Men of culture, I salute and bid you adieu as I retire to my quarters for the remainder of the year. Godspeed gentlemen.

I'm constantly learning new *tricks* and the latest is using the styles of different painters to produce a unique take on a modern subject.

This, for instance, is Freddie Mercury, in the style of Edward Munch.

The basis of AI is text, but thankfully there are things called LoRAs. LoRA stands for Low-Rank Adaptation. It allows you to use what is known as low-rank adaptation technology to quickly fine-tune "models". To put it in simple terms, the LoRA training model makes it easier to train your chosen platform on different concepts, such as characters or a specific style. These trained models can then be exported and used by others in their own image generation(s).

There are also "Checkpoint" files, which set the mood, if you like, of the image being created.  Some favour reality, or even heightened reality, some are used for Manga, and so on.  Additionally, some attempt to produce better nudes, for instance, or images more attuned to DXLR cameras, and lenses, but Checkpoint files are quite large, which is why we use LoRAs to "fine-tune" them.

For the Freddie Mercury/Edvard Munch images, I used a LoRA for Munch's style, a ready-made Lora for Freddie, and then sorted it all out by writing a text "prompt" to marry the two. That sounds simple, but there is a lot to learn about the weight one gives certain words, or phrases, which words work, and which don't, and trust me, words that work in one scenario may not work in another due to using different Checkpoints.

Characters, be they "real" people, or, like the one I've created wholly imaginary are a different ball-game.  Long story short, you generally need a load of images of your proposed characters, bung them into some software (the details of which I'm not going to bore you with here) or, even better, upload them to a website and let it do all the work for you online after you've filled in the details of your character.  You then hit enter and watch the magic happen.

This is Gina.



Gina started life as a single image of an imaginary woman I created, which I then worked on until I got the  precise look I wanted. I then set my software (Fooocus) to create 10 variations on the way I had her posed. I then altered her pose, and made some more, and repeated that until I had 35 varied images from differing camera angles. Those are what I uploaded to the website I use, which turned out the character you see above, who is "permanent" so I can use her in any situation. She could be an astronaut, or simply sitting at the bar, and anything in between.

It takes work and some application, but to me it's been time well spent, and I'm still learning. In fact, I can't see that I'll ever stop learning if I stick with the hobby.  I actually find it quite therapeutic too.

Looks great Paul but where is this all going to be in 5 years or 3 years?

Are we monkeys tinkering with creation or are we geniuses shlepping pixels around into funny looking shapes?

The eyes are better than most AI generated 'photos' I've seen.

You must have been playing with the settings for a while.

The magic word
Next time I have a tech problem

Mascara

Yes, it's Gina again...

Only if you're very, very lucky, and ask nicely in my experience.

I've started work on a possible new model.  Opinions welcomed.