I... HAVE... THE POWER 🎨🖌️

July 2, 2022 4:47 PM

Back in April, I made an in-depth post to the blue about OpenAI's DALL-E 2, an unbelievable new AI system that can generate hi-res artistic or photorealistic images of anything you can describe in just a few seconds. Now, after more than two months of waiting (and a comedy of errors), I've gained rare access to this amazing technology... and I'm passing the savings along to you! Post a text prompt you'd like DALL-E to generate in this thread, and I'll share the results! (Examples, conditions, and tips inside.)

Some examples of what I've made so far:

Vivid Kodachrome footage of Disneyland opening day
A photocollage of sloths wearing various hats, studio lighting
A colorized photo of Lucille Ball on the set of "I Love Lucy"
NASA file photo of a greyhound astronaut
Futuristic Tenochtitlan cityscape, digital art with high detail and hopefulness
Fictional screenshots of some of my favorite games: Katamari Damacy, SimCity 2000, Halo 2
Alternative Radiohead album art
Variations on the "I have no idea what I'm doing" dog meme
Variations on my old childhood dog getting a bath in the sink

All prompts have to follow the OpenAI content policy:

- G-rated
- no violence or gore
- no adult content or nudity
- nothing obscene or offensive
- no drugs or crime
- no politics
- no living celebrities or other public figures

Note that their word filters are quite strict, for instance you can't generate "a shooting star", "a bloody Mary", or "a Nerf gun" because they trip the word filters. I even got dinged for trying to make a coworker's cat whose breed looked like a slur, as well as a foam latex model of Cthulhu (guess they think latex is always kinky).

Some advice from experience: it's hilariously bad at generating text, historical and pop-culture figures work best when they're both iconic and not more than one or two in the same scene (they tend to look "off-brand" or mix attributes otherwise), and it always helps to specify things like the art medium, style, lighting, mood, etc. "Digital art" is a good all-purpose tag, but I've seen great results from people specifying certain grades of film or lens types, along with more exotic stuff like pixel art, LEGO, scrimshaw, butter sculpture, or any other kind of visual art you can name. As shown above, it's also possible to upload a picture and either create visually similar variations or use "inpainting" to edit anything into the scene; post or MeMail an image (as long as it doesn't show real people) along with a variation request or an edit idea and I'll do my best to make it happen!

There's a hard cap of 50 generations per day, and I've saved up all of today's 50 for this thread. Depending on how many takers there are I might do multiple requests per person, but I'll stick to one each at first to gauge interest. Each generation creates six images for me to cherry-pick; let me know if you want to see all six and I'll just post the gallery. Also, I'll try to "punch up" the prompt to get better results based on my experience, but if you want it done verbatim just let me know!

posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter-Related at 4:47 PM (232 comments total)

Giant flying bioluminescent jellyfish eating a city
Or
Flying glowing jellyfish city apocalypse

Whatever you think will work best along those lines.

The usual image generating AIs just really aren’t getting that apocalyptic vibe of a mountain sized jellyfish lifting chunks of skyscraper into its maw after literally hundreds of tries. Maybe Dall-E can crack it.
posted by Ryvar at 4:56 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks to travelingthyme for freeing this post from the queue after a few days of email tag. Idk how much demand there will be for this on a holiday weekend, but I wanted to do this ASAP while the beta is still available (no telling how limited/exclusive/expensive it will be if and when it's publicly released).

I'll upload generations to Imgur and post them with a 🎨 emoji for easier browsing!
posted by Rhaomi at 4:58 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Rudolf Nureyev dancing with Marilyn Monroe and Mary Pickford in a lovely garden shot with Ektachrome E100.

Does that work? Would love to see any or all variations.
posted by sammyo at 4:59 PM on July 2, 2022

(Also, I should have lead with: thank you so much for doing this!)
posted by Ryvar at 4:59 PM on July 2, 2022

(yes, very cool of you!)
posted by sammyo at 5:00 PM on July 2, 2022

I've long pondered getting a tattoo but have never been able to think of something I'd actually want as a permanent feature. Recently a design came to me in a dream; it's a bit odd but for some reason it's tempting. Maybe this will help me decide:

A drawing of a stylized elongated cat gracefully leaping over a sandwich

(I know, bizarre as hell but there it is)
Thanks!
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:02 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 "Apocalyptic giant flying bioluminescent jellyfish destroying a city, digital art"

Lots of good ones, here's the full gallery!
posted by Rhaomi at 5:04 PM on July 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

🎨 Rudolf Nureyev dancing with Marilyn Monroe and Mary Pickford in a lovely garden shot, Ektachrome E100.

That's the closest one, the others have a similar vibe but tend to blur hair color and such, and the faces are uniformly blurry.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:09 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

A pensive Roy Batty eating a banana split, in a film noir style.
posted by googly at 5:10 PM on July 2, 2022

Please fulfill grade school me’s longed for school supplies dreams by generating:

Lisa Frank style illustration of rainbow dragons eating cake
posted by Mizu at 5:11 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Two shoebill storks in an umbrella shop in the style of Edward Gorey
posted by Glinn at 5:13 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎨 A drawing of a stylized elongated cat gracefully leaping over a sandwich

Hmm, not sure what style you're going for but they all came out pretty cartoonish looking. If this thread peters out I might try again asking for tattoo art specifically (which it can do!)
posted by Rhaomi at 5:14 PM on July 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

🎨 A pensive Roy Batty from Blade Runner (1982) eating a banana split, film noir style

Got two decent ones out of this, though it interpreted it as a banana rather than a banana split!
posted by Rhaomi at 5:20 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

not a request because to my surprise craiyon actually did pretty good at it: "heavy metal album cover with shrimp"
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 5:22 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

🎨 Lisa Frank style illustration of rainbow dragons eating cake

This is probably the cleanest-looking one, but they're all pretty nice!
posted by Rhaomi at 5:23 PM on July 2, 2022 [8 favorites]

Got two decent ones out of this, though it interpreted it as a banana rather than a banana split!

And it seems to have interpreted Roy Batty as Jim Jarmusch. But awesome all the same!
posted by googly at 5:25 PM on July 2, 2022

The first Lisa Frank one gave me an "adult content warning, click if you're over 18 message" for no discernible reason.
posted by sardonyx at 5:25 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

🎨 Two shoebill storks in an umbrella shop in the style of Edward Gorey
posted by Rhaomi at 5:26 PM on July 2, 2022 [15 favorites]

A snail and a beetle playing Go.
posted by umber vowel at 5:27 PM on July 2, 2022

sardonyx: "The first Lisa Frank one gave me an "adult content warning, click if you're over 18 message" for no discernible reason."

Yeah, Imgur apparently errs very much on the side of caution with those warnings, it's about the most innocent thing you can imagine.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:28 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

Charley Harper style Loch Ness Monster

(Thank you for doing this!)
posted by the primroses were over at 5:33 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

a dramatic oil painting of a group of robed priests worshipping their leviathan lobster god
posted by BungaDunga at 5:34 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

A drawing of a stylized elongated cat gracefully leaping over a sandwich

Hmm, not sure what style you're going for but they all came out pretty cartoonish looking. If this thread peters out I might try again asking for tattoo art specifically (which it can do!)

