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Mythical Creatures Around the World Addresses Hand Drawn Art and AI Art · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices, uh coming to you today uh with uh David Solomon and mythical creatures around the world, and uh we are making a joint address.
• 0:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh David will be doing most of the speaking.
• 0:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Um, and so I will hand it off to David.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, everybody.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is David Solomon, CEO of Mythical Creatures Around the World, and it is so great to be here.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, our world has changed, technology has changed, the way that we do things has changed, the way that we operate has changed on a daily basis.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I wanted to address a few changes that we've had with mythical.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as you've seen, and if you follow mythical, uh, we've we've gone through quite the change of how we put our content out due to how fast I actually write, and I don't use AI with my writing.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um however, because I write so fast, I've got to utilize AI sometimes for art because if you're writing 200 pages a day, which I do, and then book artists, um cover artists, you know, they take a month, and you're putting so much high volume every day on Facebook, I've had to utilize that to my advantage.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to talk a little bit about what that looks like for people like me that write that fast.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because there are other people like that out there that put such high volume into our creativity and our work, and so I want to talk about that.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so mythical creatures around the world started as hand-drawn only and uh and no AI.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: About maybe eight, nine weeks ago, give or take, um God really spoke to me, and I really wanted to do something that's never been done.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And congratulations, we now have not only a producer but uh a full production due to what's going on, that utilizing my Facebook and mimicking a real TV network to reach people that don't know faith, that don't know hope, telling stories that matter, that real TV doesn't, and giving episodes weekly.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you an example.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Bat Boy Laguna.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Bat Boy Laguna comes out once a week on Friday, every Friday, new episode of Bat Boy Laguna.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Bat Boy Laguna has 24 to 27 parts, and they're all posted within 24 to 48 hours.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: The format mimics a real TV show, but in doing that so fast, you have to utilize AI sometimes, or what I like to call a hybrid approach, and draw some of it and then AI the background.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's been fascinating to grow mythical creatures as a channel and as a brand.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And to see the readers just react and love what we're doing and how we're doing it, has just been impressive.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a lot of backlash with using AI, and somebody called me AI slop, and I want to address that too.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not out here trying to make AI on everything.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm only doing this till I find an artist that can keep up, and I will happily pay them to redo every drawing I've ever done in AI for mythical, which isn't much at the moment.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're gonna expand mythical to hand-drawn art uh after you see this broadcast with a story called Brighton Beach Heroes.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I drew it myself in cartoon form, like I used to, and we're gonna utilize both resources of AI and hand-drawn.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I believe that this statement had to be made because we are in such a crucial moment where people hate on you.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And for us indie authors who don't have a lot of money, and stock images don't cut it because our characters are so detailed, okay?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you may argue that until you see the depth.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I've done hybrid approaches with my book covers.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but sometimes you have to utilize AI to its advantages.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the cons to AI as a writer: never let it write your content for you.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Never let AI become the controller of the system.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a writer.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I had AI edit a few times, it was fun, but it didn't rewrite what I write as an editor, or excuse me, as a writer.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I handwrite everything.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't ever have to prove that you know I use AI or not.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's documented in all of my handwriting before it even goes up.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So people can utilize AI easily to edit their own work, but past that it becomes a problem.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen AI also bring people together.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know some authors that wrote with AI, but then they edited what AI said, and people go, oh, that's copy.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: No, they used it as a rough draft.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, you can't do that.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: But then I saw like the different sides of what's going on.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's authors who utilize AI and don't tell you, they're dishonest with their book covers.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not what I want to do.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to be transparent, and I always want to tell the truth to my readers because those are the fans that read mythical every day.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of authors won't have the guts to do what I'm doing right now because they want to sit in the shadows, and I want to set the example and not do that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want to show that we're telling the truth, we're being transparent, we're letting our readers and our fans know what we're doing with our work.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes me happy as the creator and CEO of Mythical Creatures, and also my wife as the co-CEO and COO of mythical creatures around the world.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to set the example.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's called a season.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's a season for everything, and we're in a season of change, friends, and and we're seeing that.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Mythical is going to paint the way for a new genre that is coming out of it, and people are just loving it, and we're not stopping.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: My great-grandfather, Chester Blickenstaff, he created something, a legacy of heroes that you and I know and love.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Learning the history of what he's done.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't kept up, Chester Blickenstaff created Torpedo Man, which we posted on Mythical.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: He helped create some very iconic heroes that we've posted on Mythical as a legacy.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Mythical as a brand, which is owned by Voices for Voices, is going to be doing something never done before.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're updating our website to meet the needs of what will be done.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: A timeline for readers that can learn about this massive legacy of heroes and characters.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they can just, you know, look into the history.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's bigger than Lord of the Rings, it's bigger than Star Wars, and it's bigger than Marvel or DC because it's generational in a different way.