AI Fun: Fantastic Four

One of the things I enjoy about using AI to generate images is the challenge of pushing it to its limits. Just 1 year ago, the images made from AI looked like images created by a computer. A terrible, low-memory computer. We're talkin' slightly better than a Commodore 64. But that's all changed now. Those limitations are fading fast. Many odd, weird, and disturbing images are still being made, but that is usually not the technology's fault. We have to get better at communicating with the AI technology.

Playing around, I decided to see what I could create using imagination, known characters, and pushing the reality level as far as I could. My subject: The Fantastic Four.

I started with Sue Storm. Why? She's the heart, commited, powerful, and a very sexy female hero, which, let's face it -- creating sultry women is generally 80% of what image generators are used for. It only made sense that Sue Storm would be the easiest of the four since she was probably the most normal-looking "person" of the group - I'll explain as each character is presented.

In the classic plastic/aura/ghost style often seen in comics/animation, Sue Storm was a challenge to make invisible. So I opted to show her more impressive power: forces fields.

It could be better. I would have liked all force fields to be circular. I also took the opportunity to hide her poorly generated left hand with another forcefield bubble. The explosions inside each forcefield bubble had to be generated separately. And. of course, the Circle 4 logo was dropped in Photoshop to give it proper lighting. (Assuming everyone knows type and logos are still a nightmare in AI as of this writing.)
Overall, I loved the dynamic power in this image. The suit, though unique, still fits the current trends of astro/space modern outerwear the characters usually wear today.

Next was the Thing. No doubt he is the fan favorite of the group. But what a task to generate an orange rock man with super strength.
First, it could not understand the rocky pattern of Ben's skin. Often, it looked like waffled crosshatch lines. I finally got to the closest I could with a very dynamic, powerful background:

In this image was the power and rage I wanted. There is so much going on in this image. AI often uses the colors/materials written in a prompt... EVERYWHERE. Mention "golden," and your entire image usually has a golden hue or gold items in the background. But in this case, the stone behind The Thing seems similar to his skin. It took his skin description and added it to the environment. But I like the overall look and feel.
One disappointment, I couldn't create his iconic brow. AI fights against making items it considers not "normal" (aka "popular" or "beautiful.")

The next challenge was The Human Torch, a man on fire, Johny Storm. He had to be engulfed in flames yet seen as a healthy, powerful young man. He also had to be flying. Most test images had the person on fire screaming because they were on fire.

Getting a burning man to properly float in the air is harder than you'd think. If you prompt Superman, AI usually knows how to place the Man of Steel in the air. Again, test images usually made Johnny look like he was falling -- and the lack of a fire trail didn't help sell the flight movement. So, in this image, I opted to have him float in place, leaving devastatingly scorched areas all around him.

Finally, the boss and the hardest one to create via AI: Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards. The challenge here was, again, forcing the AI to do something it is often dictated not to do: stretch and elongate body parts. Anyone who has tried generating images knows you push the prompt too much or confuse your meaning -- you get really deformed bodies, duped clone heads, and bizarre extremities. This has been corrected so often that now when I want deformed and oblong details, it is not easy to achieve. (At least at the time of this writing.)

I had to coax each area of his body to stretch, but it would only do this for a small portion of the image at a time. So, having the left-hand fingers stretch off the frame made sense. I thinned out the legs, making them appear longer than usual. The right hand is distorted, reaching for a power seed of the ultimate nullifier. I had intended on his left-hand fingers stretching over his head in the distance, but that wasn't in the cards with ol' AI.

And that-- that was my attempt at doing AI Fantastic Four.
Quite the challenge, as you can see several other users' examples below attempting to do the famous team. It's funny how so many of these images have The Thing on fire, two females, or one missing member. The last image is my favorite. It looks like a low-budget BBC sitcom from the '70s. Co-starring a "Jenny" Storm and what looks to be an overly-mutated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

I doubt if I could generate two of these characters into one image -- never mind having all four together. Another challenge for another day.

Arrrggghhh! It's Another @#$% Quick Sketch Video: Spider-man Swing!

Posting this old time-lapse video of Spider-man swinging I found recently while cleaning a few hard drives. Created in ArtRage Pro and video edited with CamStudio and MovieMaker.

Daily Quick Sketch: Thor

Had this sketch laying around for quite some time now. I believe it was initially drawn shortly after we saw the second Thor movie.

Fan Art: Thor in mid-float, colored digitally with Photoshop and ArtRage Pro

I went retro with the costume since it's the Thor costume I grew up seeing. I like the newer look of Thor's chain-mail textured suit seen in today's Marvel comics . . . But the classic Kirby style is the iconic look I prefer drawing. Probably because it is so "comic book."  If you were to wear such bright colors in real life, it would seem quite campy.

The original pencil sketch of classic Thor

While the modern style of superhero costumes tends to be more movie-like with realistic qualities, I feel the characters lose some of their iconic presence.  Every artist seems to take more liberties with how superheroes look today, which is a good and bad thing. (Look at Iron Man, he appears in so many difference suits - what is his traditional iconic look of today?)

Going slightly off topic: An example of comparing when a new costume design works for me and when it doesn't
(Images of Superman are the property of DC Comics)

Another good example is how Superman looked when DC's launch it's reboot with the New 52: Superman wore jeans, a t-shirt, and his cape. It was very enjoyable seeing him look more like an ordinary person. Then, several months later, DC's New 52 decided to make Superman's suit look like armor. He's Superman . . . Why does he need armor? DC's New 52 seemed like they were on the right track . . . But then they did a complete 180 and made his costume worse by adding the metallic armor style.

I'd rather see Superman go through 200 t-shirts and jeans a week, where every fight looks like he was in a battle. I never liked the idea that Superman would come out of a major battle without a single thread of this costume being torn or damaged.