Christmas Toon 2024

My wife and I enjoy watching Kathleen Madigan's weekly podcast; one of our favorite comedians. She often talks about her touring, where she visits, foods she finds, and gifts fans gives her at her shows. On in particular show, she mentioned a place called The Fainting Goat, where she purchased a small plastic goat figurine that makes that all too funny goat scream we have all heard on videos. It's never not funny. She uses that item nearly every podcast. 

My 2024 Christmas Cartoon

When I do a Christmas cartoon, I want it to be unique. It's too easy to do the usual Christmas gags, puns or traditional jokes. So the goat scream was my influence in this image. Hopefully you can hear that goat scream in your head, (I certainly did as I was drawing it. Never not funny! Right?) 

The original sketch

Adventure Time Thoughts

I miss seeing new Adventure Time cartoons.

There don't seem to be as many original shows out there that push the imagination envelope. (Yes, there are shows like Rick and Morty, Hilda, and a handful of other great cartoon series out there. But to me there seems to be a void with new original content from the past 2 years.) As an illustrator and character designer, I'm not watching as many cartoons anymore - we need more Adventure Time-like, Steven Universe and Hilda shows to bring back true imaginative storytelling.

Digital Sketch of a slightly small and young Finn from Adventure Time
using Adobe Fresco and a charcoal crayon setting, with a limited color pallet

I enjoyed the sequel post-shows and Fiona series on Netflix, and feel there is so much more possible with the characters and history of the original. So, I started imagining a prequel series for Adventure Time. We have seen Finn as a baby, and were given several alternative reality versions of Finn. But I was thinking, what about Finn as a young kid, say 8 years old? That's a perfect age where he is becoming aware of the world, but is still not quite prepared to go out and bravely adventure.

I was thinking he'd be younger, smaller, and more immature. The series could explore the origins of Finn and Jake meeting characters for the first time. It could explain the gear Finn found and uses, such as his backpack and iconic bunny hood. (I know some of Finn's past has been explained, but there is still much left untold. At least, I believe there is... MORE ADVENTURE TIME!... please...)

Pop! Boom! Bang! (a Techno-Swing ARGH!Tune)

Here is another ArghTune I did a few months ago.

This time it's done in an Techno-Swing format, inspired by bands like Caravan Palace. This song got over 400 listens on the first 4 days on YouTube; which is surprising since I didn't really promote it or mention it to anyone. I'll be posting more of my AI songs as they get uploaded to YouTube.

AI Advances: Music!

Holy $#!% have things advanced in AI music these past few months!

For the past year, I've been deeply involved in learning, using, and putting together AI websites and programs to work for me as a product designer. The improvements are usually amazing and often happen in large leaps. Graphic generation alone has been mind-blowing. It is not perfect, so much is still hit-and-miss.

As for video generation, it is way too new and early -- and I'm not impressed at the overall look of these seconds-long videos. It needs to be less random; currently, there is no consistency. I find it annoying and boring. But enough about that, let's go back to the music . . . 

Okay, here's a song I generated.
This means I wrote the lyrics, fully described what I wanted to be included in the song, and generally guided the direction the song was going bit by bit. The best way to describe creating AI music is that you are like a producer in a recording studio, keeping the stuff you like and generally saying "Well, that part's not right -- how about doing it this way instead?"

My first attempt at doing Crosby, Stills, and Nash song
with a cameo appearance of Paul McCartney towards the end

I'm using Udio.com, which allows developing a full song by building half-minute sections at a time. Udio is currently in beta mode as of this writing, its still free to use, BUT, the $10/month is much more worth the time if you really want to generate your own songs. There is a huge random outcome to most of this process. I find I generally need about 12-32 takes to find the 30+ second clips I want. 

Google's New AI, Bard - 1st Impression

You might expect a well-known and powerful company like Google to eventually enter the AI competition arena. One could assume that Google has had a major AI-like system for years, used for web searches and information gathering. Or perhaps not? My first impression of Bard, Google's response to ChatGPT, is, "Holy $#%&! This might be the worst AI I've encountered in over a year!"

