After copious notes, migrains, a bout of strong depression that lasted six months, and the fear of not being able to continue what I started, AI came to the rescue.

I know it’s controversial, but for a writer, as I feel now I can at last call myself after getting to around 40,0000 words, the ability to set free the depths of my imagination, my dreams, my characters trapped on white paper, into the visual world, has been cathartic!

I haven’t stopped illustrating, nor designing silly guinea fowl in jumpers, but my head often overflows with ideas and sadly my typing fingers can work faster than when holding a coloured pencil. I had to create and waiting three years to manifest my stories seemed silly, when with my descriptive skills I could produce the scenes and compositions. For example, the next four pictures are of a project I am working on about birds and water and a book of tales about a small country pig with a rooster who has insomnia!

The inputs for the geese and swans took an hour to get right, like coding a computer. Artists look up reference photos for much of their work or draw from live. AI struggled as on Google there was never an underwater shot of a Swan like this. AI must learn what you compose and like a film director you specify where the subject must be, where the lighting comes from, the style, genre, angles of view. I used Dalle-3, one of the slightly advanced AI programes that compete with Midjourney and StableDifusion.

It’s another world and one I want to embrace as much as I love the tradition of illustration. It is a tool like Photoshop, like working with digital tablets, like composing a composition from photographs or setting objects up upon a table in front of you for a still life.

But back to a bit of heave-ho me hearties! It will be a long book, an adventure, a study of all things a good pirate yarn should have, of traitors, spies, hope, truth, treasure, vengeance and forgiveness. There will be sea battles, sunken ships, caves and duels. I have my villains too and luckily for them I like them probably more than I should. They will have a great time being ungracious, swagger far too much and duel with everyone!

The hero’s won’t be perfect by any means, and will have to admit to those mispent years and seek forgiveness…or they just might not….who knows. I’ve wanted to write this salty sea shanty tale for years and now I am finally writing daily, setting aside time from dighing up stones near the barn for dry stone walls and completing the move to the Factory Attelier. We are still opening boxes. Gouzon is a nice French town, so it will be good to be able to walk into the centre for baguettes and éclairs, eat an crepe for lunch and drink the odd glass of wine.

We have lots of projects on this year, but having found my writing spirit after so long has been a delight. I can loose myself in my adventures. My characters lead me as much as I lead them and I hope that by this time next year the draft will be complete.

So take up your pistols and cutlases, grab a parrot and a few pieces of eight snd head for the high seas. Heave-ho me hearties, there’s gold and silver to be had.