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This week on Brave New Bookshelf, we’re exploring the vibrant world of visual storytelling and the “new avant-garde.” Hosts Steph Pajonas and Danica Favorite sat down with Tanya Hales, a classically trained artist and illustrator who is pioneering the use of AI in the world of book covers and fantasy world-building.
From the history of “satanic” Impressionist art to the practicalities of running a Kickstarter with an “AI art assistant,” this episode is a deep dive into how technology can amplify human creativity rather than replace it.
Meet Tanya Hales: Artist, Illustrator, and Community Leader
Tanya Hales is not your typical AI enthusiast—she is an artist to her core. With a degree in fine arts and a lifelong passion for illustration, Tanya has spent her career telling stories through both images and words. She is the founder of the AI Art for Authors Facebook group, a community dedicated to helping writers understand art principles and use generative tools to bring their visions to life.
As a mother of four and an ambitious creator, Tanya views AI as a vital tool for balancing a busy personal life with a high-output professional career. Whether she’s designing coloring books or building her “sandbox” fantasy world, Tanya’s approach is one of curiosity and adaptation.
The Emotional Journey: From Excitement to “End Times” and Back
Like many creators, Tanya’s relationship with AI has been a rollercoaster. She first jumped into Midjourney during its early beta days in 2022, initially seeing it as a fun way to add “randomness” and inspiration to her process. However, as the models improved (specifically Midjourney V5), she hit a wall of fear.
“I had this moment where I was like, ‘It’s actually good,’” Tanya shared, recalling the realization that AI-generated content was beginning to flood marketplaces like Amazon. She went through the “loop” of fearing replacement before landing on a powerful perspective: AI isn’t the competition; it’s a tool. By focusing on her unique “human taste” and building direct relationships with her audience, she realized that her artistic voice remains irreplaceable.
Historical Parallels: The “Satanic” Roots of Modern Art
One of the most thought-provoking segments of the episode drew a parallel between the current anti-AI sentiment and the history of the Impressionist movement. Steph shared a story from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) regarding Paul Cézanne’s painting, The Bather.
In 1921, critics decried modern art as a “satanic cult” and “communist propaganda,” claiming it showed “moral collapse.” Much like the Impressionists were once barred from major exhibitions for “not doing real art,” today’s AI artists face similar gatekeeping. Tanya noted that pioneers like Monet and Pissarro—who were constantly experimenting with new techniques—would likely have had “a blast” playing with AI tools if they were alive today.
A Hybrid Creative Process: “Photo Bashing” and Ideation
Tanya doesn’t just “press a button” to make art. Her workflow is a sophisticated blend of traditional skill and AI assistance:
- Ideation and Reference: Using AI to generate color palettes and composition ideas.
- Tracing and Anatomy: Using AI-generated figures to help with difficult poses, then drawing the final lines by hand.
- Photo Bashing: Combining multiple AI-generated assets (backgrounds, characters, textures) and “repainting” over them to create a cohesive marketing asset or book cover.
- Style Translation: Using AI images as references for physical watercolor paintings, bridging the gap between digital and analog.
This “hybrid” approach allowed Tanya to prepare her upcoming Kickstarter campaign much faster than traditional methods would allow. “If I was trying to do this on my own, I would still probably be a year out from my launch,” she noted.
Building the World of Animal Magica
Tanya’s primary project is Animal Magica, a “sandbox world” consisting of 42 magical aisles where humans bond with animal companions. What started as a coloring book for her daughter has evolved into a massive universe featuring:
- Three volumes of coloring books with flash fiction stories.
- Upcoming cozy fantasy novels like The Wandering Dragon Cafe.
- Interactive marketing experiences, such as a “Gachapon” machine Tanya used at conventions to help readers “bond” with a digital companion.
Interestingly, Tanya used ChatGPT to brainstorm the logistics of her interactive convention game, proving that AI is just as useful for marketing strategy as it is for creative execution.
AI as a Support for Neurodivergent Creators
Both Tanya and Danica discussed how AI serves as a powerful “brainstorming buddy” for neurodivergent individuals. Tanya, who recently discovered she is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD, explained that AI provides a “non-judgmental” space to process ideas.
Because AI doesn’t come with preconceived notions of what a “successful person” looks like, it allows creators to work in ways that suit their brain chemistry. Whether it’s managing “perimenopause brain” or finding a way to organize complex world-building in Notion, AI acts as an assistant that “sees you as you are” and helps fill the gaps in executive function.
Favorite Tools & Recommendations
Tanya and the hosts highlighted several tools that are essential to their current workflows:
- Midjourney: Tanya’s “ride or die” for aesthetics and visual ideation.
- ChatGPT: Her go-to for brainstorming marketing strategies and interactive experiences.
- Claude: Praised for its nuance in writing and context handling.
- Gemini: Specifically noted for its ability to create realistic product mockups for Kickstarter.
- Notion: Used for storing and organizing deep world-building context.
- Affinity & Photoshop: The professional software where the final digital painting and “photo bashing” happen.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- AI is an Augmentation, Not a Replacement: Use AI to handle the tasks you struggle with so you can focus on your “area of genius.”
- Embrace the “Pioneer” Mindset: History shows that new art movements are always met with resistance. Don’t let “hater” comments stop your innovation.
- Context is King: The more you use a specific AI tool, the better it understands your personal taste and goals.
- Build a Sandbox: Create a world or “brand” that allows for multiple types of content (books, games, art) to keep your audience engaged.
- Focus on Connection: Use AI to handle the “heavy lifting” so you have more time to be present for your family and your community.
Resources Mentioned
Transcript
Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to Brave New Bookshelf, a podcast that explores the fascinating intersection of AI and authorship. Join hosts Steph Pajonas and Danica Favorite as they dive into thought provoking discussions, debunk myths, and highlight the transformative role of AI in the publishing industry.
Steph Pajonas: Hello everyone and welcome back to an episode of the Brave New Bookshelf. I’m one of your co-hosts, CTO of Future Fiction Academy and Future Fiction Press, Steph Pajonas. I am doing all the cool stuff with AI forward books in the Press, and teaching authors how to use AI as part of their process. We’re teaching people on the blog. I’m writing up my substack posts, we got the Facebook groups, all that good stuff.
There’s no stopping us at this point. We’re going on and we’re going on and we’re going on, because there’s a lot to talk about in AI. It just never stops. It really just never stops. Just this week, and we’re recording this in the middle of February, Claude [00:01:00] 4.6 Sonnet is out. Yay. Everybody’s playing with it, having fun with it, doing cool stuff.
I am using Opus 4.6 to put together a nonfiction book, which is fun. I’m using it for all this fun stuff. And I’m just, I’m super jazzed about it. I’m not letting anything get me down, especially any of those anti AI haters out there. They’re not, they’re not even on my radar ’cause I’m working hard, working hard. All right. So everybody who tunes in all the time knows that my lovely co-host is waiting for me to introduce her, as always. This wonderful woman also works very hard. Danica Favorite, how are you doing?
