Amelia Player is an artist, AI researcher, and tech enthusiast with a background in motion graphics, graphic designs, 2D and 3D models, and the gaming industry. She co-founded Prompt Muse with her brother Alex Player, a teaching platform that bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge of AI and its practicality through step by step tutorials, and best practices for both beginners and experienced users in the AI industry. With the mission to democratize AI education, Amelia is passionate about empowering individuals and organizations to harness the potential of AI through hands-on learning and expert training. She began her career in the gaming industry where she learned all the different sub-disciplines from conception and many others. With a passion to master something, Amelia relied on her determination and focus to learn software quickly and has since become a master in her disciplines. She is honoured to be a guest on The Craft Podcast.
Discovering Passion and Earning Mastery – Amelia Player
Everyone dreams of finding something that they truly love and are passionate about, and then mastering it until nothing else in life matters besides their thing. For Daniel Tedesco and Michael Du from Craft Podcast, this dream is realised through their interviews with people who have done just that.
In their latest episode, they have decided to speak to Amelia Player, an artist, AI researcher, and tech enthusiast, who has a wealth of knowledge in the field of motion graphics, graphic designs, 2D and 3D modelling, and the gaming industry. Amelia’s passion lies in empowering individuals and organisations to use AI through hands-on learning and expert training – a mission she founded with her brother Alex – Prompt Muse.
Daniel and Michael start off the conversation by asking how Amelia began her journey towards mastery in the tech industry, and she tells them that she began without any privileges in terms of education and GCSEs, but with a burning determination to find something she loved and be great at it. At first, Amelia began studying beauty therapy, but found that she had access to computers and libraries again. Here, she came across books on 3D and graphic design, and this was where her passions truly ignited.
A Passion for Gaming
Amelia’s passion for tech and gaming began when she was growing up, playing games excessively during her youth. When college finished and she started her job in marketing, she quickly transitioned into a graphic designer. She admits that she “just winged it” with this position, but soon realised that free software such as Photoshop and 3D Studio Max came easy to access. Soon after, she managed to get her hands on some internships in the gaming industry, and she was able to use the skills she had learnt to meet the demands of the company. The young creator then began working as a contractor, creating motion graphics and titles for clients. She was also well-acquainted with many technologies like Final Cut Pro and Maya, so she was able to offer a range of work to customers. Despite the difficulty of freelancing, Amelia says that her projects gave her the opportunity to do something she really loved and experience the joy of creating something entirely from scratch.
AI Education
It was at this point that Amelia encountered machine learning, and it changed her life. As her interest in the subject grew, she decided to take the plunge and start her own business with her brother – Prompt Muse. Their mission was to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge of AI and its practical applications through step-by-step tutorials, best practices, and expert advice. Amelia’s thriving business has given her the chance to share her passion with others, and empower them to use AI for their benefit. At the same time, she has gained the opportunity to prove to herself and others that not having a higher education does not mean one cannot achieve success, as long as they have the passion and dedication to master something. Amelia is living proof that anyone can reach their goals and their desired level of mastery, regardless of their background.
Launching Prompt Muse
In 2022, Amelia and her brother launched Prompt Muse, which aimed to bridge the gap between theoretical AI knowledge and its practical applications. Although it was a daunting task, the pair felt passionate about their mission and had faith that it would bring success. The two began working hard on the project, and within a few years, they had produced numerous tutorials, best practices, and expert advice to help businesses and individuals understand AI and how to best use it for their benefit.
Advice for Other Entrepreneurs
Now that Amelia has tasted success with her business, she has advice for other entrepreneurs who may feel discouraged or unsure of what to do. She believes that no two people have the same paths in life, so although there are lessons to be learnt from studying how others achieve success, it is essential to remember that everyone’s journey will be different. Amelia also believes that being able to set your own rules and decide what kind of work you want to do is essential. Having the autonomy to choose your own hours and projects allows for more creativity, which is the foundation of any successful business.
Prioritising Wellbeing
Amelia is also a firm believer in prioritising well-being, as she believes that taking care of one’s physical and mental health is just as important as succeeding in one’s business. Too often, entrepreneurs become too preoccupied with making sure their business is successful that they forget to take care of themselves, but this can have serious consequences. As a result, Amelia advocates for setting boundaries and making sure that you take time out to relax and enjoy yourself. This could involve taking regular vacations or simply having days off to do something you truly enjoy, such as reading a book or going for a walk.
Following Your Passion
For Amelia, she believes that the best way to achieve success is to follow your passions and pursue them with dedication and enthusiasm. Doing something that you truly love and care about not only increases your chances of becoming successful, but also increases your overall satisfaction and happiness in life. When asked about her own success and how she got there, Amelia credits her tenacity and determination to succeed. She believes that, with enough hard work and dedication, anyone can achieve their dreams and be successful in whatever field they wish.
Achieving Mastery Through Dedication
Ultimately, Amelia Player’s story highlights the power of passion and dedication. Despite her lack of higher education and privileges, Amelia was able to find something she was passionate about and master it through hard work. This shows us that anyone can achieve success, regardless of their background, as long as they have the desire, dedication, and willingness to learn. Conclusion: Amelia Player’s journey is inspirational and demonstrates the power of passion and dedication. It proves that regardless of an individual’s background, they have the capability to master something with enough dedication and hard work. Her story serves as an example to us all that anyone can achieve their goals, as long as they are willing to strive for greatness and make their dreams a reality.
FAQ:
Q: What is the article about?
A: The article is about Amelia Player, an artist, AI researcher, and tech enthusiast who has mastered her field of motion graphics, graphic design, 2D and 3D modelling, and the gaming industry.
Q: How did Amelia begin her journey towards mastery?
