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
Fred Stesney 