Danica Favorite: I’m doing great. I’m doing great. I love that you were so talkative in the beginning and have so much going on.
I love your spirit of positivity. But this is also why we’re friends and why we co-host this podcast together. So for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Danica Favorite. I’m the community manager at [00:02:00] Publish Drive, where things are also very, very exciting. For those of you who don’t know Publish Drive and what we do, we help authors distribute their books to the widest audience possible. One click distribute to all the stores, and we’re here for every stage of your journey. So from formatting your books, to generating some AI covers, AI book descriptions and metadata to again, getting it distributed and then, once the book has been out into the world, we can help you if you’re splitting royalties with someone, we can do that for you. So a lot of cool stuff. And then of course with the FFA teaching people how to write the books and how to do all the other pieces of the author journey and marketing and things like that, we really are a powerhouse team here. And I do wanna say I super appreciate Steph’s positivity, ’cause this morning she sent me one of the hater comments. Usually she just hides ’em and gets rid of ’em. And I was like, no, we need to report these to YouTube, because [00:03:00] they’re mean guys.
I was really aghast at how nasty people can be. And if that’s you. Could you please just check yourself?
Steph Pajonas: I was thinking they need a Snickers bar or something.
Danica Favorite: Like, like seriously, what is going on in your world that you have to be that mean? And I, like Steph says, I don’t have time for that.
I really don’t. This is a safe place for everyone. And so I want all the authors, all the publishers, anyone listening to our podcast, I want you to know that we take your safety very seriously, and we want this to be a safe space for everyone, period. And I have not gotten to play with the new Claude yet.
Weirdly I’ve been working on some other projects, but today I was browsing the front page of the internet as one does. And they had this really interesting article from Good Housekeeping that was talking about how people are using [00:04:00] AI to decorate their homes, which I thought was fascinating, because my mother’s a realtor. And do not get her started on this topic, ’cause she gets really angry that when you look at the online homes for sale, people will stage them using AI tools. And she’s like, but that’s not accurate of what the house looks like. I’m like, but it’s nice, because you get an idea of what’s there. But this article, took it a step further.
And when you don’t know how to decorate your house, you can take a picture, send it to the AI and say, Hey, can you help me figure out how to arrange my furniture, arrange my house? What decorations would be here? I’m, oh my gosh, that’s amazing. I totally wanna do that, ’cause I, I live in a very small apartment.
And is there a way I can maximize my space? So I think I’m gonna do that this weekend.
Steph Pajonas: I love that idea. I think that’s so fun. I mean, why not use it for all the parts of your life that you feel are a little [00:05:00] bit lacking? So, if you can’t necessarily figure out where to put your furniture, why not just ask an expert, which would be an AI of course.
Or if you have interior decorating friends, I’m sure you would ask them. But some, some of them are super busy. You might as well go ask the AI.
Danica Favorite: And, and I said, this is not my skill. I really am terrible at decorating and choosing colors and figuring out what colors look best. So I’m super excited to try this, and that’s part of why I’m really excited to have our guest today, Tanya Hales, because she is an amazing artist.
I am so blown away with her art and her creativity and all the things that Tanya does that I don’t have that vision of color and things. I’ve, I’ve said many times, I don’t care what’s on my book cover as long as it sells, because I just don’t have a sense of even what is… I know what I find aesthetically appealing, but not necessarily other people. And Tanya is so [00:06:00] gifted at this. She also runs the AI Art for Authors Facebook group. And so I can’t believe we haven’t had her on already. I thought for some reason we’d had her on ages ago and I was, oh, we should have Tanya on again. And then I looked at it, I’m , no, she hasn’t been here yet.
So I am rectifying a huge mistake, because she’s amazing. What she does in the AI for Authors group is amazing. And if you see her art, which if you’re watching us on YouTube, highly recommend liking and subscribing. You can see in her background on her wall, she’s got some of her art posted. And again, we, we keep talking about, it doesn’t replace the artist, it just augments what they do.
And Tanya’s such a perfect example of that, because she is so talented as an artist, and I love how AI is just adding to that. So let’s say hello to Tanya Hales.
Tanya Hales: Thank you so much for having me on. I am so [00:07:00] excited to be here. Even just listening to your intro, I, I’m already like, I wanna talk about this and that and this and that.
There’s so many things that I, I’m just really passionate about this topic. So, I’m excited to be here chatting with you guys.
Steph Pajonas: Tell us about yourself and how you came into art as yourself, and then how you came into AI art as well.
Tanya Hales: Alright, so I have been making art since I was old enough to hold a pencil. My mother is very artistic herself, so back, way back, when I was a tiny little thing, she would draw these pictures of animals for me, and I would color them in. And, basically I’m doing the exact same thing now where I just love to draw. I love drawing animals, I love drawing fantasy characters and I’m, I’m, , still doing the same thing.
So , I’ve been making art all… I’ve never stopped. I, that was kinda my passion ever since then. Elementary school, middle school, high school. I got an art degree in, in college, so this has just been what I’ve been doing. I especially focus on illustration. So , telling a story with my art, I’m not [00:08:00] much of a fine artist, which is perhaps why I’ve gotten… like, so, you know, it has felt natural to use AI in my process a little bit. I, I, started in the, I’d say in my early adult career, I started in the comics space. I was working on a comic for a while. And then I’ve decided to do more with, more of the telling stories through novel length fiction, because comics take a very, very, very, very long time to tell a whole story.
So that’s where I’ve been using art to augment my long form word-based stories now. Let’s see, for the AI, so I came into it right when it was getting big, so I’m trying to remember what year was it Steph when we both made our groups? Because I made AI Art for Authors, and I feel it was literally a week or two later that you guys made the AI Writing for Authors.
Steph Pajonas: Yeah, yeah.
Tanya Hales: Do you remember what year was this? It was so long ago.
Steph Pajonas: It was right after ChatGPT came out. So it was 2022. I did mine…
Tanya Hales: So long ago.
Steph Pajonas: in December, so it was literally the month after. But I had already [00:09:00] been using Sudowrite before that for writing…
Tanya Hales: Yeah.
Steph Pajonas: through the summer. So. I believe it was 2022.
Yes, 2022.
Tanya Hales: Probably is. I remember it was, for me, it was, I launched my group right after Midjourney went into beta, ’cause I was so excited about it. I was what is this crazy thing? And looking back and the art was so bad. It was not, the results coming outta it were not good, but they were so weird and creative and it, it really sparked that, it gave me that creative energy. It’s the way that a lot of writers love to write based on prompts or I’ve got this deck of cards, it’s called Mesulu. And they’re sort of, that sort of thing where you pull…they’re these, they both have art and a writing based prompt.