Yeah, more cartoony than I was hoping for, but pretty entertaining anyway! Thanks again!
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:35 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Photo of a snail and a beetle playing the board game Go, the board is full of black and white stones

Tried adding some extra keywords here as I reckoned it might have trouble picking up the word "Go" -- turns out the bigger problem was blending the snail with the beetle! Here are the other ones.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:36 PM on July 2, 2022 [11 favorites]

Those are great! Thank you!
posted by umber vowel at 5:39 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 A modernist illustration of the Loch Ness Monster by Charley Harper

They all tended towards minimalism; this was the one with the most Harper-esque vibe. I might have gotten better results with something like "ornamentation" or "lots of details".
posted by Rhaomi at 5:42 PM on July 2, 2022 [14 favorites]

If you want any of these, please just pick whichever you like the best

medieval tapestry of Homer Simpson kissing Count Dracula on the bridge of the starship Enterprise

a werewolf in overalls mixing cake batter underneath an Eiffel Tower made out of red licorice

the abstract concept of intransigence petting a Swedish vallhund puppy on a drag strip
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:44 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Beijing CCTV headquarters drawn by Hugh Ferriss
posted by LionIndex at 5:44 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 a dramatic oil painting of a group of robed priests worshipping their leviathan lobster god
posted by Rhaomi at 5:45 PM on July 2, 2022 [11 favorites]

🎨 Medieval tapestry of Homer Simpson kissing Count Dracula on the bridge of the starship Enterprise

Hmm, it normally does great with Homer Simpson, but looks like the medieval aesthetic won out, leaving them both looking like Some Dude (and mostly taking "bridge" literally!). But that seems to be the risk in trying to include a bunch of distinct, disparate things.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:52 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎨 Beijing CCTV surveillance headquarters, illustration by Hugh Ferriss

It definitely nailed his monolithic style, though most of them are a bit more colorful and modernist than his other works.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:57 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

A drawing of a stylized elongated cat gracefully leaping over a sandwich

IF you have a chance after everyone else's request, maybe try something like Stick figure drawing of an elongated cat gracefully leaping. That's the part I'm having the most trouble visualizing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah, got the "imposing" part, but not so much the lighting and medium.
posted by LionIndex at 6:00 PM on July 2, 2022

LionIndex: "Yeah, got the "imposing" part, but not so much the lighting and medium."

Yeah, it seems to have more success with artists whose styles are widely known and imitated, like Van Gogh or Magritte. For more niche stuff it can often get the gist, but it definitely helps to spell out the aesthetic you want in addition to namechecking the artist.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:03 PM on July 2, 2022

Thanks very much, Rhaomi! The full AI did much better with that prompt than craiyon did.

Craiyon gave me a recognizable Homer and a more starship Enterprise background, but totally whiffed on Count Dracula and the kissing.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:06 PM on July 2, 2022

Still have 39 prompts left -- gonna take a second run at some of the weaker results in a bit if there aren't any new requests.

Greg_Ace, are there any examples you can find of the style you're looking for? I was thinking of asking for a photo of tattoo art, but that would tend to be more colorful and detailed than "stick figure drawing", which I expect would look pretty crude. Is that the aesthetic you're after, or more like something elegant/minimalist?
posted by Rhaomi at 6:40 PM on July 2, 2022

Tried the snail/beetle Go game a couple more times -- as expected, "A snail and a beetle playing Go" missed the "Go" part entirely, and ended up looking like nature photography (though the snail and beetle were much clearer in that context). Trying something more verbose ("Chinese board game Go, black and white stones on a grid. A snail and a beetle are on the Go board.") got closer to the game's appearance (by no means accurate!) while the snail and beetle became less prominent.

Feels like there's a sort of "semantic limit", and it has trouble balancing something as complex and regimented as a Go board with the distinctive concepts of "snail" and "beetle." I imagine something like chess would be similar -- chess-like pieces on a grid-like surface, sure, but the closer you get to describing Actual Chess the less room there is for the particulars of the players. (Though it might work slightly better given that "chess" is a less ambiguous term than "Go").
posted by Rhaomi at 6:55 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

prompt: electromagnetic radiation
prompt: electromagnetic spectrum

(doing some reading/research today, it's where my brain is!)
posted by curious nu at 6:57 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

(also: this is great, thank you!)
posted by curious nu at 6:57 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 electromagnetic radiation

Heavy on the stock photo vibe, though it also gives us our first delightful example of DALL-E attempting to do text: RADDIAD INDIAL INVIATOI!
posted by Rhaomi at 7:00 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is very cool! Thank you for doing this.

I don't know how basic to be.

With the DALL-E mini I like to be as basic as possible with the text, eg "Ivan Aivazovsky waves," and I'd get something like my user picture.

Do I need to specify that it's a painting for this?

If basic: Ivan Aivazovsky waves
If less basic: An Ivan Aivazovsky painting of ocean waves on a cloudy day

See also: Ivan Aivazovsky clouds

I would love to see the gallery.
posted by rustybullrake at 7:02 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Greg_Ace, are there any examples you can find of the style you're looking for?

Yeah, elegant/minimalist are better words - less than just a drawing of a cat but not a crude stick figure. Maybe something like this or this - I like the arched back - but less "realistic". Sort of the way the Uffington Horse isn't an accurate horse, but more the feeling of a horse.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:02 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Angels dancing on a Rubik's Cube.

A fox riding on a turtle on a rocket ship.

A dung beetle inside a turbo encabulator with daisies.
posted by sammyo at 7:03 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Christopher Lee Dracula at a night market eating a hotdog

You say it is good at specific film things? Request is for
jupiter-9 Zeiss lens on ektachrome tungsten balance

If that's too specific take things out!

If you have extra, octopus playing with a Rubik's cube surrounded by coral, art nouveau
posted by lookoutbelow at 7:04 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you’re willing to do another one for me, I would enjoy “photorealistic platonic solids made of fruits on a wooden tray”
posted by Mizu at 7:04 PM on July 2, 2022

Tried the Loch Ness one again with the added tag "lots of ornamentation and detail" and got better results; my favorite.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:06 PM on July 2, 2022 [9 favorites]

Should have mentioned this in the post, but there are thousands of great examples on /r/dalle2 if you want some inspiration or to get a better idea of what works and what doesn't.

rustybullrake: "I don't know how basic to be."

More detail is usually better -- without context, it tends to default to generic cartoonish illustrations or stock photo style images; if you can specify a style that helps to focus things. Of course there are two schools of thought...
posted by Rhaomi at 7:09 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Heavy on the stock photo vibe, though it also gives us our first delightful example of DALL-E attempting to do text: RADDIAD INDIAL INVIATOI!

Oh wow, it went heavy on the "radiation" huh :D
posted by curious nu at 7:13 PM on July 2, 2022

A dogsled being pulled by all chihuahuas except the chihuahuas are the size of huskies, and a cat is driving the sled.
posted by Jarcat at 7:14 PM on July 2, 2022

Rainbow unicorn pegasus kitten on a spaceship.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:16 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 A beautiful, realistic, luminous painting of rough ocean waves under a cloudy sky, by Ivan Aivazovsky, oil on canvas, 1881

Gorgeous results all around.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:17 PM on July 2, 2022 [10 favorites]

Ok, final answers:

1. An Ivan Aivazovsky painting of ocean waves on a sunny day with cumulonimbus clouds in the background
2. Godzilla by Albert Bierstadt
posted by rustybullrake at 7:18 PM on July 2, 2022

Volkswagen Beetle engine replacement diagram by Katsuhiro Otomo
posted by at by at 7:22 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

🎨 Photograph of Christopher Lee's Dracula eating a hotdog at a night market, Zeiss Jupiter-9 85mm lens, Ektachrome film

Greg_Ace: "Yeah, elegant/minimalist are better words - less than just a drawing of a cat but not a crude stick figure. Maybe something like this or this - I like the arched back - but less "realistic". Sort of the way the Uffington Horse isn't an accurate horse, but more the feeling of a horse."

Tried once more with "Elegant minimalist tattoo art of a long sleek cat leaping gracefully over a sandwich" and got some more promising results; let me know if you like any of them and I can post the full res. (Also the cut-off ones can be filled in with the inpainting function later, but I'm going to start on some of the newer requests for now.)
posted by Rhaomi at 7:31 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

oh my lol:

🎨 A team of giant chihuahuas pulling a dogsled. A cat is the musher riding the dogsled.

I really wish this thing still had unlimited prompts, I could play with these wordings all day.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:39 PM on July 2, 2022 [17 favorites]

the paperclip maximizer wins

or

end of civilization caused by the paperclip maximizer
posted by lalochezia at 7:39 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Rainbow unicorn pegasus kitten on a spaceship

The others were nice too, but that's the only one that included some Pegasus wings.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:42 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

🎨 Volkswagen Beetle engine replacement diagram by Katsuhiro Otomo

Engine schematics definitely overpowered Otomo here, I might revisit this one later with more manga keywords.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:46 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

🎨 End of civilization caused by a paperclip maximizer AI

I WANT TO BELIEVE
posted by Rhaomi at 7:49 PM on July 2, 2022 [8 favorites]

🎨 Volkswagen Beetle engine replacement diagram by Katsuhiro Otomo

Engine schematics definitely overpowered Otomo here, I might revisit this one later with more manga keywords.

