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AI Art for Summer 2024

These are my continuing adventures in AI art for summer 2024. I've mostly been focusing on images related to my stories, with occasional random experiments as inspiration strikes.

Colorful cartoon cats walking in a line, generated by MidJourney

Note: This is an image-heavy post. Click the thumbnails below to see larger versions.

Art Services Are Still Hot

AI art services continue to pop up and disappear like soap bubbles. MidJourney and Dall-E still lead the pack, with aggregate services such as NightCafé holding their own. By aggregate, I mean that they offer models and/or developed by others, rather than totally in-house algorithms. If I had more hours in a day, I'd play with them more extensively.

MidJourney

MidJourney has been expanding its AI art features and offering new variations. Some seem rather opaque to me, so I'm hoping other, more clever people will figure out how to make them shine. As I mentioned above, I've been focusing on images to use as backgrounds for promotional pieces and story illustrations. I am convinced that prompting (i.e., the text instructions you supply) for AI art services is 50% experience, 25% inspiration, and 25% uncontrollable and unrepeatable random factors.

abstract image of stars and moon as a simple puzzle, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: logo for a futuristic fantasy adventure, white background, minimalist online vector, red, blue, trailblazing, map, science fiction, magic, stars, romance, planet, moon, boho sky
NOTE: The puzzle-type rendering is unexpectedly charming, though not the series branding logo I was hoping for.

abstract watercolor of a planet and stars, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: white background, monochrome, minimalist, wide brush paints universe, tattoo and t-shirt design. Symbol of sincere inspiration and creative freedom. Symbol of space, universe, dream, imagination, creative idea art poster, cosmos brush stroke::1.1 low-contrast paint with stars and constellations, pastel vector illustration::0.8
NOTE: A complex prompt to get a comparatively simple image.

watercolor painting of a longhair black cat reaching up, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: isolated, charming longhair black cat reaching up, whimsical, smart, white background –niji
NOTE: I used this image to label a cabinet where I keep cat food. That way, my pet sitter knows right where to look. 

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abstract digital painting of an open book with swirls of magic, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: book cover, boho art, abstract fantasy sci-fi, digital painting
NOTE: I sometimes start simple, the refine with details if the image looks promising. I rather liked this one right out of the gate.

abstract dystopian futuristic city, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: wallpaper, high contrast vibrant colors, megacity vs. mechs, fantasypunk, futurepunk, spacecore, spacepunk
NOTE: I got bored with my desktop wallpaper and asked MJ to make a new one. Apparently futuristic megacities are dystopian.

watercolor painting of a 1930s ghost town, generated by MidJourney

Prompt: bright watercolor and ink, fantasy illustration of 1930s ghost town in Nunavut Canada, abandoned, view of rotting brown brick government buildings on main street, psychedelic colors of yellow and purple and cyan, landscape, first snow, animecore, autumn, 8k, magical realism, minimal abstract, spiritual otherworldly, ghostly glowing, abstract, high contrast, mixed media, sacred geometry, conifer
NOTE: I was working on a scene from Heart of a Dire Wolf, one of my paranormal romances. This is a close as I got to a decent image of a ghost town. Apparently, my idea of a ghost town and MidJourney's aren't very close.

Experimenting with Other AI Art Services

Here are some favorites I got from other AI art services I've dabbled with this summer. More practice with them would likely yield more consistent results.

photorealistic 3-D render of a green dragon standing on green grass, generated by DepositPhotos

Service: DepositPhotos.com
Prompt: movie CGI, detailed 3d render, realistic dark green fluorescent big-wing pet dragon landing in a schoolyard, friendly, slender, live-action fantasy film, flying, three-quarter view, Unreal Engine, trending on Deviant Art, artistic.
NOTE: The popular stock photo site DepositPhotos has added an AI art generator. It took quite a few attempts to get a full-sized 4-legged dragon. Never did get the wings right.

Stylized watercolor illustration of a black cat, stars, and clouds, generated by NightCafe

Service: NightCafé
Prompt: stars, clouds, moon, watercolor, vibrant colors, boho, cats, Northern Lights
NOTE: NightCafé usually needs more complex prompts, but this short one worked nicely.
My cats insist that I create a certain number of feline-centric images.

The English letter 'V" stylized as a spaceship, generated by Gentype

Service: GenType
Prompt: a giant futuristic space station, in outer space, steampunk aesthetic, overhead tilted angle, cyan and red metallic, high detail.
NOTE: Google Labs recently released GenType, a one-trick pony service that develops English alphabet characters following a prompt. You can re-roll individual letters that don't match the others, then download a zip file with your creation. Not terribly useful, but fun. This is the letter ‘V” from the alphabet generated by the prompt above.

abstract watercolor painting of autumn trees and clouds, generated by MidJourney