Adobe Firefly: AI art, Text Effects, Recolor Vectors & There Is More To Come

The next generation of AI platform for producing artwork powered by Adobe!

Recently Adobe launched Firefly, their answer to ethically produced AI art… and it has taken the world by storm!

Currently the generative AI art tool by Adobe is in Beta. If you have not already gotten permission to access it, then I strongly suggest signing up for the wait list!

Because I am an Adobe Influencer and part of several programs: Adobe Community Experts, Adobe Express Ambassadors and Adobe Education Leaders (the list goes)… I was able to get access fairly quickly.

Let’s take a peek at the first video that Adobe shared… please note some features have yet to be released. But it gives you an idea of where they are going.

A few days ago, Adobe launched another Firefly video on that gives a look into where how it will change video and animation.

I have to admit I am really impressed and excited to see where the future leads and how it will innovate other applications like Adobe Express, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, InDesign, After Effects…. the possibilities are endless.

Let’s take a look at the current features…

Text To Image, But First Let’s Talk Ethics

Generative AI art platforms samples and learns from preexisting content. Thus, it evolves… adapts and grows over time. This is nothing new if you are familiar with other generative AI art platforms. However, Adobe has taken an ethical approach. As it only samples from Adobe Stock and works that are public domain (for example historical pieces).

That being said one can not type in the names of artists or brands. Additionally, artists whose work is on Adobe Stock can select to not allow Firefly to train with their content.

“Creators want control over whether their work is used to train generative AI or not. For some, they want their content out of AI. For others, they are happy to see it used in the training data to help this new technology grow, especially if they can retain attribution for their work. Using provenance technology, creators can attach “Do Not Train” credentials that travel with their content wherever it goes. With industry adoption, this will help prevent web crawlers from using works with “Do Not Train” credentials as part of a dataset. Together, along with exploratory efforts to compensate creators for their contributions, we can build generative AI that both empowers creators and enhances their experiences.”
Read the article here.

I think it is important that Adobe is taking this into consideration. As Midjourney and several other platforms sample without permission, without crediting the original artist and without compensating the original artist. That is such a bad practice, which is why Midjourney is facing legal issues.

Currently, Adobe Firefly is in Beta and is not for commercial usage. In fact, everything is watermarked (which one should not remove). However, Adobe is working on a compensation method and other things with the original artists in mind.

I also believe those using Firefly should be transparent about their work. So many people using Midjourney lie and say they created the artwork. This will only lead to problems when they apply for jobs or work with clients.
Thus when I share my Firefly creations on Instagram, I make sure to have a disclaimer that states the artwork was created by an AI and that I provided the text prompt. Even though I do create my own art, if I use Firefly and share the work… I want to be as transparent as possible and you should do the same.

Here you can see the disclaimer I use on Instagram. Again, I believe that when using AI platforms creatives should be very transparent. I mean just think if a client asks you to change part of an image and you used an AI. You will find yourself in a bind.

You can learn more about how they are training the AI by visiting this link.

Text to Image…

I admit I love playing around with this feature. It is fun… and with a little practice on learning how to master prompts the AI can generate some really amazing things.
Check out my Instagram feed dedicated to Adobe Firefly for example.

Some of my creations featured on Instagram.

Just a quick prompt and Adobe Firefly produces amazing artwork that can be used for inspiration.

Like all AIs, Firefly does run into issues sometimes with hands and other elements. But Phil Edwards from Vox produced a video that explains why this happens. And when you think about what he says it makes sense.

Adobe Firefly allows creators to choose four different aspect ratios:
Landscape (4:3), Portrait (3:4), Square (1:1), and Widescreen (16:9).
Sometimes they each will have a different outcome.

Here you can see a Landscape (4:3) featuring a Monkey King prompt

The same prompt in Portrait (3:4) mode.

Again the Monkey King Prompt but this time in Square (1:1)

And the Monkey King in Widescreen (16:9)

Now most likely you will have to experiment with your prompt a few times to achieve the desired result. Naturally, some words have been blocked by Adobe…. which leads you to this monkey.

The annoying little evil block monkey.

I have gotten really creative with prompts to achieve some effects. Blood can be easily mimicked if you are creating a scary scene. But weapons are not permitted at the moment. Which I do understand… but when creating ideas for a video game character it would be nice to get that Cyberpunk weapon with neon lights… sadly it is very difficult to produce.

Firefly also allows you to adjust the Content Type, Style, Color & Tone, Lighting and Composition. These sometimes will produce interesting outcomes, but not in every case. Again Firefly is still in beta and every week I seen enhancements.

I think it will be interesting to see how these features evolve.

Firefly also allows for feedback. This feedback helps the AI evolve and the team know what they should look into adjusting to make the AI better. As a person that works in Marketing and PR… I know the power of community feedback, so it is great that Adobe is working with the community to help Firefly level up.

Giving the artwork a thumbs up or thumbs down will allow you to reach this feedback form. The more community members that use this feature the faster Firefly will evolve.

