I Became an AI Creator in One Week — How a Web Designer Built Everything Alone

You hear the phrase "AI will take our jobs" quite often lately, don't you?

Well, it's not like I'm unaffected by it either—

I have 15 years of experience as a Web designer.
I've come to realize that we're in an era where even that experience is no longer an advantage.

An era has arrived where even amateurs who have never built a website can easily create one with zero learning cost by using AI.
I thought my work would naturally decrease, and sure enough, I witnessed clients building their own landing pages.

“Oh no, it’s over, I’m going out of business!”
I’ll be honest, that’s what I thought for a moment.

But complaining like that won't change anything, will it?
IT progress used to be called "dog years"*, but AI is on a whole different level.

* Dog years: A term referring to rapid technological progress, comparing it to the fact that dogs grow faster than humans (1 year = 7 human years).

If that's the case, I have no choice but to change myself.

“I’m changing my job from Web designer to AI creator!”

I swore that to myself, and one week passed.

Yes, just seven days.

How can I get along with AI?
If I'm going to do it, I want to learn it in a fun way.

So, I went ahead and built a personal site that is entirely a reflection of my hobbies.

What I built in one week

• Personal site (Next.js + Cloudflare Workers)

• Main visual video (line art + animation)

• Original song "Liar's Smile" (distributed via DistroKid)

• Illustrations (main visual / Illustrations section / song cover)

• Writing (site copy / lyrics / this note)

Three things I want to convey in this article

1. The era has arrived where one person can create in every field (site, video, music, illustration, writing).

2. What AI do I use? A must-see for those who want to create it themselves! A list of tools with real-world examples.

3. What it means to be 'expanded' rather than 'replaced.' A story about realizing things you've always wanted to do but couldn't.

What I made in one week

The genres are all over the place and it might look a bit scattered at first glance, but
please let me introduce them one by one.

(I plan to write a separate article for the detailed behind-the-scenes stories, so here is just the rough overview.)

Personal Website

I created this as a place to establish the worldview of 'Shimasugu' (a fan work of Blue Exorcist)
through visuals.

I would be happy if you could come take a look, even if just for the atmosphere.

Main Visual Video

Line art × Cyberpunk × Animation.

Video editing is a genre I touched for the first time this time.
It's a field I never would have dared to enter if it weren't for AI.

Original Song 'Liar's Smile'

My first single!

I wrote the lyrics together with AI.
I used DistroKid to distribute the song to the world.
You can distribute it to 23 services at once, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.
You can listen to the full version with lyrics on each distribution site or from the Music section of risto Design Playground♪

Illustrations

Main visual, Illustrations section on the site, and song cover art.

The line art was something I drew a long time ago and kept tucked away.
I had these pieces that were shelved because I didn't know where to use them, and I had AI help me color them.

I was finally able to let them see the light of day.

Writing

The website copy, song lyrics, and this note.

I don't usually do writing work, but thanks to AI acting as a sounding board, I'm having fun writing it.

Yes, I'm building this note together with AI, too.
It feels like a secret conspiracy, which is kind of fun.

The AIs I'm using

"What kind of AI are you using?"

I've been asked this more often lately.
I'll list all the AI tools I fully utilized this time.

• Claude Code — The core for design, direction, writing, and coding

• Codex — Coding assistance

• Seedance 2.0 — Main visual video

• ChatGPT Images 2.0 — Illustrations, cover art, and diagrams

• Suno — Music generation (melody, accompaniment, and vocals)

I plan to dive deep into the specific usage of each one in separate articles.
For now, this is just what I used each for.

Free? Paid? How much per month?
Recommended points, stumbling blocks—
I'm sure there are people curious about this.
I'll be turning each tool into an article, so I hope you can wait patiently.

How I felt after trying it for a week

In a word—

Fun!

That's all there is to it.

Honestly, I'm more excited than I've been in a long time.

What's so fun is the miracle that things I've always thought, "I'd love to try that someday," can be realized with just this much cost and time.

Music composition is a world that would take years if you studied it seriously.
Video editing is the same.
Doing it all by yourself—if you think about it normally, isn't that an impossible game?

But with AI, you can do it.

The quality is still a work in progress.
Even so, I can put it out into the world as "my own work."

When you really think about it, this is an incredible revolution.

The feeling of being "replaced" that I was almost afraid of at first,
turned out to be completely different once I actually tried it.

I wasn't replaced.

I was expanded.

It feels like the realm of expression I had given up on has expanded significantly.
"Writing novels, composing music, building websites, animating, and drawing illustrations."
We are now in an era where one person can fulfill such greedy dreams.

AI is not an enemy that steals jobs.

It is my strongest partner that helps me bring my "I want to do this" to life.

What to do from here

From Web Designer to AI Creator.

The job change has already begun.

Things I want to do next:

• Expand the world of "Shimasugu" (Blue Exorcist fan fiction) even further

• Deep dive into how to use each AI tool in separate articles

• Keep trying new challenges using new AI

I especially hope that the articles on how to use each AI tool can be the first step for those who think, "I want to try making something myself, too."

This series will continue.

In the next article, I plan to write about how to make the main visual video, followed by the story of music production, and so on in that order.

If you'd like, I'd be happy if you could follow me and wait patiently.

——"No, I can't wait! I have something I want to make right now!"

For those with that kind of passion, please reach out via the Contact form
on the site.

Finally

In an era where the topic of "having your job taken by AI" is common,
when I actually tried it, I saw a completely different landscape.

It's not being taken away.
It's being expanded.

And above all——

It's incredibly fun!

I hope this excitement has been conveyed to you, even just a little.