Much of creative work involves tedious, repetitive tasks that can drain your energy without engaging your creative instincts. AI can take over those tasks so you can focus on vision, storytelling and the human elements that make art resonate.

But it’s important to approach AI with care. Responsible use means limiting endless generations, crediting tools and collaborators, and being mindful of its environmental and ethical impacts.

Visual artist Yashna shares her approach to integrating AI into projects, using it to free up time for the real creative work.

Can you introduce yourself and your creative practice?

I’m ɐuɥsɐʎ, I’m a visual artist and I like to treat the internet like my playground. I experiment across mediums and create whatever resonates with me creatively and emotionally.
My creative practice lives somewhere between motion, storytelling, and chaos. I design, animate, experiment, overthink. I’m obsessed with emotions and the absurdity of our world. I like when things look a little imperfect, a little odd, like “Did she mean to do that?”

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What kind of creative work do you primarily do, and when did AI first enter your process?

I mostly work on animations and video edits for brands, visualizers for artists. Anything in the digital art space. I first started to use AI (in the conventional sense that we know it today) in late 2022.

Could you share some practical steps on how you integrate AI into your creative workflow?

Image polishing: Photoshop cleaning, generative fill, expanding images, upscaling.
Workflow automation: Use scripts or AI tools to batch rename files, generate subtitles, transcribe interviews, or clean audio. Even writing scripts for animation in After Effects and Blender, AI does a great job.
Asset creation: Depending on the project, I generate textures, backgrounds, mood frames, sound elements etc.

Do you see AI as a tool, collaborator, assistant, or something else entirely?

I see AI as a tool honestly, and sometimes maybe a collaborator. AI lowers the gate of entry into visual art, and before it was meaningful to see what you could do with your hands, that was your skill. Now if you can visualize and execute your vision and turn it into something buyable, that's considered skill too. One does not and should not diminish the value of the other.

What does “using AI responsibly” mean to you?

Be honest. Credit the tool, the collaborator, and your inspiration. Don’t blur authorship for clout.
Avoid endless generation loops. Think about what you generate and keep the number as less as you can, don’t brute force 200 outputs till you find the one that works for you just because you can.
Choose platforms that at least actively invest in renewable energy and work toward reducing their carbon footprint.
Understand the impact of what AI is and what it can do. Use it because it benefits you, but stay aware of its consequences and don’t ignore them.

What tools are currently part of your workflow?

Adobe, Higgsfield, Midjourney, Sora, Openart, Eleven Labs, ChatGPT. It helps to understand each tool (specifically the use case of each model). Every model has a distinct output style and responds differently to the same prompt. Learning this takes experimentation. Once you know how each tool behaves, you can choose the right one for each project and use your credits more efficiently.

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How do you maintain your creative voice while using AI?

AI is just the paint and the brushes and sometimes maybe a bit of the canvas, but you’ll always be the artist. The vision, the mood, and the structure are decided first. I approach it the same way I would any digital artwork. The difference is in the workflow and the tools I'm using.

Will human curation and taste become more or less important?

Nothing will beat human taste because we are the ones feeling the feeling an artwork makes us feel. AI can generate form but it doesn't ache, doubt, or risk rejection, and we as humans are wired to care about those things. We privilege art that reflects our own biological and emotional architecture back to us. Something that resonates with the human body and brain language because that's just natural.

What would you tell creatives who feel intimidated by AI?

The fear usually isn’t about the tool. It’s about relevance. But creativity has never been about the tool alone. It’s about taste, judgment, and perspective. Those are human. AI doesn’t erase that. It just shifts the workflow.

If you’re a creative or rather a digital artist, you would want to be on top of every technology that comes up. It's great if you want to continue creating without any use of AI. It's actually really commendable, but don't stop yourself from at least learning about it. Choosing not to understand it can put you at a disadvantage. The industry will keep evolving whether we’re comfortable or not, and it can never hurt to broaden your skill set.

Banner image courtesy of @yashnax__

auster

It’s important to approach AI with care. Responsible use means limiting generations, crediting tools and collaborators, and being mindful of its impact.

auster