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: My grandfather, my great-grandfather, and then my 17th grandfather, not to forget my mom, my wife, and my son.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it all runs in the family.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all one story world.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really cool.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be uh making people feel a little uh weird because we're gonna touch on what we call tropes in the superhero world.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you an example.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Spider-Man is owned by Marvel, but the original Spider Hero is not.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: My great-granddad helped create a character with someone else back in 1940, 20 years before Spider-Man was created.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna tell that story.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Tropes are types, stereotypes of superheroes we know.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: But then we're also going to diverge into other heroes on mythical and look into different heroes that you don't know.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Mythical's going to become a uh a map for how to do storytelling in the future for superheroes, period.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Mythical's approach is to put faith first within the story.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of Christian authors put story first, and that's great.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do that, I put my faith in it, and then I write the story as accordingly.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean I preach, and that's why it's successful.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pleased to announce that our writing has impacted readers in positive ways.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's created something that's never been done in the history of Christian fantasy.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: AI will be utilizing art, it will never replace human art.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so any artist that wants to come forward and try to um draw these pieces will happily pay you to replace the difference.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right now we're using this as the standard, but you know, we we're not gonna have that replace our human work.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just how we have to do things.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so this will become the blueprint of comics, I hope.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And our stories will always be of hope, of valor, of justice, and of good versus evil.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I made the statement today.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I have uh come forward and made that statement.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's why.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um Justin, anything to add?
• 14:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: No, I just think it's appropriate that we let um followers, viewers, listeners, wherever they may be, uh, understand that at the core all of our work is hand-drawn, handwritten, and at this point in time we'll be utilizing uh AI for some portions which we will notate.
• 15:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So again, just like this statement we're doing today on this episode, um, where there is AI, it'll it'll people will be able to see that.
• 15:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Um and I think just as the gold standard of anything, but especially with what we're doing, it's so important just to be upfront about it because so many people uh are utilizing whether it's AI or other things, and they're not telling their audience or viewers or listeners or readers, etc.
• 15:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it's kind of leading them on, going like, oh wow, like they're this great artist or what have you.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's why as a company we want to be transparent, yeah, and we want to um we want to tell people yes, we are utilizing this, but we're not having this replace uh the human art or you know writing.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to stress that people uh actually have accused me of AI writing.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've been writing this fast since I was a kid.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have everything to back that up.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I handwrite everything.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you see my writing go up, I handwrite everything I do.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen a lot of writers get canceled because they don't do what I'm doing, they don't come forward and say, we are utilizing AI.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Mythical is going to utilize AI.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I will take that stance and go, well, you know, I could I could get ridiculed.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: People could try to cancel.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to be transparent where other authors have not.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope and I pray that this reveals transparency for them.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to say, going forward, to the best of our ability, we will be making hand-drawn book covers.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: But because of our approach, there will be AI covers as well.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: There will be a hybrid, and you, the reader, will have the choice of what to do.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: But let's not be judging these authors for using AI book covers when they don't have that much money to hire an artist.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I get the argument goes both ways, but as a creator, I'm seeing the hurt in our community and trying to address the bullying, and especially in the Christian world of writing.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: A good friend of mine, uh, who I hope to get on is using AI for his content, not writing with AI, but using book covers.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he's a great guy, and he's gotten crucified for it.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you are doing something and you are bringing people to truth, don't let bullying stop you.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And AI is just another thing that the enemy is using to bully creators, and that's not okay either.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need to utilize these tools that God has given us.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's like saying computers back in the day would replace typewriters.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now I get it, AI is generating, and it's a little different, but not really.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of that technology uh situation.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: We should embrace AI, we should not let AI take over us, and that's the difference.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can use AI to its advantage.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that this helps.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you know people understand that AI isn't all evil, and that I I stand that you can utilize it for good, and mythical has.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, Torpedo Man is done with hybrid art, some hand-drawn, some AI.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to be returning to that hand-drawn art for a time for Halloween with Brighton Beach heroes, and we're very excited for that.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: But going forward, mythical creatures is going to mimic a TV network where you have different episodes that are serialized fiction and could be produced as a TV show one day because they are set out already like that.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we're very happy to be doing that.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Mythical Creatures is seeing so much feedback, it's crazy to see the fan base and what they're saying.
• 20:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: May have lost our guest, David's.
• 21:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: David, are you there?
• 21:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: See the rectangle with your name.
• 21:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Looks like you got I don't know how that that all happened.
• 21:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So we're pretty uh pretty confident in what we do.