A: Amelia began without any privileges in terms of education and GCSEs, but with a burning determination to find something she loved and be great at it. At first, she studied beauty therapy, but later found books on 3D and graphic design which ignited her passions.
Q: What inspired Amelia’s journey into the tech and gaming industry?
A: Amelia’s passion for tech and gaming began when she was growing up, playing games excessively during her youth. When college finished, she transitioned into a graphic designer and soon began working as a contractor creating motion graphics and titles for clients.
Q: What is Prompt Muse
A: Prompt Muse is a business founded by Amelia and her brother which aims to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge of AI and its practical applications through step-by-step tutorials, best practices, and expert advice.
Q: What advice does Amelia have for other entrepreneurs?
A: Amelia believes that no two people have the same paths in life, so although there are lessons to be learnt from studying how others achieve success, it is essential to remember that everyone’s journey will be different. She also advocates for setting boundaries and making sure that you take time out to relax and enjoy yourself. Lastly, she believes that the best way to achieve success is to follow your passions and pursue them with dedication and enthusiasm.
TL;DR:
Amelia Player’s story shows that hard work and dedication can lead to success, no matter the background. Her journey serves as an example of how, with enough passion and commitment, anyone can achieve their goals.
Transcript
Daniel Tedesco
All right, well, hi everybody. Welcome to the Craft Podcast, where Michael and I interview experts of various fields to learn about their discipline and how they strive towards mastery. We love talking to people who are passionate enough to master something, and we’ve each been, ah, asking curious questions of these craftspeople our entire lives, but we want to share that with others. The interviews we hold are to the point, informative and fun. You will love all of them. So please subscribe to the channel and like the video. If you love our interviews, let’s get right into it. Michael, who’s with us today? Yeah.
Michael Du
Thanks, Dan. Today we are joined by Amelia Player, an artist, AI researcher, and a tech enthusiast with a background in motion graphics, graphic designs, two D and three D models, and also deep into the gaming industry. She co-founded Prompt Muse with her brother Alex. Prompt Muse is the teaching platform that bridges a gap between theoretical knowledge of AI and it’s practical through step by step tutorials, best practices for both beginners and experienced users in the AI industry. Sorry. And latest news and opinions on this industry as well. So, with the mission to democratize the AI education, amelia is passionate about empowering individuals and organizations to harness the potential of AI through hands on learning and expertial training. So Amelia is a master in her disciplines, and we are honored to have her on the show. Amelia. Welcome to the Craft podcast.
Amelia Player
Hello. Thank you for having me. And don’t tell me Chat GT wrote that.
Daniel Tedesco
No, that was all old school handwritten. Yeah.
Amelia Player
Well, Vicky, for an amazing introduction then, yeah, you nailed it.
Daniel Tedesco
But before API, you weren’t doing AI related things forever. You started out your career in gaming. We did some LinkedIn stalking and found all these gushing reviews about you from people you’ve worked with in the past and game companies when you were doing game art. And one of the things that stuck out to me is that you didn’t just stick with one area of game art, but you learned all the different sub disciplines from concepting and many others that maybe you can introduce us to and then tell us how kind of your journey to mastering that field.
Amelia Player
Yeah, cool. Yeah. Well, I hope my journey was by others who may not come from a normal background and might not have the privilege of going to university in higher education. Because none of that I had and everything I’ve learned and every job I’ve ever been able to get was through passion and showing that passion and also backing it up with focus and determination and spending a lot of time researching what I was learning and listening to people who know more than me and knowing when to be quiet and knowing when to speak. It’s a fine balance as well. So my CB is just absolutely everywhere. I actually started my journey not knowing what I wanted to do at school. I was off at school, my GCs, these probably spell a swear word, it was in the UK and it was bad. And I came out of school education feeling so dejected and my grammar and spelling is as bad as it is when I was at school. It hasn’t improved one bit, but I knew I had to get a skill to survive in this world and I knew that from a young age.
Amelia Player
And I actually went and to college and did beauty therapy, but in fact I didn’t have enough GCSE to be allowed to do beauty therapy. So I ended up doing hair for a year to get myself into a beauty therapy course. I don’t understand the logic of that and that was my first insight into education. That processes just didn’t seem to make any sense to me. But I knew I had to get skills, so I did beauty therapy. But when I was doing that beauty therapy course, I discovered I had free access to a library and computers and I came from I’ll talk about it in a bit later. I grew up with computer games. I was the ultimate person who played a lot of computer games. So as it was the attractive computers and the internet and the library are quite old as well, nearly 40 and well, not that old, but in the grand scheme of things, middle age, I would say. And you know, there was a lot of books as well, about three D and graphic design. And so when I was doing the Speedy Therapy course, I sort of fell in love with graphic design and finished the course and I didn’t do anything beauty therapy related to do marketing for a company.
Amelia Player
And I kind of just winged it into the business by just saying, yeah, I can do that clip, I can. And I ended up always being graphic designer within the company because I just say, let me do it for you. And back then as well, it was easier to get free software like Photoshop 3D Studio Max. You could have access to it or view where to look. I don’t promote that whatsoever, but it’s very different nowadays where you have to have serial keys and it wasn’t easier to hijack those as it used to be back in the days. So I had access to absolutely every graphical application in this marketing job and I learned everything and I realized I could learn software very quickly and I didn’t learn very well in the classroom, but I did learn by teaching myself and working out problems. So if I needed to find a solutionist and somebody said, could you make this video for us to do? I would do it and I would use 3D Studio Max, I would use Photoshop, I use Paid Shop Pro, which was an old program back in the day. And I would learn this software basically being paid for my education in pred.