And I feel like there’s a lot of this creativity you can get from just adding a little bit of randomness to your process. And so I feel that’s how AI felt to me back in those early days when it wasn’t really good yet, but it would give you all these ideas that you just wouldn’t have come up with on your own. Adding that unknown element in was, it was, that was really fun.
Danica Favorite: I love that. I think it’s [00:10:00] fun. And listening to you, I was just thinking how you were talking about your mom would draw these animals for you, and you would color them in. And you have coloring books, and I own one of them. And I love that. I love it. ’cause it’s delightful. Because this coloring book, I meant to grab it to show off and I didn’t, sorry.
Tanya Hales: I’ve got them somewhere, but…
Danica Favorite: It was, it’s great because she’s got a little short story and a coloring page. And it’s really this huge blend of creativity. And I think for me, as I look at the things you do, just how delightful it is.
And I’ve always appreciated that when AI art came out and Midjourney came out, rather than as an artist saying, oh no, it’s taking away my art, you’ve always said, Ooh, how can I use this to make my art better?
Tanya Hales: It’s kind of funny, because yeah, when it first came out, I didn’t feel threatened at all.
I just felt excited. I’ll admit, I did have this journey. I feel this has happened probably with all of us at least once, maybe even [00:11:00] twice or more, where we do suddenly realize , oh, this is really good. And you start thinking about all the implications.
Am I going to be replaced? Is what I… is what I’m doing going to matter, when AI can do everything? And so in the beginning I didn’t feel that at all. My coloring books that I’ve, that I illustrated, that was completely all my art.
That was right before AI, became a really usable thing for creatives. And , it was funny when, I don’t remember which version it was Midjourney, but I am a Midjourney gal.
I never, never left Midjourney. I just, I, I love, I love Midjourney, so I remember, gosh, it might have been V5 or something that when it finally was making, it could make coloring pages that were actually really good. And I remember I had this moment where I was, oh! It was hard, ’cause I’d been this AI advocate for a while, but I suddenly had this moment where I’m like, it’s actually good.
And I’m watching as Amazon is just filling up with all these AI generated coloring books. And I’m like, no one finds my stuff on Amazon anymore. And it’s, it’s partially because, maybe I’m just terrible [00:12:00] with ads. I try, I’ve tried some ads on my coloring books and it’s not gone well, but I have other outlets.
Basically I’ve had to change my perspective a little bit. I think all of us who are really in this AI space and have gone through that little journey of whew how is this really gonna impact me in the long run?
I think we’ve all had to look at it and think that AI isn’t necessarily our competition. It’s a tool we can use. And then the stuff that is completely AI generated that was done so fast, fast, fast, and maybe made by people who don’t care so much about the actual product.
They’re just there to make a thing and try to sell it. I have to remember, like, that’s not my competition. People are coming to what I create mostly because they know me and they like me and they like that very specific thing that I’ve been creating. And so, yeah, that’s, that’s, uh, yeah, like that emotional journey that I’ve had of thinking that I am not replaceable, because I do bring something to this that that no one else has.
And that’s, I think partially why I’ve really embraced direct sales, especially live events. And then I have a Shopify store and things like that. So.
Danica Favorite: And to [00:13:00] use an AI-ism, her coloring books aren’t just coloring books. They are really something magical, because like I said, there’s a short story that goes with each of the coloring pages and everything.
It isn’t a typical coloring book. In fact, I will admit that I haven’t allowed myself to color in it yet, because it’s so pretty and I’m like, I don’t want to ruin it.
Steph Pajonas: I am also a huge Midjourney fan, so I feel you. I re-up every year for a full year because I was like, there’s no way that I’m ever giving this tool up.
Tanya Hales: Mm-hmm.
Steph Pajonas: I love, I love, it’s, it’s. it’s aesthetics. It just, and it knows me now. That global profile that I have, it…
Tanya Hales: Yes.
Steph Pajonas: It nails it every single time. The aesthetics that I like, the things that I am, that I’m interested in, just like you were saying, it’s you and it’s augmented. It’s like your taste, the kinds of things that you like, so that appeals to your customer, because they see [00:14:00] the, the stuff that you make and they’re like, that’s the stuff that I want to buy.
So it’s augmenting your human taste. It is really showing everybody the kinds of things that you like to produce. And I totally feel you. I’ve been through that loop of, oh my God, I’m so excited about this AI, it’s so cool. Oh my God, I’m gonna be replaced. This is the end times, oh, wait, wait, here comes another cool one. Oh, I love it. It’s so great. And then I just keep doing that loop over and over and over again. It does become quite exhausting after a while, but sometimes you just have to, you have to shorten that little bit where you’re just , oh my God, that’s the end times and lengthen the bit where you’re really excited about it.
Tanya Hales: Mm-hmm.
Steph Pajonas: And then it just gets a little bit easier.
Tanya Hales: For sure. I feel like I’m still one of the very few illustrators… I don’t know a lot of other illustrators who have embraced it the way I have. It’s honestly been kind of, it’s been a little bit hard.
I have tons of writing friends on both sides of the thing. I would say right now, [00:15:00] most, because of just where I’ve chosen to spend my time, most of my writing friends are pro AI or at least AI curious. But I have not had the same success finding that group among artists, visual artists.
And that’s been sad. I’ve lost some friends over it. And I’ve just had to say it’s okay. And I think it’s a weird thing too, because I do use it, a nd I do not try to apply this to anybody else, so I’m gonna say that firstly, get that out of the way.
I do have rules of how I use AI in my art, partially because the way I started my business as a typical illustrator. And so I still, for a lot of my art, I will still use AI only for the ideation, or even sometimes I’ll use it for tracing a figure, because I’m like, I don’t even know how to do, you know, this pose is really hard and I’ll just use it for tracing.
And then I’m like, but everything, all the lines in the finished thing are all mine. But then there’s a lot of things where I, I do use it, especially if it’s gonna be for any marketing asset, book covers, anything like that, I will just photo bash AI all day. It’s all free game.
You know, I’m, [00:16:00] and I’m having, I’m having a lot of fun with that, as I’m working on my upcoming Kickstarter campaign currently in pre-launch. Um, but yeah, so much, so many AI assets that I’ve been working into my art. So some images, I’ll paint the background, but characters, I’m dropping in, and I’m, I’m repainting over them.
And then other things, I’m painting the characters, and it’ll do the background. Other things, it’s just the way that a lot of cover designers do all that photo bashing with all these different assets. That’s how I’m using it for all of this cool marketing stuff.
‘Cause one of the things about Kickstarter is that you need a lot of images, at least, I wouldn’t say that all campaigns do, but I would say most do. And especially if you’re doing some special edition campaign, which is what I’m currently gearing up to do. So, so much art, and if I was trying to do this on my own, it would, I would still probably be a year out from my launch with all the art that I would need to do.
So it has been so great to have this to augment and be almost this second art assistant in my little studio here. So.
