Inspired choices! The first thought that popped when I saw the Godzilla sketches was the attorney asking him “Can you point out the assailant here in the court room (in his best Perry Mason voice) and Godzilla pointing awkwardly with his right forelimb and doing the ‘roar’ sound, clearing the gallery.
Cthulhu as shown is aerodynamically unsound. The wings need to be *much* bigger, with huge pectorals to pull them.
Unless the wings of Cthulhu are vestigial, of course. I confess I have to google (well, to Bing) whether Cthulhu flies. Ambiguous answer: it says he does by virtue of his “godlike” strength, which might make irrelevant the size of the pectoral muscles, and if magic is involved the wings. I’m going to assume not. Later edit: Maybe he comes from somewhere with much weaker gravity and a much thicker atmosphere, like Venus.
One thing I don’t have to assume—one thing that seems to be well-established—is Cthulhu’s pronouns. He is a he/him. So why does Potter dress him, if at all, in a blue dress?
Very nice. I should have started by saying something nice. If I have a weakness, it is a tendency to be hyper-critical. (But please: nobody call me a hypercrit.)
I especially like Bullwinkle and Godzilla, if only for my affection for the subject (in the former case) and my wife’s (in the latter).
I had some students start with an essay generated by ChatGPT and rewrite it. The rewrites consistently were better. I wonder what would happen if an artist could do the same thing with AI generated images?
One noticeable thing is the amount of clutter in AI images. I remember in the late 90's when I was using a program to generate landscapes of the Grand Canyon. Images took a couple of minutes to generate and I'd been struggling, really struggling to get it right. Finally I realized that my palette was too complicated, that was the key. I used them in animation - it took several days to generate 30 seconds. I started making progress when I got a CD writer - at $7 a CD.
Today the images have lost their luster, but then they were incredible.
A few months back I asked some AI outfit to show me Napoleon III. 1808 to 1873 I think. The Emperor of the French 1852-70. That one! Let's see if I can attach the result---which looked almost totally unlike the REAL Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, also the first and only President of the Second Republic. Here goes...whoops! you don't allow attachments! I was expecting to be shown a photograph of Napoleon III stolen from Wikipedia..
I have also been experimenting with Dall-E, Midjourney, and Copilot to make anachronistic art. I create a weekly graphic novel so I can track the improvement of the AI in real time. As you said, the steps to make an image are still complex, time-consuming, and ever changing! https://writtenbyrobots.substack.com/p/this-memoir-will-be-written-by-robots
My graphic artist husband, who is typically cynical about AI, thought these were quite impressive. (He has played with Midjourney, however.)
What fun!
Inspired choices! The first thought that popped when I saw the Godzilla sketches was the attorney asking him “Can you point out the assailant here in the court room (in his best Perry Mason voice) and Godzilla pointing awkwardly with his right forelimb and doing the ‘roar’ sound, clearing the gallery.
Cthulhu as shown is aerodynamically unsound. The wings need to be *much* bigger, with huge pectorals to pull them.
Unless the wings of Cthulhu are vestigial, of course. I confess I have to google (well, to Bing) whether Cthulhu flies. Ambiguous answer: it says he does by virtue of his “godlike” strength, which might make irrelevant the size of the pectoral muscles, and if magic is involved the wings. I’m going to assume not. Later edit: Maybe he comes from somewhere with much weaker gravity and a much thicker atmosphere, like Venus.
One thing I don’t have to assume—one thing that seems to be well-established—is Cthulhu’s pronouns. He is a he/him. So why does Potter dress him, if at all, in a blue dress?
Very nice. I should have started by saying something nice. If I have a weakness, it is a tendency to be hyper-critical. (But please: nobody call me a hypercrit.)
I especially like Bullwinkle and Godzilla, if only for my affection for the subject (in the former case) and my wife’s (in the latter).
I had some students start with an essay generated by ChatGPT and rewrite it. The rewrites consistently were better. I wonder what would happen if an artist could do the same thing with AI generated images?
One noticeable thing is the amount of clutter in AI images. I remember in the late 90's when I was using a program to generate landscapes of the Grand Canyon. Images took a couple of minutes to generate and I'd been struggling, really struggling to get it right. Finally I realized that my palette was too complicated, that was the key. I used them in animation - it took several days to generate 30 seconds. I started making progress when I got a CD writer - at $7 a CD.
Today the images have lost their luster, but then they were incredible.
https://youtu.be/yALVY5IG2DA?si=t5eMkJGK-ChADc-C
Maybe you should have a column with five simple ways to enhance your Midjourney or Craiyon image. Might be a best-seller.
I really, really like the abstract botanicals!
Cthulu by Beatrix Potter. Awesome.
A few months back I asked some AI outfit to show me Napoleon III. 1808 to 1873 I think. The Emperor of the French 1852-70. That one! Let's see if I can attach the result---which looked almost totally unlike the REAL Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, also the first and only President of the Second Republic. Here goes...whoops! you don't allow attachments! I was expecting to be shown a photograph of Napoleon III stolen from Wikipedia..
Thanks for starting my day with a chuckle! Clever you, as always. I enjoyed the comments almost as much as the images!
Oh, these are fun! Particularly the Beatrix Potter Chthulus.
I have also been experimenting with Dall-E, Midjourney, and Copilot to make anachronistic art. I create a weekly graphic novel so I can track the improvement of the AI in real time. As you said, the steps to make an image are still complex, time-consuming, and ever changing! https://writtenbyrobots.substack.com/p/this-memoir-will-be-written-by-robots