Generative AI is changing the way creative work is produced, and it raises an important question: if a machine can generate images and video, what is the role of the art director?I see generative AI not as a replacement for artists, but as a new tool — similar to the camera, the computer, or editing software — that changes how ideas are developed and executed. The skill shifts from making every frame by hand to directing, prompting, editing, and shaping the output.
To better understand this shift, I conducted a series of experiments using Midjourney, ChatGPT image tools, and Google Veo to generate and direct a short video clip based on a specific visual idea.
The Question
What is the role of the art director when using generative AI tools?
My two Gen Z daughters tell me they will never approve of AI art.
In their view, art should be made by people not computers. To which, I agree, with one controversial caveat: some kinds of art are made by people using computers.
The way I see it, a computer is an innovation, like the printing press and the camera and the ball point pen. It’s just one of the ways to make art. You don’t have to like it. It will never replace the fine arts: painting, drawing, ballet, opera, but it did become an indispensable tool to help you get your work done a lot faster if you work in advertising.
Along the way there has been the outraged and existentially threatened establishment who objected to the crass and unworthy innovations putting them out of a job. But this is familiar, when the camera was invented suddenly you could make a portrait in one click of the shutter - what is that next to a master painter? So the camera was originally scorned by the portraiture establishment and this created opportunity: some of the first professional photographers were women because it wasn’t considered “real” art.
Now we are in the era of Generative AI, and like it or not, it’s a huge driver of our economy and the biggest change in how we (designers, creative people) work since the personal computer was invented. And people are rightfully worried. Does this mean the art is no longer made by us? Have we crossed a threshold that removes human effort from the making process now that AI puts art-making in the hands of anybody?
I think that is the heart of the problem that our culture is struggling with. To some, the very existence of generative AI is five-alarm existential threat. My brother, a musician and songwriter with a 30-year loyal following, looses fans by just suggesting he MIGHT use AI video in his music videos. Maybe that will change sometime in the future, but it’s political now. The fear is, AI servers are polluting the environment and bringing an end to gainful employment for all beings. It’s ending democracy and capitalism at the same time.
But, since I work at a creative agency that touts itself proudly as the first “AI agency”, and we are given the tools and training to provide AI efficiency for our clients, I can indulge my curiosity in spite of the potential blowback from my daughters.
As a designer and digital artist, what can generative AI do for me? I’ve been dabbling for the past five years, trying out tools here and there.
There are a lot of easy-to-spot bad AI ads all over the social sphere, but there is also some interesting work out there with high craft and intelligence. I’m obsessed with the work of AI Video artist Kelly Boesch. I’ve been following her on YouTube and other platforms for a few months and her hypnotic AI creations that blend surreal imagery with true vibes, are unmistakable. She has an own-able style and her creations take AI to a level of surreal art, inspired by Salvadore Dali, and she achieves what I think is the true interesting promise of generative AI: making art that is beautiful, not trying to be real, not trying to fool anyone, but it is what it is. Generative AI. Unapologetically.
I found an interview where she described her process: with finely-honed prompts she generates imagery with Midjourney, then brings it to life as a video clip and edits it with her original AI-generated songs.
So just to see if I could, I’m going to try to make my own AI video, an homage to Kelly Boesch. To quote Song Sung Blue, “I’m not a Kelly Boesch impersonator, I’m a Kelly Boesch interpreter.
The Experiment
Goal: Animate a still image so that the environment moves while the subject remains still — essentially directing motion within a generated video.
The Tools Tested
- Midjourney
- ChatGPT image animation
- Google Veo
The Process
So for my first clip, I’m going to see what platform of the three that I regularly use, can generate a video based on my specific vision.
I’ll start with this image I created in Midjourney as an avatar for my Suno channel, Ione:
The meditating woman is still but the painting reflects the inner breadth of her expanding consciousness, and the ability of art to create rich worlds. My goal is to create a video clip that I can use in a longer vide, that shows this exact image, where the woman holds still and the clouds animate in the painting in front of her.
A simple first exercise.
First, let’s let Midjourney try. It has a handy button right there that says “Animate,” so easy peasy? I added:
The clouds in the painting are churning as though blown by the wind
I got FOUR videos, in about 30 seconds. This one was the most interesting but for the wrong reason:
The color, the values, the aesthetic are all great, but… maybe it was my prompt? Why would I expect a computer to know what “Churning” means? Yikes.
I’ve had good results with ChatGPT generating very specific images based on references. So I uploaded the original image and the following prompt:
Animate this image. The girl in lotus pose is still but the painting in front of her is animating. The clouds are billowing as if blown by a strong wind in the painted environment. The girl's hair softly flutters.
Wow, very disappointing results from my favorite robot therapist.
I thought I was more specific with my prompt, but I guess “Billowing” is also a pretty esoteric word for a computer.
So now I’m turning to Veo3 - Google’s video tool. And I did some research to see what I really wanted from those clouds and if I could articulate it better. I found a time-lapse video of clouds doing what I had in mind and so I used that word in my next prompt in the Gemini AI studio.
The woman is still as she meditates in front of a painting of a large cloud that is moving as though a time-lapse video of clouds billowing in the wind.
Veo3 returned four videos two of which I think, nailed it:
Wow, not only were my results much more accurate, it gave me multiple takes that had subtle differences. It has it lost some of the aesthetic of MidJourney that I love, Maybe? So back there tor a second try, so erasing the first prompt, I included in the text field simply:
”The woman is still as she meditates in front of a painting of a large cloud that is moving as though a time-lapse video of clouds billowing in the wind.”
I love how midjourney kept the painting / animation quality of the clouds rather than making them photorealistc. Now they feel like an animatic, or anime motion, holding the integrity of the painted world where Veo3 made the much more like real clouds until the end when the resolved into the painting. These are stiffer but somehow keep the artistic integrity.
But the woman’s reaction is right out of a tornado movie, and she is definitely NOT meditating. No acting!
The Findings
The nuance of using Generative AI is more about learning a vocabulary for describing motion and imagery and knowing which tools to tap for what.
Prompt writing really is a tricky art, as overly-simplistic as that sounds. The nuance of using Generative AI is more about learning a vocabulary for describing motion and imagery (something that may not come that easily for artists) and knowing which tools to tap for what - requires a lot of research and trial and error.
The skills are different from those of a painter or videographer, but in the end making something that can be considered art, skillful, professional or just not “AI Slop” falls comfortably into the domain of the art director. A person who makes creative decisions without having the narrow skill verticals of a painter, photographer, or videographer. It is an art form for the generalist with an idea, rather than the specialist with a skill. But it should never replace the work of the actual artist or videographer.
The Takeaway
Generative AI doesn’t eliminate the role of the art director — it shifts it. The role becomes less about executing and more about directing, editing, and making creative decisions across tools.