Amelia Player
The company loved it because they loved what I did for them. But also I felt this was such a better way of learning because it’s actual practical use of software. I signed myself up at the time, I used all my money to do an ICT course, I think it was at £2000. It was a lot of money back then for my job. And I went into this course and it was full of people who just didn’t want to learn. And the teacher said, we need to use access to build this database. In order to do this, you have to use this software and learn this. And I was like, well, wouldn’t it be better if you use this? No, that’s not part of the syllabus. And again, that’s another case of I just don’t belong in that formal setting. So I actually wasted all my money and I think about two weeks into doing that course that I dropped out of my hands, not great, but I realized I could learn more actually working and putting a practical use to the software. And then after that job, I could have stayed and moved to London, but I met my husband now who worked there as well and he lived in the middle of the Lands, the Midlands in the UK.
Amelia Player
And so I had to move up here and I thought, well, it’s a good opportunity to try and get a job with what I’ve learned, with no experience at all. I applied for a 3D architectural company and just was honest with him. I said, Look, I love doing three D and I can learn it very quickly and I have, and this is my four year, this is what I’ve got. Gives me a chance, an opportunity, and hopefully you’ll get rewarded and you can pay me less than everybody else, doesn’t matter, just give me a chance. And I was very lucky. And to any viewers as well, knock on doors, always knock on people’s doors because even if they say no, go to the next door and be honest about what you know and be open to so many, you will get so many opportunities that way. And unfortunately, I lost my job due to the recession within the housing market because it was based on housing. But I had enough time in that business to learn 3D really well. Photorealistic three D and from the guys around me in that team as well. Everyone taught a little bit here and a little bit there.
Amelia Player
Then I started up my first of many businesses after that because I knew I wanted to carry on with 3D, but the job market was just completely dead at the moment at that time. And I started doing 3D visualization for businesses and just carried on just freelancing until I found this job for a game artist in the city that was near me. And again I applied for it. I was very honest, I said, I don’t know anything about the game industry, I have no background experience, but I am so willing to learn. And I stayed there for six years and became a lead artist. And everyone used to say, well, what university, where did you go? What did you learn? And I say, I didn’t, I learnt it here, I learnt it from the people around me, I learnt it from Google, YouTube, I learned it. I didn’t learn anything in an educational environment, it just wasn’t suitable for me and how my mind proceeds as information. I think there’s a lot of people like that in the world that feel lost because they haven’t found their thing or might have thought they found their thing and then realized it wasn’t.
Amelia Player
And I think taking a word from Silicon Valley, I love, you know, when they say pivot, they have to pivot that on everything they’ve done up to that point, they have to change. And it’s knowing how often to do that and when to do it. Don’t do it too often, be consistent, but know when you’ve come to the dead end to something that’s not going to fulfill your mind and your spirit. And Free D has always run through from the beginning, finding it in the library and learning the software, it’s being there, always there. And so I loved my job at the games company, like being making 3d assets, working with developers, working with other artists. It was such a fantastic job. And I actually started another role as a lead artist in another game studio. And unfortunately, my dad passed away quite suddenly and he ran an online software business. And his last words were pretty much, can you look after this? So I was just like, Why? Why did you finish that? Now? Again, the directives of that business were so kind to me. They let me bring my laptop in and run his software business as well as do my job.
Amelia Player
But it got to the point where it’s just too much. I had to make a decision and they were just so good to me and I’ve got to take this on because I feel so because he’s asked me to do that, I have to. And one thing I realized, it wasn’t my passion and it was his passion. And I automated that business, his software business, as much as I could and also tried to earn money out of it, which I did and still out, which is great. And it has been essentially what I’ve created now with my brother. So it’s funded it, essentially and bumps my living. It’s not much, but it keeps it all going. So I still run the software business and I did help my dad when he was building it, build that business, though I knew it inside out, but I took it over, automated it. It could have been far better than it was if I was passionate about it, but I realized that I really wasn’t so essentially using it as a bit of like a cash cow, but keeping it the customers happy as well. So the last five years has been juggling that.
Amelia Player
And then I had room to start another business and that created mom, started creating stock images and selling them. I again wanted another automated business, and I realized I could just draw and license the artwork and then draw again and license that artwork. And so that built pretty quickly and did really.
Daniel Tedesco
Well. If we could linger on gaming a little bit longer. First of all, there’s no way, I guess, a LinkedIn profile could do much justice to the story you just told because it’s just amazing and it just shows so much tenacity that well, LinkedIn is made for showing off what brands you associate yourself with. Not passion, showing real passion, and tenacity for discipline. So I’m really glad you shared that story, and I hope you write memoirs someday because I’m sure there’s a million stories within that.
Amelia Player
I actually left home at 15. I was sleeping on my friends so far when I did the beach therapy course and ICT, I actually didn’t have a home at that time. My parents had divorced, and you go through those teenage years, and my brother did it too. There’s a lot more in depth there. There’s a lot of going on, and that’s why I want to share that with anybody watching this, that I wasn’t given any opportunity and I had to work for everything. And Ed has been tough. It has not been easy at all, but I’ve always been okay, I just need to get enough money. I don’t need to be rich. I just need to get enough money to keep doing what I want to keep doing.
Daniel Tedesco
That’s really inspirational. And you mentioned your passion for games a bit, and I guess before we kind of go deeper into just kind of the pure AI art, how do you see AI art impacting games? Because that’s something that, if you ask me, things could start happening very quickly. But since you’re much closer to the game, like how game art pipelines actually work, you kind of know more about that world.
