Roughly 5 months in the past, I held an AI artwork competitors associated to the fantasy world I’ve been constructing. I used to be making an attempt to peek round corners, as I typically do with new applied sciences.
As soon as it wrapped up, I felt a wierd mixture of issues. It was one thing like one half falling in love; one half child in a sweet retailer; and two components watching metaphorical birds flying overhead, harbingers of an enormous forest hearth on its means.
This submit will share some learnings, artwork winners with highlights, and extra.
There have been a handful of guidelines for submissions, however the bolded parts under are a very powerful to me:
You should use any AI instruments or mixture of instruments that you just like, together with DALL·E 2 (@OpenAI), Midjourney (@midjourney), Steady Diffusion (@StableDiffusion), Lexica (@LexicaArt,) NightCafe Studio (@NightcafeStudio), and many others. You might be additionally allowed to do handbook touch-ups and fine-tuning. IMPORTANT: You *should* use Loom (@loom) or different tech to seize your full course of.
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Alternatives will likely be primarily based on high quality, creativity, presentation of course of, and extra. Course of is essential. Folks ought to not less than be capable of try to copy what you probably did.
All the level of the competitors was to create this weblog submit, a easy assortment of how-to tutorials that may get anybody up-skilled in a brief time period. Even in case you hate all the pieces about AI, right here’s why I feel it’s value spending time on this…
The AI genie is out of the bottle. The extra true consultants I converse with, the clearer that is.
Regardless of how one feels about AI—and I’ve loads of misgivings—the genie can’t be put again within the bottle. That is true for a whole lot of sectors and hundreds of thousands of individuals, together with artists. I’ve watched relations work their asses off as artists, I needed to be a comic book e-book penciler for 10+ years, and I’ve paid conventional artists a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} over time. It’s a world that’s close to and pricey to my coronary heart.
However… there isn’t a going again to the best way issues was once. In actual fact, there isn’t a compelling option to stall issues for lengthy. So the query for me isn’t “How can we cease AI artwork?,” as I don’t assume it’s potential, however relatively one thing like:
“What can artists do to get forward of the curve?” or “How may proactive artists place themselves to profit from this?” or “How can artists restrict the harm of AI and carve out, or protect, good niches for themselves?”
There are dozens of different related questions we may ask, however I feel the preliminary reply is identical for all of them: Study to make use of AI instruments.
To kickstart your artwork profession, and even in case you plan on utilizing extra conventional strategies… study to make use of AI instruments.
To turbocharge your individual artwork by streamlining mundane duties… study to make use of AI instruments.
To study the present weaknesses and blindspots of AI instruments so you may plan round them… study to make use of AI instruments.
Most high-calibre artists don’t have anything to worry, many would-be artists have so much to sit up for, and all artists have one thing to study. When you would spend 10 hours at a weekend course that promised to enhance the chances of a superb residing for the following decade, I feel you need to decide to spending 10 hours critically utilizing and scrutinizing the higher AI instruments. Even in case you hate all the pieces this represents, even when it’s an opponent you wish to defeat, that is akin to watching tape of an opponent earlier than a boxing match. Whether or not you wish to surf the tsunami, dive by way of it, or get the hell out of the best way, it’s good to perceive the wave. To try this, it’s good to examine it, and the earlier the higher. The most effective protection is usually an early offense.
I hope you discover this submit useful, and please go away feedback with different suggestions. I’m positive I’ll get just a few gems and a boatload of screeds, however such is the spice of the Web.
This weblog submit is a tough draft and merely a place to begin. And in case you assume the tempo of AI improvement has been quick within the final six months, the following 12 months are going to make your head spin. I feel the hot button is all the time returning your eyes to the street forward of you rather than the rear-view mirror.
Only a few notes on construction earlier than we dive in:
We included each “Winners” and “Honorable Mentions,” however all are included as a result of they supplied distinctive worth or a novel strategy.
I closely weighed the incorporation of character traits. As I point out once more under, it’s simple to make *one thing* fairly with AI, however to make a really *particular factor* with parameters and traits is way more durable. For that motive, I tended to reward rougher artwork with higher trait matching vs. polished artwork that used fewer traits.
Some tweets are now not stay, and we’ve indicated that with a remark.
Particular Honorable Point out
I’m placing the under Twitter thread by @JPEGHODL first, because the thread itself represents a wonderful Midjourney 101 tutorial for individuals who haven’t used Discord a lot. That is positioned right here upfront, as lots of the submissions use Midjourney:
Winners
Tim’s feedback on the under: This fella’s how-to weblog submit is improbable. Extremely suggest.
Unique tweet by @ironclawai: https://twitter.com/ironclawai/standing/1604528121360826373
Weblog submit with all course of movies: https://ironclaw.me/2022/12/18/cockpunch-ai-characters-contest/
Tim’s feedback on the under: Love this one. When you increase the Loom and watch and pause fastidiously, you may see the iterative course of and in addition how disobedient AI is with some descriptors/prompts.
Unique tweet by @Roof_boy_6ix: https://twitter.com/Roof_boy_6ix/standing/1604672157744877568
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/3b395c838e8e4e098e7a2c633aa88f24
Tim’s feedback on the under: Matches the under character effectively. Good touch-ups on the finish, plus use of Photopea.com.
Unique tweet by @FPOkenny: https://twitter.com/FPOkenny/standing/1605265213808599040
Course of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA-Xsk-WkbM
Tim’s feedback on the under: Nice showcase of Midjourney + DALL·E for eradicating options vs. inpainting, plus reveals some frequent limitations (e.g., palms), although these limitations have been improved not too long ago. Good matching.
Unique tweet by @nat_sharpe_: https://twitter.com/nat_sharpe_/standing/1605267590670082048
Video course of: https://www.loom.com/share/c91e8b09c0c54fb3bedcd1804996db26
Tim’s feedback on the under: This course of video is wonderful. I really like the AI + bodily artwork chops, particularly beginning with completely no expertise with AI.
Unique tweet by @shizudelphia: https://twitter.com/shizudelphia/standing/1605316934631051264
Course of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H3hurVusN4
Tim’s feedback on the under: Wonderful at incorporating the precise character components! His trustworthy inclusion of traits is sort of doubtless the very best of the bunch. That was one of many greatest challenges for everybody who competed. Making one thing fairly with AI is simple, however getting it to make one thing with well-defined traits is way more durable.
Unique tweet by @PSHoudini: https://twitter.com/PSHoudini/standing/1604796676182532096
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/8558d7597d3e414f8c69e0afb5810182
Tim’s feedback on the under: Nice clarification of Midjourney and high-quality tuning with Photoshop. I believe that, increasingly more, each artists and writers will use AI to brainstorm tough drafts or beginning factors for heavy handbook sharpening.
Unique tweet by @blockheim: https://twitter.com/blockheim/standing/1605044205906165760
Video course of: https://www.loom.com/share/1c6fe71de9b040dc97a8b46090d61941
Tim’s feedback on the under: Enjoyable use of traits and included lore (e.g., Dakus), and the method video can be effectively executed.
Unique tweet by @WriterInVerse: https://twitter.com/WriterInVerse/standing/1605387722033893378
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/3d5bfe11e4634c889c5ea5546dc7a18c?t=6
Tim’s feedback on the under: Thematically robust, fast iteration, nice narration.
Unique tweet by @FLitz: https://twitter.com/FLitz/standing/1605380881039773696
Course of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQv5Xr2qJVA
Honorable Mentions
Tim’s notes on the under: This can be a good demo of fast Midjourney use, in addition to use of variations and upscaling choices. Most honorable mentions are honorable mentions as a result of fewer traits have been included. Nonetheless, this finish product actually ended up eye-catching.
Unique tweet by @Shakkas_Art: https://twitter.com/Shakkas_Art/standing/1605029397710667776?s=20&t=mZHz0kVbGrVT4NMVPR7ACw
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/2832c4abc7ad4ff0bc5de81959d2d031
Tim’s notes: Good course of submit, which I admire, as I typically digest issues higher by way of textual content. That is typically simpler than freeze-framing the movies.
Unique tweet by @BMAotC: https://twitter.com/BMAotC/standing/1605157342550573057
Course of weblog submit: https://medium.com/@BMAotC/the-ai-art-competition-beginneth-8d8d7cf70531
Unique tweet by @gojeanyn: https://twitter.com/gojeanyn/standing/1605397341875277824
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/1a87f89388104fc791a483cb07f2df10
Tim’s notes on the under: The handbook addition of the nostril/earring is nice.
Unique tweet by @moonordust007: https://twitter.com/moonordust007/standing/1605375068624019456
Tim’s notes: Wonderful course of video and reveals the refinement of prompts, batching variations, then the ending in Photoshop. I’m a sucker for Japanophilia.
Unique tweet by @FLitz: https://twitter.com/FLitz/standing/1605394944075567104
Course of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgHbP9XfDBQ
Going Off-Menu
Tim’s feedback on the under: This one merely made me and Kevin Rose snort, so I’m together with it for enjoyable.
Unique tweet by @PiratePorter_: https://twitter.com/PiratePorter_/standing/1604349855878459393
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/998d7fc1d65940cc88d57eda258703c3
Tim notes on the under: That is intelligent. When you make it onerous to see the attributes, you may dodge one problem. I’ve seen some comedian e-book artists do that with very darkish types that use a variety of black fills (e.g., shadows).
Unique tweet by @Whisky_McTavish: https://twitter.com/Whisky_McTavish/standing/1604187262253948929 [Note: This tweet is no longer available.]
Unique tweet by @marluco: https://twitter.com/marluco/standing/1605336280543375361?s=20&t=2XzfqZNP6tX-i1ut5Zt0Ng
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/fee0cced51744de48bb66986d19027eb
Unique tweet by @Shakkas_Art: https://twitter.com/Shakkas_Art/standing/1605036430019133440?s=20&t=GY4IKGAVA5NqcoYIDD1K4A
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/8874d9bc0bd94a09b548275b63e399f
Tim’s feedback on the under: Everybody loves a superb steampunk samurai…
Unique tweet by @flamesbria02: https://twitter.com/flamesbria02/standing/1605162558683746306
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/27959b7fe1ff42828bae5e43fa301949
Tim’s feedback on the under: This one is excellent for together with detailed gauntlets, which appeared to be one of many hardest components of the task.
Unique tweet by @FromInfinityTV: https://twitter.com/FromInfinityTV/standing/1604899487088246784
Course of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-G1cZLMM1Y
Tim’s feedback on the under: Nice combo of AI and handbook tweaking. Too quick to copy, however it was nonetheless value together with.
Unique tweet by @Singularifica: https://twitter.com/Singularifica/standing/1605090514167943168 [Editor note: This tweet is no longer available.]
Course of video: https://www.loom.com/share/ec460d28935b4ac3a93389958332db4e
Tim’s feedback on the under: Humorous “boomerang” story; nice “let me go off menu” experiments. Cityscapes, coliseums, and many others.
Unique tweet by @DanSchoonmaker: https://twitter.com/DanSchoonmaker/standing/1605331136783204355
Course of weblog submit: https://www.schoon.me/weblog/cockpunch-ai-art
Screenshot of prompts by @shmichael_eth: https://twitter.com/shmichael_eth/standing/1604612837036490752/picture/2
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