Julie Meridian

Many artistic skills — seeing, composing, making marks —transfer both ways across analog & digital (just ask @loish.bsky.social )

NOTE about gen AI:
It can’t help you see unless you ask, it is limited and repetitive for composition, and won’t help you build skill in making marks at all.

Oof, that hurts to see that called animated. That should remain a term for human skill.

Generated. It’s generated.

i gotta say one more thing

having worked in animation for years now, calling this "animated" is a fucking mortal insult. completely get fucked. animation is a creator thoughtfully and painstakingly giving something life. this is fucking nothing compared to animation

My go-to response is “…have you looked at/reviewed this?” and I think it’s such a surprising question that people are usually honest about it.

If they did review it (rare!) I use it as a way to learn what stood out to them while continuing a discussion about their actual goals.

anyway here's the post i wrote up a little while ago as something to share with people who don't get it yet. even if they don't read it, i'm still doing what i can to take away the "i didn't know better" excuse.

So advice…

When oblivious friends and loved ones send AI-generated shit for laughs and you kinda hate AI-generated shit (not because you’re out of touch but because it’s unethical technology mainly used for unethical behavior), what do you respond?

Note: They don’t want a lecture or convo.

Taking basic reference photos of fish. - Studio Abachar Fish, Scientific illustration, baja, marine art, fish illustration, fishing, freediving, spearfishing, angling, sportfishing

I found this nice blog post on how to take useful fish pics for illustration purposes www.abachar.com/blogs/news/4...

There’s something deeply special about choosing the space for thought and iteration. As someone who’s done live painting, I see similarities with other single session art (live streaming, timelapse): as art creation with a performative aspect. It’s proper art, but not the method for breakthroughs.

Public Comment Invited on Artificial Intelligence Action Plan WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump’s recent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Executive Order shows that this Administration is dedicated to America’s global

If you are in any creative or copyright dependent org of any kind, NOW is the time to speak up. You have until March 15 11:59 pm EST to send a note to the WhiteHouse on why we need to follow our current laws.

We all lose if tech’s deranged agenda passes.

www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...

18F Guides A central resource for all 18F guides and methods


You might know us from the guides we have put together, like the de-risking guide and the UX guide. Governments all around the world have used them to make services more accessible and add more value to the public — all while saving millions of dollars. You can still find them here: 18f.org/guides/

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org

Heh! Yeah, I’m doing a little tailoring per platform. More business wrapper there, more whole-person here.

Subtext: finally decided it’s time to cancel my Spotify sub (discomfort about system effects for musicians), and plan my data migration project (spite).

Just one drop in the user bucket, but it’s their practices that caused me to put ample thought into what I want and how to achieve it elsewhere.

Social pressure may be the final straw for many, but don't underestimate the erosion power of users' discomfort from how they are treated...and the fiery momentum that can build and self-replicate from sheer spite.

UX thought of the day:
The more a product or service challenges your users' convictions, or demands concessions to fit into their lives, the more open they become to alternatives...including ditching the fundamental "hook" that is at the root of their loyalty to it.

saw this on twitter, Stephen Worth made some extremely good points about what originality is animation production design these days and how nostalgia sometimes passes this point of no return in terms of relatability...

...and what it means to be a consumer vs a creative as an animation artist

If you want to write heroes in the year 2025, you have to decide what they stand for, and then stand for it. The mealy-mouthed, offend-no-one approach no longer works. People respond to the Walter Whites bc you can put truth in their mouths. So put truth in the mouths of the good guys.

Am I too sensitive or is it that you have unlearned how to talk to strangers and fail to consider that you’re rudeness might not read as playful to someone who doesn’t know you?

Keep using your voice, making your effort, enjoying the process, learning how to do it yourself. Resist using AI for creative things.

The fact of it: Use it or lose it.

I’m a grantwriter and I recently had a client use ChatGPT to help write a first draft for me to review. We had to spend HOURS fixing it line by line 💀 By the end she was like “oh wow you’re even faster than the AI!!” yeah because I have 20 years of experience with this foundation and it doesn’t!!!

The next era will probably be AI-derived assets, and it’s too early to fully understand what feel that will impart.

It caught on in the late 2010’s and has stuck…probably because it replaces the clunky purple-people shorthand for diversity (the previous era of illustration), is significantly lower cost to create, and gives devs something fun to do with the toolkit they have.

Insight Out 2024 Join us on April 11, 2024 for an industry conference all about the power of creating, sharing, and leveraging customer insights to build better products.

I’m weary of this graphic design trend that uses abstract shapes (instead of illustrations or photos) and motion (just because they can).

dovetail.com/insightout/

Using AI tools where judgment is needed is hiring someone who sounds good but can’t distinguish between correct results & making things up, lies about their expertise, and hides their sources so you can’t independently confirm what they say.

I think about this every time I see an AI announcement.

San Diego's Books Unbanned protects the freedom to read Library Foundation SD and library launch Books Unbanned in San Diego to resist book bans, promote intellectual freedom among young readers, and cement libraries as a place where everyone belongs.

Anyone ages 12 – 26 living in the United States can get a San Diego Public Library Books Unbanned card. With the card, the library’s online collection of banned or restricted eBooks and eAudiobooks are available for FREE, no matter where you live in the U.S. libraryfoundationsd.org/news/stories...

Self-portrait, half vectors and half pixels

I'm on the cusp of a big art show (Feb) and a big milestone for my UX work (Apr). More details soon!

The strong bond that I have between these opposites is that artists will *always* be my users. I am compelled to respond where there are intersections of art and technology.

Improved!

Reluctantly crouched
At the starting line
Parsley
Sage
Rosemary and thyme