Danica Favorite: I think that’s great, and I [00:17:00] appreciate hearing this and your evolution. Because I am a huge fan of Impressionists. It’s one of my favorite art styles. When I was in Paris over the summer, I went to the Monet Museum, the Marmottan, and I got to see a lot of the history.
And then recently in the art museum here in Denver, we had the Pissarro exhibit. And it was fascinating to me to hear this history of impressionism and all the things Pissarro accomplished. And I’ve been wanting to write about this, I haven’t yet because I don’t have it fully formulated. But I do think that there’s a similar parallel to what’s happening with using AI Art, of that movement of, here you are, someone who has an art degree, who understands art and composition and all the things. And you’re like, yes, but there are ways of doing it differently. And here’s how I’m gonna use the AI Art and here’s how I’m gonna do this and that. But the thing is, is you are a talented artist in your [00:18:00] own right.
I remember at the Author Nation conference, you were sitting there drawing sketches of the speakers and they were great. I was, oh my God, I want one of these.
Tanya Hales: Thank you.
Danica Favorite: They’re so good. And it’s like they’re that good. And you know, when Pissarro and Monet and all of these greats of impressionism were starting out, they were told, oh, you’re not a real artist.
You’re not doing real art. They weren’t allowed at the major art exhibitions and, you look at some of their paintings, you’re like, well, those are just dots. I could do that. But if you look at their hand sketches and their hand drawings and the things that they did to develop their skill as artists, their hand stuff is absolute perfection.
The figures they drew are perfect, and they just chose to then take that perfection and play with it, and play with these new techniques and styles. And here you are doing the same thing with the new technology.
Tanya Hales: That suddenly gets me thinking. I wonder how many of these [00:19:00] artists, if they were here now today, I wonder where they’d be on this spectrum of AI versus anti AI. And I bet a lot of those people who are very avant garde, like probably anti AI people would say, they would never touch AI. I bet a lot of them would be having a blast doing the exact same thing that I am, because they’d be like, this is a fun new thing to play with that I can use my creativity with.
And I don’t know, I had never considered that before, so that’s just fun to, to imagine that.
Danica Favorite: I love it, ’cause I saw where Pissarro played with different techniques as they came out. And I’m like, this is what Tanya’s doing, this is what these Avantgarde AI artists are doing. They’re just using a different tool.
Steph Pajonas: I’m going to jump in here, because I was at MoMA last year. Love MoMA. We are family members. We love going there. And um, we ran across a Paul Cézanne painting, and it was The Bather. And I took a picture of the plaque next to it at, at MoMA, because I found it very, [00:20:00] very parallel pathed to what we’re going through right now with AI.
So I’m gonna read it because, I took a picture and I pulled it up on my phone. And I’ll put this in the show notes as well. But the plaque next to Paul Cézanne’s, The Bather, says in 1921, Bliss, who is the woman who purchased the painting, lent this newly purchased work, along with 11 others to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Loan Exhibition of Impressionists and post impressionist paintings.
While the show was initially met with positive reviews towards the end of its run, a group calling itself the committee of citizens and supporters of the museum, circulated a brochure to major newspapers decrying the exhibition. The pamphlet attacked modern art, labeling it as a satanic, satanic cult, communist propaganda, and an example of mental degeneracy.
It singled out Cezanne’s The Bather as particularly [00:21:00] disquieting and showing either mental or moral collapse or eclipse, excuse me, moral eclipse. This bruhaha had the unanticipated effect of increasing attendance in the weeks before the exhibition closed. So, you know, we…we see a lot of parallels between modern art from the past and the modern art that we are currently going through now.
Tanya Hales: That’s fascinating. Thank you for sharing that.
Danica Favorite: I think this is amazing, because I was not anticipating having this discussion, but once you were talking about all your training, Tanya, it just totally reminded me, because I know like you’re like, I don’t know a lot of artists doing this. And I’m like, yeah, but you’re the pioneer.
You’re starting a whole new art movement, and that new art movement I’m excited about. So why don’t you tell us some more about some of the things that you’re doing with the AI Art and what your process looks like, because I think it’s so [00:22:00] fascinating and I think our listeners would really appreciate that.
Tanya Hales: It has been really fun. Just the, the whole journey since creating the AI Art for Authors group. I wish I was doing more in that space than I am. Ooh. But I, I do have four young children ages between age two and age, she’s almost 11 now. So my big girl’s gonna be a preteen soon. I guess what I’m saying is that there’s more I want to do, and I hope I will be able to do it as I maybe, maybe get more time.
There are lots of authors, and then a lot of actual graphic designers have joined too. Who are, yeah, more in the, maybe they’ve done a little bit of writing, but they’re more in the book cover space. I suppose it’s just when you’re a graphic designer, you do have more of that outlook of using all kinds of tools and lots of assets from lots of places.
And so I think maybe that’s why they have been more receptive to art than, or sorry to AI than fine artists or other illustrators where it’s very , but it’s the art, you know. So one of my goals [00:23:00] with the group was just to get people more excited about art concepts. And I don’t think everyone needs to do this because like Danica, you were saying that for you, y ou’re just not that excited about thinking about the cover that much, and I think that is completely valid. There are some people who, I think if they got too much into it, it would bog down the other parts of their creative process. But I do feel like there are people who maybe always wanted to get into the, the art space and they never felt they were an artist. They, for whatever reason, either because they just didn’t do it when they were young, or a whole lot of people who when they were young, they were told they weren’t an artist or they were told to not become an artist or things like that. And so it’s been in the back of their mind, I want to do art things, but I don’t have the tools, the skills, all these things.
So it’s been really fun seeing how many authors are getting into this space now as someone who always wanted to do more art and learn these art principles. And now I’m like, I can talk to them about like, you know, about the concept of what, whatever, all kinds of things. You know, like art tangents is a specific thing or Chiaroscuro, like all these different art [00:24:00] terms and, and it’s just really fun being able to nerd out about art things with authors who normally I couldn’t talk to ’em about this stuff. So that’s been one of my favorite things about about starting the group.
Danica Favorite: I love that because for me, I was one of those kids that was told, oh, you’re bad at art. Give it up. You’re better at writing. Just do it.
And…
Tanya Hales: mm-hmm.
Danica Favorite: now, as I am entering this new era of my life and I have done it over the years, different junk journaling and scrapbooking and…
Tanya Hales: Yeah.
Danica Favorite: messy kind of art. And now interestingly, that’s my new creative outlet is doing really bad, messy art. I have a girlfriend, we get together once in a while to do watercolor painting and it’s not great.
It’s not something you’re gonna find in the MoMA or anywhere else, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s the fun and the expression. And so I like that you talk about this stuff, because it gives people a way to at least express and enjoy themselves. And [00:25:00] so I love that you talk about art and different art things, because yes, I don’t care what goes on my cover ’cause I don’t know what a good cover looks like…
Tanya Hales: Mm-hmm.
