Let’s compete with AI using pre-existing art from my dream journal. This will help ensure that I’m not choosing composition subjects just because they’re easy or preferable to me. Today I will showcase a host of AI Art Generators and their output given a single prompt. Skip to the bottom if you’re interested in the #hivecontest part of this post.
Alright, let’s get into it.
The prompt used today for all images, is the same prompt that was in my mind when I drew this roughly two years ago:
“Two giants across a river impaling a man with a tree.”
Ok, I’ll go first. Here is how I portrayed this dream back when I had it in 2021:
Cool.
So, next I basically went through and downloaded the first bunch of generators that came up in the App Store. I took screenshots of their icon headers from the store so I would remember which ones to try, but then thought that would be a nice way to delineate the different apps and show what they produced. -Each app was given the same prompt, and the inly setting that was messed with was the type/style setting. We’ll dig into settings more in the future, once we’ve gotten rid of some of the losers from the app list.
Subscription only
Subscription only
Subscription only
This app I think was free and the image is pretty cool I guess, but the generated image left out almost every detail that would have made this relatable to the original dream.
Here’s where this is going to really take an interesting twist. I know my original composition isn’t much; these illustrations are usually done first thing when I wake up, so they tend to reflect my groggy state. That said, I’m pretty basic to begin with.
But as I put this post together, generated image after generated image I just felt like I was blasting NPC’s on easy mode. Almost every generated image skipped critial elements of what I thought was a pretty clear and concise prompt - so I thought, let’s ramp this up and make it an interactive game.
From the same prompt:
“Two giants across a river impaling a man with a tree.”
I want to see what other users can create. I dont care if it’s pen and ink, paint, pastel, installation, digital, etc - no rules except that the AI part has been done - I’m looking for original creations based on the given prompt. I have no intention of using these illustrations or anything like that, I’m not harvesting your work, I just thought this would be fun.
So here are the rules for this #hivecontest:
That’s it. I like simple. What’s today, 4/26? Ok let’s give it 3 weeks. On 27 May I will review all entries. Assuming we have enough to count runners up, the rewards will be ss follows:
…as an added bonus, I will also try to hit any posts that are still within their curation window with a 200 point boost. We’ll consider this the participation award.
Ok, good luck, thanks for checking out the beginning of my series on dream illustrations with and without AI. For the next round, I will be eliminating all apps that operate on subscription basis. Probably will work on that a bit and have something ready next month. Little by little, I plan to explore the various controls and inputs, eliminating apps as we go until I finally come down to the best app and settings for illustrating dreams.
My notebook will always be hand drawn, but I thought this could be a fun way to engage with one another, and to test our Paul Bunyan art skills against the AI chainsaw.
Thanks for checking out some more of my work! As always, I hope you enjoyed witnessing as much as I enjoyed creating!
© Photos and words by 
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