About The Designer

Full disclosure (in my own non-AI words) -

It's quite difficult, even for a Photoshop nerd, to get AI-generated fine art to display properly on an imperfect surface like a mug. There are unforgiving bleed zones, restricted aspect ratios, differing mockup dimensions, and if it's not modified and placed just right, the image will be cut off on one or more of the edges, ruining the idea altogether. I wanted to cover the entire available circumference of the mug without going out of bounds. And I wanted each design to resemble fine art watercolor on canvas without hard, ugly edges. This takes expertise beyond just placing the art on the mug and hitting "Sell it." The art you see here is technically AI-generated, but so much more of my own design experience is implemented in the end result. On average, each single design takes 1 to 2 days to fully realize and an additional 2 days of iteration before I'm happy with how it looks. I've introduced color theory, composition, hierarchy, balance, alignment, scale, texture, and white space into these designs that AI was unable to portray, and even when I've asked it to, was not able to get it to fit across the entirety of a mug without irreconcilable error. These are not "I Hate My Boss" mugs. There are no clever quips or quotes. Just pure art in the way I imagined it, and I have worked tirelessly to make the end result visually acceptable to my own standards. I am just as proud of these designs as I am of artwork that is 100% my own.

When I see these mugs, and when I drink from them, I want to feel something other than "this is a mug." I want them to invoke emotion, comfort, and longing. I hope that you are able to get as much enjoyment out of them as I have, and I look forward to creating new designs and collections and sharing them all with you.

If you have any questions about me or my design process, I'm happy to respond if you use the contact link up in the main menu.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you have a great day!

Dan McGlade