Danica Favorite: as long as it sells a book. But you guys will talk about that in the group, and I probably will always be the one who throws into AI, Hey, give me a concept for this cover. And then hands that concept to a cover designer and say, here, make something like this, because I don’t have the time or patience.
And to your point about, hey, it frees me up to do what I really love. Someone else can do that thing for me. I can write the books and when I want to play with art, I can make whatever messy art thing I want to and be satisfied. So it’s always still going back to that same principle Steph and I talk about all the time of use what works for you, offload the rest and move on.
Tanya Hales: Exactly. And I always want to emphasize the importance of creating for you, for yourself, e specially I feel like once you [00:26:00] get into the author world where everything becomes, you know, we gotta like commoditize everything.
It’s, you know, you obviously you don’t, but that’s the mentality a lot of people start to have like, like, why would you even bother making it if you’re not gonna sell it? You know, which is I think can be damaging. And so, yes, I love that you are watercoloring just for you. That’s so, that’s so good for you.
It’s so healing. There’s art therapy for a reason, because it just is so good to create.
Danica Favorite: Tell them about what you’re doing.
Steph Pajonas: Oh, I was gonna say that I’m also doing watercolor as well. I, I see lots of people doing watercolor on Instagram and whatnot, and I’m like, ooh, that looks pretty. I could do that. I could possibly do that. And so I’ve bought the supplies, and I’ve sat down, and I’ve done it a little bit.
I wanna do some AI images that I, that I think are really aesthetically pretty, and then do like an actual, like, watercolor version of them, you know, like translating from one medium to another and…
Tanya Hales: I, I’ve done this. It’s so fun.
Steph Pajonas: That’s fun.
Tanya Hales: I’ve printed, I, I’ve done this with my daughter actually, ’cause she’s [00:27:00] an artist as well. So I’ve printed out some dragons where I’m like, I would never have done this style. And I’m , I’m gonna paint this. And so we printed it out and then we are just getting out our paints and it’s, it’s so fun. I love using AI as reference and like I said, add that bit of randomness, that that unknown element into something that you would never have thought of and now you can just make your own thing out of it.
Danica Favorite: I love how it’s enhancing your creativity. It just, it’s so cool to see that it’s just this enhancement of giving you more new fun ways to be creative. So . Is there anything else, about your process or how you approach AI and AI art?
Tanya Hales: I started going off on a totally different things.
Danica Favorite: Tangents are so fun. This is what we’re about. It’s the tangent, but I, I Bring us back. We’re good.
Tanya Hales: I’m a big lover of midjourney still. I will, I will just, I make so many images on there. And I think Steph, and I’ve kind of, uh, we’ve had a bonding moment about this. You just sit down sometimes and you just make a bunch of stuff and it makes [00:28:00] you feel good.
I feel the anti AI people will be like, you’re really losing your creativity and all those things. Gosh, I feel so creative when I can just change the wording here or playing with their style features and being like, what do I get when I put these two things together and it’s just, it’s so fun.
So I honestly, I love doing that and getting all kinds of new ideas just from, from that. Just all the ideation there. Um, hang on, I’m gonna see if I can, can I pull this guy down? It’s not probably gonna be very good ’cause it’s in a frame, but here’s one that I’ve done.
Can you see this?
It’s all shiny from the uh…
Steph Pajonas: Oh, that’s beautiful. I love that.
Tanya Hales: But this is one that I did, that I painted. It’s a digital painting. This is just a, a print. But so I, for this, I, I did make several images on Midjourney. I was wanting. I was wanting basically to try a new very painterly style, especially when it comes to backgrounds.
I’m not a big fan of backgrounds, and honestly, the AI has helped me get over that a lot, because I’ve gotten all this reference and especially in very specific styles where I could be like, [00:29:00] give me this impressionistic style. Give me, you know, let’s make it look like it’s an oil painting versus like, let’s make it look like it’s like pastel chalk and all kinds of things.
And it gives me lots of new ideas of how I can depict things that were not maybe quite as literal as I was taught to paint things. So this one I had created, I, I don’t know, there were, I think there were mainly two different images I had made on Midjourney. And I used them as reference, everything here was 100% painted by me.
I started a whole new document and you know, I, this is when I was painting in Photoshop. I’ve mostly moved over to Affinity now. Um. But I’ve always, I, I do most of my digital art, on a, an art tablet. I now have an iPad too, where I’ve been using Affinity. But yeah, and then I went and I was just using, so mostly the, I was using all this color reference from it, ’cause color is another one of my weaknesses. And AI is really, really good with color combinations. At least the modern stuff is so good with color. And so it’s really nice to be able to reference that. And so I had a lot of fun making that and just literally just like, okay, color, color, you know?
And it’s [00:30:00] nice ’cause you can use the color picker and like, so even though I’m picking colors from there, I’m like, I will paint this whole thing myself, but I’m taking all these colors from here. Because before I was using AI, um, you know, let’s say like, you know, the whatever, 2012 to 2020, whatever, 2000, you know, 2020, let’s say it’s somewhere in there like I was.
Like I I have this giant folder where I save all this art reference, so I have thousands and thousands of images from other artists, because I think that’s such an important part of your process, as an artist, is to gather all of this reference and consume, just like they tell us as authors to consume lots of books and stories.
Like you really get in your soul what a good story is and the good narrative structure and all that, and it just becomes natural to you. So I feel the same thing is true being an artist. So I was using all this reference, but it was like, there was this danger then where I was trying not to take too much from any one thing where I’m being inspired by 10 different art pieces, because I want that to be mine and not take too much from, you [00:31:00] know, you gotta, you know, just be careful not to be taking too much from any one person.
But it’s been nice with the AI that I can be like, I’ve got these two images and I’m just gonna get reference from these and like, you know, ready to go. So, I don’t know if that explains anything a bit about my process lately.
Steph Pajonas: Well I think that what it’s come down to is that you’re doing the same thing that you’ve always done.
It’s just you’ve replaced some parts of your process with AI. So instead of going to your giant folder of reference material, you can just call up what you need from the AI, and then use that as your reference material. And I’m sure that some people will call that cheating, you know, but whatever.
It’s like I get, I get referenced by picking up something on the beach or by just going out for a walk or just going through my mail. Anything can be inspiring. So I don’t see what the difference is between going to a [00:32:00] folder full of reference files and going to AI for those things. So I love this, because you can definitely see, I can see it in your face, I can hear it in your voice. You’re really excited about the kinds of things that AI has opened up for you. You’re using it in your process. You’re using it for publishing. You said you got a Kickstarter you’re working on, and we’ve had a few people on the podcast who have done Kickstarters and talked about their process as well, and using AI as p art of the promotional page on Kickstarter. Also part of their books, special images in the books, special covers for special editions. What I love about AI is that it is giving everybody this opportunity to be more creative, not less. So I, yeah, I love it, because you are definitely being more creative.
