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Encryptids is an awareness campaign centered around creative AI and the current scam culture centered around it. The project gives creatives an approachable way to look into AI themselves and determine how they want to engage with it in the future. The project serves as a bridge between an awareness of current problems facing creatives with AI and education on AI technologies they may be unaware of.

The project features a team of cryptids that each represent a nefarious part of scam culture taking place within creative AI technologies. The same way cryptids were used in folklore to warn people and bring awareness to certain behaviors, Encryptids will strive to do the same in our modern world of creative AI. Through mythical storytelling based in some reality, encrypitds will show people the current nefarious activities happening online in various creative fields while also encouraging them to look into these areas further themselves.

Highlighting AI threats to creatives with mythical misfits.

Research

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Process & User Feedback

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    Sketches

    This project would be heavily anchored on character illustrations and animation. Due to this, a large portion of the project was dedicated to character sketches and storyboard sketches to pave the way for the encryptids story.

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    Sketches

    A focus on shape language was a consistent element throughout the sketching phase to better convey their attitudes before color or motion was added.

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    Sketches

    The extensive sketching phase created a deeper understanding of each character and ultimately how each character’s personality would be shown through shape and silhouette.

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    WireFrames

    Along with sketching and animating characters, I knew the final landing spot for the characters and story would be on a website that both explained my process as well as told the story of the encryptids. Because of this, I wanted to have a solid wireframe of the website and each of its storytelling components.

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    External Feedback

    As well as target audience feedback, I reached out to experts in the field that had a better understanding of AI not just in a creative lens but also a technical and security sense. I was able to get a helpful insight into more uncommon problems that AI creates for people who engage with it online and what information is collected when using it. These insights helped in creating the stories and character backgrounds the encrypted character’s inherit.

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Meet The Crew

Encryptid Tales

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Next Steps

For now the encryptids will remain a small group of characters that can be used to warn people about the dangers of creative AI. In the future I would like to expand the character line-up to include more cryptids from other parts of the world and expand the topics covered to include more general Ai tools that also pose obstacles to people online.

Taking action to protect yourself and your creative works requires a multi-layered approach that can begin today. Linked below are some great resources that can help you further explore how creative generative AI could affect you and what industry professionals are currently doing to fight for protective rights. Links also include alternative options to ethical AI art generation where artists are paid royalties to use their work as well as a handy tool to protect your existing creative work from being stolen by any AI art generators.