Folks are complaining that online spaces for artists – image galleries, forums and the like – are filling up with AI-generated imagery.

A lot of it is bad. Whenever it’s good, that’s more down to the algorithm than the person using the program.

“Hey, I had to get good with prompt design!”

You can learn good prompt design from an expert in five minutes. You can’t learn digital art from an expert in five days. That’s because one is an art form and the other isn’t.

I’m not saying these AI images not creative. But it’s not the end user who’s expressing themselves. No, that’s down to the training images and the algorithm itself. Typing someone’s name into DuckDuckGo doesn’t make you a private investigator.

Even so, plenty of folks are proud of “their” AI creations.

Some even charge for them, which is like paying me to do your DuckDuckGo searches for you. You could just cut out the middleman there.

But why?

Why would anyone be proud of something they commissioned, in a sense, rather than created?

(Nuance check: obviously I’m not talking about artists who take an AI image, and then spent hours and talent making it better. That’s different.)

Well, in yesterday’s email, I talked about having a creative urge but not having a creative outlet.

I talked about how obsessed I became years ago with ambigrams – the first artistic thing where I wasn’t terrible at it. It felt so intoxicating being able to express my creativity, bringing into the world something that only existed in my head before.

Now, sure, plenty of folks are just using AI to mass produce manure and sell it for a quick buck.

But not everyone in this space is making a profit from it – or even trying to break even.

Some do it because of the likes and the kudos and the raw electric thrill of sharing something of yours in the world.

If you have a creative urge but no real outlet for it, then I can see how AI might appeal.

I just hope you’re okay with everyone laughing at you.

Because everyone with a brain and working eyes can see your art is fake. They can tell you pushed a button and didn’t even clean it up in GIMP afterwards. Seeing you pass this off as some modest achievement, worthy of admiration, is pathetic.

The only folks liking and commenting on “your” “art” are pathetic losers. You’re not even king of a dung heap – because there are better AI users than you, you’re more like a duke.

Well done. I hope it was worth it.

Maybe, instead, you should learn how to express your creativity.

See, you don’t have to write well to be a writer. If you write consistently and in an unique style – even a bad style – then you’ll find your audience in time. You don’t have to draw well to be an artist. The most popular webcomics of all time are rarely famous for the beautiful imagery.

xkcd is an obvious example, although folks underestimate the talent needed to convey emotion and personality through only stick figures. Another great example is Basic Instructions – the author took photos of himself and his friends, traced over them and uses the traces as stock imagery for his webcomic.

You don’t need talent.

You need to get to work.

“But how…?”

Some styles of creativity are unstoppable. They’re dynamos, capable of hustling hard and sticking with a project until it’s done.

You have this style inside of you.

You just need to cultivate it.

How?

By reading and doing the simple exercises in Every Creative Way, available here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw

I’ve had a creative urge for as long as I can remember.

A creative ability, though…?

I remember first discovering ambigrams – words that have rotational symmetry (they look the same when you flip the page upside-down), popularised in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. I became obsessed with creating them, mostly because they were quick enough and simple enough for me to make them without getting bored, but complex enough for it to be impressive.

No, I don’t have any samples to share with you. This was a while ago. They were probably terrible anyway.

But I made dozens of these things because, finally, my raw, raging creativity had an outlet.

My point?

I know what it’s like to have the urge to be creative but without any way to express it.

It should be obvious that’s no longer the case. This email is a creative expression – an artistic link between a story I have and a goal, shared through the art of written text.

And emails are just one thing out of many that I create.

My goal is to convince you that it’s possible to learn how to be creative in a productive way. If you’re satisfied with only daydreaming rich, vivid characters, stories, business ideas, marketing plans, video series and movies, then that’s fine. That’s barely creative though. The real art lies in the intersection between your vision and practical reality.

If you’d like to get whatever’s in your head out into the world so you can share it – or even just admire it in private – then there’s good news.