Amelia Player
Yeah. So every gaming studio is different, and it depends on looking at big gaming studios will have different types of artists with different types of jobs. So you’ve got a concept artist and they will be given information of what design that the customer or the client and other game studio is working with. So they’ll get an outline brief of what they’re looking for, and they will come up with concepts and designs to fit that brief. And those will then have to be translated. Let’s say we’re talking about a 3D pipeline here to a 3D modeling artist who will then have to take those concept drawings and create the 3D version of that. And that probably sounds quite simple to do. It it’s quite technical to take something that’s two dimensional and turn it into 3D. So the 2D artist usually uses something called a turnaround sheet to concept, which means, let’s say we’re talking about a person who’s a game character, you would have a 2D image of that person at every angle. So when the 3D artist comes to conceptualize or make a 3D model of that, they have a 360 degree view to put into their viewport to create the model or the mesh from.
Amelia Player
And then once the 3d artist has finished and they might be the one doing the materials as well, creating the clothes and the style and the feel of the character, that will be then moved onto an animator who will rake the character as well and get that ready and put the weights onto the character, which will then make a skeleton join onto the mesh. And they will have the job of then creating the animation sidewalk for if it’s going to be a video, or if it’s going to then move on to a developer to put it into unity or unreal as well to make sure everything is suitable for them. And then you’ve got if it’s going to be used for a scene, like a video scene, you’ve then got somebody who’s going to composite it all together. So it’s a huge production pipeline. So all these artists have to communicate with each other and do their job so well that they can then pass that on in a nice, neat package that works for the next person. And it can get quite a complex process, especially if you’re not doing a humanoid character, if you’re doing quite difficult.
Amelia Player
And now AI isn’t replacing these artists, but what it will do is make some of those processes a lot easier. So from the concept stage, your AI isn’t there where you could say you can’t design you something specific, you get what you’ll give them. So mid journey or stable diffusion will chuck you something out. You’re essentially just given something, whereas an artist will always be able to come up with a specific idea. So if the sales guy says, well, this is what the client wants, an artist can be more specific about that. AI can’t currently. But that’s not to say that won’t happen. And so that’s the concept artist. And then you’ve got the person making the mesh. Now, essentially, that will probably be done by API and obscene some background work and development of companies that are doing 2D images to 3D mesh. Now, the problem they’re having is getting it to apologize, which means getting the mesh clean and neat for the person to rig it and skin it and bone it. But again, if there’s something that is, the nuance isn’t there with AI. So if it was a particular character and needed to be custom built, API just can’t achieve what a human can.
Amelia Player
So that’s why I believe their jobs essentially are safe. But you’ll see two D, two, three D very soon. But it just wouldn’t work in a game studio because of the bespokenness of that character or the design they need. And I say yes, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But they’re the same with the skeleton. People have been trying to automate that pipeline for such a long time now with new plugins rigging characters as well, that’s getting more automated. But in the game studio, they potentially wouldn’t use Blender, they would use something like Mia as well. Again, it’s more in depth and more bespoke as well. I just don’t see these guys being replaced at all. I can see plugins coming in to help those processes with unwrapping and rigging, but you still need somebody who has that skill set to know, oh, why is it arm hanging on backwards? What do to change that? Why am I not getting the emotional animation that I want out of this theme? It won’t be. I’ll just click a button, somebody in the sales team clicks a button and it generates a 3D avatar that does absolutely everything they want to do.
Amelia Player
Because if that happens, then everything becomes vanilla, everything becomes the same. And it’s almost like I can read something online and know that’s being created by Chat GPT, there’s no soul to hide it. And when it does try and create a soul, it doesn’t work. So I think in the game industry you always need an artist there. And I know I’ve had a lot of backlash on my videos saying, oh great, well I’ve spent six years learning how to use 3D software. Now that’s down the road. It’s not down the road at all. You still will experience when the magic stops, you will need to know what to do.
Daniel Tedesco
Right?
Amelia Player
And it’s the things I can do now. I at the moment starting doing my next tutorial will be on how to use stable diffusion images and project that onto a 3D character. Now that’s good for someone to do in their bedroom and do for fun, but that’s not studio, that’s not for a game. That wouldn’t work in the fight. Someone says, well, we don’t like her face. Can you change that and go, well, I don’t know how to use Photoshop doesn’t allow me. You do need those skills still there. So that’s my personal feeling. I feel artists are safe at the moment.
Daniel Tedesco
It sounds like at each step of the way there’s still a lot of need for like human eyes, human common sense, human soul, and people can be helped and things can be sped up through applying these tools. But it’s not going to be like you said, a salesperson clicks a button and a game is made.
Amelia Player
People have that great bid. That’s going to happen and it’s not. It might be that there’ll be a tool developed for someone to do that for a TV channel and put themselves into a game and make it to a baby? Yes, possibly. But the pipeline just wouldn’t work there professionally, where you’ve got to have a good story and you’ve got to have people that reflect that story. And it all has to align and there’s so many multiple processes going on. And then when the creative director says, actually scrap that character, we need to change something on it where you can’t go backwards with AI. You can get forward. So what do you do at that point? You go, well, the button doesn’t go backwards, it’s now rigged and skinned. See, you need good people to be able to good knowledge of all people, to be able to interact with that character and create it. And it really is communication with a good team that makes good assets for games. It’s never one person who joins a team of people. And the same with the developers. The developers have to work and communicate with the artists from how they’re going to integrate it into their game and how efficiently they need the textures.
Amelia Player
And the mesh has to be very clean for them to use as well in code.
Michael Du
That’s really eye opening because I didn’t know something about the game studio. I know something, but not in this detail. Yeah, thanks for introducing that on my channel.
Amelia Player
I use blender. Some game studios, like I said, they’re all very different and it depends on their budgets, the size. Some have artists called who are called generalists that do everything. So it might be one or two people in a game studio and they literally are through the artists attitude. Artists and an animator that would be a lot smaller. You see that on Steam where lots of people who are enthusiastic come together and form an indie studio. And you find there are artists that wear many hats. So they not just read animator, they’re not just a concept artist. They have to do a bit of everything. So it does really depend on the studio, how much they can afford. And I think AI will help those smaller studios get better results. So the generalists would then use better and easier workplace to get games out quicker.
