So far…

Correction…

I realised I was wrong when I said, last post, that my new, magical, single-word prompt had a tendency to produce symmetrical imagery…

… because, looking at these images from when I first started using the magic prompt with my ‘Battle Doll’ images, they initially weren’t symmetrical, just fabulous…

… I realised that what actually happened was the nature of the imagery I kept choosing to rework started off slightly tending toward the symmetrical… I actually love what I call ‘Eccentric Symmetry’, which is basically symmetrical imagery with non-symmetrical objects included, to break the symmetry, while still using symmetry (shuffles feet and looks at ground)… a preference for symmetry, I once read, is an indication of madness…

… I was also going for this illustrative, comic-book/80’s sci-fi cover look, which also lends itself to symmetry/eccentric symmetry…

… but, as I said, initially there was lots of stunning, non-symmetrical imagery…

… and plenty of 80’s sci-fi…

… all of which I adore…

… every now and then, using the same images that have produced predictable results (within the actually unpredictable range I am now working in, because, as I initially said, my ‘magic’ prompt inherently produces unpredictable, or, at least, fairly uncontrollable results) Mj throws out stunningly complete, absolutely perfect images…

… that it just will not repeat, even if I use the same image again, with the magic word…

… the one above being the most amazing one, so far (:

Catch-Up

As I said, last post, I have been creating new work at a phenomenal rate, in Mj, recently, since I perfected a new technique for creating images, which has, in turn, given me a much speeded-up output. It felt like I started this massive output weeks ago, but it was, in fact, only 8 days ago! In that time I have filled folders with work…

… my secret technique’s main distinction is that it loves symmetry, apart from that, the results are almost always stunning, but totally unpredictable, apart from using the images I feed it, combined with my magic word prompt…

… I have found I prefer this illustrative style, rather than the photorealistic results I was going for a while back…

… I am getting pretty good at steering the results with continual re-iteration of preferred, previous results…

… but Mj still, regularly, throws out amazing, totally random results, like the one above, which are truely the AI expressing itself, with just a bit of help from me…

… I then take those results, and fold them back into whatever direction I’m working toward at the time…

… the only name I can think of for the way the results tend to want to go, is ‘comic surrealism’…

… the trick is to get the right balance. As I’ve previously told you, Mj can very easily tip into cloying, clunky, crowded ‘surrealism’…

… but when it works, it’s a beautiful thing (:

Warm Dreams

The cutesy, cartoonish, gothic girls were fun but, if you are familiar with my work, not really my style…

… these gorgeous, surreal dreamers are much more my speed…

… using my secret, single-word prompt, I have seriously hit my stride with Mj…

… in the last few weeks, I have, literally, pumped out hundreds and hundreds of excellent images…

… at such a rate that Mj keeps asking me to prove that I am ‘human’, and not a bot!… this has never happened, before…

… but my new technique, using my single-word, magical prompt, allows me to work extremely fast…

… which fits perfectly with my predilection for iterative work…

… and I can confirm that Mj thrives on a fast, iterative work flow… I have been producing some of the most astonishingly gorgeous work I have ever created since I started playing with this wonderful tool. I am, in fact, far, far ahead of the quality of these images, which are, of course, gorgeous! I will try to quickly bring you up to speed with where I’m currently at (:

Dark Dreams II

Continuing the whimsical, cute goth theme of dreams and nightmares…

… this little thing looks at least as malevolent as her friends…

… and this one is clearly not very worried about her company, more like she’s pondering something…

… and this one looks positively delighted to be where she is…

… this one is most definitely not afraid…

… this one seems kinda surprised… I hope she’s alright in there…

Dark Dreams

My new direction has produced a surfeit of riches… whole unique series have been created in tandem… this is due to the unpredictable nature of the results of my magic prompt word, but it is then easy to ride each new theme, and mine it’s creativity, by recombining similar images. One theme that surfaced was this one, ‘Dark Dreams’, but there were sub-genres within that theme… the ones I’m showing here are some of the ‘cutesy/dark goth girl’ results…

