A while ago there was a fuss about ChatGPT. A program that produces entire “original” texts based on a number of terms you enter. Pupils and students use it to create assignments. The school where I work was also concerned. MidJourney does the same, but this genereates illustrations, works of art.
Yesterday I did a little course on it on Soofos: Digital art with Midjourney. Vacation and bad weather, so time for learning and playing. MidJourney is a fun experiment. At first glance I got quite spectacular results with it. That took little time. One of the first images I posted on Instagram and Facebook (mentioning MidJourney). People love it, congratulate me on the result. But it doesn’t feel right. It’s fake. Although I have used my own photos as a basis, it has nothing to do with me. It is literally and figuratively showing off someone else’s feathers, or “other bots” feathers 😉 (literal translation from Dutch, sorry)
Above I write “at first glance”. Because if you look closer, you really see that things are not right. It is soon noticeable that the bot misses details. Things that a real artist would do perfectly. Things you wouldn’t encounter with photo editing. At this point you can clearly see that it was a bot that put something together. In time, this system will also evolve to a higher level. It may then no longer be visible.
Below I share some results with comments. See for yourself and rate it.
Surreal birds with spectacular colors!
The first I posted on Facebook and Instagram.
Rainbow Lorikeet
Prompt (terms used): enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: The depth of field is incorrect. The neck of the bird is heavily blurred, while the background is relatively sharper. Feathers have sharp edges. It’s also something strange to the eye, even for a surreal image.
Peacock
Prompt (terms used): enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: The headdress is odd and sloppy. They remind me of pine branches. If you know what a peacock looks like, you can make something much more beautiful out of it. Surrealism?
Grey crowned crane
Prompt (terms used): orchids, jungle background with leaves, Grey crowned crane ,colorfull flowers, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, lot of feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: To get an image that comes close to a crane, I had to add terms. Especially for the background. The background here gets a failed. Leaves on the left are relatively sharp, while the flowers are shapeless and out of focus.
Macaw
Prompt (terms used): macaw, jungle background with leaves, colorfull flowers, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, lot of feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: The background is again a bit strange. You could blame that at surrealism. But the veins in a leaf sometimes just stop. That’s weird. Also in this photo the depth of field is not good. But the biggest miss is the beak. The underside of the beak appears double. It just doesn’t look right.
Rooster
Prompt (terms used): tail feathers of a rooster, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: The composition is mediocre. The processing of the wattle and comb are remarkable, but well there is surrealism in the prompt
Flamingo
Prompt (terms used: flamingo, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Wood duck
Prompt (terms used): wood duck, feathers of a rooster, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: Pasting the prompt into this post, I see why I didn’t get a duck beak. The word rooster is still in the prompt from the previous edit 😮
Toucan
Prompt (terms used): enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–ar 3:2
Notes: An extra eye on the beak. Weird incisions on top of the beak. But, it’s surreal….
What if I create something without my photos?
The main difference is that the result is not a bird portrait. My photos were all close-up portraits. Furthermore, the system has gone completely overboard. And it sure gets you a result! 😉
Prompt (terms used): Orchids, butterflies, hyacinth macaw, macaw, jungle background with leaves, colorfull flowers, enigmatic, elegant, neoliberalism, surrealism, colorful, tropical, jungle, gold, hyper realism, rainbow, lot of feathers, leaves, strong details, sharp edges, sharp contrast, strong big eye,–testp, –ar 2:3
The result seems spectacular. Good: no orchids, no butterflies. But two Hyacinth Macaws in a striking colorful background. Great right? Or not? Not really. If you take a closer look, you will see that we have two fairly handicapped macaws. Both have holes in the beaks where they don’t belong. Furthermore, something went wrong with the legs / toes. On the other hand, they are able to sit on a floating branch, but whether that outweighs what went wrong…
What if I create something without words like surrealism, etc.?
Many misses could be due to my words in prompt. That’s why I’ve edited and limited the text. But even then you see things that are impossible with natural subjects. While you would expect a more realistic result.
Prompt (terms used): left of center, white vase, white flowers, minimalism, gustav klimt style, art, beautiful, soft , –ar 3:2
The result is nice, until your eye falls on the floating buds, flower stems that end in nothingness. The signature is nice too. Apparently the bot was inspired by paintings or other signed art.
Prompt (terms used): classic, bonsai, orchid, minimalism, pastel, japanese vase, white
A stylish result, but also here floating flowers (top two images), A branch that is next to the vase (top right). Orchid flowers on a woody stem. That is not possible. Furthermore, orchid flowers fall off as a whole and not in pieces (top right). Finally, only the vases seem to have shade, not the flowers.
And the last one I want to show you is this:
This is perhaps the most fun, because it shows that a computer cannot replace humans yet. If you mix up a stack of photos, you don’t get a good new image. For now, that’s what this system does. Supplemented with a number of things that you can reason / calculate. And that is clearly not enough.
Prompt (terms used): vase left of center, white vase, white flowers, minimalism, gustav klimt style, art, beautiful, soft , –ar 3:2
The result is special. But what do we see here? A vase of flowers in front of an abstract painting? A vase in front of a painting with flowers? What actually happens to the wall behind the cabinet? The strange wall has a very heavy shadow, just like the edge of the painting. The lower half of the vase also has a shadow. The ear and the flowers don’t have that, just like the bottom of the cupboard. It’s a bit cut up and that’s why it’s just not it.
Finally
What do I want with Midjourney? It’s something fun to play with. It is a nice system to get ideas, for example for making illustrations. That comes in handy, because I just finished a course on Adobe Illustrator. So a bright imaginatively colored toucan or macaw is now possible. But without weird holes in the beak or eyes where they don’t belong. I’m a fan of the work of Picasso, for example, but it seems wrong here.
I fear that we will see a lot of “art” passing by on the internet, of which they say that they have designed / invented / painted / drawn, etc. For the time being, those fake artists will look as frauds. These are probably the same types who now claim the work of others as their own. But in the future, it may not be so obvious anymore. We will see.