Junction 42 / Our Creative Process & Use of AI

This page was made by AI to prove a point.

We were making things long before things could make themselves.

We use AI as a tool in our creative process.

This page is the exception on our website. We asked AI to design it, and we’re letting it take the credit and the criticism.

The work came first.

Before we tell you how we use AI, here’s what we were already making without it. The work speaks for itself.

Tipsy Egg corner booth illustrated artwork and custom installation — **Tipsy Egg / Collaborative mixed-media installation.** Jeremie created the illustrations. Andrea created the painted and printed elements. Together, we developed the custom framing and installation, bringing illustration, production, and physical space together.

Explore More Spaces

Illustration / Game design

One artist. A whole world of possibilities.

This completed game project comes from Jeremie’s independent creative practice, before our collaborative work at Junction 42. It reflects the breadth of his illustration and design experience, from individual artwork to a fully realized creative project. Explore Jeremie’s illustration portfolio →

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 1

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 2

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 3

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 4

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 5

Jeremie King completed game project, portfolio image 6

Our approach to AI

AI is a tool in the studio. It is not the artist in the studio.

We create across disciplines, materials, styles, and technologies. Jeremie’s lifetime of hand illustration and ability to work in a dozen distinct visual styles cannot simply be replaced by technology, even if we’ve been impressed by how close some tools can get.

Fewer than five pieces in our portfolio have involved AI. We intend to keep it a collaborative tool, not the force directing our creative work. If you prefer a project with no AI involvement, we respect that completely.

The ideas, artistic judgment, and responsibility for what we put into the world are still ours.

How we actually use AI

We use the tools. They don’t use us.

We’ve built an extensive AI-supported knowledge base and collaborative workflows informed by our experience and creative practices. We use AI for research, ideation, conceptual exploration, writing and outlining, knowledge-base-informed content, visual experimentation, vibe coding, prototyping, and problem-solving.

Some projects are entirely handmade. Others blend physical fabrication, digital production, and AI-assisted processes. The tools change. Our responsibility for the work doesn’t.

Where human direction comes in

AI can generate possibilities. It cannot decide what matters to us.

That’s where human judgment, taste, context, experience, and a willingness to say “No, that’s not it” come in. We select, edit, combine, rebuild, refine, or discard what the tools produce. The finished work has to earn its place, and we are not gentle about what we allow through.

Why this page is different

Yes, this page was made with AI.

We thought a page about our use of AI should be made with AI. Seemed fair.

Then the first version arrived looking like a futuristic sports drink. Another introduced beige. One added a mysterious scribble and cut off the text. So we kept directing it.

That’s the point. A capable tool is not a substitute for a creative point of view.

When we’re doing our job right, you notice the work. Not the software.

Human-led. AI-assisted. Intentionally made.

An unusually public creative process

Six early iterations.
Andrea wasn’t settling.

We kept the receipts. These are six actual stages of Andrea asking AI to build a page about using AI, then repeatedly explaining why it didn’t look like us. A clearer initial brief might have saved some rounds. That’s part of the lesson: better direction, before and after generation, makes better work.