Using the Clone tool with AI generated Images

 AI generators in general are not very kind to human limbs - and sometimes this also applies to animals. You can either spend all your energy points / credits or whatsoever, desperately trying to generate a human form with only two arms and not three - or you can try to correct the image with using the clone tool in Gimp or Photoshop. I have been using Gimp now for years, and in most cases it works as well as with Photoshop.

I generated this image with Deep Dream Generator. Unfortunately, the girl elf to the right has got two additional boots, and the girl elf to the left has got three hands. However, all in all I like the image.

So I downloaded it and openend it with Gimp. I know a friend of mine who can do anything with Photoshop, and I know that many images you see today in magazines are photoshopped. I have - until now - not touched the clone tool in Gimp. So I am an absolute newbie with it. But why not learning new things?

Here is the result: As I mentioned above, I am an absolute clone tool newbie - so the image is far from perfect. But as I intend to practise this tool more and more I will see progress!

Postprocessing Artwork generated with Nightcafestudio

 What do I mean when I say "postprocessing"? I mean all the steps I take when the image has been generated. In Nightcafe, I usually take 2 steps:

• Enhancing the image (the original image is 512x512; the first enhancement step enlarges the image to 1024x1024 px. This step is necessary in case you want to show yourimage on facebook or instagram. You have to pay for this enhancement (1 credit).
• Publishing the image (I only publish images on Nightcafe which have been enhanced in order to give the viewer a good image.)

I then download the image and open it with Gimp (the free alternative to Photoshop). I now

• use the filter "enhance" on Gimp with the button "unsharp mask". This is especially important if you have created your image using DALL-E2 on Nightcafe. 
• I go to "Images" and add more contrast with the "brightness and constrast" button.

I then save the image for uploading to facebook, instagram or google images.

However, postprocessing artwork can be more than that.

The original Ai generated artwork showed only one polarbear with a lightblue background. In order to create the image you see here, I

• went on the website lunapic.com and had the background removed.
• I opened the file again, added an additional layer with a gradient background.
• I selected the layer with the polar bear and copied it, getting a layer with another bear. 
• I now downscaled the second bear and moved it.

Diamonds

The AI Art Generator Nightcafestudio does a great job - but sometimes the result needs a bit of post-processing. The image above lacked contrast and sharpness (only a wee bit, but I was not satisfied with the result of the rendering). So I downloaded it and opened it in GIMP in order to work on the contrast and the sharpness. 

 

Portrait of a Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

Just now I am following one of Aaron Blaise's courses - the course on Drawing Bears. Instead of just watching the course I took a piece of sketching paper and a pencil and tried to follow him. Now, he is drawing digitally, but I personally think that this does not make any difference. The only advantage for him is that he can erase wrong strokes immediately whereas I had to take an eraser. But fortunately you can always pause the video...

So I did this bear first with a pencil, then with an ink pen and then decided to color it with an ecoline brush pen. After having scanned in the sketch I did minor changes in GIMP, the free alternative to Photoshop. So there is indeed a mixture of traditional sketching and digital work in this piece!

 

Candles in my Zazzle shop

You can find the left candle here:

https://www.zazzle.com/z/acaadqn8?rf=238113813312101086. The original design is an abstract painting done with acrylic inks.

And here is the link to the right candle:

https://www.zazzle.com/z/aw3x9fe5?rf=238113813312101086 

Here the design was done with GIMP, the open source alternative to Photoshop.

Harbour with light effect

  I use Gimp for image editing. Gimp is the open source alternative to photoshop, and - like photoshop - has got lots of filters. One group of filters are light effect filters. So far I haven't used them, but I did it with this particular photo because I thought it could do with a bit of additional something...

Playing with Colours in Gimp

This photo belongs to a series of digitakuted diapositives. I played a bit with the colour saturation menu in gimp.