professionals. Designers can now focus on the evaluation and finalization of concepts brainstormed using AI tools.

However, ethical aspects are still to be discussed. There are many benefits as well as challenges regarding this topic.

Nature's spirit guardians

Nature is generous and strong but we must be aware of how much we ask to receive. I wanted the illustrations to convey a sense of sacred relationship with nature, serene beauty, and mystical harmony. In this story the animals are not necessarily real. They could be spirits of the forest, ethereal entities that embody the surroundings: forest, lake, or mountain. They protect the environment and are part of the scenery itself. We don’t know if the human characters are ordinary people or magical keepers of the forest but everything hints at a magical, almost sacred relationship between them.

Each illustration took on average 45 minutes to make, I started with my initial idea and developed it though iteration rounds. So in total together with layout design it took about 13 hours of work to prepare this calendar for print.

The wide image on the other side is designed to make it possible to reuse the calendar as an interior element when the year has passed.