Oh my gosh I would spend 50 prompts just coming up with fantastical schematics.
posted by curious nu at 7:50 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

CELPPIUIMA PIIND CILL
APICMANT





A̸̧̛̫̹͔̭͉̹̱̬̹͔̳̗̻͇̣̪̭̮͚͉͇̱̤̠͕͎̜͖͉̝̦͑̓̉͂́͒̆͐̈́̃͋͒͆̾͂̔̒̇̓̎̏̀̅͒̑̐͘̕͘͘̕̚͜͠͠͝͠ͅͅͅL̵̨̢̧̥̝̝̺̱̠̼̯͔̙̥̳̲͇͎̜̱̞͖͕̠̕͜ͅĻ̶̨̧͕͓̘̘̩̫̝̥͈̩̫̼͔̭̙̟̭̱̟̗̻͓̺̦͈̟̉̃͌ ̵̝̀̐̓̀̾͋̆̀͗͒͘H̷̛͙̬̭͚͕̥̣͍͖̊͋̿̂͗̿̊́̏̽͆̀̅̌̆̈́̐̃̃̉̈̈́̆̒̀̾͛̕̚͝Ą̵̢̨͈̥̤͖̼̪̣͔̬͓͚̲̭̱̝͍̼̯͕͈͔̟͙̘͊̇̈͐͑͊͌̀̆̽͋̄̄̍́̚̚͠͝ͅͅĨ̶̧̛͎̭̪̫̳̞͎͚͖̝͖̏͆͐͑̍͛̓̔̋͌͋̎̈́́͛̍̓͗̄̈́̎̏͐͆̀͑͊̾͜͝͝͝Ļ̷̧̧̧̧̢̛͖͙̺̰͕̲̖͉̩͎͖͈̲͕̝̮̜̘͍̹͔̙̯̜̱̼̘͎̺͎̅̽͛͒́͂́͆͊̾̈̇̄͐̾͗̄̓̀̃̈͋͗̚̕͜͝͝ ̵̢̢̛̻̼̬̥̱̦͉̞̮̮̞͓͚̜̗̳̹̘̯͍̻͍̮̝͓̤͙͔͚͉̱̖̥̦͇͒̀̈̎͑̐̃͛͆͆̉̐̑̾̏̒͂̚͜͝T̸͚̥̠̥͋̒͒̀H̴͍͐́̈́͋͒̉͊̃̑̂̈́̿̔̋̑͒̀̇̈̓͆̎̚̚͠Ẻ̵͓̭̰̥̭̜̺̲͕̲̪͚̟͍̑̎̓̃̓͊̈̇́͜͝͝ ̵̧̨̧̹̱͇̹͕̫̞̙͚̝̱͇͕̟̱̀̐́̏̿̓̿̈̿͋́͊̅̄ͅN̴̛̻̝̖͇̺̹̈́͊̈́̂̋͂̃͌̽͛̾̆̅͐͛͛̈́͗̈́̎̌́͋̍̈͒̈́͌̅̕͘͜͝͝͝͝Ę̸̡̨̧̼̘̙̩̙̖̣̣̯̪̳̫̬̦̪̭̬͎̊͋͌̿͗̐͛͂̄̑͐̆̓̆̏̉̈́͆͑̔̔͗̆̓͒̑̔̈̔̅̏͗̆̚̚͜͜͝͠͝͝͝ͅW̷̢̨̨̛̛̜͇̹̼̲̬̞̘̮̠̳̜̲̼̜̖̹̤̍͐͗̀̽̿̾͑̃̀̂͒̀̽͒́̋̅̓̃̾̊̔̽́̂̽̑͋̈̚̚͘͜͠͝ ̵̢̩͖͓͍̖͚̻̤̰͔͓͈̘̞̣̞̬̲͔̫̗̥̘̪̂̄͆̂̓̔̌̈́́̐̋̑̂̌̐͘͝͝ͅF̸̢̨̱̝̳͇̮̜͎̠̱̝̳̻̪͓́̀͐̇̑̎͐̿͒̃̕͝͝ͅͅL̷̡̡̛̩̰̹̗͓͓̱͔̭͖̖͎̻͙̰͗̎̂̍̋̾̔̄̈́͋̂͑͑̐̏͑̅́̾̂̽͐̓͆̄̌̓̅̉̓̒̀̕͘Ě̵̡̝̗̪̜͎̟̙͚̱̦̠̪̻͙̗̜̇̃͌͋̃̄̒̒̓͝͝S̴̭͔̲̥͇̥̃̈́́̈̀̉̆̔͛̂͂͝Ḣ̸̡̧̢̧̪̮̳̩͔͈̤̣̝̬̱̬̦̲̥͎͉͉̠͕̳̭̜̟͇̲̤̯̟̪͉̞̫̮̈̚ͅ
posted by lalochezia at 7:54 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Tried once more with "Elegant minimalist tattoo art of a long sleek cat leaping gracefully over a sandwich"

The lower middle one is closest to what's in my head, but I think my inability to accurately describe my idea is the fly in this particular ointment. Thank you so much for trying!
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:57 PM on July 2, 2022

albert einstein turned into a klein bottle
posted by lalochezia at 7:58 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

A photograph of a presidential debate between Jesus Christ and a sentient Roomba.

(I previously got GPT-3 to generate a coherent news article about this debate so it would be fun to have an illustration to accompany it)
posted by BungaDunga at 7:59 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎨 A Klein bottle that looks like Albert Einstein

Look into his eyes. He longs for death.

Greg_Ace: "The lower middle one is closest to what's in my head"

Full res version
posted by Rhaomi at 8:03 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

"What time is it? It's tooth hurty!"
posted by lalochezia at 8:06 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨Digital art of a werewolf baker mixing dough under a giant licorice Eiffel Tower.

Pretty great! (Weirdly, the others were almost completely off-topic.)
posted by Rhaomi at 8:07 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

(I guess a presidential debate might count as too close to politics for the policy though...)
posted by BungaDunga at 8:11 PM on July 2, 2022

Yeah BungaDunga, their main concern is avoiding political deepfakes and I imagine a photo of a presidential debate would run afoul of that (not to mention the religious angle!)

Took another crack at LionIndex's request and got a better result:

🎨Perspective drawing of the Beijing CCTV surveillance headquarters building, monolithic Art Deco architecture illustration by Hugh Ferriss, dramatic lighting
posted by Rhaomi at 8:14 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

🎨 Angels dancing on top of a Rubik's Cube, digital art (got two good ones here)

Fun fact: It's almost impossible to get DALL-E to generate a solved Rubik's cube.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:20 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Rhaomi, thank you so much! You made my night, that was somehow better than I could have hoped for.
posted by Jarcat at 8:24 PM on July 2, 2022

Speaking of which...

🎨 An octopus holding a Rubik's cube amidst a coral reef, Art Nouveau style

They were all really striking in their own way, hard to pick just one!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:26 PM on July 2, 2022 [8 favorites]

Past the halfway point now!

Mizu: "If you’re willing to do another one for me, I would enjoy “photorealistic platonic solids made of fruits on a wooden tray”"

To avoid burning another prompt, I've seen a very similar one before that you might like.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:30 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Exasperated librarian at the beach.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:36 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Holy cow this was a good one:

🎨 Godzilla approaching Tokyo, incredibly realistic landscape painting with monumental scale and beautiful atmospheric lighting by Albert Bierstadt

Gonna post them all in full resolution, they were so impressive:

one - two - three - four - five - six
posted by Rhaomi at 8:40 PM on July 2, 2022 [12 favorites]

🎨 An exasperated librarian at the beach, digital art

These were all quite nice -- I also liked this more painterly one.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:45 PM on July 2, 2022 [13 favorites]

Julius Caeser roasting meat in plaid shorts with a cigar.
posted by clavdivs at 8:47 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Julius Caesar barbecuing while wearing plaid shorts and smoking a cigar

Is that the fabled grass crown, or just some garnish?
posted by Rhaomi at 8:51 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Whichever of these might work best or you like best (mix n match n omit as needed)

STYLE - watercolor / sketch / oil painting / sepia photo
DESCRIPTION - solar-powered recumbent tricycle / solar-powered flevo trike / recumbent e-bike with solar trailer
BACKGROUND - pacific coast / big sur / muscle beach / redwood grove / golden gate bridge
VERBS - camping / biking / parked
posted by aniola at 8:56 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

absolutely amazing.
posted by clavdivs at 8:59 PM on July 2, 2022

Prompt #30!

