Sketch to Drawing - Introducing Promeai.com

Note: Links will open to a new page.

AI services I'll be sharing discoveries in AI, such as this free-to-use website Promeai.

It features several AI services, but for now I'm focusing on one in particular: Sketch Rendering.
Sketch Rendering is taking a sketch -- penciled, inked, or doodled image, and changing it into a 3D, realistic, or fully rendered image based on your drawing and text prompts. It still needs to be highly tuned. There is much to improve, and getting what you want is hard. That being said, the results are fascinating, and I can see great potential in AI doing this in the future.

Below is an inked sketch of a basket design I did years ago. It has enough detail to let the AI do its thing. I'm going to use my text description as follows: "(Yellow Moon Character with indent craters) (Easter basket) (red rocketship attached to a blue rope handle) (Plain white background)"
Note I use parentheses to group related words into phrases. On some websites, this helps the AI understand better.

I could generate the following images by importing this image and typing the prompt. The coloring and detailing are still random, even though I specified what colors should be used. Again, this technology is in its infant stage, and there is much to improve. But the results of 2D to 3D are quite amazing, especially considering the mere seconds it takes to generate such images.

Bear in mind I did prompt the same sketch quite a few times (about ten times, generating about 30 images), and these three were what I consider to be the best of the bunch.

The most frustrating thing about using AI is control. There are SO MANY factors to consider.
You must practice your typing descriptions, learn the way AI thinks, and use other AI tools to work around issues that occur.

So, give the website a try. It's free. It's fun. There are many other tools to experiment with there. It could be better, but it is free.
Here's the direct link: www.promeai.com/

Arrrggghhh! It's Another Quick Sketch Video: Inking Moon-Boy

A video of inking a new character in real time I call Moon-Boy. This is a new character I'm developing for an original picture book story. Several people requested seeing actual inking without speeding up the video, so here you go. Hopefully, this is not too long. (I believe most people prefer 1-minute or less when it comes to watching illustrating videos.)

NOTE: Sometimes the video here won't play in the blog, (typical Google issues with Blogger.) You can always click the YouTube logo in the lower right corner of the video to open a direct link to the YouTube page.

I'm using a Huion light tablet to help ink over the original pencil sketch. Doing this help preserve the original drawing and helps to prevent significant errors and accidents (like spilling ink.) The pen is the Pilot Futayaku Double-Sided Brush Pen. I like this pen because it has a fine point on one end and a medium tip on the other. (I switch the tips about 1:10 into the video.)

Inktober 2018 - Day31 Slice

Inktober 2018 - Day31 Slice
Well, time to say goodbye to Inktober. It's been fun, at times exhausting, and seeing others' line work has been truly inspiring. Thanks to all kind comments, emails, and likes; it really does mean a lot to me. Until next October . . . keep inking!

This image was inked with a Pilot brush pen on Strathmore toned tan paper,
using a Signo white pen for highlights.

SCBWI NJ Conference 2018 + Art Contest Image

Had my first NJ regional SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) event this weekend. Great time ... especially seeing old faces and meeting many new people.

My 11" by 17" entry image for the NJSCBWI "WONDER" art contest

THOUGHT PROCESS: 
The first thing I think of with the word "wonder" is outer space. Just staring at the stars creates a sense of wonder for me. So I knew I wanted that element in the image. I considered doing a closeup of a child's face inside a toy astronaut helmet, and in the helmet's reflection, the moon and other planets would be seen. But then I thought, instead of outside, have the moon appear inside floating over a child's bed.

The original pencil sketch concept for the SCBWI art contest

• I wanted the child dressed up in astronaut-like pajamas with a toy space helmet, but then realized there would be no personal interaction or expression without seeing the child's face.

• I wanted a question mark shape for the cat's tail in the lower right corner but I also wanted the cat to peer into the room, showing curiosity to what was happening. I had to compromise with limited spacing in that area.

• The lighting was another hurdle. Originally, I wanted a green glow, for a more mystical look. But knowing this would print out on my printer  -- green is a fickle color to control from monitor to paper. Then I re-considered, the moon usually gives off a blue light in night skies. So I saturated the coloring with blue, leaving only the reddish highlights to accent the bluish hues.