Let me explain the level of detail I usually expect. As a toy designer, I use AI to help me collect images of toys, conduct market research, and explore styles and color schemes, among other things. Recently, a client requested generic toy robots but wasn't sure about the exact appearance. This is where AI shines, by generating images/mock-ups in a variety of possible styles.

A very traditional cute metal toy robot design - requested in metallic silver without colors

Another variation showing different flocked materials and some color accents

Above are two examples of robot toy designs, created by Dall-E (also known as ChatGPT-4).

I find Dall-E to be the best at "listening" to exactly what I'm asking for in my toy design prompts. Many other image generators tend to overlook key details mentioned in the prompt. Now, let's look at what Google's Bard created. Note: This was done using the exact same prompts I used with Dall-E.

Google . . . I'm speechless. (Was this thing shot in the chest?)

This one's even better. And by "better" I mean worse.
Why the colors? Why does it look old, grimy and used.

These things would give nightmares to the Island of Misfit Toys. They do look as if a child created them. The colors are so muted and conflicting. If AI was involved with these designs, I'd like to know how it came to this point. Personally, I feel Google shouldn't have released Bard to the public. They should have kept it closed until their technology was at least on par with the AI world a year ago.

UPDATE: My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #1 Moldy Bread Monster

- - - - - UPDATE - - - - -
Needed to update with the latest version of the Moldy Bread Monster. All AI generators have been updated several times since the creation of the first image -- so this is now the latest version circa January 2024. I mean, this newer guy is actually made of BREAD! The former dude was more wool-like.

Love, love, love this updated version. Much better mold.
The goofy expression has a very Adventure Time/Gravity Falls vibe.
The red veins in the eyes are simply priceless. Bravo, AI -- Bravo!

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Originally posted on 12-22-2023

NOTE: These images were not arranged in any level of greatness or priority. I’m gathering the 10 images I feel represent my best AI results in 2023. I hope you find them amusing, interesting, and inspiring too.

Behold, the slice welding Moldy Bread Monster

Meet the Moldy Bread Monster, born on the day there was a half loaf of moldy bread in our kitchen, and I REALLY wanted a sandwich! (Hate when that happens.)

The MidJourney prompt was simple, though I added the word “dancing.” The dancing wasn't quite captured, which often happened with version 4 back then. But the character's uniqueness, especially with it seeming upset about a slice of “good bread” in its left hand gave me a good laugh. (Especially since I was in a similar situation mere hours ago, complaining and holding a “bad slice’ of moldy bread.)

Runner-Up AI images of 2023

Here are a few of the AI images I generated during 2023 that I felt were interesting enough but didn't make the top 10. 

Manic Santa Claus was a popular trend during December, this one was my weirdest

Using someone else's prompt, I edited it to portray Billy Elish as a warped version of the Poison Ivy character, (mostly picked her because she used to sport green hair.) This came out much better than expected.

Red Sonja fighting a gigantic viper creature

This one came out of nowhere! I believe I simply asked for a "Vivid Colorful Santa Hat" for photos of pet costumes. I have NO IDEA why this was the image I got instead. Disturbing.

Another disturbing image, this was "a photo of Humpty Dumpty circa 1910."  

A beautiful fantasy city scene. I especially like the warm lighting in the foreground and the insanely doom-inspiring details of the towers in the distance.

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #10 Darth Vader Worn Revisioned

There used to be a great website called Illustration Friday. Every Friday, a new word was given, and artists would submit images based on that week's word. For the week when the word was "WORN," I chose to interpret it as "damaged and shabby as a result of much use." Using this definition, I depicted Darth Vader as worn out from a long day. Many years later, I uploaded that image into Leonardo.ai, activated the 3D settings, and received this result:

In less than 20 seconds, my 2D drawing was transformed into a 3D version. The only disappointment was that the smoke trails from the lightsaber looked more like gray wood with stones. However, the Darth Vader character turned out very well, with excellent lighting, reflections, and textures.

The original sketch was digitally drawn within an hour and posted on the Illustration Friday website.

Sometime later, I hand drew the design using brush pens, Copic markers, and a white Gelly Roll pen.
This was the image uploaded into Leonardo.ai to be revised by AI technology.

