To amuse me. If it makes me laugh (or smile), I’m good.
Yesterday, a discussion in Discord lead to speculation over whether the Sasquatch had arrived in Australia via dugout canoe1This started when someone in my gaming group, who is going on a trip to Australia soon, noted “my research has indicated that there’s a Bigfoot like cryptid called the Yowie that lives in Australia“. I asked Adobe Firefly to produce illustrated proof of this, and behold:
Also, I just generally love the way Firefly depicts the Sasquatch
This is all I really need AI to do when it comes to art. Sasquatches in canoes.
It was hot today. But if I had to choose between 40C and -40C, I’d go with 40C.
I mean, really, I’d choose something nice in-between, but if I had to pick because of an important movie plot or something, I’d go with the warmer. I dislike being cold.
Anyway, the haiku:
The warmth of the sun
Just like a beach boy
The warmth of the sun calls me
Rays of light and tan
It’s the end of June, I’ve lost weight, it’s been sunny, and I got sick.
So, a mixed bag.
And now ten words that rhyme with June:
Spoon
Moon
Prune
Loon
Tune
Rune
Boon
Croon
Zune1According to Microsoft, this is totally a real word
Dune
Now, take these ten words and use them in a story! Surprise writing prompt!
I sat by the window, listening to a tune on the radio, staring out and up at the fat moon. I used a spoon to shovel up ice cream from a bowl, directing it to my mouth. The night was silent, save for the plaintive cry of a loon. I did not want to listen to it croon its sorrowful song, so shut the window.
I picked up my Zune, which still worked all these years later, quite the boon. I played a song at random and did not like it. Why had I bought it? I would need to prune my playlist. I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes, seeing before me in the dark an image of endless sand, one giant rolling dune after another. Had I been here before, or only in a dream? I opened my eyes and reached over to the nightstand, picking up a small wooden talisman I had been given by a stranger, a burnished, dark rune, whose etchings defied explanation. I held it up before my face and turned it over.
"Soon," I whispered. "Soon."2Bonus rhyming word for extra credit
I started using my usual bird-drawing style, and that turned out too realistic, so I tried to simplify it further by:
Removing all shading (pretty much), making all colours flat
Removing all the detail lines, except for the actual outline of the bird
Removed its itty bitty footsies
Going over the outline with a thicker stroke to make it more cartoonish
In the end it definitely looks better, but the proportions are still those of an actual hummingbird, so I may try exaggerating those next. Cartooning is tricky!
First, I should explain that I don’t have a new science fiction novel, and I’m not posting about it on Facebook.
But I did get an invitation to try out Microsoft Designer, which is a web-based thingie that uses AI (or AAIIEE as I like to call it) top help generate images and stuff.
I told it:
> Generate a Facebook post for my new science fiction novel
I altered the text and went with this. The future is full of UFOs! Or UAPs. Or perhaps they are the future of mobile lighting.
One of the Inktober drawing prompts I had from several years back was BLADE. I used Gum Gum People for this, as is my way.
Below is the new coloured version, then the before/after with the original.
Shiny new:
Before/after:
I am still kind of amazed at how terrible the line work was in the older prompts. I mean, I know I did each sketch in a day and usually without spending a lot of time on them, but yeesh.