In the Spirit of Goofy: AI-Generated Images

     Are the following images art? That's a debate that exists, but I don't want to get into it. I'm mostly writing today because I wanted to see what a computer program would do with the prompt I gave it, and the results were pretty funny. Does it have the same spirit and soul as human-made art? I guess it depends on your perspective. But at the very least, come and enjoy the goof with me as we explore this bizarre, relatively unknown medium.
    And, even better, at the end of this post I'll share two of my own (admittedly pretty amateur) drawings, because at LTUE, I went to about four different presentations by (I think) three different people that all mentioned the concept of a writer's/artist's notebook, and at the presentation on how to use one of these, I was instructed to expand beyond my normal medium. The two drawings I'll share are the result. :)

The Prompt: An ice dragon and a Siberian tiger at lunch in a cozy, herb-themed cafe.

    First result: Two tigers in a cafe, with some herbs on the table. Not quite what I was thinking, but okay. It's not a bad image, all things considered, but the tigers look a little... cartoony.
    Second result: Two more tigers, and this time there's a drink! Also, the tigers are less cartoony.
    Third result: The tigers are becoming a theme now. And they're not exactly... Siberian. I was under the impression that Siberian tigers are pretty white-colored.
    Fourth result: Aww, this one's cute! Papa tiger is taking his kiddo out to lunch! I wonder if it's the little 'un's birthday...
    Fifth result: Still no ice dragons, but hey! This one looks like a romantic date. Well, except that he's not looking at her, and she seems a bit miffed about that.
    Sixth result: Finally! A white... something. It looks really burly for a tiger, but still a little too tiger-y for an ice dragon. Still, progress! And, too, now it's both parents taking the kid out to lunch, and the kid's got a cool little vest-thing going on there! PROGRESS! :)
    Seventh result: Ooh, the romantic date again, only... our friend in orange looks a little uncomfortable with the situation. Maybe her partner turned out to be a bit too much of a creeper? I'm not surprised; look at the burly going on here! 'E looks downright scary!

    Eighth result: Finally! We got ourselves an ice dragon... thing! And the best part is, I went into this particular AI-image-generation escapade looking to envision a cross between a tiger and a dragon, and I finally got that wish here! (The initial attempts at dragon/tiger crossage led to a lot of tigers. I'm not sure the computer knew how to add dragon into those images.) But what we've got here honestly looks pretty cool. Though he does look like he wants to eat more than just the lunch in front of him...


    Aight, now for my drawings. Beware: I am an amateur and they didn't turn out like I was imagining them in my head. But they came out more reliably than the AI, so that's points in favor of drawing the thing yourself!

    This was meant to be a dragon. It looks more like a weird horse, or, as my brother so kindly put it, a demented unicorn. Bicorn? Whatever it is, it isn't normal. But I am very proud of it, and that mane of dorsal ridges... chef's kiss. Amazing. I've never drawn something so good before, and I'm super, super pleased with this drawing. By the way, I used a pen--so this is also a drawing I did without any erasure whatsoever. I'm also quite proud of my mountains and the cloud over the sun in the top-right corner. The other clouds and the sun itself didn't turn out like I was hoping, but I think the mountains, the beastie, and that one cloud are awesome!
    All I was planning for this one was a rainy day. Then the tree showed up, to give context for the rain. Then the couple showed up, to give context to the tree. I've never drawn people this way before, but I've got to say, tiny silhouettes like these are pretty easy to draw, even for a non-artist like myself. I write, y'all! I don't usually draw.

    As you can imagine, I'm very proud of my little drawings. Other people could probably draw the same things much better, and much closer to how I envisioned them, but the fact that I pulled off what I did is very gratifying. I'll definitely be putting more drawings in my writer's sketchbook as time proceeds!


P.S. I'm also going to offer a Comments Section challenge! You've seen the little descriptions/captions/stories I put beneath the AI imagery; write your own in the comments! What are the tales behind these images?

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