• 21:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And as as David's mentioned there's you know a little bit of hybrid going on now with uh with uh our uh with some of our work.
• 21:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Some utilizes a little bit of AI, some Doesn't and what we are doing here is just we want to rem remind or notify the general public, viewers, listeners.
• 22:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Oh all right, are you back?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I apologize for that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, I just was doing like a transition, so if you just want to finish up or do yeah, so mythical creatures around the world is going to try to make a change.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was saying my wife wants to do a psychological thriller.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: She's also doing some amazing kids series that are just God-inspired.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um Amanda Solomon, check her work out.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan, my son, is doing incredible things.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Mythical is going to pave the way to try and raise the bar for golden age superheroes to rise again.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am so enthusiastic about bringing hope back to communities.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing I want to address that someone uh actually wrote me a letter.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: We need diversity.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Christian fantasy does not have diversity.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: We see Black Panther, and uh and that's all we see.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: We don't see an alternative.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we'll we'll end it with this mythical creatures around the world is around the world, and it's to diverse our audience in what we do and all that we do.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so characters like Han, who is Bat Boy, is Korean, people like John Wallace is African American, you're gonna continue to see Christian superheroes and diversity, and that doesn't mean that we're trying to be as they call woke.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It means we're trying to tell stories that matter with purpose and precision.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thrilled to see Brighton Beach, New York.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're here in Brighton Beach, it's lovely.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: We uh we love the people, we we love the Russian heritage of these people, um Russian and Ukrainian, love these people, been an honor and a privilege to work with these people.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: We've been me and my mom have been working with these people since 2019.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So to see this come to fruition is just it's mind-blowing.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: But mythical, you're gonna see so much come out.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited for you guys to be here for the ride.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hang on to your hats, Fort Worth, Texas.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're about to get blown up by so much history, so much history.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Batman originated in Fort Worth, and you're gonna hear the history of Batman soon, and all these iconic superheroes and where they came from, and mythical is going to tell those stories of where they came from soon.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're also gonna be utilizing AI for uh for other art.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: There are gonna be AI comics that mythical will put out, as well as hand-drawn some countries that we want to reach AI is appropriate for, and that is not the United States, and I'm happy to do both.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: My son has loved some of the AI art that we've done hybrid approaches on, where I draw it and then make the AI background.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of how we're gonna do those comics.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: I am so just appreciative of what we're doing as a uh as a brand.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So keep up with mythical and uh you know follow mythical creatures around the world, Facebook.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Again, Torpedo Man is gonna end on a cliffhanger, and we will see you in a little bit to find out what happens.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're gonna return to that hand-drawn art of Brighton Beach that we know and love.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is gonna be that cartoon style because it's for kids, and then we have a special Halloween treat for you to answer those calls for things like uh Spider-Man Midnight, the Marble line, and to mimic their horror line for some Christian superhero horror.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have some fun with that, and we're excited to uh see you in Medford, Oregon for that.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, lastly but not least, we're gonna have different uh approaches to storytelling on our website.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there's gonna be different grades for our fans.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have kids preschool, we're gonna have middle grade, high school teen, mature teen, adult, hallmark, horror, romance, and then uh what we call red, which is our red tier for adults.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that'll be all broken down on our website, and I'm just excited to try to show the example for what Christian fantasy should be.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a lot of pushback on me for setting the example, and I hope that one day that pushback is uh is worth it because if someone doesn't now show the example of what's appropriate for readers of a certain age to read, then Christian fantasy as a genre is gonna have a problem.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I'll let Justin take it from here.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is to address AI and mythical creatures around the world only, and that we are gonna utilize what we are doing as a brand and try to set the example to bring new believers in, to bring people in that don't know the faith, and also just tell stories of hope where there are none.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Sure.
• 29:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh happy to have you on.
• 29:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Share this important topic and message uh with our viewers, listeners, readers, uh just everybody that has really come and uh supported us and is supporting us.
• 29:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And uh make sure that you you do follow Matheal Creatures around the world Facebook page.
• 29:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh a website is getting a facelift, so you'll notice changes uh starting to uh starting to happen where we start to integrate everything uh that we we've talked about and we'll be talking about and we'll be sharing.
• 30:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And uh so we're just uh again say thanks to the David Solomon for joining us um on this uh uh very current news uh and uh being able to uh put a statement out uh for us, for our brands, and uh we will see you on a future episode of the Voices for Voices podcast.
• 30:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So let's celebrate all the voices and let's be a voice for not only ourselves, but maybe somebody else that we know that is in need of help sharing their voice.
• 30:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And we'll see you next time.
• 30:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bye bye for now.