🎨 Watercolor sketch of a solar-powered recumbent tricycle riding down the Pacific Coast Highway

This turned out very nicely, though the scenery was not as picturesque as I'd hoped. Let me know if there's any you want in full resolution!

clavdivs: "absolutely amazing."

I love the power move of smoking the cigar while holding another cigar in his hand.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:03 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Ancient Silk route done in Subway (transit) map style
posted by dhruva at 9:08 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Detailed schematic of the Singularity AI
posted by flabdablet at 9:10 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

Detailed blueprint of Roko's Basilisk including source code in JavaScript
posted by flabdablet at 9:12 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

IKEA instructions for reversing the extinction of the thylacine
posted by flabdablet at 9:16 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

🎨 Subway-style transit map of the ancient Silk Road trade route

Worked better than I thought -- I especially like how most look yellowed with age despite the modern design. Let me know if there's any you want in full size!
posted by Rhaomi at 9:17 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

🎨 Detailed schematic of the singularity AI

The best of some not-great options.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:20 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ooh, since it can do video games…

A painterly illustration of a Warframe drinking from a china teacup

(Feel free to replace “painterly illustration” with other stylistic words, I’d just like it to look more like art than a screenshot.)
posted by brook horse at 9:24 PM on July 2, 2022

The best of some not-great options.

I'm happy with those. Let's print them all out, stick them in a briefcase with some cocaine and go get our VC funding.
posted by flabdablet at 9:27 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

(Realized that “war” might trip the sensors. If so, “illustration of a Kavat in a sweater” instead.)
posted by brook horse at 9:33 PM on July 2, 2022

Gnomon image of the Michelson-Morley experiment as it applies to Bohmian Pilot Wave Theory.
posted by effluvia at 9:38 PM on July 2, 2022

Detailed schematic of the Singularity AI

Nice try, but Skynet won't be fooled that easily! No handy exhaust port this time fly-boy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:39 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Took another crack at LionIndex's request and got a better result:

Yes! Sufficiently ominous.
posted by LionIndex at 9:44 PM on July 2, 2022

Sorry y'all, had to take a phone call.

brook horse: "Realized that “war” might trip the sensors."

It actually got through!

🎨 A Warframe robot from the video game Warframe drinking tea from a china teacup, painterly digital art.

Maybe because of the compound word, or perhaps they loosened up a bit.

I'm not super familiar with the game, but let me know if any of them strikes your fancy and I'll post the full size version.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:51 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, excellent, thank you! The top middle one is definitely my favorite. “Cheers!”
posted by brook horse at 9:53 PM on July 2, 2022

Brideshead Revisited in the Warhammer 40K universe
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:53 PM on July 2, 2022

My nephew is like no way, not to be a hog but.

An Australian cattle dog with black fur driving a 1965 corvette in downtown Detroit.
posted by clavdivs at 9:54 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Gnomon image of the Michelson-Morley experiment as it applies to Bohmian Pilot Wave Theory

I know what some of these words mean! (Not the DALL-E ones, nobody knows what those mean.)

brook horse: "Oh, excellent, thank you! The top middle one is definitely my favorite. “Cheers!”"

Full size version!
posted by Rhaomi at 9:56 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎨 Brideshead Revisited, in the style of Warhammer 40K

Looks like a case of not enough context. Maybe it would work better with a specific character or situation?
posted by Rhaomi at 10:00 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎨 A photo of a black Australian cattle dog driving a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette in downtown Detroit

Interestingly, the shiny reflective finish you see on the Corvette in most (actual) images of it seems to rub off on the dog in most of them.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:06 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Ford pinto in the style of Wayne Thiebaud

stained glass astronaut holding boombox
posted by spork at 10:08 PM on July 2, 2022

A cat, a dog, an accountant and a pseudodragon playing Dungeons and Dragons.
posted by mark k at 10:08 PM on July 2, 2022

Toulouse-Lautrec version of a Mandelbrot set on a Jacob's Ladder, please and thank you.
posted by riverlife at 10:08 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 A Pop Art painting of a Ford Pinto by Wayne Thiebaud

The best of several good ones!
posted by Rhaomi at 10:17 PM on July 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

Humanoid robots cooking classical french food in a beautiful kitchen.
posted by alchemist at 10:21 PM on July 2, 2022

Maybe it would work better with a specific character or situation?

Fair point. A young Jeremy Irons as a WH40K space marine
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:22 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 A dog, a cat, a businessman, and a dragon playing a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game, digital art

It's definitely tough to squeeze so many distinct creatures into one context -- this one was close-ish but the others were various amalgamations.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:24 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

Geet Finkus, studio portrait
posted by contraption at 10:29 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Mandelbrot set fractal on top of a Jacob's Ladder, painting by Toulouse-Lautrec
posted by Rhaomi at 10:35 PM on July 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Joan of arc refusing the extended warranty for a food processor at best buy.
posted by Literaryhero at 10:36 PM on July 2, 2022

🎨 Humanoid robots cooking classical French food in a beautiful kitchen

Another unexpectedly fantastic one! Here are all of them:

one - two - three - four - five - six

Ten more prompts to go! Though at this point it's a race against me needing to go to bed...
posted by Rhaomi at 10:40 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

You can disregard mine, honestly. Go to sleep. :)
posted by Literaryhero at 10:42 PM on July 2, 2022

How about illustrating our (mefi admin) most recent spam?:

"those are looks like a drug site .it is not good for kids."
posted by taz (staff) at 10:49 PM on July 2, 2022

... or, you know, go to bed, like a HUMAN BEING. ❤️
posted by taz (staff) at 10:50 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

🎨 Joan of Arc refusing the extended warranty for a food processor at Best Buy

lol

contraption: "Geet Finkus, studio portrait"

Was going to try a pseudo style transfer using inpainting since I'm sure it won't recognize a niche Twitter account, but unfortunately OpenAI blocks using photos with real faces. So here's the results for a regular prompt, which doesn't touch on the Twitter account but does show off DALL-E's facial generation abilities:

🎨 A studio portrait of Twitter user Geet Finkus (@geetfinkus)

Taz: I'm surprised it let "drug" through!

🎨 "those are looks like a drug site .it is not good for kids."

taz: "... or, you know, go to bed, like a HUMAN BEING. ❤️"

I'm a night owl anyways, lol. Plus I'm so... close... (seven more!)
posted by Rhaomi at 10:59 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

From upthread:

🎨 The abstract concept of intransigence petting a Swedish vallhund puppy on a drag strip
posted by Rhaomi at 11:02 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

For curious nu:

🎨 The Electromagnetic Spectrum, digital art
posted by Rhaomi at 11:04 PM on July 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

For sammyo:

🎨 A dung beetle inside a turbo encabulator with daisies.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:07 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Mizu:

🎨 photorealistic platonic solids made of fruits on a wooden tray
posted by Rhaomi at 11:09 PM on July 2, 2022 [10 favorites]

Omg it made like, superpowered gushers. Or like, a spiritual pomegranate themed offering. I LOVE IT. Can I get full res??
posted by Mizu at 11:11 PM on July 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Redoing the VW beetle manga one; now this is more like it:

🎨 Anime key art of a Volkswagen Beetle engine replacement, manga art by Katsuhiro Otomo

one - two - three - four - five - six

Mizu: "I LOVE IT. Can I get full res??"

That's it! It tops out at 1024x1024.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:14 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

Second attempt for lalochezia:

🎨 Humanity being destroyed by a paperclip-maximizing supercomputer AI, digital art
posted by Rhaomi at 11:16 PM on July 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

I don't know if you have any left, but
An octopus eating a crab in the style of Tanaka Isson
posted by birdsquared at 11:24 PM on July 2, 2022

That's all folks! Also, here's an Imgur gallery of all the pics uploaded in this thread.

