Exploring AI Art: The Next Step On My Midjourney

Not a month into working with Midjourney, I can see how we still need illustrators. Midjourney is, as yet, not capable of rendering any image a person can imagine. Here’s what I mean.

Let’s start with the kind of description an art director might give to an illustrator: “Setting: Exterior of an ancient Egyptian tomb at night. Subject: An Egyptian mummy carries an unconscious woman in his arms. The mummy is wrapped in bandages with his skull exposed. The woman is dressed like an archaeologist. Style: Gouache painting, like a pulp magazine cover. Color: Contrasting blue and orange. — ar 2:3”

Simple enough. Here’s what it handed back to me.

What part of “carries an unconscious woman in his arms” doesn’t it understand? In none of these images is the woman being carried, nor is she unconscious. Midjourney isn’t even sure what a mummy looks like, or an archaeologist. At least it got the colors right.

Let’s try another: “Setting: A cozy drawing room with antique, wood furniture.  Subject: Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster sit at a small table, playing chess.”

Here’s the result.

I do not have the patience to explain to Midjourney what Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster look like. And it seems absurd that I would have to, because both monsters are iconic. I’m not surprised that it doesn’t know what a game of chess looks like, because it doesn’t know how to play chess. That’s for another AI to do.

I know a lot of smart programmers are racing to improve AI and that it will one day be proficient, but for now, I’ll only use Midjourney for simple subjects

The Struggle Between Perfection and Expression in Drawing: A Personal Journey

Alternate Title: Drawing Wrongly Is Harder Than You Think.

When I was learning to draw comics, my favorite artists were the ones who drew the most realistically, guys like John Buscema, Gene Colan and Bernie Wrightson. I didn’t grok the more stylized artists, Jack Kirby in particular. I couldn’t understand why people thought he was a genius. My goal as a young artist was to learn to draw as accurately as possible and I got pretty good at it. Later on, when I worked in advertising, those skills paid off when I drew my own storyboards.

The Eternals by Jack Kirby

My tastes have changed since then and now I love the excess of Kirby’s art. His exuberant style, once incomprehensible to me, looks like more fun to draw than the academic approach and, sometimes when I sit down to draw a new Amateur Mortician story, I vow to loosen up and take more chances.

Jerry Grandenetti from Eerie #38

An artist I look to for inspiration is Jerry Grandenetti who was a regular at Creepy and Eerie magazines. His pages are wild compositions where the logic of light and rules of perspective are highly flexible. Yet, despite my intentions of creative freedom, the magnetic pull of precision often proves irresistible.

Usually it starts with a hand or pose where I need reference material. Once I get one part of the drawing to look right, the need for rightness spreads to the rest of the figure, then to the panel. If I don’t catch myself, anatomy, perspective and light logic can take over the entire story.

My art from “Death’s Doorstep” Amateur Mortician #21

In reflecting on this endless struggle, I recognize it as an inherent aspect of the artistic journey. The tension between perfection and expression is not merely confined to the page but mirrors the complexities of the human experience. As an artist, navigating these seemingly contradictory impulses is both a challenge and an adventure—one that ultimately shapes not only my art but also my understanding of self.

Exploring AI Art: Setting Out On My Midjourney

After experimenting with Stable Diffusion, Dall-E, and Adobe Firefly, I decided to delve deeper into AI-generated art by purchasing a month-long subscription to Midjourney.

The Internet tells me Midjourney delivers the best results, although many consider it the most challenging to navigate due to its Dischord interface.

For my trial run, I chose Dorothy DeCarnage, the enigmatic host of my Webtoon series, ‘Amateur Mortician,’ as my subject. I prompted Midjourney with specific traits: a 50-year-old woman with pale skin, and a slender frame, a wide jaw, narrow nose, and dark eyes. Also her defining feature, a sleek black pageboy haircut.

Dorothy DeCarnage, the hostess with the grossest.

I was immediately impressed by the results. Midjourney got Dorothy within minutes. In about an hour, it synthesized a pile of portraits that were 90% of the way to usable .

Heeeere’s Dorothy!

However, there were occasional hiccups. Midjourney struggled to get her hair right at times, and maintaining her age proved to be a challenge, with a tendency to portray her as younger until nudged to include wrinkles.

Right Age, Wrong Hair

Right hair, wrong age.

Interestingly, Midjourney always painted Dorothy with a…uh… sultry allure without that being included in the prompt. Maybe there was something else in the description that pushed Midjourney to up the hotness.

Nothing about cleavage or a plunging neckline in the prompt.

With plenty of time left in my subscription, I’m eager to see what else Midjourney can do. The next stage will be moving beyond simple portraits to creating complete scenes and situations. I’ll post about that when it’s done.

Validation!

Werewolf Sold

Built from an MPC model kit by the full moon, this werewolf has lurked in my display case for many months. Now it has a new home.

This sale marks the 15th sale at Don Stok Vo Kart, my Etsy shop. I’m starting to feel like a real semi-pro model builder.

Built from the 1/24 scale vinyl kit by Pegasus Hobbies. This is a fantastic kit. All the parts went together easily so i could get right to painting. Because it’s vinyl, I had to prime it with a lacquer-based primer. Bondo gray filler primer worked great. I used Tamiya acrylic paints over that.

Bunker Sold

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This piece of scratch-built scenery went to a modeler in France. International shipping through Etsy is easier than I had anticipated. They sort out the VAT and customs so all I had to do is print out the label and take the package to the post office.

The Fly

Help Me!

My build of The Fly from the Monarch kit in 1/8 scale. I photographed it in vivid color but the black and white version looks truer to the subject matter.

It’s a good kit and went together easily. The only fiddly bits are the projections around the moth. The only flaw in the kit was a dent in one of the eyes that had to be filled and sanded.

Another AT-AT Build

This is the third time I’ve built this kit. What I got out of it this time is the importance of using a lacquer-based primer. In previous builds, I applied Tamiya acrylics directly to the kit which caused some of the parts to crack. I had to trash my first attempt at this kit for this reason, something that I’m kicking myself for, because I could have used a destroyed AT-AT in a diorama. I’m putting this one up for sale at my Etsy Shop.

Also, I purchased this using Camel Camel Camel, an online price tracking and product comparison tool. It’ll track prices on Amazon, and send an alert when a kit falls below a certain price point.

Tie Fighter Model

Built this to get a feel for the kit. It’s not a complicated, but there were some fit issues which is surprising for Bandai.

I listed it on my Etsy shop. Let’s see if it sells. If it does, I’ll offer it for custom builds.