Back Stage
The making of Hessster and the Iron Gates
Hi, I'm Darren Anthony, the creator of Hessster and the Iron Gates. The work is a blend of poetry, music, and visual art.
It covers a number of esoteric beliefs, weaving them into a Gothic narrative. The project aims to engage readers and listeners in a multisensory experience designed to aid the contemplation of spiritual beliefs. These include, but are not limited to, redemption, the journey of the soul, and reincarnation.
The project is not about faith or religion itself, but a fictional story that covers what it means to be human.
The role of AI in creation
There's ongoing debate about whether AI enhances or threatens human creativity. While everyone must form their own opinion, I believe AI can significantly improve our creative capabilities. The concept, storyline, image specifications, and song descriptions for Hessster are entirely my own. However, AI enabled me to bring this vision to life in a way I couldn't have achieved alone, either financially or in the time available to me.
AI has helped unlock my creativity and allowed me to see this project through to completion—something that would have been beyond my means without this technology. The costs to produce such a piece would have been prohibitive, and the story would never have seen the light of day.
What has been produced here is with early AI tools. Six months prior to the release of Hessster, the tools to produce this were not readily available. AI tools available to budding creators are developing and expanding at a tremendous rate. These tools will continue to improve. If you have a creative story but felt overwhelmed in getting it out, then I encourage you to try.
Creativity is becoming more and more accessible as AI can help free the inner artist in all of us. It is early days, and that makes it an even greater time to get involved.
The AI tools that I used the most were: DALL-E 3 for artwork; Claude for developing and fine-tuning lyrics; and Suno AI for creating the songs.
Join the community
Interested in learning how to use AI tools to enhance your own creative projects? I'm considering starting a community where we can share knowledge, techniques, and inspiration. We'd have regular workshops and web meetings focused on using AI for creative endeavors like this one.
If you'd like to be part of this community, please follow Hessster's social media feeds. Any news about the community will be announced there.