Hello, Dascha!
Former physician, fiction writer, book coach, editor, grammy, dog mom, and on Fridays, she wears D&D.
You can read Dascha’s fiction on
where she weaves magic through art and storytelling. Her ability to weave a tale from a picture and prompt is inspirational—and we love how she tries to use the words from the prompt within the stories she’s telling.“I’m a disabled former physician. I currently write long and short fiction, create generative art, and work as a fiction editor and book coach. In my personal life, I’m a grammy. Never a grandma,” she jests. “I have two wonderful grandsons and I’m a devoted dog mom.”
“One of my current passions is my Friday night online Dungeons & Dragons games,” she adds, much to our adoration.
“I draw inspiration from everywhere, but lately, I’ve really enjoyed the marriage of my writing and visual art.”
“Generative art has brought me the freedom to express the images in my head in a visual medium. I can’t draw symmetrical stick people, but I can paint with words. And now I can do so literally,” she says. “I’m able to take my talent and facility with words and create the pictures I see and share them with the world. Essentially, I have the freedom to become a part of the visual art world, something I have wanted for as long as I remember. I think a lot of generative artists feel similarly.”
She’s a lifelong learner maximizing her toolbox.
Dascha primarily uses Midjourney in her work. She’s tried Playground AI, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion.
“I always come back to Midjourney,” she adds. She turns to willwulfken’s reference page to improve her craft. “It’s a great resource.”
“I edit images with Pixelcut, Photopea, and Paint. I also use YouCut Video Editor, Canva, Kittl, and Image Color Picker. I also get fonts from DaFont. I’m probably forgetting a few.”
“I’d like to learn to use Photopea better, and I’d love to learn Photoshop, but Photopea is free, so you know,” she jests. “I’d be interested in finding more editing tools, but I’m so new to visual art that I find a lot of them daunting. There are so many ways to use them and so many parameters to adjust. I’m always on YouTube trying to learn from more experienced artists.”
You’re a badass, Dascha. We’d love to learn Photopea better too!
“I’d love to get tips from other generative artists about what’s worked for them, especially around errors that Midjourney makes,” she says. “Sometimes, I can edit them out, but often I end up discarding an image I love because a flaw is just too big, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
A true wordsmith.
“I’m a writer first. For writing, though people may not realize it, there’s always a prompt, whether that’s a thought in your head, something you come across, or you’re passionate about, or a formal prompt. I’ve learned that many of my images are great writing prompts for me,” she says.
“The stories I write set my mind whirling with image ideas. The two art forms play off one another for me, each enhancing the other—and I think, making me better at both. It’s been an amazing and rewarding journey thus far. I can’t wait to see where it leads me next.”
“Generative art has freed me to create visual art I’ve always wanted to make,” she says.
It has also had a positive impact on my mental health, creating always does.”
“It’s also impacted my time, I’ve had to make room for it in my already busy life,” she jokes. “But it has been so worth it!”
Eclectic, through and through.
Dascha identifies herself as being quite eclectic, “hence,
. I write in most genres; I think I'm eclectic in my visual art as well. I see a lot of artists who choose to focus on a limited subject or style and then largely stay in their lane. I've watched how art improves with this approach, and I stand in awe of much of what they create."“But I can’t do that. I’m interested in too many different things. I want to make images of a wide variety of objects, people, creatures, and concepts, in a wide variety of styles. So, if you follow my work, that’s what you’re going to get. An eclectic mix of images and styles.”
“There are so many images I love so much. I think I would choose this one [above, that speaks to her soul] of the Dalai Lama with a child. I hold great respect for him and especially for his philosophy of kindness.”
The Future is Bright
“I’m in the early stages of creating a catalogue of merchandise based on D&D adventurers, creating images representing all classes, in-game races, and being inclusive and diverse with human representation. I’m currently adding these to my shops, but I want to take them to conventions when I’ve built up a large enough catalogue,” she says.
“I’m also looking forward to growing as an artist, constantly learning new ways of creating. I want to keep integrating visual and written art, and I want to explore new ways to do that. I think there may be a comic book in my future.”
“I’ve also been exploring chatbots recently and I think there’ll be a way to integrate that with generative art, at least from a brainstorming perspective. I think that’s where chatbots’ strengths lie. I’ve already used them in that way regarding fiction and D&D dungeons. I’d love to explore that and see where it takes me,” she adds.
“We can get stuck in ruts, even when using new technology and tools. Look at what others are doing and try new things. Never stop learning, never stop growing as an artist.”
GET-A-PROMPT
Try this fun prompt Dascha shared with us!
Fey vacation. A fantasy fey-cation. Concept art.
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