Tanya Hales: I do feel so much more creative. I feel less inhibited and it’s, it’s wonderful. I love Becca Syme and her, all of things she talks about with [00:33:00] like, strengths theory. And so I feel like one of the things that AI does is it allows you to focus on those top strengths and all those things that you’re bad at, instead of trying to, like, I will try, I’ll spend like, you know, so much energy to only become a tiny bit better at it. Now you can just be like, I’m gonna hand this part off today. I don’t need to spend so much time on the thing that I know I’m never gonna be great at, because that’s just not, you know, I’m not built into who I am.
We can’t all be super geniuses of every single thing. So now we can focus on our area of genius. And so I’ve, I’ve definitely been been doing that. And especially with the Kickstarter campaign where there’s a lot of stuff I’ve gotta do in a lot of different areas.
Danica Favorite: I think that’s really great, especially what you were saying before about , if you were not using AI with this Kickstarter, you’d still be a year behind.
And one of the things you’ve touched on is, is you’re a mother of small children and the fact that you’ve really, you’ve gotta balance, okay, I’m a mom and I have to do all the mom [00:34:00] things. And I’m trying to do my writing. And I’m trying to do the Kickstarter. And I’m trying to do the art. And I love that it gives you the tools so that you can do the pieces that you need to do with excellence and hand off the other stuff because obviously your kids need their mom and from, from all the stuff that you talk about. And I’d seen you with your smallest one at a conference once, y ou’re a great mom, and you do all of these great mom things. And the AI is giving you that space in your life to be able to do it. And I, I love that it’s allowing you to have that Kickstarter sooner as opposed to waiting, because I know that’s the thing you don’t compromise on is being the best mom to your kids.
And that’s important…
Tanya Hales: Yeah.
Danica Favorite: for the moms out there to hear the moms out there. Need to hear that.
Tanya Hales: I feel like I need to hear that a lot, especially when I compare myself constantly to the people who are further ahead in their careers. And I have to be like, okay, [00:35:00] remind, I have to remind myself they don’t currently have a 2-year-old.
It’s okay that I’m , I’m in this phase of life, and I’m gonna do what I can. And like I said, I’m gonna use, because I am an ambitious person, I am going to use AI to help me m ake it a little further than I could if I didn’t have AI to help. And, but yeah, not compromising on being there for my kids.
So, yeah. Yeah. I, I have this dream of, uh, I, I feel like people maybe they think I’m a little crazy when I say things like this, but like, you know, Brandon Sanderson has this really cool thing going on where he has this whole, this whole, I know he doesn’t call it a studio, but basically he has, he has this whole, like, he has this group of people all working around him.
He has his editorial department and his art department. It’s just these whole teams of people all helping to create his world and execute his vision. And I’m like, someday that’s what I want to be.
Danica Favorite: I don’t, don’t think that’s…
Tanya Hales: Yeah, in the meantime…
Danica Favorite: crazy at all.
Steph Pajonas: No, I agree. I don’t think that’s crazy at all. Not even a little bit.
Danica Favorite: I love it.
Tanya Hales: I have been amused when he’s made some statements about [00:36:00] AI and he’s, he’s not pro AI. He’s not vehemently anti AI, but he’s like, he’s at least a little anti AI. Like, he’ll, he makes statements where I’m like, eh.
Steph Pajonas: Most of the, most of the people at the top are, are somewhat anti AI because they’re the ones that have the most to lose.
Tanya Hales: I keep having to remind myself when I look at what he does and then hear him make statements about being not, you know, not pro AI. I am like. He doesn’t need it because he has, he has a whole editorial department. He has an art director and all these artists.
Maybe someday I’ll be there too. Right now it is me and my AI against the world. So.
Steph Pajonas: Let’s talk about, I really wanna talk about Animal Magica before this podcast is over. So this is the perfect place to, to transition over to that because you have a project that you’ve been working on, it’s a whole universe of stuff. And I think people would love to hear about it.
Tanya Hales: I’ve talked mostly about being an artist, but I’ve also been writing ever since, I think it was my fifth grade. So I started out as an [00:37:00] artist.
I wrote my first book in fifth grade and it was a cute little fantasy involving kids who find magical stones and let them talk to animals. It’s been a theme of my life, animals and fantasy. But basically ever since then I’ve been writing mostly young adult fantasy.
Which is my main series that is out right now is young Adult Fantasy. But my art side has almost always been on the cozy fantasy side. So it started with my Animal Magica coloring books, which came about almost as an accident. It’s so funny that I’ve stumbled into this world that I care about so deeply.
Basically my daughter who was, I think four at the time or something, she was doing a lot of coloring, but she didn’t wanna color in kid coloring books. She wanted to color in these, like, adult coloring books that have all the intricate line art, not Paw Patrol.
She wants ones that depict a woman riding a unicorn and things like that. And so just ones with the, the complexity that’s aimed for adults to color. And so I kept buying her these, and I was like, why don’t I just make my own?
I’m an illustrator. And so I just started making all these pages for her, and it was fantasy characters with animal companions or dragons or magical [00:38:00] creatures. And so I was like, I should just put these all together into a book. This was before I’d even published any novels yet.
It felt weird to, but I was like, the first thing I could publish could be coloring books. This is a thing. And so I started studying what all these other indie coloring book artists were doing on Amazon and how they’re making it work.
And I put together this book. I studied the masters and put together this book, but I also, because I’m a nerd and I had to write all these short stories to go with these illustrations. And so I was like, these all take place in the same world. And I was like, I just want it to feel middle grade YA fantasy-ish.
And that was it. And magical characters with cool creatures, and they can talk to each other and stuff. And that was the beginning of Animal Magica. It has just gotten bigger and bigger ever since. It expanded to my volumes two and three. I got all these other authors to contribute short stories to it.
I started with just me doing the stories in volume one. I’ve got all these other, I basically, I created the images and I reached out to all these author friends. I was like, do you wanna write a piece of flash fiction? ‘Cause they’re basically, I think it’s about 250 words max is all that’ll fit. Has to fit on one page opposite of the illustration.
It went on to [00:39:00] that. I ran two Kickstarter campaigns for that. Um, and ever since then I’ve just fallen in love with this world now. And so I just keep building it deeper and deeper. It’s basically become this whole, I don’t know what their, the actual term is, I’ve been calling it my sandbox world. I’ve wanted it to feel like something where people could just step into this world and create their own stories in it. Sort of like, you know, like Dungeons and Dragons-esque, where there’s enough built in where you can, you know, you know how the world works enough that you could create your own characters and narrative.
And I, I do eventually wanna have like games in this world. Like, it’d be really great to have a tabletop role playing game. I want to have card games. I even have had like, ideas for video games. ’cause I’m a big video gamer. So basically I, I’m very ambitious with this. The current book I am working on launching is called The Wandering Dragon Cafe. Cozy Fantasy.