I'm locked out for the next 17 hours, but feel free to leave more ideas. I won't be able to do everything as thoroughly as tonight (I have some side projects I'm using DALL-E for, plus I do want to play around with it myself!) but I'll keep checking back as long as the thread is open and fulfill ones that tickle my fancy. Can't wait until this is broadly available and see what everyone can do with it!
posted by Rhaomi at 11:26 PM on July 2, 2022 [13 favorites]

Thank you Rhaomi!! I'm having a blast looking through these! Sweet dreams. 🌙✨
posted by taz (staff) at 11:28 PM on July 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

This was fun and SUCH a great distraction compared to my usual Saturday night doomscrolling. Thank you Rhaomi, and thanks to everyone’s creative and absurd requests. I have even more questions about mefites now than I did before!
posted by Mizu at 11:37 PM on July 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Yes, fantastic. Thanks so much, Rhaomi. I'm glad you did my Joan of Arc request, it is more perfect than I could have imagined. Honestly every one of these is brilliant and it was a great time looking through all of them.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:11 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

a dramatic oil painting of a group of robed priests worshipping their leviathan lobster god

I like how some of the priests have lobster claws for heads. Ecclesiastical headpieces? Or are they transcending their mortal state?
posted by taz (staff) at 12:37 AM on July 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

Oh, and the angels dancing on the Rubik's cube one ... I get the feeling we have a bit of an angel-angel and Victoria's-Secret-angel mashup there.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:04 AM on July 3, 2022

Thanks Rhaomi, that was a great!
posted by effluvia at 4:11 AM on July 3, 2022

If you get a second wind: Star Trek Commander Riker chair manoeuver in the style of Francis Bacon

These are awesome, and what a welcome diversion to, y'know, it all. Thanks, Rhaomi, and happy Sunday!
posted by cocoagirl at 4:17 AM on July 3, 2022

Snow leopard pulling a teardrop camper trailer.
posted by Mitheral at 4:38 AM on July 3, 2022

A Great Dane puppy teaching a university math class, in the style of Miró.

These are all super fun!
posted by obfuscation at 4:54 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is such a cool idea. I'm having trouble with the cover of a new album I want to (self) release. Maybe Dall-E can help?

(Symbolic) Time gets introduced to (symbolic) Space in geometric style

I don't know if "symbolic" is needed here, hence the parentheses. You will know better than me what is best so please use your own judgement Rhaomi.
posted by Kosmob0t at 5:16 AM on July 3, 2022

I never got around to finishing my FPP with potato-themed AI images, but please enjoy Potato with face being attacked by butterflies.
posted by mmoncur at 7:08 AM on July 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

These were all so awesome. Thank you for sharing Rhaomi!
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:26 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Awesome! If you do more, I’d LOVE: Edward Hopper style oil painting looking down a dingy apartment hallway. A brown-haired man stoops to gently usher a sparrow on the dark olive green carpet towards the window at the far end of the hallway, where bright light dramatically streams in.
posted by daisyace at 7:59 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Excellent!

When prompted with “thingamajig” and “thingamabob” (and a bunch of other strings starting with “thing”) Dall-E Mini draws pictures based on the Icelandic village of Þingeyri (which it parses as thingeyri). Can you see what Dall-E 2 draws when prompted with “thingamajig” and “thingamabob”?
posted by Kattullus at 8:11 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Classical French cooking is more baguette-focused than one would have thought.
posted by BrashTech at 8:31 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nils Berglund, Double Slit Experiment Rhaomi, here's an example of what I was hoping for. I probably should have made some light specifications.
posted by effluvia at 8:40 AM on July 3, 2022

more baguette-focused than one would have thought

Utter sausagefest of baguettes! Popping up anywhere, signifying French!
posted by away for regrooving at 9:16 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

A realistic mechanical drawing depicting the fourth dimension. Or, four-dimensional origami. You pick. It's always my favorite pick to start AI drawing engines on. #pixray has an app that lets you create interconnected tiles and I went nuts with that, making "depictions of the 4th dimension" in the style of Mondrian, Dali, Escher, Bob Ross, etc. Interesting looking but ultimately 2-d. (Draperies and vertical landscapes worked better)

Yep, once an AI can transport me into the fourth dimension, I'll know it's the real deal.
posted by not_on_display at 10:04 AM on July 3, 2022

Am I too late to ask..?

Nighthawks but with emoji representing Jessamyn, Cortex, clavdivs, hippybear, Rhaomi, Empress Callipygos, and other Metafilter correspondents. clavdivs may be inside or outside, but "inside" and "outside" are, according to the deciphered clavdivs playbook, inside/outside the frame of the painting.
posted by k3ninho at 10:31 AM on July 3, 2022

> 🎨 Anime key art of a Volkswagen Beetle engine replacement, manga art by Katsuhiro Otomo

Oh damn that's great!

I'll happily move myself to the back of the queue since you've already done a request of mine (twice! thanks!) but if I get another go: "hydraulic press Naruto running in the park, drawn by Boris Artzybasheff"
posted by at by at 10:41 AM on July 3, 2022

(For those not familiar with Artzybasheff, his work was halfway into Dall-E territory back in the 1940s.)
posted by at by at 10:47 AM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Was going to try a pseudo style transfer using inpainting since I'm sure it won't recognize a niche Twitter account, but unfortunately OpenAI blocks using photos with real faces. So here's the results for a regular prompt, which doesn't touch on the Twitter account but does show off DALL-E's facial generation abilities:

Oh wow, I had no idea somebody had used "Geet Finkus" as the name of their Twitter account! It's a nonsense name from a podcast, and I had meant to let the AI decide based on that name alone what a portrait of "Geet Finkus" should look like. These results are interesting but do seem to be skewed in a "Twitter avatar" direction where I was hoping to leave open media other than photography and the possibility that Geet is a historical figure who would not be on Twitter.
posted by contraption at 12:55 PM on July 3, 2022

Schematic plan for a working time machine
posted by zompist at 1:33 PM on July 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

Every year since I saw a post on the blue about it, I’ve been drawing a version for a friend on his birthday, so I would love to see

A horse with human hands riding a bicycle
posted by oomny at 2:50 PM on July 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

domesticated miniature pet bear sitting on its owner’s lap


(thank you for your service)
posted by cabbage raccoon at 3:02 PM on July 3, 2022

(Thanks Rhaomi, best of MetaFilter, my parents were utterly amazed and this brought conversation and excitement for like a hour and a half last night, just cool sir)
posted by clavdivs at 3:05 PM on July 3, 2022 [5 favorites]

A cat eating a rhinoceros beetle in the style of Hieronymus Bosch.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:12 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

🎨 The abstract concept of intransigence petting a Swedish vallhund puppy on a drag strip

Oh, thank you, and I'm sorry to that poor puppy.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:18 PM on July 3, 2022

Thank you, Rhaomi! That was interesting!
posted by dhruva at 5:03 PM on July 3, 2022

WHAT DO WE WANT?
Schematic plan for a working time machine
WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
Doesn't matter...
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:14 PM on July 3, 2022 [7 favorites]

Oh, thank you, and I'm sorry to that poor puppy.

I know, right?! I keep telling myself that it's not a real dog, but my brain isn't going for it.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:31 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Moose and a beaver in a canoe in lake ontario in front of the Toronto skyline (including CN tower and skydome) with fireworks going off in the sky

Possibly in the style of Lawren Harris, but I don't want to get too demanding.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:54 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

if there's any room - I would LOVE to see a "maria prymachenko painting of cats and a woman reading in a chair with a cup of coffee in a garden full of flowers" which is basically my DREAM.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:59 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

“this is fine dog”
posted by Going To Maine at 6:51 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Painting of an abandoned shopping mall by Zdzisław Beksiński
posted by dephlogisticated at 6:52 PM on July 3, 2022

Also congrats on getting access to this—it has so many hidden biases and strange pathways, just to think this decade has been only the infancy of this kind of technology... well, {{shudder}} so much potential for ANYTHING
posted by not_on_display at 6:53 PM on July 3, 2022

Roger Daltrey, but in the Farrah Fawcett swimsuit poster.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 7:06 PM on July 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

(because no one wants to see that)
posted by shoesfullofdust at 7:07 PM on July 3, 2022

I didn't know I wanted to see that but now I 100% want to see that.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:36 PM on July 3, 2022 [8 favorites]

I just had a flashback that I won't be fooled again
posted by clavdivs at 8:49 PM on July 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

We'll see Roger on the sheet
With Farrah at our feet
And the poster that we worshiped will be gone
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:26 PM on July 3, 2022

Thank you! That was adorable!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:51 PM on July 3, 2022

Babe Ruth in uniform, in the batter's box at Yankee Stadium with a mug of beer in 1 hand and a hot dog in the other hand.

