Xiangran Zeng. Halloween Night, 2024. Animation
On Halloween night, a demon rises from the shadows while an angel descends under the moonlight. They dance together and merge into one at the end, becoming an ordinary person—symbolizing the duality of human nature. On Halloween, people can hide their kindness by dressing as scary monsters or cover their darker side by appearing as angels. In reality, no one is completely angelic or evil. For most of us, being human means living with both sides—a constant dance between the angel and demon within us.
The idea and concept for this animation came from me. However, I used ChatGPT to help me structure the scenes and provide detailed storyboard descriptions. While all drawings and animations were created by me using Procreate and Adobe After Effects, I collaborated with AI tools for inspiration and references. For example, I used PromeAI to transform my sketches into visual guides and Adobe Firefly to generate reference images from ChatGPT prompts. Additionally, dance references and rotoscoping were instrumental for character movements in the animation.
Overall, I am pleased with the results. My intention was to investigate how AI can be used as a tool to support creativity while maintaining authenticity. AI helped enhance my workflows and expand creative possibilities, but much of the work relied on my own creativity, research, and decision-making. A main challenge was to understand the limits of AI and integrating its outputs into a coherent artistic vision. The experience highlighted AI’s potential as a collaborator rather than a replacement for human creativity.
I am Xiangran Zeng, a third-semester Art and Multimedia student at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. My work focuses on animation, interactive art, and experimenting with both digital and traditional media.