So that’s the one that’s gonna come out and Kickstarter pretty soon. And I’ve got all these short stories that I’m working on too. So basically it’s just this big world across these 42 aisles. And I want it to feel like something that a lot of people can come [00:40:00] in and, and can come play, and I have enough, uh, built out in this world that people know how it works and they can come and enjoy time with their animal magic, their, their magical animal companion and just , hang out and have a fantasy adventure. So that’s Animal Magica.
Danica Favorite: I absolutely love it. It’s so funny, Steph and I really have been doing this together for too long, ’cause I was about to ask, but she asked. Because I love your Animal Magica world so much.
And I want you to share a little bit more about it in the sense that when we were at Reader Nation, you had a game for everyone who came up to the table, which I played. I’m so excited, because I got my own little character, my own aisle, and it was so elaborate. And I’ll be honest, I’m like, I do wanna be in this world.
I do wanna do something in this world, because it was so cool and it was so captivating, and I completely see your vision. I really want your vision to come true, and I believe in you, and I believe it can happen because, I was captivated. My coworker and his girlfriend were [00:41:00] with me, and they played the game and they were captivated by it.
So tell us about this little game that you do when you’re selling in person, because that’s cool. And I hope more people think as creatively as you do about things like this, because this is all you, all your brilliance and I love it.
Tanya Hales: Thank you. Um, yeah, at Reader N ation, that was the first time I ever tried that.
I’ll start by saying this, I came up with that with the help of ChatGPT. I basically came to it with this idea where I was like I want to create this interactive experience. I had part of it, I had part of the vision of like, I wanna create this interactive experience where I somehow get people into my world and get them their own, their own little animal companion and just give them the like animal magic experience.
I couldn’t figure out how to do it, and not make it cost a, you know, a million dollars. I want it supposed to be a free thing. It was affordable enough for me to do it, that it could be free for anyone who comes to the table. And so I, I went back and forth brainstormed with ChatGPT, and we came up with this plan and so yeah, how it, how, like, what it [00:42:00] looks like in, in practices when people would come to my table, and I could kind of like, you know, I’m trying to feel out like, are they actually interested?
If they stayed and looked at my stuff for a minute, I would say like, Hey, would you to become the, the newest resident of a cozy fantasy world in about five minutes? And I think almost everyone said yes. Only a few people were like, ah, no, I gotta, I, you know, I’m, I’m, you know, in a rush to go somewhere else.
But most people would do it. And then I would tell them what Animal Magica is. Like, you know, like in this world you bond with an animal or a magical creature and you know, you can share thoughts with ’em. And you know, the animals, their, their lifespan gets longer and whatever, your magic awakens.
And then I would say, okay, we need to choose the first part of becoming the newest resident of the 42 aisles. You need to choose an aisle. So I had these four aisle cards that I would then show them, and they could choose between them. One was, you know, they’re just the, you know, I thought it was a good selection of some of the different aisles.
Some, one was like, kind of a forest mountains water. Oh, and then one’s kind of like the, the supposed to feel a little bit like the Shire. And then based on what they chose, they would then get to choose an animal companion. There were three different choices [00:43:00] for each aisle. So this was a lot of cards I’m juggling.
‘Cause they’re basically just these little, I think they’re five by seven cards. And so like, I’m giving them to these to keep, they’re just things I printed. I’ve got a good printer here at home, so I was able to, you know, it didn’t cost me a lot of money to make all these assets. Otherwise that would’ve, yeah.
If I had to order all these, it might’ve gotten expensive. But, um, and then I had this little, it’s called a Gachapon machine, you know, like where they’ve got all the balls in it? And you , put a little thing in it, turn it, and a little ball comes out, and it had a little prompt that was just the start of a little story.
And so this was, this was an experience I wanted people to have. And I, gosh, I got, I think almost 50 people on my newsletter doing this. And then I was also like, and I was like, there’s a giveaway I’m doing too, if you enjoyed this, there’s more stuff in my newsletter.
And then you. You know, they signed up for the giveaway and yeah, like 50 people got on. Getting people on my newsletter from live events is my favorite, because they remember me and the experience we had there together. So that’s the story of that. It was, it was really fun to be able to do that.
Danica Favorite: It was, it was a great and memorable experience for me, obviously, because it’s February now. We did this back in [00:44:00] November, and I still remember it, and I’m still captivated by it. Because it was just a really lovely interactive, immersive experience and that’s why I’m like, oh yeah, you can totally do it.
And sure, you know, like you were saying about, oh well, Brandon Sanderson and all of this thing, well, he can afford to pay a staff. He has a staff that he can pay. You have your ChatGPT that you can pay, which I didn’t know you used ChatGPT which I actually think…
Tanya Hales: I use a lot of tools. So that’s one of them.
Danica Favorite: Yeah, I think it makes it wonderful that Chat helped you come up with this concept, but all of the little art things and all of the pieces, that’s still from your amazing imagination and the worlds that you’re creating. And I do. I wanna be part of this world. I want to continue being immersed in all of these things.
And once these pieces all come together, I think you’re gonna have an amazing fan base simply, because it’s so captivating. And I really [00:45:00] loved being part of that. So thanks for sharing about that, because I wanted people to see how you can be creative, you can think outside the box and do something really new and different and fun.
So I know we have to wrap up but I would love to hear, I know we talked about Midjourney as a favorite tool. Are there any other things that you really love as part of using AI?
Tanya Hales: So for art really it’s been Midjourney. And then I’ve been having fun with Gemini Nano Banana. It’s really good at creating mockups. F or Kickstarter, that’s been a huge boon. I love being able to be like, here’s my book cover, now make it look like a book. It’s been really great. On the writing side, I, gosh, I’ve used so many things.
I, I really do jump between. For, for brainstorming, I still mostly use chat. I’m maybe switching away from that. My husband is a coder, and he’s been trying to get me into like doing more Visual Studio for my main thing, which is like, it’s a little out there, but my brain is finally [00:46:00] getting it. It’s, it’s just a very different workspace to use it.
But I’m like, I can do all the same things here that I was doing with my ChatGPT. You know, it’s referencing my Notion, which is where I, I store all my world building stuff. It just , it integrates straight into my Notion, which is really nice. And then I can use whichever model I want, which is good, ’cause for my writing, I, I do a lot on Plot Drive and so I was using all kinds of models on there. S o it’s basically, I, I, I use all kinds of things.
Steph Pajonas: You use whatever works.
Tanya Hales: Exactly. Like, I mean, they’re, I feel like there’s, they’re all good for different tasks.
I have my favorites. Claude is just good. Gemini’s good for other things. I feel like Gemini’s got this specific sense of humor that I find really appealing. Chat will just talk to me in this very real way. I don’t know, they’re all just, they’re all good in their own ways.
So, wherever I can basically put in as much of my context of my brain in, and then reference whatever models, that’s my, been my favorite. So, m y last thought is that I have ADHD, and I’ve also recently learned that [00:47:00] I am on the spectrum as well, which has been a very, I don’t know, a life changing thing.