And/or Babe Ruth with his arm around Shohei Ohtani with the Yankee Stadium facade in the background. i
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:13 PM on July 3, 2022

"We'll see Roger on the sheet
With Farrah at our feet
And the poster that we worshiped will be gone"

I'd defy the photonic requests and create a video to "Dust in the Wind", the AI has the two in Vegas driving a 58' Mercedes with Stan Laurel driving and the poster projecting from a sunroof hologram-a-matic.
posted by clavdivs at 11:23 PM on July 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

"We can't stop here, this is Cheryl Tiegs country."
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:13 AM on July 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

His hair is perfect for it, no change needed there.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:19 AM on July 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

We did 'Synthwave Jesus walking into the ocean at sunset' on the Dall E Mini and it was AWESOME. We really want to see it in the bigger, better version if you get the chance please.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:20 AM on July 4, 2022

My ideas are all just boring art mashups, e.g. “the great wave off Kanagawa, expressionist painting by Edvard Munch,” “Girl with a pearl earring, cubist painting by Pablo Picasso,” or “American Gothic, painting by Rembrandt van Rijn.”
posted by fedward at 10:20 AM on July 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

“Shai hulud destroying San Francisco”
posted by Going To Maine at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

An orchid apologizing as it eats a knight in armor, art deco style
posted by Carillon at 1:37 PM on July 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

as if comments and requests blur.

Hockneys 1967 Splash" with a UFO by the palm tree.
posted by clavdivs at 2:06 PM on July 4, 2022

This was so cool!

I can't imagine this would work, especially since no one seems to know the artist, but Captain America in the style of Thomas Wilmer Dewing.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 2:13 PM on July 4, 2022

A modular synthesizer in the form of a moon jellyfish wherein the tentacles and oral arms are patch cables, color lithograph, in the style of Ernst Haeckel
posted by naju at 3:00 PM on July 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

These are fantastic - thank you for doing them!

Not sure if the lockout means you aren't doing anymore at all or whether there will be more later, but if the latter, I'd love to see dogs playing poker in the style of Chagall.
posted by Mchelly at 3:06 PM on July 4, 2022

I had this silly urge to see a truly Canadian image: Canada geese playing ice hockey with lacrosse sticks and a basketball.

Note that it's probably important to specify ice hockey as I assume an American-trained AI would not make that distinction by default...
posted by cgg at 4:38 PM on July 4, 2022

it's probably important to specify ice hockey

I dunno, having lived in a bunch of states (many of which I actively regret, sorry-not-sorry Tennessee), it seems that (with the exception of Ivy-adjacent states) most of the country understands hockey to be one thing: ice hockey.

...in Canada, sure, you'd have to clarify if you meant field hockey, or broom-ball, or ringette, but in most of the US all hockey is ice hockey -- unless you're hoity-toity in New England, in which case field hockey is an option.

...but in Texas? Hockey = ice hockey. California? Hockey = ice hockey. Oregon? Hockey = ice hockey. Illinois? Hockey = ice hockey, et cetera.
posted by aramaic at 6:51 PM on July 4, 2022

A few more minis: Potato with cat face, Potato dressed as a pirate for Halloween, Potato with face being interviewed by Johnny Carson, and One million potatoes march on Washington.
posted by mmoncur at 7:46 PM on July 4, 2022

Since I missed this earlier, I had a go with DALL-E mini: A giant moth attacking London, drawn by Ronald Searle
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:34 AM on July 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

A Kraken attacking a ship, blue and white delftware tile
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:46 AM on July 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

ukiyo-e of a triffid
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:56 AM on July 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

ukiyo-e of a pitcher plant
… and that’s probably time to stop spamming the thread.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 4:05 AM on July 5, 2022

My personal experience is to treat craiyon.com like a kaleidoscope, where the "artist" works with the randomness of the materials to slowly and maticulously work towards generating something interesting.

And as a systems / knowledge guy, I'm super fascinated by how subtle changes can create different outcomes. I imagine in my head a spreadsheet that captures and catalogues the various attributes and descriptors with annotations, maybe with a front-end that let's you turn on and off 'best result' options.

So, for the style column, it may say "drawn in the style of yakuza tattoo" or "painted in the Dutch rennisancw style". And in the mood column there's great options like "dramatic" "hyper realistic" "relentless positivity" etc.

But such small variations have an impact. Do the descriptions need to be sentences? Is "cartoon of a cat trying to unlock its car in the style of the far side, 1930" the same as "cat unlock car 1930 far side"? And if so, how does that affect the table?

AAAAANYWAY as an unconfident artist I keep generating thumbnails that have incredible composition and color use, which I say I could base artwork of my own on, but of course I'm too busy not making the art I want to make.

Secondly, as a policy consultant and data analyst, j keep seeing images that are super close to amazing clip art and stock photos of things that I'd never actually get clip art of, but because the person has eyespots instead of eyes, I can't use it 🤷‍♂️
posted by rebent at 5:13 AM on July 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Was demoing this IRL yesterday, so not sure how many more prompts I have left today. Let's find out!

Mitheral:
🎨 Photograph of a snow leopard pulling a teardrop camper trailer.

obfuscation:
🎨 Abstract surrealist painting of a Great Dane puppy teaching a university math class, oil on canvas by Joan Miró, 1925

Kosm0bot (note that their terms don't allow commercial use!):
🎨 The personification of Time and the personification of Space meeting each other, geometric style

Aw, less than I thought. But I'll try doing more tonight after work!
posted by Rhaomi at 10:32 AM on July 5, 2022 [9 favorites]

Thank you very much Rhaomi, also for the warning!
posted by Kosmob0t at 10:38 AM on July 5, 2022

I'm getting that printed and framed FOR SURE.
posted by obfuscation at 11:40 AM on July 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've been playing with a similar AI tool called Midjourney, and posting oodles of ridiculous cat/art goofiness on Instagram, if anyone is into things like “a cat dressed in a watermelon costume” or “new yorker cartoon of a cat transforming into a horrible kafkaesque insect”.
posted by oulipian at 7:10 PM on July 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

A few more tonight:

birdsquared:
🎨 An octopus eating a crab, colorful sharp-edged Rinpa School lithograph by Tanaka Isson, 1969

daisyace:
🎨 Perspective painting of a long dark hallway leading to a brown-haired man reaching towards a sparrow next to a single window, oil on canvas by Edward Hopper

Kattullus:
🎨 thingamajig

effluvia:
🎨 The double-slit experiment using interference patterns to demonstrate wave-particle duality of light, digital art

not_on_display:
🎨 four-dimensional origami and origami tesseract

k3ninho: Tried the emoji Nighthawks one a couple times and couldn't get anything satisfactory -- generating it created cartoon-looking scenes with only a vague resemblance to the painting, and using inpainting to replace the faces only made them blurrier. 😔

at by:
🎨 A hydraulic press shaped like Naruto running in the park, surreal monochrome drawing by Boris Artzybasheff

contraption:
🎨 Geet Finkus, studio portrait

zompist: asking for schematics/diagrams of anything is generally a bad idea, not even worth screenshotting tbh. (And I'm not just saying that to keep the secret of chronomancy to myself!)
posted by Rhaomi at 11:52 PM on July 5, 2022 [9 favorites]

These are awesome. Thank you, Rhaomi!
posted by shoesfullofdust at 12:25 AM on July 6, 2022

Thank you, Rhaomi! I’m a tiny bit disappointed that Dall-E 2 has better parameters to parse “thingamajig”, but I suppose that’s the price of progress.
posted by Kattullus at 1:35 AM on July 6, 2022

Cave painting of a swan
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 6:50 AM on July 6, 2022

Wow, really beautiful suite of concepts. Thank you.
posted by effluvia at 7:38 AM on July 6, 2022

Rhaomi, as an illustration to something I'm working on I've been looking for a nighttime image of a star falling on a lush, wild green foreground landscape, with sea / ocean in background, Art Nouveau style, more stylized = better. The star is in the sky, obviously falling, and the trajectory will have it landing on the land, not the sea -- or else indeterminate, but definitely not looking like it's going to fall into the sea. (in the story, the person absolutely believes the star actually fell, and landed somewhere on their property ... it's kind of dreamy / fairytale-y). The land part is sensuous, wild, overgrown, maybe with a couple of big showy flowers of the camellia / magnolia / gardenia type, white and / or red. But flowers optional. Some big fleshy leaves and some nice writhey viney action would be nice ... basically, the greenery is throbbing with life, iow. The sky can have other stars, moon, etc, or not. The sea might have some foamy waves, maybe even some phosphorescence, or it can be more still. There probably isn't shoreline visible. In my head, this is a vertical poster-style image, like 9:16 aspect, in terms of dimensions.