Recently I hosted two streams that featured Firefly on Behance… as I dive deeper into it, I will produce more streams.

Every Sunday I stream live on Behance for the Adobe Education Leaders program starting around 3pm/4pm CET. Usually I stream for a couple of hours. A few hours after the stream a recording is available.

One thing I do suggest, is that you utilize any art history knowledge that you have. As you can implement some old styles if you know the proper terms. For example: Bauhaus, Baroque and Rococo.
These and other terms will empower you… so pull out those Art History books and dust them off if you have them.

Community is everything! Some users also submit their prompts to be shared with the Adobe Firefly community. You then have the ability to see what prompts were used to generate images and then tweak those prompts to produce something new.

Simply hover an image in Firefly that was submitted by a community member then see, test and tweak their prompt!

Text Effects…

This is an interesting and fun feature. First select the text that you want altered. Keep in mind there is a limit on characters.
Example: I can not type Düssel York City Studios… I have to go with DYC Studios.
Then type in the desired effect.
It gives you four options. After that you can always tweak your prompt and then refresh it.

I enjoy doing these things during live streams as my viewers toss out ideas for me to implement. The results can be amazing.

You can also adjust the Text Effect Fit, meaning how much is shown outside of the borders of the letters. This can lead to some intriguing outcomes.

This can be a a really fun feature to play around with.

Giving DYC Studios a slimey green ooze look in the Text Effects feature.

On Firefly’s Discord channel, Adobe’s Howard Pinsky actually shared a tip on how to take this even further with a little prompt.

One can also experiment with various fonts. Although the amount of fonts is limited to 12 fonts, I would imagine that this will increase as time goes on.

Choose a font in Adobe Firefly… then play with upper and lower case letters to get the effect you want to work perfectly.

Once you are happy you can download your favorite as a PNG. Currently, it still has an Adobe Firefly watermark. But once they end the beta stage, that will probably go away. There are a lot of things to consider before they will do that… so I would expect it to be a few months to iron out the details. Again, in our special groups the Adobe team has stressed to us they are really trying to create an ethical platform that benefits artists.

One tip though on this feature that I would like to see implemented… is that one can select the letters that are perfect and lock them. Then play with the other letters until they work perfectly.

Recolor Vectors…

This was literally released today and I have had so much fun testing it out.

The premise is that you upload an SVG that you created in Adobe Illustrator and then give a prompt that relates to color. Firefly will then produce a few variations that you can adjust with the tools to the right side of the page.

The great thing is that even though sometimes it might not be perfect, you can download it as SVG and then go into Adobe Illustrator and adjust the colors slightly that you feel do not match.

Above is an original design that I created during one of my live streams on Behance. Below is the results produced by Adobe Firefly.

I do like that it might produce color combinations that I did not previously think about.

This feature saves a lot of time. Illustrator already has a recolor artwork feature. But I feel that Firefly is a little more versatile.

How to recolor an graphic in Illustrator. Again m,y original artwork created during a live stream.

You can even choose to lock in blacks and whites. Which I found useful for certain designs and for characters.

Here you can see the tools and there are several sample prompts. What I found fun to play around with is the Harmony tool. It allows you to choose: Default, Complementary, Analogous, Triad, Split Complementary and Square.
Now if you did not go to art school, then you can easily Google what these options mean.

I also like that you do not even need to leave the page to upload a new piece of art. That is innovative and allows for a faster workflow if you need to adjust several vector graphics.

I highly suggest experimenting with these. As the outcomes can be really exciting to see.

One thing I did notice, is that it does not yet really handle gradients, blurs or shadows. Since this feature is really new, I would imagine that is something they are working on. From they way it sounds, there is a big brain trust at Adobe working on really developing these features further and developing even more features! So no worries… again it is new and it is in Beta.

I was surprised that at it could handle images with over 3K layers. The funny thing was it did manage to keep the gradient eye shadow that I used in a few female designs that I uploaded. But everything else went flat.

Again, if you do not like a color you can always edit the SVG after. Which I think is really great.

Wrap…

Experimenting with Adobe Firefly can be a addictive. I can literally spend hours on it trying out prompts. Seeing what works and what does not. It is a learning experience for sure.

I also really love the fact that Adobe is trying to take a super ethical approach to this and that they will not fully release it until everything is ironed out. Like I said Midjourney took an unethical approach and now they are facing lawsuits. So, I can totally back Adobe on what they are doing as they want to protect the artist community.

If you watched the above videos then you know that the future of Firefly is going to be exciting. And trust me there is even more they are working on that will blow your minds… but I signed an NDA so I can not talk about the things I have been told until they are publicly released. Just know there is cool things in the works… and things I have not even seen yet!!!

I think you will find Adobe Firefly to be creativity unleashed!

I will share a YouTube video about Firefly soon! So make sure to follow my channel.

Plus, I plan to do more interactive live streams on Behance where my community helps me test new prompts.

So what do you think about about Adobe Firefly? Do you want to give it a try?
Let me know the comments.

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