I don’t usually make self portraits, but recently my master printmaker colleague lent me a pair of wrist cuffs to protect my wrists and shirt sleeves from ink while wiping.
When I put them on he suggested he take a photograph and I took up a number of poses including a boxing type display of the cuffs.
Looking at it I thought it could be a good image for a self portrait as it was humorous and not like mike usual presence. Before I attempted a drawing ( I did later) I thought what would AI make of it? A chat gpt instructor offered a p[opular option:
Free ChatGPT Hack Turns Any Photo into a Hand-Drawn Masterpiece
In this video, I’ll show you a crazy-simple way to turn any photo into a realistic hand-drawn sketch using FREE ChatGPT tools — no Photoshop or paid apps needed! Then, stick around as we level up and transform that sketch into a hilarious 1990s-style amusement park caricature. All done with AI, all without spending a dime. Watch until the end to see the mind-blowing results and learn the exact prompts I used (linked in the description). If you’re into AI art, tech hacks, or just want to try something fun with your selfies—this one’s for you!
I uploaded my image and used the instructor’s theme park prompt
and ……
Still a bit to cartoon like I requested …
Engaged, but still not satisfied I requested ……
I got it back! and noticed there were no cuffs!
They were not like the ones in the original photograph …
Still too aggressive …
Cuffs stayed the same length, but now I am smiling again.
I printed it out to review:
But even with AI enhancement it did not have the attributes and idiosyncrasies of a hand drawn image. Both it and the theme park image have screen image values, but not those of a drawing on paper.
My iPad Apple Pencil drawn self portrait:
Perhaps I should pick up a graphite pencil and draw on paper.
The issues and subtleties of the AI Art debate are discussed in this short programme. GENERATE – Digital Human.
Art has, since time immemorial, been viewed as something quintessentially human. Many utopian visions of a technological future are based on the idea that machines will automate all the mundane, monotonous tasks of life, allowing humanity to fully indulge itself in creative expression. Certainly, artists would not be made obsolete by number crunching machines.
But in the past few years, AI Art Generators, specifically Text-to-Art Generators such as MidJourney and Dall-E, have taken the world by storm. Users simply write a prompt, and the Algorithm takes knowledge amassed from images all over the internet, to create beautiful images. A mermaid basking on the shore of Loch, on a moonlit night, in the style of Van Gogh? Done. Cubist Unicorn? Have four. With a little practice, anything you want you can get with the right text?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jc1t
I also tried it on Google gemini without much luck