Daniel Tedesco
Right.
Amelia Player
I don’t think yet there is anything to be concerned about. But again, my personal opinion, and I know other people are pulled at art being created by AI, but I think how many digital images have you seen from AI now? Probably not in all by many of them, because there’s nothing behind it. There’s no concept, no story. It’s just generated by AI and machine learning to make it fit the golden ratio, to fit color profiles that work for the eye. And we talked earlier, before the street went on about, let’s say, mid journey. It’s all machine learning. So when you click and upscale an image, I’m not saying mid journey does that, but machine learning part of it is that information is all being gathered to what makes a good image. You’ve got 8 million people doing that. They have all that data to produce a better looking image, all that data set to create you what looks nice. And that’s why a lot of these images end up looking the same type of woman, because that’s what is pleasing to the human eye. And you don’t really get many disfigured people because people are just saying, I want that to look a good image, whether that’s morally right or not.
Amelia Player
That’s why within these things, the creativity isn’t there to produce something new, ground shattering. The API artists that I’ve seen do really well, just have a consistent theme. So there’s lots that follow on Instagram that they’ll consistently do something very well. But other than that, I haven’t seen anything that I’ve gone, wow, that’s really amazing.
Daniel Tedesco
Right?
Michael Du
Yeah. So what inspired you to start exploring those generated by stuff and also starting promise? And what’s the motivation behind it?
Amelia Player
Who isn’t here because he’s pamerishai, but he does exist? Everybody on the website, we talk about Chap GPT a lot as well, because that’s his thing. So I did business before this, creating stock images for illustrations, and I started going down the digital route. So I’d create these images to sell and license, and my brother ben me up and he said, you need to look at this. This is going to destroy your business. Getting somewhere. I was like, look at this. It was dark. Something like that. It was one of the first versions, and it wasn’t very good at all. It was like you could bake sushi with arms or something. And I was like, My mind is blown. I couldn’t. So I started looking at it and actually looked at it, went, I could generate a lot of images here, and if I can get them into a consistent set, then I could sell these. But unfortunately, because of the terms and conditions were so murky with API images, unfortunately I could never work out a way to commercialize it because I would never own those images to license them out and it could come back.
Amelia Player
All of that’s really interesting. And then Mid Journey came out, I just had my finger on the pulse and tried to integrate it somewhere, either in the software business or in the art business. And I did what I always do. I just learn everything I can at that time. And my brother was as well. We were like really giddy, ringing each other up, saying, this is look what I found. This is amazing. So I said to him, I’ve got this name. If we could put a website together, she could do it for me. I think we could put some information out there and sort of become a central hub for information. We didn’t think it would go anywhere. We just thought, well, we’ll just share our passion with people on Reddit and on Discord and then have the website just to have all the knowledge and see where it goes as well and have almost a history of where it started and we could see the articles and how everything grew. AI and it’s going to be absolutely big or machine learning as well. And so yeah, that’s how it kind of happened. He actually does SEO, he’s self employed.
Amelia Player
Asked him to build me with that. Just like need somebody to talk to about this. You were the only person I can talk to about this, about them going to last night. That’s why it happened. And the name prompt me as well. I actually just went and I was looking for something prompts something and I went through all the trademark night names and Muse was three and I was like, I don’t know about anything. Unfortunately, there’s no magical tale about neighbor or anything. So yeah, I had to just ensure that get the trademark could get the website and could get every single context of the sun and that was the one that had them free and it just worked out really well. I was quite lucky with that. And it’s just a side project that we wanted to share the information and so I just put a few YouTube videos out of me using Mid Journey, probably pretty badly and people liked it because it was nontechnical and they could see that I was learning as well and tried to keep it quite slow pace as well. I’ve watched so many YouTube videos I feel like sometimes YouTube is a bit like The Matrix if you want to learn something, watching them.
Amelia Player
And I’m used to watching like 2 hours YouTube videos back in the day of somebody creating something in 3d Studio Max and just going oh, I wish to see where their mouth is or you know, elements. So I try and incorporate all those things that I wish I saw in those tutorial videos into mine. So zoom very close into a window rather than seeing it from afar because I realized people were probably watching from their mobile as well. So there’s just little dances like that I try and help viewers with and not there yet, I don’t think. I’m sometimes it’s a tithe thing, time constraint, just to get a video out and also just to make sure that the videos are not just advertisement products. Because channel started doing well, I got a lot of company contacting me saying would you be able to do this for money? I was like, oh, that money would have been so nice. In line with what we wanted the channel to be. We wanted it to be honest. So if something stopped working and the computer stopped working, would show it. If we felt stable diffusion, 2.1 wasn’t very good, we’re not going to show it not that stable diffusion stopped, there weren’t approaches, but companies that have.
Amelia Player
These apps, so many apps that have AI and they were like, well, we’ll pay you money to show us on the channel. And it’s just turning down those offers and just going, no, we’ve got to stick to showing what’s new and how we can integrate that. So somebody could make a book for their kid or be able to learn stable diffusion without being put off by it. But I also understand that I have these issues as well. When they run out of Ram, I run out of Ram as well. Pie to Watch doesn’t install though, that happens to me as well sometimes. But it’s understanding breaking it down so it doesn’t go over people’s heads. That’s essentially what it is. Me and Microbaps, we love it and we love how quickly it’s evolving. It keeps our attention, definitely keeps our attention. How quickly it’s coming on the good sides of machine learning and AI and the bad sides of it as well. It’s exciting. And I’ve had a few death breaths as well along the way. Other people live, so they’re local. I’m like, oh my God, they are going to be. That’s what’s interesting.
