By Janet Salmons, PhD

Want to liven up your writing without using AI?

When I see AI-generated illustrations I read no further. I suspect that if the writer felt that images made with AI were acceptable, they probably wrote the note, post, or article with AI. Maybe its just me, and other readers don’t make that assumption. But if you are someone who wants to convey authenticity and build credibility, create or find original images. Being able to build trust in your work is essential to scholarly and academic writers, as well as investigative journalists and others so let’s look at human-generated alternatives.

In this series of newsletters I offer some of my favorite tools and techniques.

• In Pictures in Scholarly Writing, Part 1 I showed how to create fun illustrations using the MakeBeliefs Comic app.
• In Pictures in Scholarly Writing, Part 2 I offered suggestions for finding and attributing images or media.

Now we’ll explore another approach: using your own analog artwork in online posts or newsletters.

What does analog to digital mean?

I’m describing a process that starts with hands-on expressive efforts of drawing, painting, printmaking or even sewing, quilting, or other crafts that are scanned or photographed to produce a digital file you can upload.

Watercolor and pen and ink are my preferred mediums, so I use my scanner to produce digital images.

But who knows? You might see other kinds of artwork on my newsletters and notes as time goes by! In those cases I will photograph the item with adequate lighting and a simple background to create a clear, high-quality image.

Intentional or incidental illustrations?

When I reflected on the ways I use my own artwork for illustrations two methods emerged. Sometimes I intentionally create bespoke images that represent ideas or examples of the topic of the post. Other times I use drawings or paintings from my sketch book to illustrate a post. If you are a regular reader you’ve seen them in almost every newsletter.

Intentional illustrations

When I think about a topic for an article, book chapter, or Substack post, I also think about how to communicate it visually. Then I pull out my art supplies and play around with ways to represent my ideas. A book chapter about journaling and reflexivity was my first serious illustration project. I wanted to show the practical left-brain side of journaling and the creative right-brain side of journaling. I started with a visual brainstorm in my sketchbook, and that helped me more clearly define what I wanted to discuss in the chapter.

A visual brainstorm about the uses of journaling

After doing the sketch I made this circular version that was included in the published chapter. Drawing it helped me think about the concepts I wanted to cover in the chapter. In other words, writing and illustrating processes can go hand-in-hand in a complementary way.

The version I made for the book chapter.

While an in-depth, reflective process of thinking and drawing fits some projects, time is often a factor. A quickly drawn image can work too! I used a pen and markers to make this simple representation of the focus group flow.

To discuss the importance of evaluating privacy options of videoconference platforms, I wanted to make visible the invisible. While it might seem like we in a neutral private space for a one-one videoconference interview, the recording or transcription could be leaking all kinds of private information into the AI-training cloud. It is not great art, but I think it conveys the message, don’t you?

This is a quick pen-and-ink sketch with colored pencil shading

In this one, I wanted to show the hybrid nature of research that uses letters and diaries. I used watercolors to highlight a simple ink drawing.

I’m a letter-writer, so I loved making this image.

Here is a different type of example: with a visual that illustrates the points made in the table.

Words and pictures go together.

Depending on the project, I might write the piece, then find or create an illustration, in others I might start by sketching because it helps me sort out the ideas and concepts of the writing. Find your own way!

Incidental illustrations

This is an approach for people who already have a creative practice. If you do art or travel journaling, painting, printmaking, or other medium, you probably have piles or files of your work. You didn’t make it with a purpose, it wasn’t made to tell a story… but it can!

For example, I did a workshop about color mixing, then when I was writing about mixing methods or modes of communication I thought aha! Mixing is mixing!

Mix colors or methods!

This one from my travel journal on a train trip fit this post about studying narratives.

Of course I travel with art supplies!

I’ve sometimes

cut bits out of larger paintings. This flower I use as an icon was once part of a larger garden.

When the Field is Online we must have flowers.

Supplies

While people like me geek out on pens and art supplies, even a ball point and a pencil, can be used to create something original that complements your writing.

If you want a bit more, a nice starter set could include a pen, some watercolor pencils, and a waterbrush. Choose a pen with archival ink (water resistant), such as a Micron pen. I use a fountain pen, and an inexpensive one that works for this purpose is a Platinum Carbon Desk Pen. Watercolor pencils are flexible and easy to use. You can draw like you would with any colored pencils, but with the handy waterbrush you can blend and get a wash of color. I suggest looking for pencils above the school-kids level of quality. My personal favorites are by Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer, which you can buy as single pencils or sets. The waterbrush has a reservoir so water is in the barrel.

Colored pencils are easy to use and great for on-the-go art.

Don’t be limited by these suggestions! Watercolor paints, artists’ markers, experiment and have fun. If you have questions about art supplies or want suggestions, just ask.

Don’t forget to Glaze!

Here is an important step: before you post an image online, use Glaze, a free app made by University of Chicago techies to elude capture by AI or other bots. Preserve your creative property! It only takes a few minutes to generate your scraping-resistant image.

The little three dots at the corner of the image give you the option to add a watermark, in addition to tools for captioning, cropping and editing the image.

“But I’m not an artist!”

You don’t need to be an artist to create simple illustrations. Line drawings or stick figures are better than a garish AI-generated image. And here on Substack you have great opportunities learn from artists who share their tips and lead skills-based workshops. Here are two of my favorites:

• See Illustration Week by professional illustrator Jessie Kanelos Weiner.
• Participate in weekly anyone-can-do-it drawing exercises with Draw Together with another illustrator, Wendy MacNaughton.

This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. In other words, you can use and share but you do NOT have my permission to upload the newsletter or art to AI.

Thanks to Beth Spencer for this badge, indicating that no AI tools were used to create this post!

Originally posted on “When the Field is Online,” a free blog and newsletter from TAA member Janet Salmons. Subscribe at http://tinyurl.com/qualnews