For years I have been developing a character for a children's book, directly linked to Little Red Riding Hood, a character deeply embedded in fairy tale lore and possibly the most iconic in its history. This story, familiar to many, has undergone numerous revisions and transformations through the ages.
Reimagining fairy tale characters isn't a novel concept. However, I often ponder about the lives of these famous characters beyond the "happily ever after." What happens after their story?
Reimagining fairy tale characters isn't a novel concept. However, I often ponder about the lives of these famous characters beyond the "happily ever after." What happens after their story?
 |
| The Lovecraftian arcane world of a more mature Red Riding Hood |
I envisioned the Red Hood child evolving from her iconic tale to become adept at protecting herself against any creatures that might speak, threaten, or disguise themselves as innocent grandmothers. In a Lovecraftian world filled with various mystical threats to humanity, I could see "Red" mastering the mystic arts, equipping herself to face and overcome these challenges.
The image above was generated only due to the new "Outpainting" feature in MidJourney at the time. "Outpainting" allows the user to expand outside or beyond the edges of an image and build up an image with greater details and background.
The image above was generated only due to the new "Outpainting" feature in MidJourney at the time. "Outpainting" allows the user to expand outside or beyond the edges of an image and build up an image with greater details and background.
 |
| This was the original Leonardo.ai image before using the outpainting feature to expand the image |
Before doing the top image, I wanted to experiment with training a "model" in Leonardo.ai for the AI to better understand what my "Little" Red Riding Hood" character should look like. NOTE: A "model" can be anything: an animal, wooden chair, forest, tall building, etc. . . (not just fashion styling pretty ladies.)
 |
| My modernized version of the famed Little Red Riding Hood This is one of the images I created to represent the look of the character |
To train a "model", one collects and uploads images that closely resemble the subject, ensuring the photos are of similar size. After completing the training phase, this model can be loaded into the AI system, which will then have a general understanding of the character's appearance.
 |
| Little Red Riding Hood, no longer little and now masters the mystic arts. In my story draft, the iconic "Wolf" was in fact the leader/father of a pack of demons. |
