EP 014 · 67 MIN AI ISN'T A TOOL. IT'S A FLUID INTELLIGENCE
Midjourney: The Ultimate Creative Multiplier w/ Billy Boman
The short version
Episode 14 is a guest interview with Billy Boman, a Swedish creative who moved from fashion design and UX/UI into AI-driven commercial and music-video production. Boman explains how he trains Flux LoRAs for product-accurate renders, why he calls working with AI 'directing a fluid intelligence,' and how Midjourney let him make a personal short film that, he says, got the best response of his career. Rory and Drew push him on gatekeeping, job fears, and the entrepreneurial mindset AI rewards.
Key takeaways
- 01
Train a Flux LoRA on 15-25 product photos to get 95-99% accurate renders; Billy says intricate stitching and small text are still the hardest cases.
- 02
Prompt for the video model while shooting the still: Billy says a bad source image can't be fixed with motion, like a bad ingredient ruins a dish.
- 03
A working AI production team splits into three roles: an AI-art-director generalist, a ComfyUI-fluent 'creative technologist,' and a traditional Photoshop retoucher, says Billy.
- 04
Midjourney output doesn't have to stay flat: Rory vectorized an AI generation into a logo, and Billy has turned flat images into 3D objects for Cinema 4D.
- 05
AI is underused for patterns and textures, says Billy: tileable prints and custom grunge textures that used to require buying stock vector packs.
- 06
Billy's read on AI backlash: people aren't against the tool, they're against losing control of a 'box' they used to gatekeep; curiosity is the dividing line.
- 07
You don't need a client budget for virtual production: Billy built on-location illusions with huge LED screens playing AI backgrounds, real actors, and matched lighting.
Receipts · said on the record
“I typically say also when I teach that like working with AI is like directing a fluid intelligence. That is the best metaphor I've come up with.”
“I was a freelancer. I was a small business owner. I've been in that survivalist mode for the last 10 years … I know what it's like to be replaced by cheaper labor that I can't compete with.”
“It's interesting with the way AI impacted creativity earlier than I thought a lot of people thought was going to be possible … it did come for the creative part. It came for content. It came for image generation, video generation, all these things.”
“Why would Dunkin' Donuts steal Starbucks image when Dunkin' Donuts can make whatever the hell they want in their brand colors, in their brand aesthetic, whatever they want.”
“This is just a flicker. What we're seeing now is just a flicker … and that's profoundly exciting to me.”
Chapters
- 0:00:00 Creative Journey
- 0:03:45 Career Shift
- 0:08:00 Midjourney Impact
- 0:19:00 AI Teamwork
- 0:24:30 Fluid Storyboarding
- 0:31:00 Achieving Emotion w/ AI
- 0:39:15 Innovative Thinking
- 0:44:45 AI Assets
- 0:51:30 Legal Landscape
- 0:57:45 Creative Amplifier
- 1:02:00 Rapid Advancements
- 1:04:45 Production Revolution
Questions this episode answers
How does Billy Boman use Midjourney in his creative process?
Billy says he 'never ends with Midjourney' - it's where he concepts and explores ideas before moving the output into Photoshop, Illustrator, a video model, or After Effects to finish the piece.
Who is Billy Boman?
Billy Boman is a Swedish creative who worked in fashion design and then UX/UI design, including for PayPal and Vodafone, before moving into full-time AI-driven commercial, music-video and short-film work. He also teaches a two-day AI course at Berghs School of Communication in Sweden.
How much reference material does a Flux LoRA need, according to Billy Boman?
Billy trains product LoRAs on roughly 15 to 25 captioned photos of the item from different angles, which he says gets 95 to 99 percent accurate results, though intricate stitching and small text remain hard to reproduce.
Does Fast Hours think AI training will be ruled fair use?
Billy Boman predicts U.S. courts will ultimately land on fair use for generative image models, while noting the EU, where he's based, has no equivalent doctrine and tends to over-regulate; he calls it a prediction, not legal advice.
What does Billy Boman say about AI and creative job losses?
Billy argues the usual alternative to AI wasn't a human doing the job at full budget, pointing to his own high-budget music-video work as projects that simply wouldn't have been made otherwise, and frames anti-AI reactions as more about rigid, corporate mindsets than genuine job theft.
Show notes
Midjourney is the ultimate creative multiplier
In this episode, Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn welcome Billy Boman, a Swedish creative pro with a diverse background in fashion design, UX/UI, and AI.
Billy shares his gen AI journey from fashion to tech, highlighting the impact of AI tools like Midjourney on his creative process. The conversation delves into the collaborative nature of working with AI, the evolution of storyboarding in design, and the various tools that enhance creativity in the digital age.
Billy emphasizes the importance of iteration and the surprises that AI can bring to the creative process. In this conversation, the trio explores the evolving landscape of AI in creative fields, discussing the significance of image quality in video creation, the emotional resonance of AI-generated art, and the democratization of creativity.
They delve into the challenges of gatekeeping in the creative industry, the entrepreneurial mindset required to embrace AI tools, and the importance of curiosity in fostering innovation.
The discussion also touches on the future implications of AI in terms of legal and copyright issues, emphasizing the need for creatives to adapt and explore new possibilities.
They also touch on the complexities of AI in video generation, the transformative nature of AI in creative fields, and the implications for employment and copyright. They discuss the rapid evolution of AI technology, the need for regulation, and the exciting future of AI in production, emphasizing the importance of human involvement and creativity in leveraging AI tools effectively.
Tools mentioned: Midjourney, Runway, Minimax, Krea, Luma, Pika, Flux, Stable Diffusion, ComfyUI, Magnific, and others.