Baby New Years 2024 - The Year of AI

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Every year around this time, I recreate versions of my original Baby New Year character kicking in the new year, which I created 10 years ago in 2013. It has always been very popular among visitors to this site, and it definitely gets stolen by MANY people who download other's artwork to call it their own and sell it online.

This year, something a little different: I'm using AI to create Baby New Year based on my original drawing.  

Behold, the AI-generated version of the 2024 Baby New Year

To be honest, this little guy was a combination of 4 AI images, which had to be altered, assembled, and touched up -- so it probably took me much longer to do than simply draw a new illustration. 

The first Baby New Year image from 2013, using brush pens, a Gelly Roll pen, and Copic Markers

The original concept pencil sketch in 2013

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #9 Cthulhu According to AI

In his famed novel, Call of Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft describes a statue of Cthulhu as:

"A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."

I prompted his exact wording into Leonardo.ai and generated several dozen images following that description. All of the images generally had similar aspects, but the level of difference was totally unexpected. Next, I entered more prompts, but this time provided much more details about character placement, size/proportions, and the background/environment setting. Which produced this:

This image above instantly became my favorite image of the group. Cthulhu's size in the far distance, the foggy air, and the mysterious shielded warrior, such fantastic visuals generated in one image. 

More prompted images of Cthulhu are seen below, seen in ranges from traditional to insectoid.

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #8 Joker Circa 1910

A nice feature of AI image generation is that you can suggest creating an image set in a specific period. For example, imagine if the Joker fought Batman around 1910. AI tends to do a better job with individual characters than with multiple people in one image. This is often because when describing several people in text, AI can lose focus on which person should receive specific details, leading to a tendency to morph two or more characters together.

[Sidenote: If you’re interested in what inspired the character Joker, check out the silent film “The Man Who Laughed”; a truly eerie depiction of a character that would influence comic book/movie culture for decades to come.]

Fabulous sepia toned image of the Joker back in 1910; the expression alone is priceless

Here are some samples of attempts to depict the two characters in a 1910 fighting scene. Note how Batman often appears more manic than his classic stoic expression. It's as if the Joker is wearing the Batman costume. 

Additionally, Batman's armor is too technically advanced to represent his costume accurately in that timeline. Apparently, it seems AI is pulling reference to the Batman’s costume mostly based on the more modern Batman films instead of the cloth based costumes in earlier times.

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #7 Celebrity Not-Quite-Right-Look-A-Like

To me, nothing is more impressive than when an AI program successfully captures the likeness of a famous person. However, AI companies are now striving to limit this aspect of image generation due to the growing threat of Deep Fakes in multimedia. If left unchecked, this could lead to worsening political scenarios, increased legal actions from celebrities regarding the misuse of their likenesses, and a general rise in public deception, fueling falsehoods and conspiracies. This could potentially lead to complete anarchy in a world already susceptible to misinformation.

This image doesn’t quite look like Joey Heatherton, but it captures the style of her time.
The green smoky background, black dress, bobbed hair, and mystic pose makes this a fantastic image.

Most American-based AI sites, tend to not do great exact likenesses. They do permit likeness usage generally as a reference in prompts to generate similar-looking characters. But if referring to anyone famous in your prompt, the censorship restrictions are usually maximized. (This is not true from many foreign AI sites, especially those based in Japan.)

In this particular case, I referred to a lesser-known celebrity from the early '70s who I saw on TV all of the time on variety, talk, and game shows as a kid: Joey Heatherton. (Not only was she cute, sexy, and bubbly — she was the inspiration to Catherine O’Hara’s character, Lola Heatherton, one of my all-time favorite comedy shows, SCTV.)

Catherine O’Hara as the over-the-top-manic-laughing, Lola Heatherton, on SCTV in the late ’70s
Yes, that's Catherine O'Hara, known for Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Best of Show, and Schitt's Creek.