Obviously that's a lot and way too specific, and the stuff I've been looking at are things that I can maybe alter / mash up to get more of the effect I want, but I haven't had good luck finding suitably amenable sources (looking at vintage woodcut, bookplate, book cover type things, mostly); lately I've been thinking about experimenting with a vertical collage triptych instead of trying to get all my elements into one image). So this is just a "if you ever get really, really bored and feel like playing with it" thing. My personal deadline on this is basically "forever possibly never." :D
posted by taz (staff) at 9:09 AM on July 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

LOVE the thingamajigs!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:09 AM on July 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Not even requests, just things that might tickle your fancy or otherwise inspire silliness:

Michael Whelan book cover of Gandalf enjoying a corn dog
Hildebrandt brothers etching of Elvis Presley repairing a watch
Frank Frazetta calendar page featuring the Michelin Man riding a rodeo bull
Very sad Doug Foss spaceship with googly eyes
Photorealistic hamdinger
Dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark they shoot bees at you
Abraham Lincoln tap-dancing in the bed of a 1972 El Camino
Photorealistic ninja octopus sneaking into radio DJ booth
Grunties
Boris Vallejo painting of extremely muscular Jesus fixing the kitchen sink
An attractive woman asking her stepbrother for help because she is trapped in a nightstand
Evil celery mugging an onion who is a nun
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:16 AM on July 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

an onion who is a nun

A nunion, as it were
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:20 AM on July 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

oomny:
🎨 Colored pencil drawing of a horse with hoof-hands riding a bicycle (tried this one a few times and that was the closest I could get!)

some_kind_of_toaster:
🎨 A domesticated miniature pet bear sitting on its owner’s lap

CheeseDigestsAll:
🎨 A Cat Eating a Rhinoceros Beetle, oil on canvas, by Hieronymus Bosch

If only I had a penguin...:
🎨 A moose and a beaver canoeing watching fireworks over the Toronto CN Tower, 1926 oil on canvas, by Lawren Harris

dorothyisunderwood:
🎨 A woman with coffee sitting and reading in a flower garden with her cats, naïve folk art by Maria Prymachenko, 1966 (this had several good ones!)
posted by Rhaomi at 6:19 PM on July 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

I can work with that! Thanks! Glad I’m not the only one who has trouble giving a horse hoof-hands lol
posted by oomny at 6:55 PM on July 6, 2022

If only I had a penguin...:
🎨 A moose and a beaver canoeing watching fireworks over the Toronto CN Tower, 1926 oil on canvas, by Lawren Harris

Thanks...interesting..I feel like this is the rare instance where craiyon did it better. I mean the moose all have anatomical issues, but craiyon definitely gets Lawren Harris better than dall-E does. It looks like Dall-E looked him up on Wikipedia, learned that he was an impressionist and didn't bother to research the differences between Canadian and European impressionism.

Anyway, this is sour grapes because I don't have Dall-E. When I get it I will design the ultimate Canada Day t-shirt (for non-commercial use, of course).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:04 PM on July 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

ahhhhh I have new profile pictures made by an AI (okay I know it's not really sentient but it makes art) - they are all so charming and beautiful and happy.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:17 AM on July 7, 2022

Rhaomi, if you get through everyone’s first requests and still have the energy for more, would you be up for giving mine another try? Maybe: Brown-haired man stooping in a dreary apartment hallway to guide a little bird on the floor towards a bright window at the end of the hallway; style of Edward Hopper?

(This is the moment, decades ago, when I realized I’d always love my now-husband, and I’ve always wished I had the ability to paint it.)
posted by daisyace at 6:23 AM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Omg I want a domesticated miniature pet bear in my lap
posted by obfuscation at 7:22 AM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

daisyace: "Rhaomi, if you get through everyone’s first requests and still have the energy for more, would you be up for giving mine another try? Maybe: Brown-haired man stooping in a dreary apartment hallway to guide a little bird on the floor towards a bright window at the end of the hallway; style of Edward Hopper?"

I actually tried this one a number of times with several different phrasings -- the issue seems to be that giving the AI too many descriptors makes it harder to ensure everything's applied correctly or even included, while getting it to recreate a given spatial arrangement is very hit-and-miss (it has a hard time with even simple arrangements like "a red cube on top of a blue cube"). All the images look great overall, but if you specifically want a brown-haired man who is also stooping and interacting in a subtle way with a sparrow that's on the ground in an apartment (not house) hallway that is green-carpeted and dreary and both of them are next to a single window that is also bright, also it's a painting, and it's by Hopper? You'll usually get most of these ideas, but having them all both appear and align in the desired way is difficult. Later I can try generating the scene first and then "inpainting" the characters, though.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:52 AM on July 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

🎨 A domesticated miniature pet bear sitting on its owner’s lap


THANK YOU

(Just imagine! Imagine if it was bears instead of cats that we had domesticated! Imagine if the tiny predator living in your home was a bear! Think about it! It could have happened but it didn't! This is what cats are basically! I think about this all the time!)
posted by cabbage raccoon at 9:56 AM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

“Larry the Royal Mouser meeting the queen to take office as Prime Minister”
posted by Going To Maine at 11:02 AM on July 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

The lap bear is adorable but having to use bear proof trash cans inside the house would get old.
posted by fedward at 1:16 PM on July 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Rhaomi, thank you for the good explanation and the efforts you’ve made!
posted by daisyace at 1:25 PM on July 7, 2022

daisyace: Tried yours one more time, first by generating the whole scene with the man, then inpainting the sparrow; hope it's closer to what you were looking for!
🎨 Perspective painting of a brown-haired man kneeling next to a sparrow sitting near a single bright window at the end of a dreary green apartment hallway, by Edward Hopper

Going To Maine:
🎨 Webcomic panel of a happy dog sitting in a burning kitchen saying "This is fine", by cartoonist KC Green ("this is fine dog" just made random photos of dogs, fwiw)
🎨 Fantastic and detailed illustration of a Shai-Hulud sandworm from Frank Herbert's novel Dune destroying San Francisco

dephlogisticated:
🎨 Painting of an abandoned shopping mall by Zdzisław Beksiński

shoesfullofdust: (had to find the original photo and use inpainting to do this justice!)
🎨 A photo of "The Who" singer Roger Daltrey as a young man, smiling with long blond hair

JohnnyGunn:
🎨 A vintage photo of Babe Ruth standing at home plate holding a beer and a hotdog

iamkimiam:
🎨 Synthwave Jesus walking into the ocean at sunset

fedward: art mashups are the best!
🎨 The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, expressionist painting by Edvard Munch
🎨 Girl with a Pearl Earring, cubist painting by Pablo Picasso
🎨 American Gothic, detailed baroque painting by Rembrandt van Rijn with dramatic lighting

Carillon:
🎨 Art deco poster of a giant orchid creature reluctantly eating a knight in armor

clavdivs: (used inpainting for this one)
🎨 Pop Art painting of a swimming pool with a big splash, in the background is a house and palm trees with a UFO flying in the sky behind them, by David Hockney

kitten kaboodle:
🎨 Tonalist portrait of Captain America, oil on canvas, by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, 1890

naju:
🎨 A modular synthesizer in the form of a jellyfish, the tentacles are cables, color lithograph by Ernst Haeckel

Mchelly: several good ones here, let me know which one you want full size!
🎨 Dogs Playing Poker, modernist oil on canvas painting, by Marc Chagall

cgg:
🎨 Canada geese holding lacrosse sticks next to a basketball, realistic digital art

Bloxworth Snout
🎨 Line drawing of a giant moth attacking London, pen and ink cartoon by Ronald Searle

And that's it for tonight!
posted by Rhaomi at 10:06 PM on July 8, 2022 [15 favorites]

Thank you so much!
posted by daisyace at 5:50 AM on July 9, 2022

I love that “American Gothic” so much. I’m amused that both the other two seem to get the color palette and brush style more or less correct without quite getting the feeling of the artists, but on the other hand expressionism and cubism are both hard. This was great. Thank you!
posted by fedward at 8:46 AM on July 9, 2022

More mashup ideas:
Four Mona Lisas, pop art silk screen by Andy Warhol
The Last Supper, black and white photograph by Dorothea Lange
Birth of Venus, modernist painting by Edouard Manet
Garden of Earthly Delights, collage by Henri Matisse
posted by fedward at 9:05 AM on July 9, 2022

Carillon:
🎨 Art deco poster of a giant orchid creature reluctantly eating a knight in armor

Thank you! That's glorious.
posted by Carillon at 11:24 PM on July 10, 2022

Mchelly: several good ones here, let me know which one you want full size!
🎨 Dogs Playing Poker, modernist oil on canvas painting, by Marc Chagall

Those are all magnificent- I would love the top middle one
posted by Mchelly at 4:35 AM on July 11, 2022

kitten kaboodle:
🎨 Tonalist portrait of Captain America, oil on canvas, by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, 1890

Oh my gosh, I absolutely love that! Who's a good AI? (pat, pat) That's gonna have to be a new avatar for the sosh meeds, for sure. Thank you so much, rhaomi!
posted by kitten kaboodle at 5:39 PM on July 11, 2022

Cat horse gallop wren castle
posted by Saucywench at 10:10 AM on July 12, 2022

A few more tonight:

Bloxworth Snout:
🎨 A single blue and white Delftware tile depicting a kraken attacking a ship
🎨 18th century depiction of a tall, carnivorous Triffid alien plant, ukiyo-e
🎨 18th century depiction of a pitcher plant, ukiyo-e
🎨 A cave painting of a swan

rebent: You might be interested in this "prompt engineering" spreadsheet, along with this article and this Reddit post. Also, I have tried to generate using a list of keywords instead of descriptive sentences -- it definitely affected the output for the worse: much more basic/iconographic, with more scattershot composition and none of the artist's style.

taz: your prompt as-is officially breaks the AI! (Not in a dramatic way, it just works out to over 250 tokens when the max length is only 76.) I tried this one a number of ways, and ended up with 10 candidates (numbered below each image). Unfortunately all generations are 1024x1024, but let me know which one you like best and I can either crop it to ~9:16 or use the inpainting feature to expand it vertically. I can also do some editing if one would work better with some minor tweaking.

GCU Sweet and Full of Grace:
🎨 A wizard enjoying a corndog in the forest, realistic surreal fantasy book cover by Michael Whelan with smooth lighting and sharp outlines (surprisingly hard to avoid a painterly texture on this one)
🎨 Hildebrandt brothers etching of Elvis Presley repairing a watch
🎨 Frank Frazetta calendar page featuring the Michelin Man riding a rodeo bull (style is right but seems to think MM is a human wrestler; adding "mascot" just made the whole thing cartoonish)

And Mchelly, here is your full-resolution favorite!
posted by Rhaomi at 11:51 PM on July 12, 2022 [6 favorites]

Oooooh! So Nice! Thank you, Rhaomi! I like #1 best (though there are elements of several that are great!). It would be nice if the star could look more falling than hovering, but that's a tough thing to indicate. I really appreciate this! ❤️❤️❤️
posted by taz (staff) at 4:18 AM on July 13, 2022

Thanks Rhaomi! These are endlessly fascinating.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 12:15 PM on July 14, 2022

Cat horse gallop wren castle

hunter2 *******
posted by flabdablet at 12:42 PM on July 14, 2022

Oh, thank you so much! It gave the wizard a little thing of mustard! People who look like rasslers are kinda de rigeur for Frazetta, so I'm not surprised it did that. And it's a good Elvis!
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:37 PM on July 15, 2022

Bad news -- the number of images generated is being reduced from six to just four. So I'm going to try closing out this thread while I can still maximize odds of a good result!

GCU Sweet and Full of Grace:
🎨 Photorealistic painting of a very sad-looking spaceship with googly eyes, science fiction art by Chris Foss (assuming this is the artist you meant)
🎨 Vintage photograph of Abraham Lincoln tapdancing in the back of a 1972 Chevrolet El Camino
🎨 Photorealistic ninja octopus sneaking into radio DJ booth, digital art (several good ones!)
🎨 Photorealistic painting of extremely muscular Jesus fixing a kitchen sink, stunning fantasy art by Boris Vallejo
🎨 Photo of an attractive woman stuck in a nightstand. The woman is asking her stepbrother for help.
🎨 Two figures: An onion dressed like a nun (nunion) is afraid, because an evil celery monster is attacking her, digital art

Going to Maine:
🎨 The Queen appoints Larry the Royal Mouser cat as UK Prime Minister, AP file photo

fedward:
🎨 Four Mona Lisas, pop art silk screen by Andy Warhol
🎨 The Last Supper, black and white photograph by Dorothea Lange
🎨 The Birth of Venus, modernist painting by Edouard Manet (only loosely followed the Botticelli original, but they all look quite nice)
🎨 The Garden of Earthly Delights, collage by Henri Matisse

Saucywench:
🎨 Cat horse gallop wren castle (doubt this is what you were after, but it does help confirm my theory that just listing keywords will lead to poorer results than something more narrative/descriptive)

taz:
Tried to narrowly inpaint a star trail into the existing image but couldn't hack it -- then I thought to erase everything but the star and got much better results without all the extraneous detail, and edited it back into the original manually. Then I "outcropped" it (uploaded the top half at the bottom of a blank image to fill in the extra space and vice-versa) to extend the vertical length to 9:16.

🎨 Here's the final result (1024x1820) -- way better than I expected it to look!
posted by Rhaomi at 1:41 PM on July 18, 2022 [3 favorites]

Thank you, Rhaomi!!! That looks wonderful! And so many great other ones: the sad spaceship! the nunion! the garden of earthly delights! birth of venus! ninja octopus!!!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:53 PM on July 18, 2022

I truly owe you for indulging my stupids. The Chris Foss could be cover art for a book about a sentient spaceship. Maybe one of McCaffrey's? The ninja octopus is just *chef's kiss*. I'm impressed that it could figure out what to with the nunion!
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:23 PM on July 18, 2022

Four Mona Lisas is both better and worse than I expected. What did it do to the lips?
The Last Supper is terrifying but the lighting is so spot on.
The Birth of Venus in the top left corner seems the most compositionally similar to the Botticelli, but the style is nice in all of them. The one in the bottom center, though, is that a Baptism? I mean, what?
The Garden of Earthly Delights, though, wow. I assumed I'd get an interesting failure, but why did it decide to include text at the bottom?

And not one of mine: Ripped Jesus at the sink is amazing.

Thank you so much!
posted by fedward at 3:26 PM on July 18, 2022

Huh. Not it's not what I envisioned but an interesting result none the less. Thanks for doing it!
posted by Saucywench at 11:09 AM on July 21, 2022

If you are still taking requests, I'd like a bleak painting of sea otters swimming past a submerged tenement building.
posted by team lowkey at 2:40 PM on July 21, 2022

FWIW, The Prompt Book goes into some detail on how to construct successful prompt text for DALL-E2.
posted by aramaic at 11:20 AM on July 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

He is perfect, give him the votes
posted by Going To Maine at 6:30 PM on July 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Update: The party is sadly over -- OpenAI recently moved to a commercial closed beta, with a new paid credits system and sharply curtailed access to free generations. But this is enabling them to ramp up the number of invites up to one million in the coming weeks, so definitely sign up for the waitlist if you haven't already! And thanks for all the suggestions -- it was really fun and challenging to make people's visions a reality, and it helped me learn a lot about how best to compose complicated scenes. Can't wait to see what this technology will look like once it's ready for full public release.

PS: If you'd like to test your discernment skills, a contact on Reddit recently created a fun web app: DALL-E 2 or Not DALL-E 2? It serves up either a random AI-generated image from /r/DALLE2 or a post my own small subreddit /r/NotDALLE2, which is designed for sharing real (or at least human-created) images that look like they could have been made by AI -- and you have to guess which one it's from. Harder than it sounds!
posted by Rhaomi at 11:56 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]