Amelia Player
It’s like I’m just showing other user how to use the software. I am not open AI and not stable diffusion. I’m not these people. I’m just showing the product. I’m not endorsing them either.
Michael Du
Yeah, that’s very nice. So are there any specific sources you follow or practices like a cape to keep you stay cutting edge and also be in the front of the whole API development business so fast. It’s pace of change so fast. And how do you keep.
Daniel Tedesco
Stay ahead?
Amelia Player
Yeah, that’s a really good question because a lot of the development that is happening is open source. So it’s a lot of developers that are working independently, so it’s trying to find their work. And that’s by Twitter. Through reddit, through discord. I am a member of so many communities at Limo and I don’t actually watch TV. I just like just on these communities watching what’s going on and seeing anything new. And developers can sometimes be very humble about something they created. And I’m like, what the heck do you create that’s amazing? I need to show that I haven’t finished it yet because that’s going to change. Like some people, they can be able to create amazing things with what you’ve created. And so many of them are open to using essentially what they have created, their workflows. And so I just reach out and email and that’s how I find these guys as well. So it takes a lot of looking. And I’ve spent a week trying to get something to work in Blender and I worked on the YouTube channel, but I realized it was just to integrate it into a normal person’s PC.
Amelia Player
It took a whole day to install. It took about 20, 30GB of Ram and I just wrapped the whole thing in the end because I thought it’s not there yet. The guy, he’s got something good, but it’s just too slow for just a normal person with a normal computer who just wants to be able to create something quick. So there’s a lot of this background work and sometimes there can be a large gap between videos and it is that sometimes I find something and I’m like oh my God, that’s absolutely amazing. But then when I actually get it working and it’s not working as well as I thought it would, or it crashes too often as well, so there’s a lot of research that goes on as well. So the channel isn’t just oh look at this new API software sort of thing, isn’t this fantastic? I really get into the bones of how it works and if anybody can run it on their computer because I’ve got 4GB of VRAM, not a good PC, and it sounds like somebody said the other day that you hear it in the background of the video because it’s about to die.
Amelia Player
But I like to keep that because I like to think, well, this is probably what everybody else has got as well. A 2000 pound speed Joe and a lot of people. But I wanted to make videos that are suitable for the masses, not just the people who have got money to buy powerful computers or rent good computers. I do get a lot of comments when I run things on Google Colab and they’re like why didn’t you just run it on a better powerful PC? That’s the whole point is because you can’t access this through a PC like mind. So I try and make it to all really.
Michael Du
Cool.
Daniel Tedesco
So I feel like there’s I mean, that’s I love hearing like the nuts and bolts of how all the videos come together because I’ve just, you know, I’ve seen a bunch of the finished products but like, knowing a bit about what goes on behind the scenes, it’s kind of powerful to see how it all comes together. And it’s just the beginning, right? You guys started, I think you said like three months ago, something like that.
Amelia Player
Yeah, it’s just completely so many people interested in it and I think it’s just I think it’s because they can see that we’re just honestly just trying to show workflows that work. And my brother does a lot of workflows with Chat, Gptpt and Excel and Google Sheets as well that have really helped a lot of people. We do get a lot, lot of emails and sorry we haven’t replied your email, it goes very quick, we sit down and respond to all our emails. But there’s a lot of people that then send in donations which help massively because they said this has helped them at work, this has helped them to get a job, this has helped them be able to do something, write a book with their child, things like that. And that’s really inspiring. And that really helps us to continue to try and develop new techniques and understand. We read every single comment, the good, the bad, the ugly, because know what people want from this. So a lot of people want to tell a story. Everybody’s got a story to tell, whether it’s about their life or if it’s fiction, they all want to tell a story.
Amelia Player
And I think AI will allow them to create a book. And it’s not even for monetary purposes. A lot of the time people just want to be creative, not have to learn a free D program or a package. They want to just be able to create a consistent image and write text to it. But from there but you the creatively, not just write chap TPT, write me a story and then create images from that. They want to put their own spin on it as well. So we’re heading towards that very quickly, people. And we live in such I say it’s great to live in this kind of technology, but realistically, we do live in a horrible time. There’s a lot of poverty, there’s wars everywhere. And this just takes away you can focus your energy and your mind into creating something beautiful. And that’s a good thing.
Daniel Tedesco
Yeah, for sure. One of the things that definitely shows in the videos and the videos are like, well done, really understandable even from the very beginning of prompt views. But I’m sure this, as US Americans say, wasn’t your first rodeo. In our research, we came across the creative mum. So you had done tutorials before. How did you build up the skills of doing good tutorials? Because it’s not just something that it looks natural to a viewer, but I’m sure that learning process took a lot.
Amelia Player
Yeah, I think on the last video I did and I cast it out and I only mentioned it in the comments, that the video just looks like it’s done in one smooth within an hour. Hustle bake. And last video I did, I actually had a complete computer meltdown. It blue screened halfway through and I lost my whole car drive, but I got it back. But there was a lot that went on behind the scenes in the video that gets cut out, obviously. And there’s a lot of moments I go, do you know what? Everybody wants to see this. What are you doing? The Internet? Or worse than that, you’re just going to get your view. That ten refresh reviews on your video. And that’s another thing as well. It just feels like sometimes am I wasting my time and everybody else’s time by producing the video? There’s a lot of self talk got to get out of you got to get it out into making the video. So it’s not as streamlined as it is. And he found the 18 month video. Unfortunately, I had to lock down so much because of the death threat.