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #6 Capt. Billy Buttons

I have a favorite character I created for a children's book named Captain Billy Buttons, who is a pirate and serves as my company mascot for my ARRRGGGHHH Ink illustrations on social media. When experimenting with AI, I typed his name into an AI art generator just to get an idea of who AI thought the name represented. The result was unexpected and insane. 

AI interpreted "Captain Billy Buttons" quite literally, covering the character with colorful, button-like pox, resembling a vibrant candy infection from a Willie Wonka candy factory. His expression is one of great surprise yet he remains at attention, as if he's bravely posing for this photograph despite his unusual appearance. 

This outcome was a delightful surprise, transforming my silly pirate name into something so whimsically bizarre. Love it!

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #5 Mycol

Comics were a huge part of my childhood and a big reason why I became an artist. As a teen, I drifted away from them. But post-college, writers like Frank Miller with "Dark Knight," Neil Gaiman with "Sandman," and especially Alan Moore with "Watchmen," "Miracleman," "Swamp Thing," and more, pulled me back in.

Alan Moore's run on "Swamp Thing" is a standout in my opinion. He took a character I loved and flipped its whole history in just one issue. It was groundbreaking. It felt like Moore was shaking me, saying, "Think you know Swamp Thing? Think again!" 

A character I dreamt up decades ago, finally appears as I envisioned
Mycology: the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi

Back then, I often contemplated the stories I would create if I were a comic book writer. Reflecting on Swamp Thing, Moore's distinctive twist opened up new avenues of creativity. This led to the conception of characters who could seamlessly integrate into that universe. Among them was Mycol – akin to Swamp Thing, but with a twist. While Swamp Thing represented the "Green" of plant life, Mycol personified the "Gray" of the fungal domain, a completely different realm. Spoiler: Mycol is the offspring of Swamp Thing and Abigail Arcane, unknowingly conceived through the sinister machinations of Anton Arcane.

This story lingered in my mind, yet it remained largely unexplored until the advent of AI image generation decades later. I am quite fond of how the Mycol image materialized. It closely aligns with my vision for the character, though it still lacks some additional fungal elements that I envision within him.

My Top 10 AI Images of 2023 - - - - - - - - - - - #4 The Hanged Man challenge

AI excels in numerous areas, but it also has its limitations. These limitations can be quite frustrating, particularly when you consider how AI can effortlessly generate incredibly detailed images within seconds. Yet, we still encounter peculiar errors and anomalies. As of this writing, some of the most common challenges include: generating coherent text messages, depicting realistic human hands, simulating archery skills, and my personal favorite, recreating "The Hanged Man" card from a traditional tarot card set.

This might be my favorite image of my Top 10. Quite a hauntingly beautiful image.
I added details of him being infected by a fungus - more on that later . . .

I stumbled upon this AI limitation in a Reddit group chat. A user was expressing their frustration with attempting to create a tarot card set using AI-generated images but faced a significant obstacle – they couldn't get AI to depict "The Hanged Man." Many of us in the group, including myself, attempted to generate the image, but no one came close to the traditional depiction of the card. (Which typically features a man hanging upside-down by a rope tied to one of his legs, the other leg bent horizontally, with the other end of the rope secured to a tree branch above.)

An example of the classic Hanged Man tarot card

Some argue this happens because the AI is censored from showing a hanging person. Others said, AI doesn't quite understand what "upside-down" means and still needs to learn about terms of placement, locations, directions, and alignment. I agree with the latter. Often you can not direct AI where you want things to be placed in a text prompt, it's very hit-or-miss.

My first attempt at The Hanged Man (left) and the flipped version (right)
The gravity-defying skull chains, lowered branches and bottom light source ruin the hanging aspect.
Even though he has two left hands, I liked this image enough to use as a reference for the top image.

Certain individuals believed that a potential solution to the problem was to create an image of a hanging man and then flip it upside-down to achieve the desired effect. However, this approach proved to be ineffective. This is primarily due to the presence of elements like the ground, trees, and tree branches in the background of this particular tarot card. Additionally, AI algorithms incorporate factors such as gravity's impact on clothing and the positioning of upper lighting sources in their image generation process. Consequently, when you flip an AI-generated image, it often still appears as if you simply flipped the original AI image.