Color variation: The original base colors with white light highlights

To be honest, this image is not complete. I wanted to add more details to the room, such as a basketball, bookshelves, car toys and a ragdoll astronaut. The area above the moon was going to have a night sky filled with stars. But I was running out of time to print, cut and mount the image in time for the conference.

In this version, the foreground color was muted, white light highlights dropped, and the moon's size was increased.

RE: SCBWI Conferences 
I've gone to several SCBWI Winter NYC Conferences in the past, but I stopped going several years ago feeling it wasn't for me. The SCBWI Winter and Summer conferences are HUGE, with keynote speakers representing the top bestsellers in children's literature. It's entertaining and inspiring, but that atmosphere seems best for those already established in the market. The NJ conference is more personal and is a gathering of the people I see and know the most. Comparing the two, I feel that the NYC conferences are grander, but the NJ regional conference seemed more helpful. 

One problem I had at the conference was I could not find the rooms for the workshops in the hotel. The map provided did not help. I found just walking around reading every sign was the only way I could find the assigned rooms (of which two were relocated, which REALLY didn't help.) That never happened to me in NYC, which is about 5 times larger than the North Brunswick Hyatt hotel.

Robots in Space: Update (2 more days to go)

Here's the latest updates on the Kickstarter project.
All 3 designs have been finished, with the first two already sent to the printers.

Poster 3 of 3: Mars Rovers replaces Curiosity, adding more rovers to the image

The Cassini poster now has several more of Saturn's moons floating in the background, helping to fill in gap areas nicely. The moons, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea are now representing the Saturn family for our Cassini poster.

The update to poster 2 of 3: Cassini with several more moons

We are also proud to announce that as of a few days ago, this Kickstarter project has been officially adopted by The Planetary Society. This means that these three posters will join their growing catalog of products sold at chopshopstore.com/planetarysociety where a portion of the profits will go to help to fund their ongoing mission: To empower the world's citizens to advance the cause of space science and exploration.

Some profits to this project will now help fund the Planetary Society

Woot! Our Kickstarter project has been funded!

Special thanks to all who pledged, shared and helped spread the word about our planetary kids' posters!

There is still time if you are interested in getting these posters or the many other items that are included in the rewards. The final day of this Kickstarter project is Nov 30, 2017.
The direct link is here: Robot in Space!

My brother is finishing up on the 3rd design, but here is the working version of poster number two (Note: We are still making changes as we see fit, more moons and details will be added before we go to print.)

Working image for the second of three poster series for children.

Kickstarter Project: Robots in Space!

So, last week, my brother started a Kickstarter campaign to create posters for kids. This was something my brother Tom, my sister-in-law Stephanie and I have been talking about for months. So every weekend, we have been planning how to go about doing such a series.

I should also note: this is the very first project my brother Tom and I have EVER worked on together.

This is the first of three designs. Note: This is a work in progress. Not the final image.

We are basing the designs on Tom's successful HISTORIC SPACECRAFT COLLECTION, which currently has ten designs; including one design created exclusively for The Planetary Society for their successful Kickstarter project: Lightsail.

Tom's exclusive design made specifically for The Planetary Society Lightsail mission

We also decided to add a glowing feature to each poster, so when the lights go out, an image will appear. We are heading into our 2nd week, with already half the goal made.

Simulation of glow-in-the-dark effect

We aren't looking for family and friends to help fund these posters as much as getting help for promoting and spreading the word about the Kickstarter campaign. By posting the link far below to your various social media sites, you can help the project succeed by helping find people interested in purchasing our posters.

Here's the great video Thom, my Sis-in-Law Steph, and Freya worked on to promote the project.

If you would like the posters, know a little space explorer or want to help fund the project, go here: Robots in Space

If you'd like to help promote the project, please copy and paste the link below into your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. accounts. (Thanks!)

http://kck.st/2A0fsCQ

Starting Inktober 2017 • day 1 • Owl

Well, it's October again . . . (I can't believe it!)

Time for celebrating creativity with daily ink sketches.

In 2009, Jake Parker created Inktober, where every October, artists everywhere draw one ink drawing per day for the entire month.

For this year's Inktober, I'm just doing quick doodles of characters related to Halloween. No pencils this time, just doodling with ink.

#Inktober Day 1: Night Owl frightened by the night