Amelia Player
I was told by the police, actually, because it got quite bad that I had to lock down all my other social media platforms. My face is up and out. But then I asked some crazy people on the internet and I was aware going into this that could be an issue. So if anybody viewed, tried to find some of that, they might not find much. I don’t know. That probably didn’t do a very good job at hiding anything, but I had to take everything down. But there might still be some videos out there. But I essentially was making videos on how to take the artwork that you could buy from my website and create it into mugs and bags. And that was my start with YouTube. And terrible, I probably still am terrible on YouTube, but you just fail your weight and success. So I’m not success at all, but just failing my way there slowly. I can’t remember the saying, so forgive me, I’m going to say it wrong, but perfection is the enemy of done. So you want it to be perfect, but it never will be. And if you try to aim section, you won’t get there.
Amelia Player
So sometimes you just have to suck it up and just go, well, this is the best I can do. Tomorrow I’ll do better. And I feel like three weeks trying to work on the next video because things that I’ve scrapped or work processes, I’ve gone it’s too complicated, actually. I’ve gone down a rabbit hole here. It’s not working. And I just have to either go with it and stick with it, or just like I have done, to scrap the whole thing and start again. And that’s three weeks of work, of work that no one sees. Nobody sees the late nights trying to install or get things working or I’ve got it working once and they come to record and it’s not working at all. And there’s so much research that my brother and I do, it takes over our life. We go to quite a lot of expos as well, machine learning experts as well, just to see what other people are doing. You learn from other people all the time. And again, with the developers that I talk to, the amount I’ve learned from these guys is unreal. The amount of knowledge that they have in that section is crazy.
Amelia Player
It’s inspiring as well, for sure.
Daniel Tedesco
Yeah, well, and if they can bring it full circle, it I mean, it it sounds like the type of stuff that like this the work that you’re doing is probably helping, you know, thousands or eventually, like millions of amelia’s, who, like, don’t like their school experience, but they can find content like this, and it will help them get skills so that they can create the kind of art that they’re passionate about. Is that something that’s in the back of your mind? Because we didn’t make that connection. But I feel like having spoken with you more now. That seems like a really heartfelt motivation to be creating this type of content.
Amelia Player
Yeah. So there’s no pay wall at all, there’s no patron. I don’t expect people to give me money whatsoever. I just have to buy me a coffee fund. But I don’t want people to spend money they don’t have. I want people to learn. There was times in my life where I just didn’t have the finances to learn or the opportunity, but I used the resources that I had just to try and get to where I wanted to be at the time. And YouTube was a big part, being able to access YouTube and learn how to use a 3D software and package from people who know. I just was amazed. And this was before patriot came around. This is before people started putting the whole world to see the rest of the video. You need to sign up to this. And people need to make a living. And I understand that’s why they do that. You can’t just continuously do something for free. No one’s subsidizing you. But I do feel like the reward will come somewhere. Yeah. If you do something good and have the right intentions, something will come. My whole life would be back, something better.
Amelia Player
It will happen if I generally consistent with it and continue. And it feels right. Everything feels right about this. And I didn’t mention that when I was doing creative mum. A big pivotal moment actually happened when I got COVID and I got very sick. Very sick. And in fact, I was in Resuffin and he died. Was really bad. They bought me back and I just felt like I had another opportunity to do something. My immune system completely failed. I was not slimmer than I was now because I was on special drinks, because I became allergic to everything. And it’s something a lot of people are dealing with now and it’s not in the media for multiple reasons. And I couldn’t work during that period. I couldn’t do anything. I lay there and just watch Netflix in bed because I was so ill. I was having loaded reactions to everything. Every food, caffeine. I’m the caffeine junkie now. I’m back, I’m a lot better. I was going to allergy specialists and they were like, it’s your white blood cells who’ve been affected by COVID. There’s nothing we can do. You just have to take all these tablets to get through your days, which it was antihistamine tablets.
Amelia Player
So they knock you out. They absolutely. So I went from being like this to being bed bound for a long time. And I can’t continue creative mum and do all this artwork and stuff as I was doing before, because I was so poorly. And that’s why my brother was like, have you seen API? Could you integrate that, maybe? I was like, yes, that would be a great way to create artwork, but that’s how it all came about. So I had this major blip and that was last June. That wasn’t long ago. It was funny. Life is like that because I’m healthy, I’m youngish, and I never thought cope it would affect me. Never in a million years. I was like, yeah, that’s what older people get, or if you’re ill. And then when I got it, I got it bad. Yeah, I was very sick for a long time, but I’m healed now, I’m totally recovered. My immune system was completely back. But it’s made me think, God, life just can be taken just like that. Or not even life, your health can be taken away straight away. So that’s why I am just so determined to push this and get the information out there.
Amelia Player
While I’m shivering, I’ll get something recorded and about and there’s a lot of pressure with that. But I think if I hadn’t got very ill with COVID I would not be doing this, I’d still be flooding along with the creative mom. But, yeah, getting sick like that really made me, like, well, what would make me happy? And sharing knowledge and experience, I really enjoy it. Well, what knowledge and experience I do have, I really like. And I like learning as well. So just all of it summed up. But, yeah, there’s a lot there to take off. A lot has happened. Ride, for sure, really has. But I think that reflects back to, again, back to you, is that it’s not easy street, it’s not at all. You just got to keep going. If you’re going through hell, keep going. I just feel like AI and all this movement has really helped me get better as well, because we come to Bakers Off, right?
Daniel Tedesco
Wow, what a powerful story. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Amelia Player
Yeah, quite a bit. Because it really did feel like it was the end.
Daniel Tedesco
Wow. Well, I mean, despite that struggle, it sounds like you’re making the most of it.
Amelia Player
Yeah.
Daniel Tedesco
Like, kind of the best kind of outcome you could hope for. Not only recovering, but kind of having this new dimension of purpose in life.
Amelia Player
Yeah, massively. And I do feel like that really a lot of people say that happened. I was awake and I saw the tunnel vision come in, saw it go black, and they had to put adrenaline into me to get me back. And it’s so vivid, but when you see that tunnel and it didn’t go black, it makes you rethink your life and what you’re doing. And I thought, well, actually, now I feel like I’ve got something to do and I have a mission to help others create workflows. And it’s not crazy with AI and that’s why I feel so committed to it, because I feel like, yeah, this is the cause here, and I don’t want to put any paywalls up. I don’t do any of this for money ever. So if I show you something or promote something, because I think it’s good and it works.
Daniel Tedesco
It’s amazing. And it’s just the beginning. It’s only been a couple of months so far.
Amelia Player
I know it’s pretty crazy, and in those months it feels like a lifetime. And me and my brother, we have no sort of forecast of where we’re going because everything is just headed in so many directions. I don’t think you can forecast where you’re going. But we are consulting businesses now, which is insane. Like I said before, we’re linking up developers who have created programs that could help studios and artists alike as well within their work, both and cut out pain points and speed up creativity rather than get stuck with the laborious work. So none of it is cutting jobs. All of it is just essentially streamlining pipeline and encouraging creativity and not stopping it. Nobody’s typing anything into creative, really character. Not yet anyway. It’s the boring processes that nobody wants to do. He’s trying to eliminate those which is more cost effective to do.
Daniel Tedesco
Yeah, and I guess as a last thing. So how should folks follow your journey and learn more about what you’re up to, what Prompt Muse is up to?
Amelia Player
Well, I’m absolutely everywhere at Prompt Muse, if you have to come on YouTube, I’ve got to Twitter, which is Prompt Muse even got a TikTok. But I feel like I shouldn’t be on there. I don’t belong there whatsoever. I’m on reddit as well. You’ll see me posting a lot in the stable diffusion and AI models section and things. Yeah. So if anybody needs to contact me, I’m sorry, but I’m really bad at the moment because sometimes I turn the emails off and get on with work.
Daniel Tedesco
Got videos to get out?
Amelia Player
Yeah, I got videos to get out. But I do love reading the messages people send me and that keeps me going and totally inspired by their stories and why they’re using AI. I was quite insolent before all this. I’m not very social asshole. I tend to like going around people, but I find online it’s different. When somebody writes you an email, they write it through their heart, if that makes sense. And you don’t have to look at somebody, or they don’t have to pretend to be something else. Whereas if in a virtual environment, you are more open to who you really are, if that makes any sense, and freely avatars all play into that. I don’t like using the word metaphors, but I’m going to use it when the metabolism comes. I think people like me will socialize on that. It’s not for everyone, and I know a lot of people do dislike it and feel like it’s actually not good for mankind. But there are people out there that actually is good to talk to online. So I’m looking at that and all this is flowing nicely into the metabolism. So avatar creation that I’m looking more into creating your own avatar in the Metaburrs and creating clothes for it and stuff, that would be very cool.
Amelia Player
And that’s where I think potentially all this is going. We’ve never created a successful metabolism yet that is enjoyable, but I think it will come one day. And all these free D characters and all these creations, there will be a part to play in that environment at that time. So it’s not just doing something for doing something. I think it will lead there. And I don’t know if your viewers understand or know of Nvidia omni verse. If they have a look at that, that NVR really pushing the omni verse. That’s a pipeline of how to get characters to lip sync with your voice and get that all into the metaphor. I hate some metabolism. I hate them. It’s like using the word AI all the time when it’s not, but pushing that into a virtual environment as well. But like I say, it’s not for everybody. And some people just go I’ll just go out like that. So I grew up with the old ICQ and MSN chat by way of socializing. Probably a bad thing, actually.
Daniel Tedesco
Well, okay, so YouTube, Reddit, all these other places, and someday soon Metaverse will find your Metaverse avatar. Maybe you’ll be doing tutorials in one of the whichever Metaverse actually becomes a mainstream thing. Maybe we have our round two interview in the Metaverse when that comes.
Amelia Player
I think like NFP and crypto, it’s all early. It’s all going to tie in. Everything’s going to make sense one day. And we look at these things and say, oh, it’s a bit scammy, or it doesn’t make sense. Why do I want to buy an NFP when I could screenshot it at the moment? Maybe it doesn’t make sense, but I think everything will line at some point. All work out to be something good. Hopefully. Maybe not now, but hopefully I’m forever an optimist. But yeah, there will be negatives, of course, as long as we keep learning how to stop it, if we need to stop it or unplug it. I spoke to you before about there are anti API artists or anti AI people, and I get that and I understand it’s quite a scary thing to see, especially if you feel frightened by it. But I think burying our heads in the sand and ignoring it and not talking about it is worse. I think that’s the most dangerous part. I think learning it how it works and putting laws in place to stop people developing something that they shouldn’t is essential. And we’re now seeing in the art community, lawsuits happen.
Amelia Player
Rightly or wrongly, these lawsuits need to set a precedent for laws that are going to come in the future to control it. Although I understand people’s concerns about AI, I think ignoring it and just banning it is not going to help. I think laws will help control, hopefully. But we spoke for this thing about going to one person to be a bad apple and a lot to make something that shouldn’t be there or could potentially be dangerous. But you could say that about everything. It’s here, and we’ve got to deal with it, and it’s going to evolve quicker than we think it’s going to evolve.
Daniel Tedesco
Yes. And yes, technology is always a doubleedged sword. I guess what we can do is try and understand it, help each other better understand it and how to use it and hopefully the right ways. So our guest today has been Amelia Player. Amelia, thanks for being part of the craft and for all of you listening, watching thanks so much for listening and watching to this craft. To the craft. For more information about this episode and other episodes, you can search the Craft podcast by Michael Dew and Daniel Tedesco on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcast. See you next time. I’m.