It’s been a lot to take in. And so it’s been, I think it’s made me realize just why it’s been so helpful to be able to brainstorm and ideate using AI to help me with all of these…basically all the ways that, my brain just processes things differently. And I, you know, I, I go through, I’ve, you know, I, I, because I think I am such an ambitious person, I’ve tried to learn from so many different author group gurus and I have a lot of really good mentors and a lot of their advice works, but a lot of it is just like, you know, like they’re just some things that like, I think have actually held me back a lot.
Like all the people who are just like, no matter what, write every day, just always write every day. And I think that has actually harmed my writing, because it’s just not how I work. , I, sometimes I write and sometimes I make art and sometimes I just, I’m like, today’s a video game day.
I am literally gonna go refill my well by playing some Zelda with my kids. It’s just, I think the, yeah, the thing with AI is that you can give all this context [00:48:00] of, this is how I think, this is how my brain works. And like, please, like, yeah, like help work with me as I am.
And it doesn’t come to you with all these preconceived notions of , this is what a successful person looks like, and I feel like it can come to you and be like this, I see you as you are. See, this sounds so weird saying this, but it’s like, it sees you, but it, you know, it does, like the more context you give it, the more it can help you.
And I think this is a huge boon to anyone who is neurodivergent. And so like, I don’t know, it has made such a difference for me, such a difference to be able to have this as this brainstorming buddy. It’s been great.
Danica Favorite: It is really great. And I love, I’ve said this in a lot of conversations.
I don’t know if I’ve said it on the podcast or not, but I love that the AI can give you non-judgmental feedback. And so when you’re struggling with something I, I’m similar position to you, fairly recently discovered the Neurodivergence piece and all of the fun things that come with it, and also perimenopause brain.[00:49:00]
And it’s been really hard, because I’ll have people give me advice and say, well, you have to do this. Why aren’t you doing this? And it’s like, I’m trying and I can’t, and…
Tanya Hales: Mm-hmm.
Danica Favorite: They turn it into a personal feeling why you can’t, and AI is like, oh, you can’t do that, okay, well, let’s see what you can do.
And suddenly…
Tanya Hales: Yes.
Danica Favorite: This whole thing opens up of, oh, this is what I can do. And the possibilities become endless because the AI accepts you for who you are, and then you can accept for who you are. And I love what you were saying about the context windows, and going back to what both you and Steph were saying about Midjourney, is you guys have been using it for so long that it knows and understands your tastes and your preferences.
And I see people who will use a tool for a while, cancel it, move to another tool, cancel it. And for me, my ride or die has been ChatGPT, and Chat knows me so well. And it’s so funny, because I’ll put in this really ambitious [00:50:00] plan and Chat’s like, okay, Danica, let’s talk about this. And it’s not in a mean way, but…
Tanya Hales: Yes.
Danica Favorite: Chat knows me so well, so I, I love that you’re bringing this up, because I think Steph and I have talked about a lot in general, just how it does help neurodivergent people, and how it does help, particularly us older women with our perimenopause brains. And I’m really grateful to it, and I love that you also are one of those people who keeps saving your contexts and feeding it different contexts.
So it does remember.
Steph Pajonas: I think that’s an important part of the process with AI is making sure that you’re using the tool enough for it to understand you and your goals and the things that you’re interested in. And then from there you can go on and experiment. I’m glad that the tools were there for you when you needed them, because now you’re, you’re unstoppable.
You’re unstoppable. [00:51:00] All right. This was such a great conversation to be having. I had so much fun. I love talking about art, and I love talking about AI, so this was a perfect conversation for me. So let’s make sure.
Tanya Hales: Thank you so much. This was great.
Steph Pajonas: Let’s make sure that we send everybody to the places they need to go to find out about you and your work.
So why don’t you give us some URLs?
Tanya Hales: Mostly everything you can access about me is all based at tanyahales.com. That’s T-A-N-Y-A-H-A-L-E-S.com.
Steph Pajonas: Perfect.
Tanya Hales: So pretty much I have links to everything.
Steph Pajonas: Perfect. Perfect. We will send everybody there. So people who are listening now, definitely come and watch the YouTube if you can, because Tanya did show off some of her art along the way, and you’ll wanna see that.
But if you don’t do that, you can always come by and check out the show notes at bravenewbookshelf.com. I’ll put them all together for you. I will link to her site. We will also, uh, share the, share the image of the Paul [00:52:00] Cézanne plaque that I picked up from, uh, MoMA to illustrate that art throughout the ages has always been controversial.
Tanya Hales: Mm-hmm.
Steph Pajonas: And we’re always just going to be pioneering something new. And I will always wanna be at the front of that with my friends here, with Danica and with Tanya and with all of our wonderful guests. And it’s exciting, and I can’t wait to do something cool again. So thank you listeners for listening in and figuring out this stuff with us.
Danica, do you wanna finish us off here?
Danica Favorite: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m, I’m really glad we had today’s conversation. I was just thinking about how, you know, they had, and when I was in Paris over the summer, I was thinking about this too, where, you know, they had these great artists, salons, and the artists all got together and collaborated and had all these ideas.
And I was really disappointed that I don’t see anything like that happening now. And as we were talking today, I realized it is happening. It’s happening right here, on our podcast, with all of us together. We are the [00:53:00] avant-garde working together, and I’m excited about that, and I love that we have such a supportive community.
And so as I always try to reiterate, for those of you who are looking for that community, we are here for you. And if there are guests that you’re like, oh, please have them come on, let me know, because we want to bring this community together and grow it as much as we possibly can. Because this is really important to all of us, and it’s been such a gift to all of us.
If you aren’t following us on social, please do so. Please follow Future Fiction Academy, Future Fiction Press, and of course, Publish Drive on all the socials, particularly YouTube. I think all of us right now are trying to grow YouTube Future Fiction Academy, Publish Drive, Brave New Bookshelf. Make sure you are liking, following, subscribing, all of that.
And shoot. There was one more thing I was gonna say that I thought was important. Oh , I remember. If you are interested in AI Art, and you love the AI Art, [00:54:00] please join the AI Art for Authors Group on Facebook, because it really is a great group. I, I lurk their time, time to time. I don’t always participate, because I don’t do a lot of AI art, but if you’re looking for support there, please go there, because it is such a supportive group and really, really lovely people.
So, thank you guys so much for being here today.
Steph Pajonas: I agree. The AI Art for Authors group is fantastic, and I love going there and spending time there as well. So I’m grateful to everybody who contributes at that site, and I’m grateful to seeing new people show up all the time as well. So, alright, we’re gonna finish off here.
Everybody come and do the subscribing, do all the good stuff, and we will see you guys in the next episode. Okay. Bye.
Danica Favorite: Bye.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on The Brave New Bookshelf. Be sure to like and subscribe to us on YouTube and your favorite podcast app. You can also visit us at bravenewbookshelf.com. [00:55:00] Sign up for our newsletter and get all the show notes.