Using Prompt Silo

Pheeds Prompt Silo has a Prompt Builder Interface which allows you to generate highly detailed prompts by selecting specific variables from drop-down categories (e.g., subjects, artist styles, lighting, camera angles, and writing tones).

I used it to create the following prompt: 

zebras drinking water baroque chiaroscuro art

First I tried Meta AI but obviously it had some difficulties with rendering zebras and produced some very strange results.Then I used this prompt with ChatGPT and got the image. which you can see on the left side.

I then went to Leonardo AI, inserted the prompt above and Leonardo automatically changed the prompt to:

A dramatic scene of zebras with distinctive black and white stripes gathered around a serene water source, rendered in the style of Baroque art with intense chiaroscuro contrasting light and dark, the zebras' bodies illuminated by a soft, golden glow, while the surrounding environment is shrouded in deep shadows, with meticulous attention to detail and texture, the overall mood is one of tranquil elegance, inviting the viewer to step into the heart of the African savannah at dusk, with the warm colors of the setting sun reflecting off the water's edge, and the zebras' gentle movements suggesting a sense of peaceful coexistence with nature.

Unfortunately the result was not very satisfying, as you can see here:

Looking close at the zebras you will notice that something is wrong with the way they stand together. Nice landscape, nice lighting, but wrong animal bodies.

Of course I could have tried out other AI Art Generators, but I didn't feel like it. I simply haven't got the time to do it just now.

But I did learn something:

1. Prompt Silo can be a useful starting point.
2. It is fun to create with AI, but you have to check the outcome. If you have the time, try the same prompt with different AI Art creators. 

Having fun with color mixing on the paper

One way to mix acrylic inks is to mix two colors on your palette. Another way is to use a semi opaque color like yellow to put it on top of a dried darker color. Here I used yellow on burgundy red in order to create various hues of orange. I painted the background with a very dark blue alcoholmarker. I varied the direction of the strokes of the marker and this produced some kind of a texture. 
 

How to create Mockups for my Zazzle store with Dynamic Mockups

 

Zazzle offers some mockup images for certain products, but not for every product. If you want to present your Iphone case design, for example, you better look somewhere else for a nice mockup. 

Now there is a platform called placeit which offers free phone case mockups, but you don't want your Iphone design mockup look like many others, do you?

Well, I found a solution for this. There is a platform called "Dynamic mockups". There are several ways to create a product mockup, but I use it the following way:

1. I upload the product in question to the platform.
2. I click on the "scene" button. A lot of scenes are offered now, I tried some of them but wasn't very pleased with the result. So I go to the bottom of this category. There you can insert your own scene prompt.
3. Now you can just insert a description of your scenery, or you can ask AI for it, copy the text you get and insert it. 
4. As a free user you have three images daily. Once it happened to me that I wasn't satisfied with the three results at all and had to try the day after. 
5. In case you are satisfied with the result you can download the image and upload it to Zazzle. 

Vintage Red Rose Watercolor I Phone case
by ullahennig

Acrylic inks and alcohol markers

There are several ways I have been combining acrylic inks and alcohol markers:

1. I have been using a black marker for painting the background. 
   
   
2. While painting with acrylic inks I left several spots blank and filled up the blank space with a marker when the acrylic ink had dried. In this painting I used markers in several shades of green and a yellow marker.
   
   
3. I found out that markers go very nicely over dried acrylic inks. In the painting you can see several spots of orange - here I went over washed out red acrylic ink with a yellow marker. 

 

Acrylic Inks Watered down

 

This abstract painting was done with acrylic inks mostly. The yellow patches and the black background were painted with alcohol markers. The surface I used was watercolor paper. 

First I did a rough sketch with a pencil and a ruler. Then I added two drops of olympic blue into a small plastic container. I applied the paint on some spots. After that I added more and more drops of water in order to get a watercolor like effect. I did the same with Indigo blue acrylic ink: first I used the ink as it came out of the bottle, then I watered it down. In some spots I applied a second layer of watered down indigo.

I am quite satisfied with the result and will play some more with my acrylic inks.

How I use AI for my Zazzle Shop

 

There are several ways I use AI for my Zazzle shop. Here are three of them:

1. I am an AI artist, so I create images with several AI Art generators. Often I use my own prompts; but in some cases I let AI help me to refine my prompt ideas.
2. I use google.gemini to help me select the products which are most apt for my images. Not every image looks good on every product. So I upload my image to Google Gemini and ask which products it would look good on. Sometimes it will mention products I had not even thought of.
3. A good title, description and good tags are essential for the product to be found in search. So I save my design, take a screenshot of it and upload it again to Google Gemini. I review the result before publishing the product in my Zazzle shop. Sometimes I change something. Then I hit the "Sell" button.

 

Art Deco Tulips
by ullahennig

Abstract Mixed Media Art

When I am painting with acrylics acrylic inks are my favorite medium. 

I got acrylic inks from several companies: Royal Talens offers a broad range of hues in its Amsterdam Acrylic ink series. In the image on the left I used Phthalo Blue Amsterdam acrylic ink. I also found out that the molotow oneforall refills can be used very nicely to paint with a brush - I used their lilac pastel 30ml refill. And not to forget Schmincke's Akademie Acryl Color ink! Mixed with white you can get very nice blue shades. They all work great on paper, either watercolor paper or mixed media paper.

I also love to paint with alcoholbased markers. In the painting on the left you can see the black background - that has been done with a black alcoholbased marker. The light yellow spots were also done with a marker.