Experiments in art
Ivy and Ethan as "Emily" on an ice cream date
So, I've been playing a bit with AI art, specificially OpenArt AI, which has everything from Flux to Nano Banana and SeeDream. They're all pretty amazing and I've learned a lot. But as the old saying goes, the more you know, the less you know. Who says that? Well, me for one. The more I play with AI art the dumber I feel 'cuz there's always some new problem that show up and humbles you. In my case, it's consistent and repeatable characters. I know there's a solution, but I keep messing it up. Or something. I dunno. I'll figure it out whence I chillax and put some real effort into it.
DeeDee and her one true love—well, two of them if you count the root beer.
To her credit, she is trying to stop smoking. But there's a lot of drama going on, so who knows how that's gonna turn out.
Also, AI art is kinda like the slot machine at a casino—you never quite know what you're gonna come up with. And sometimes you throw good money after bad to get the tiniest of details fixed. Take this image of DeeDee above: it took me a couple of dozen passes to get her glasses close to what I imagined... and they're still not right. And don't get me started on the rear side window of her Shelby Mustang. And I must admit, she came out a bit sexier than I pictured her, but the other iterations didn't get that subtle smirk, so I stand by my testimony, your honor.
Another caveat emptor: Ethan keeps coming up younger than I liked, but I gotta say, he and Ivy look pretty into it, so I figured I'd just stop there. As I said, slot machine, good money after bad... you can stay up all night if you're not careful. Or just plain unteachable like I am. lol
The thing is, I don't really wanna draw... or illustrate or whatever. I just wanna read... and maybe write something once in a while. In a former life I had to fake it 'til I made it in photography and graphics... and I did all right, got paid for my time, oddly enough. But it became a chore and I lost my enthusiasm for my own personal gratification. Kinda like writing. I had to write so much for other people it wore me out. Now that I'm retired. I'm dabbling in writing again. Maybe I'll do the same for illustrating... and maybe not. Time will tell.
Anywhoooo... I used to draw for my cross-dressing and petticoating stories. Well, kinda. I drew in pen and pencil, traced, scanned, photoshopped, copied and pasted, whatever it took. I consider myself a writer, not an artist, but I was driven to making my own crossdressing art because of—as the kids say today—reasons.
Tony aka "Toni" or "Antoinette" in the Petticoat Detective series from long ago
Oddly, my quaint little scratchings were kinda popular way back then. I still get hits on my old DeviantArt page, after all these years, which is both flattering and weird to me. I leave them up in case someone else wants to enjoy them; but I also hope that others will get inspired to make their own art. And sometimes I get told that happens.
So there ya go.
Tony dabbling in his disguises
Yeah, I know, not everyone is crazy about AI art, or at least the idea of it. I'm not sure what to think about the ethics and all, but it's here and it helps me do amazing things. I'm not capable of drawing anymore... well, I guess I could, but it takes me a ridiculous amount of time to make a single image, it's not worth the effort. So yeah, I've sold my soul to the company store, so to speak, and it's AI art for me.
Tony (in disguise as "Toni") interrogating a suspect
I guess the reason I'm posting this is to let you know that if this is something you're interested in, give it a try. And trust me, if I can do it, so can you. Do I feel guilty about cheating another artist out of a commission? Not really. I wouldn't know who to go to do this kind of art and if I did I couldn't afford them.
Self portrait of the artist as a young'n
I could go into the politics and morality of "stealing another's work" but I've sworn to keep politics out of this side of my life. As I see it, all art is based on other people's art—name me an artist who isn't influenced by either a predecessor or a peer and I'll show you a complete hermit or a rare true genius. Even Michelangelo got ideas and inspiration from the ancients. (Yeah, I ain't no Micky G, that's fo' sho'—I'm not even close to being Mickey Spillane.) But as Willie Shakespeare once said, there's nothing new under the sun, and he got that from Ecclesiastes as I remember—though I've been told that came from an even earlier work.
As the great Billy Preston once sang, the world goes round in circles.
Stay warm, stay safe... and be good to yourself and yours.
d.
Comments
Artwork
Interesting— that was not how I pictured Ivy! I like both your AI art and your drawings. Deedee looks very much like a 50’s pin-up girl. :)
There are some folks here who are real wizards with AI art — Erin most of all. I did a Blog post on cover art a while back and discovered after-the-fact that a ridiculous number of the covers I’d singled out were ones that she had done, even though the stories were from other people. Jenny North also does amazing cover art, though offhand I don’t remember whether she uses AI or other means.
I’ve used AI in my cover art, though generally as an “assist.” I start with a photo — usually a free stock photo from Adobe. Then I use different programs to tweak it into what I want, and some of those programs use AI in a greater or lesser extent. FaceApp, YouCam, Photoshop, and sometimes Brushstroke. Photoshop is usually the last stop, since that’s what I use for captions (Jenny does captions a different way, and hers are amazing).
Here’s my favorite pair of examples. They both start with the same stock photo, which I then tweaked using some combination of the programs above. The first one shows Terry as the world sees her, at the beginning of the story. The second is a painting Terry made, showing how she sees herself.
The AI tools really helped me transform the way Terry looked, without actually changing her face at all. You can also use AI tools to modify features, and I often do (my own avatars being an example). My main beef is that the AI tends to homogenize the images.
As to ethics . . . I don’t like AI, but it ain’t going away just ’cuz I don’t like it, and it’ll still be ubiquitous even if I don’t use it. I don’t use it to write, at all, because I generally prefer my own writing to AI writing, and because the act of writing is cathartic for me, and enjoyable when it isn’t maddening. But I’m useless when it comes to fine art, so I do lean on it there.
— Emma
I didn't imagine Ivy like that
So I agree with Emma. I also agree with you in that the Dee Dee is a bit sexier and glamorous than I would have imagined.
However, it still love the cover art for the story. It really does capture the spirit of what you've written. And I appreciate you trying to give us glimpses into how you are picturing those characters. The art for your latest chapter is almost there. Emily is dead on but Samuel just looks a bit too old, like he's 22 instead of a teenager.
Artwork can be a fun add!
My pen and ink artistic skills are lousy, so in terms of the images, I'll use anything. Clip art, stock photos, commissioned artwork, photographs I've taken, AI art, you name it. Back in the day, I used to recaption old romance comic covers to give them a TG spin.
I do find the AI artwork impressive, but at least for me, it seldom nails it exactly. I'll usually edit it and layer in other elements. For instance, with these covers, I'd like to think the typography helps sell the vibe as much as the art. (Of these covers, Tatterdemalion is the only one with AI art elements with the two characters. I haven't released Darkness Falls or Brand Strategy, so I might run those through an AI filter to smooth out the video game characters a bit.)
I remember your artwork on DA...
Yes, I recall your artwork on DA; I think we might have traded a few PMs at the time (though I had a different handle back then).
You might be interested in checking out this AI:
https://manus.im/playbook/sketch-to-photo-converter
If you upload one of your drawings, it will generate four or five images in various styles, each clearly based on the original. Naturally, it has content filters and a daily limit, but the results can be quite amazing.
Just a thought. Hope you're doing well, nice to see your "heroines" again after so much time :)
Cheers, Tracy.