12 Free Things You Can Do Instead of Using AI Art

Why the use of AI art and writing is so pernicious

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12 Free Things You Can Do Instead of Using AI Art

Almost every piece you read online is accompanied by an image. Why? Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, many blogs were just walls of text. We all quickly relearned the principle that newspapers and magazines had discovered hundreds of years earlier—people don’t like walls of text in short-form writing. Images help make words more digestible.

With the advent of social media and smartphones, images became a tool for helping your work stand out in feeds. Images help with discoverability.

Why do so many people spend significant amounts of time writing a poem, essay, or explainer post and then use AI-generated art to dress it up? Why do so many people use AI writing instead of doing their own thinking?

There are two main drivers of this kind of AI usage. People believe they don’t have time to write or create/find an image, or they think they don’t have the right kind of creativity to make art. Both are rooted in fear and scarcity.

They are also both bullshit.

Don’t shortchange yourself.

All art, including writing, music, dance, and visual art, is about thinking. When you use AI, you are outsourcing your brain, damaging your cognitive abilities, enriching evil oligarchs, and despoiling our planet.

When you use AI art, you are cosigning the idea that artists do not deserve to get paid for their work. You are helping to build a world that prioritizes profits over people. Most artists feel that using AI art in your work is like crossing a picket line to support management over striking workers.

It’s a big deal.

There is nothing good about using AI for your thinking. A recent study by Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University found that AI usage leads to the atrophy of your brain’s critical thinking abilities.

AI can be a useful tool, but only as an augmentation to human thinking and creativity, not as a replacement.

I understand. There’s never enough time. If you’ve already spent an hour on a post, how can you justify spending another hour hunting down the perfect visual? First, you are probably overthinking the visual aspect. It doesn’t have to be a perfect match. Just about any visual you use will be fine. Second, just like anyone who wants to, can learn to write, anyone who wants to, can learn how to make compelling visuals.

However, the good news is you don’t have to make your own visuals, and you don’t have to come up with a budget to buy visuals from someone else.

Here are twelve free things you can do for visuals instead of using AI art, and none of them require any special skills from you, except a willingness to experiment.

1. Email an artist

Many artists are happy to let you use something they have already created and published in your post, so long as you give them credit and link back to their work. To be clear, you should never expect any artist to make you something new for free. However, many artists want more people to see the work they’ve already done and are happy to collaborate with you in exchange for a link.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but if you message or email me, I will almost certainly allow you to use any art I’ve already put out into the world for your post, if you give me credit and link back to my preferred online destination. I am even happy to send you a version of a comic panel without the words if you just like the art. Not only that, but I will probably also promote your post to my followers!

Reaching out to strangers can feel scary, but most online writers and artists are friendly and eager to help another creator.

2. Use your phone’s photo roll as a stock photo resource

Your phone has hundreds or thousands of pictures. Scroll your phone roll and pick one to go with your post. That picture of the weird sign you took in the bathroom of that restaurant is perfect for your post about feeling awkward.

You don’t need a perfect match between the subject of your writing and the subject of a photo. Be creative. Let your audience draw their own connections.

3. Take a selfie

In a world of robots, people are hungry for human connection. Take a selfie and use that for your post. Experiment with filters. Be goofy. Be serious. Use your face as a visual brand for your work.

Take a selfie from a weird angle or just use the top of your head. The “worst” selfie will be more interesting than the “best” AI slop.

A selfie is a creative statement, just like your post.

4. Get weird with your camera

You can do all kinds of things with your phone camera. Hang upside down and take a picture underneath your bed.

Get down on the ground and take a picture of the grass so it looks like a jungle.

See what effects your phone camera has and use them to make something weird.

You’d be surprised how much better your entire post will look when accompanied by strange photos that you’ve made.

5. Draw something (even if you think it isn’t “good”)

You already know how to draw a lot more than you think. Artist and writer Lynda Barry has found that even people who think they cannot draw know how to draw things like a car, fire, and Batman.

I see you shaking your head. You think you cannot draw. Your drawing is better than you think, and you’ll never get better if you don’t practice.

Use some doodles for your post.

You can even start small and use scribbles as illustrations between different sections of your post. They look cool!

6. Make a collage

Collage art is something you can do even if you think you can’t draw. Cut up found stuff around your house and glue it down on an index card. It can be totally abstract.

You can make a digital collage from free stock images or public domain art. Collage art stretches your brain and allows you to see the world in a new way. It’s also a much more ethical way to use the work of other artists than AI.

Collage art is transformative, not derivative.

7. Get abstract or avant-garde

There’s no rule that your photos, drawings, or collages must be realistic or identifiable as something concrete. Get experimental with your visuals.

You can make interesting abstract art by combining simple geometric shapes.

There are no rules about what a picture has to look like. Be as weird as you want and watch your creativity blossom in your writing.

8. Curate stock images pulled from free sites

There are loads of sites that have free stock images you can use. Many don’t require you to even credit the artist or photographer, though you should whenever possible because that's what it means to be in community with other artists.

The act of curation is about your taste and judgment. It’s a creative act.

9. Use public domain or Creative Commons art

There is also a ton of art that is in the public domain. Without turning this into a copyright law explainer, almost everything created prior to 1923 is in the public domain and can be used in your work in any way you see fit.

You can find public domain and Creative Commons works from organizations such as the Library of Congress, Public Domain Review, and the Smithsonian.

10. Take a picture of a handwritten rough draft

Do you handwrite as part of your process? Take a picture of your analog work and use that as the heading image for your post.

11. Take a screenshot of your work in progress

Are you more of a computer-first writer? Take a screenshot of part of your essay. You could also take a picture of the title and first paragraph on your computer, with a hint of the scene behind your computer.

12. Create a scene with stuff from around the house

You have a heap of photogenic stuff in your house. Use toothpicks to make a literal stick-figure. Put together some knick-knacks to create a little scene that you can snap a photo of.

The only limit is your imagination. A picture of a cool rock or a close-up of your bookshelf is a much better complement to your writing than anything AI can generate.

Writing is a form of art. It’s a creative practice. Don’t spoil your work by pairing it with unethically sourced AI art. All forms of creativity feed each other. The more time and effort you spend on your visuals, the better writer you will become.

Let’s all go and make some art!

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Cheers,