… these iterations were, no doubt, caused by the fact the initial images I used were from my ‘Battle Doll’ series, which are pretty damned cute and doll-like…

… by recombining the results with my magic word, I progressed this particular iterative branch down the ‘dark gothic cutesy dream/nightmare’ path…

… creating these delightfully dark, but not too creepy, images (:

New Direction

I have a secret, one-word prompt, that I invented myself, not long after I started playing with Mj. When I feel I’m just churning out the same stuff, or I’ve hit a creative wall, I take two images from whatever iterations I’m currently working on, and put that magic prompt between them…

… the results are always dramatic, but often dramatically crappy… they have what I feel is a very Mj aesthetic, which, I guess, is kind of surreal, but often in a very cheesy, clunky way… not so when I tried this method with my Battle Dolls!…

… the results were astonishingly beautiful…

… I don’t even know how to categorise them… they are kind of surreal…

… but not really ‘surreal’, probably more ‘psychedelic’…

… whatever they are, they are gorgeous (:

Battle Dolls 2

I have thoroughly enjoyed creating many more Battle Dolls…

… Mj seems to love creating gorgeous iterations on this theme…

… I think these little plastic warrior-babes are adorable…

… and the graphic manifestation of the look I have been prompting Mj to create is absolutely perfect…

… these fabulous synthetic sweethearts are exactly as I imagined them…

… I have yet to tire of creating them, but…

… I’ve already created hundreds of them…

… more than I know what to do with!

Battle Dolls

So, as I said in my last post, I created these gorgeous ‘Battle Dolls’…

… I would love to be able to, somehow, make these wonderful figures…

… I think they are adorable…

… and would totally collect the set, if they were a physical thing…

… I created many, many more, these are just the most ruthless culling, and, even then, I couldn’t keep it below 9…

… and I am far from bored with developing the theme…

… so you’ll probably see more of these cuties…

… with their sweet, plastic pouts…

… and their serious attitude (:

Actual Cybergoth!

The whole time I’ve been creating sci-fi babes in Mj, I’ve been trying to create cybergothic sci-fi babes as I see them in my mind. My vision of what cybergoth looks like comes from having been (not so much, now that he’s lost his edge) a huge fan of Alastair Reynolds, a few decades ago, when he, as far as I’m concerned, invented the concept…

… Reynolds’s often dreadlocked characters were grim, hard spacers, usually hundreds of years old, most of their organic bit’s swapped out for cybernetic enhancements. Even naked, they were usually stronger than the average planet-bound person, due to mechanically augmented musculature and superior artificial lungs, that kind of thing…

… but once they suited up, these people were like armoured vehicles, their suits bristling with weapons and strength amplification systems…

… everyone was unsmiling and serious in Reynolds’s stories, almost everyone died horribly, no matter how much you’d grown to like them… I’ve been trying to recreate their look for the last year. For some bizarre reason, right up until recently, when you told Mj you wanted ‘cybergoth’, it thought you meant you wanted someone whose face was covered with stupid, pointless crap that totally ruined otherwise gorgeous results… it seems to have largely stopped doing that, which is wonderful, but it also seems to have gotten a better handle on space armour…

… I’m really pleased with these cybergoth babes. Creating them was a whole lot of fun, and these five are just the tip of the iceberg, I created hundreds, trying to refine the results. Mj loses the plot quite quickly if you change your prompts just that little bit too much… I have loads of images, now, of what I would call ‘cybersamurai’, because I tried developing an image that had a helmet that looked like samurai armour, and because the word ‘armour’ was one of the prompts, Mj lurched off into creating futuristic samurai armour, which is cool, but not what I was going for.

I also created a very doll-like, armoured girl, which lead me to explore an entirely new theme, which I have called ‘Battle Dolls’, I’ll post some of them, next, they are super-gorgeous (: