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A.I. Art for April

A.I. Art for April 2023

The big news is that the MidJourney A.I. art service recently released version 5 for user testing. Which promptly caused a bunch of idiots to make free accounts, then try to make rude and deep-fake images. MJ banned a bunch of users and suspended free accounts for the moment. And this is why we can’t have nice things. Luckily, I’m not a philosopher or pundit, so I get to enjoy the pretty pretties without having to worry about what it all means. (My take on A.I. anything: It’s a tool, not a meteor about to hit the planet.) This is my A.I. art for April 2023. Click the images below to see bigger version. Please note that this is an image-heavy post.

Want more? See these previous posts for an intro to AI art and my experiences:
Adventures in AI-Generated ArtMore Fun with A.I. ArtA.I. Art for DecemberA.I. Art for January 2023A.I. Art for February 2023A.I. Art for March 2023

I’m still giving the other A.I. art services a rest. Right now, MidJourney is leaving them in the dust as far as pleasing results.

MidJourney Version 5

Per the MidJourney announcements and articles, MJ version 5 improves its capability for realism. The differences are both obvious and subtle. MidJourney is unapologetic about their bias toward “pleasing images,” and their further bias toward what their paying customers like. It’s a smart business decision, though self-limiting as far as the state-of-the-art is concerned. Anyway, see the captions for the prompts I used and notes on each.

A.I. Art from MidJourney: Version Comparison

I looked back through my images and pulled some successful and some failed MJ version 4 images and re-ran them with version 5. For the most part, I like version 5 better, though not always.

illustration of a cybernetic wolf head, profile view, generated by MidJourney version 4 illustration of a cybernetic wolf head, profile view, generated by MidJourney version 5 illustration of a cybernetic wolf head, profile view, generated by MidJourney version 5 stylized
Prompt: cybernetic wolf face, profile, isolated, black background, surreal –v 4
NOTE: The mature version 4. It’s an okay image to begin with, but MJ has hazy notion of “cybernetic” and the “surreal” callout led MJ astray even further.
Prompt: cybernetic wolf face, profile, isolated, black background, surreal –v 5 –s 1
NOTE: MJ version 5, but with almost no “stylization,” which is like telling MJ not to add its artistic bias. Compare this to the next image, where I bumped up the stylization.
Prompt: cybernetic wolf face, profile, isolated, black background, abstract –v 5 –s 999
NOTE: The same prompt, but with stylization turned to near maximum. It’s still an okay image, just differently odd.

 

Images by MidJourney to Compare Artist Styles

You can influence MJ’s style considerably by adding artistic styles or names to the prompt. I like to include two or three, as if I asked the artists to collaborate on an image just for me. Some styles are heavy-hitters and will crowd out the others if you aren’t careful. Word order in prompts can make all the difference.

photorealistic illustration of a cute baby fantasy animal, generated by MidJourney watercolor illustration of two friendly cats, generated by MidJourney AI art for April 2023 watercolor and ink illustration of a cat with a background of stylized waves, generated by MidJourney
Prompt: adorable baby mythological fantasy animals, by Michael Shainblum and Atey Ghahlain –v 5 –s 999
NOTE: The word “adorable” in MidJourney has a powerful effect on images, and strongly enforces cutenes. Add “baby” anything and the cuteness leaps off the screen.
Prompt: charming cats by odilon redon and hokusai –q 2 –v 5
NOTE: When I find a new artist, I usually try them out with cats. French symbolist artist Odilon Redon has an interesting influence on Japanese art styles.
Prompt: charming cats by Yuko Shimizu and Hokusai –q 2 –v 5
NOTE: Modern and classical Japanese art influences combined make cat illustrations sublime.

 

More Version 5 MidJourney A.I. Art, Just Because

These are random experiments. 

photo illustration of a teacup and saucer with a delicate autumn-leaf motif, generated by MidJourney April 2023 illustration of a futuristic spaceship parked on a dock, generated by MidJourney illustration of a large wolf sitting on top of a winter cabin at night, generated by MidJourney
Prompt: abstract, detailed, intricate, beautiful elegant teacup and saucer design inspired by a frosty kintsugi autumn leaf, red, orange, yellow –v 5 –s 999
NOTE: I am more of a drink-tea-by-the-mug kind of person, but I would spend good money to buy a tea set with a pattern like this.
Prompt: voidcore:: futuristic scifi space freighter in an alien planet jungle:: cinematic wide shot, unreal engine 5, haunting beautiful –v 5
NOTE: Of course, I had to try out a starship or three. In the prompt, the two colons between sections tell MJ to treat the words in between them as a group, then blend the images. These are called multi-prompts. So far, I don’t think MJ version 5 is doing very well with them, but that’s probably why V 5 is still in test mode.
Prompt: painting, beautiful arctic wolf at night, very detailed, winter solstice, valley below, rustic mountain cabin, fantasy –v 5 –ar 3:2 –s 1
NOTE: I was rather hoping the wolf would be on the mountain looking down at the cabin, not sitting on a cabin the size of a child’s dollhouse. 

 

That’s all for this month. I’ll be back soon with more adventures in A.I. art for your entertainment and mine.

 

Illustration of cute robots in a row, generated by MidJourney for A.I. Art for April 2023. Post a comment below if you want the prompt for this image.