Splinterlands — Weekly Art Contest

Giving my first crack at the weekly Splinterlands Art Contest

Trying Something New

This will be my first submission into the weekly Splinterlands art contest. So why now? I've been fascinated with AI art generation and while I'm learning all about the process of creating new images, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn and share. I thought I would start with one of my favorite Chaos monsters, Grund.

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Some Background

I started down the AI generated art rabbit hole just a couple of weeks ago, so I am still very new to the process and am working out many kinks. I've started by using Leonard AI as it is free to use and offers me more that enough free generations every day for my needs. I've seen what Midjourney can produce, and while it seems to be ahead of Leonardo, I am not in a spot where I care to pay for this service at this time.

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Where I Started

With Grund as my first subject matter I turned first to the Splinterlands lore page to see if it gave any good inspiration for a prompt.

When he first met Bera Dallin in New Everitt he couldn’t help but marvel at her martial prowess. After having spent some time with her he became proficient in the use of the warhammer. His great strength meant that he could hold one in a single hand and so it wasn’t long before he acquired another and began to dual wield them in combat.

I zeroed in on this bit of Grund's lore as I feel his two hammers and Double Strike ability are what make him so unique.

I started thinking I wanted a more whimsical image and went with the below prompt...

a green lizard with arms and legs wielding two hammers similar to Thors hammer

This was one of the more interesting images that resulted from this prompt. I edited the prompt a few times from "a green lizard with arms and legs, fighting with a hammer, similar to Thors hammer, in each hand" to "A green lizard soldier rests on a boulder. Beside him are his two hammers that resemble Thor's hammer" but realized that the whimsical style wasn't giving me the toughness I expected from Grund.

The fun in AI art generation is seeing some of the failures along the way. I kept tweaking the prompt and tried using different models. Here is a few of the more interesting flops...

Two heads are better than one	Grund with a light saber	Being grabbed by, something?

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Final Image

As I zeroed in on a prompt that was more specific and a style that I had envisioned I finally came up with this prompt and resulting image.

A green lizard soldier prepares for battle with his two hammers that resemble Mjölnir. The soldier wears a chainmail shirt and has a long spiky tail and yellow eyes.

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Thanks for reading!