Stepping a bit outside of my wheelhouse today, but I found a generator that may be cool for illustrating in cases where I can’t for whatever reason do it myself. Either way, not every story teller is gifted with the ability to illustrate their visions, so I think AI art has its place and I’m excited to say I may have found a good one.
I’ve tested a handful of these apps now, and pretty much without exclusion I have found that I am better off just making my own illustrations…but this app ( starryai ) promises to be the outlier.
…but first, one of my favorite ways to generate quick low effort illustrations, is to make collages from stuff I find online. For today’s purposes, I’ve decided to illustrate the scene portrayed in the opening lyrics of the Beatles’ ”She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”.
She came in through the bathroom window
protected by a silver spoon.
But now she sucks her thumb and wonders
by the banks, of her own lagoon…
AZL Collage
Here is my attempt at illustrating this catchy line. Collage completely assembled from stuff I found online (each image credited with link).
Image Sources
| Column1 | Column2 |
|---|---|
 | Bathroom Scene |
 | Girl in Window |
 | Silver Spoon |
In this case, I didnt get her sucking her thumb, but it does look like now she at least sits and wonders, and if you’re willing to go there with me, we could say the bathtub is her own lagoon…with her seated on its bank.
Assessment:
In my illustration, she sits by the banks of her own private lagoon. She holds one hand to her face - a similar comfort to sucking her thumb, though admittedly, not the same thing. In her other hand however, she holds a silver spoon close to her heart indicating care and protection. Although she’s not actively climbing through the bathroom window, I chose to have her sitting in the bathroom window. Sitting in the window allows the composition to imply this as her point of entry, but also to give dimension to the second line of the song (with the wondering and the spoon).
AI Generated:
Here, I used the starryai app, giving the app the same description I gave myself in trying to tackle the appropriate composition. I managed to do a few generations from this description; it looks like there’s a lot left mire me to learn, but I think I will like this app. After the first day, you get five images per day.
TYPE 1: InkPunk
Personally, this was my favorite, but all subsequent images were generated as modifications of this first set (the app generates four images for a given prompt), so there may have been degradation as we progressed. I will dig more into the other styles later, once my credits are replenished.
Either way, it seems some of the detail I was looking for didn’t find its way into these images…but then again, I couldn’t pack all of what I wanted into my homegrown shit either, so I guess I’ve got to temper my expectations.
TYPE 2: Anime
Some of these anime style images captured the sucking of a thumb, although she’s not sucking her thumb, nor does it appear to be attached to *anyone.” Still, some of these came out pretty neat!
TYPE 3: Abstract World
Abstract World: Evolution
Under the image that is generated, the app offers options that result in generating a new image set. Evolve, it seems, takes things in a strange and dark direction:
…with a free account, I’m limited in how many images I can generate in one day, but I can easily see how this will become a solid helper app once I’ve had some practice.
The app is called starryai, and it can be found here (iPhone). I’m not paid to endorse this product, just an enthusiast sharing his observations.
Assessment:
The AI images varied a good bit, but I think I will be able to get better images as I learn how to operate the app’s controls. Compared to the other generators I’ve tried, this seems to have the capacity to really generate new images from a text prompt. Basket ingredients like the thumb, the spoon, the bathroom and the bathroom window were not consistently included, but this app still outperformed the others I’ve tried.
Cockroach Using a Computer
Previous AI:
I wanted to illustrate a cockroach using a computer. I decided a roach pushing a mouse would be a reasonable start, and that I could then put a computer monitor in the background. I don’t remember what app this was made by.
AZL Collage
| Column1 | Column2 |
|---|---|
 | Nintendo style mouse |
 | Roach |
AI Generated
Text prompt:
Best Result:
Other Results:
In this case, I was happy with my simple collage, although I ended up not writing the story.
Anyway, that’s it. Sorry this is kind of crashed together, I wanted to put this uo before bed tonight.
Have a great weekend!
Side note: how does a circular motor housing, suoporting five evenly spaced blades, cast what appears to be a three-sided shadow?
It looks more like a Clayton than a circle.
I would expect to see five five symmetrical interruptions to the light, corresponding to the blades. I assume this would be caused by diffraction perhaps? Anyway, seriously, extra coolpoints to anyone who can explain the principle phenomenon at play here.
Thanks for checking out some more of my work! As always, I hope you enjoyed witnessing as much as I enjoyed creating!
© Photos and words by @albuslucimus, except where otherwise indicated.
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