Every Creative Way outlines a few different approaches to creative thinking.

Some are dramatic and intensely original.

Others are more likely to be popular with a wide audience than others.

And some are simply good at getting the job done.

If you’re good at daydreaming but you struggle to create, then you probably need more of the latter.

Good news! You can learn these styles with a few simple exercises that I outline in Every Creative Way:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw

I wrote Every Creative Way as a guide for individuals.

It’s for you to use to cultivate a richer and smoother creative style.

So I didn’t write it with groups and organisations in mind. That said, something clicked as I was pulling this together.

Specifically, how corporations decay.

How was it that Walt’s Disney was so different to modern Disney? Oh, sure, there are thousands of variables at play there. Theories abound as to how and why the same company that basically invented and then reinvented animated features… now produces formulaic, preachy sludge oozing out onto our screens.

The model of creativity I talk about is too simplistic to fully explain that.

But… well, it sure is a good fit.

It explains why old Disney and new Disney are so different – same with Apple, too, and any other company coasting on its legacy.

Better yet, it explains what these companies can do about it.

Now, these solutions are on the naïve side. When a company sours, it’s because thousands of folks have soured it. An army of lawyers gum up the works, a legion of bad hires rot in mediocrity and teams of executives surrender to focus groups and preaching over creative vision.

Fixing things through the Every Creative Way lens won’t fix all of that. It’s too much.

But it can throttle the problem before it blooms – as part of a coordinated plan.

Don’t buy the book for this strategy. It’s not the focus, but the icing on the cake.

If you get some corporate innovation insights out of it too? That’s a nice bonus.

Find the eBook here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw

You’re already creative.

That’s a given – but it’s not useful. Not in and of itself. No, that’s about as helpful as your great-aunt pinching your cheek and telling you what a handsome man you’re becoming.

What’s better than empty validation?

Advice on how to do better.

That’s what I love about Every Creative Way. Yeah, I tell you that – and how – you’re already creative.

Maybe that’s good for your morale.

But it would be better if I told you simple and effective ways to improve.

Which I did.

The six different styles of creativity are quite different from each other. All are undeniably creative, but that doesn’t mean they’re similar. In fact, many of the styles often hate each other.

Being so different, there’s no universal advice I can give.

So I don’t.

Instead, I share different exercises for each styles – exercises that perfectly build off your greatest strengths to ease your greatest weaknesses.

The same exercises do both at once.

How nice is that? Some self-development strategies shine a light on your softer points and tell you to suck it up.

If you’re scrawny, you can lift iron until you puke. Or you can use your beefy brain to build an exoskeleton. Both make you stronger. The exercises in Every Creative Way are a bit of both, but more on the exoskeleton side. Most of them will feel easy and familiar… even as they round out your creative styles.

I’m proud of that. It’s training tailored to you, based on where you’re starting from and where you’re going.

Begin your exo-building here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw

You want to be more creative. I don’t have to sell you on that.

But what, exactly, do you need? Not all creativity is equal, after all.

Consider:

Not all creativity is original. You might write a novel about a grizzled private eye whose investigations lead them into danger, corruption and seduction. Is that creative? Absolutely. But it’s not exactly original – and sometimes you need to think of a new idea.

Not all creativity has mass appeal. Maybe you’re an auteur, unconcerned with the tastes of the masses. There’s nothing wrong with that… unless you have bills to pay or a message to share with the world.

Not all creativity knows how to implement. It’s easy and fun to dream up new ideas, but then it can be a struggle to turn them into anything.

So what do you want more of? Originality, appeal or implementation?

In my 21st book – Every Creative Way – I analyse six styles of creativity, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Once you know your style, I give you simple and effective exercises that will change how you approach creative thinking.

Each exercise is tailored to your style, leaning into your strengths and using them to round out your creativity.

It’s available now so, if you’re ready to bottle your creative juices, get ready to read it here:

https://christianhypnotism.com/ecw