Your vacuum cleaner is watching you!

One of the advantages of AI is that it allows you to create anthropomorphic characters very quickly. 

So here he is - Vince, the efficient vacuum cleaner! He looks like he's waiting for something - maybe he is expecting your next cleaning order? Or he wants to get ridd of all the dust he's been collecting in the meantime? 

Combining traditional art and AI Art

 

One of my favorite mediums is acrylic ink. I do not pour it (I paint using my breakfast table, and I am much too concerned with spilling acrylic ink somewhere where it does not belong!), I paint with it with a small liner brush. I prefer small formats like the half of a DIN A 4 page. Mixing acrylic ink is a challenge - however the dropper on the bottles allow a certain amount of measuring. I am still experimenting with the relation between lighter and darker colors. For the image on the left I used burgundy and sahara beige (both molotow refills), as well as black and vermillion acrylic inks.

In addition to creating art in a traditional way I create images using AI Art Generators. Nightcafe Studio offers the "sketch to image" tool, and I used the acrylic ink piece to create something new but similar. You can see that the AI piece has many of the shapes of the original painting, but nevertheless is something different. 

I can imagine using the image as a design for a card or even putting it into a frame.

So I can still do traditional art and have fun with creating images the AI way!

Abstract painting done with Acrylic ink

Two days ago I rediscovered my acrylic inks. I've got quite a number of them from different brands. I've got Molotow refills, Schmincke Aero Color, Schmincke Akademie Acrylcolor ink, Lucas Ink and Acrylic ink from Royal Talens. All of them have a dropper bottle, so you can easily do color mixing with x drops of one color plus y drops of the other one. My goal was to create a number of green and olive hues. 

I had a very relaxing and joyful time. Whenever I paint with a brush or with a pen I get into a kind of zen status. Time flies and I do not notice it! 

Weeping willow created with Deep Dream Generator

I've got quite a long list of AI Art Generators which I have been using in the past. Some of them I do not use anymore because the condition of use have changed drastically. So I really liked to use Lexica AI, but they stopped free usage, so I crossed it off the list. I also used to use Stablecog AI quite a lot and Full Journey. I do not do that anymore, but I use them now and then. The same applies to Deep Dream Generator. However I tried it today, together with a prompt I put together with the help of promptomania.com.

The prompt was:

weeping willow at a little pond, by Diego Rivera, Chalkboard

I used the DDG model "AIVision" and got the image you can see on the left. 

AIVision is a so called PRO Model - it takes away 40 energy points, and you can only use it 3 times a day.

I must say that I am pretty impressed of the way DDG's AIVision Model is interpreting the prompt. So I will definitely use it more than in the last weeks, especially with a prompt put together by Promptomania.

Creating a Halloween design for my Zazzle shop with AI

What you're seeing below is one of my latest products in my Zazzle shop - a notebook showing a grumpy vampire sitting on a rock. I created the design with an AI Art Generator. In earlier times I had created designs with Inkscape or even with my watermedia paintings. And yes, using AI art quickens up the production process - once you've got the image, you can enhance it (there are free online tools for that), remove the background, upload it to Zazzle and create a product with it.

But: not every image created with an AI Art Generator is a good one or one which would look good on a product. In addition to that you will need something special in order to make the design and the product stand out. That means: Trial and error, trial and error. It takes time. Not to speak about the fact that not every design looks good on every product - but that is the case whether you create a design digitally or in the traditional way.

Halloween Grumpy vampire Spiral Notebook
by ullahennig

From a quick pencil sketch to an AI Image

I did this quick pencil sketch in 2017. I was visiting an artist friend and spend some time doing art together. 

Now, 7 years later, Nightcafe Studio, one of the AI Art generators I am using on a daily basis, offers the "sketch to image" tool. I had tried it before, but not with a "real" sketch. 

Here's the result of using the "sketch to image" too:

I used the prompt:
"portrait of a seal, watercolor painting"

As you can see there is a difference regarding the gesture of the animal: Whereas the original sketch shows the sideview of a seal with open mouth, the AI image portrays a seal with its mouth closed. So we do not have a mere copy but an image standing on its own!

Nevertheless I like the result!

Alcoholbased markers on coated paper

I have a big box full with coated paper and thought I could use it for painting with my alcoholbased markers. At first I wanted to do a pencil sketch and then go over it with the markers - this was a total failure. Whenever I wanted to erase a pencil line I got smearing on the paper. So I decided to go without pencil sketching - just letting the colors flow! Coated paper makes alcoholbased markers flow like paint.