About

Big Al
Gruswitz

By June of 2024, Big Al will have 60 years experience in advertising: 30 years and an art director and associate creative director in Detroit at Campbell-Ewald on the Chevrolet account and in NYC at Saatchi & Saatchi on a variety of Proctor package goods accounts, New York Life, U.S. Steel, Tylenol, and 11 Proctor brands in Canada.

He was asked to start the Consumer Healthcare Division of Klemtner (Now Saatchi Healthcare) where he won the inaugural account, Rogaine and was responsible for the medical, consumer and international launch for that brand.

 

MORE ABOUT BOUNDLESS CREATIVITY

Difficult Retouching

Frequently, when I cold call a potential ad agency creative client, I’ll discuss the various services I offer. When I mention In do “difficult retouching” they might respond, “Oh we have our staff retouchers that do all our retouching!” My usual response is “I know, many agencies have staff retouchers, but I’m the person folks call when it’s an “impossible job”—one that your staff isn’t capable of doing.” That’s the kind of retouching assignments I usually get.

The other type of assignments I get is when a client has as many as 30 or more images that need retouching and they need to be consistent in color and tone so that they can be used next to each other and look like they belong together. I take as much pride in being technically accurate as I do in doing something creative.

Do take a look at the before and after images in this gallery.

A.I. STORYTELLING

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s also true that a picture can inspire a thousand words or a short story, or a novel, or a feature movie.

Frequently when I create images with A.I. programs such as Midjourney, I start with a germ of an idea and want to see how Midjourney is going to render it. The results may require some fine tuning in the prompting, but as I work on the image, it may lead to an idea for a story. On the STORYTELLING page, one such story is “The Cave Dwellers.” I did an image of a huge cave filled with bioluminescent stalactites and stalagmites. Then the whole story developed based on that one picture.

On the other hand, sometimes you have an idea for a story, such as a new Sherlock Holmes story. Then you start creating images to go with the story you have in mind. Often, as the images evolve, the story adapts as new thoughts are inspired by the results.

Either way, using A.I. programs to illustrate a story or to create a storyboard is a wonderful way to express your ideas and tell a story.

Big Al’s Blog

Big Al, since starting with Midjourney in June of 2022 when version 2 first came out, has consistently written blog posts on LinkedIn. Most of his posts include the prompts he used to create the images. His goal has been to help people be able to prompt better and to get the kind of results they want to achieve. His second goal has been to expand people’s understanding of the range of subject matter that can be produced with Midjourney and other A.I. programs.

This blog will continue to reflect those two goals. Oh, but there is one more goal besides educating—he hopes you are frequently entertained and amused!

AVAILABLE A.I. COURSES

Besides his years of working as and art director, associate creative director, and illustrator in advertising, Big Al has taught college courses in Advertising Design and Advertising Practices at both Oakland Community College in Michigan and Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York with 7 years experience. Combine that with his working with multiple text to image A.I. programs since June, 2022, he is an ideal candidate for teaching courses in using A.I. programs.

Additionally he has coauthored 2 books on working with Midjourney.