Yesterday, I posted an all-AI generated image as an April Fool UNTOLD TALES – despite what the post said, I won’t be going all in on the AI stuff. I have found it useful in the last six months or so in generating backgrounds for many (not all) of the covers – the first one I used it for was #746 back in September – but I like the process of selecting and combining original art.
I can see how professional artists are rightly worried about the emerging technology, however. All I did to generate the cover was provide the prompt “green lantern and iron man fighting over a city, comic book style” and within seconds I had the following:
There are some issues with the figures – the first appears to show Lantern with two rings; the second (the one I chose) shows Lantern as left handed; the fourth’s left hand is a bit mangled – but unless you look closely, those images aren’t bad at all.
As the AI tools increase in sophistication – I use the Edge-browser embedded version of Dall-E so it’s about as basic as you get – those images are going to get better; I either read something recently, or watched a YouTube video, about AI image generators now (or soon) being able to generate consistent characters. How much effect that will have on sequential art in the future remains to be seen, I guess, but it’s got to be a worry for some in the industry.
I’m not an artist (as much as I might like to be) so for me it’s a tool to create backgrounds for my daft little mash ups on my quiet corner of the internet, but those who rely on their talents to make a living have justifiable concerns about AI’s use.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 