A Picture of Eloise?

Recently, I talked about generative AI in general, and ChatGPT in particular, and how I think we’re in a real moment.

Have you used any of the generative AI tools that do images? They’re also fascinating. I’ve tried Dall-E 2, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney. I heard about an author who keeps a Midjourney window open, and tosses phrases from her manuscript into it as she’s writing to see what images come back.

I thought I’d try it for the first bit of The Purple Haze. The result was interesting, so I thought I’d share it with you, and get your opinion. (Note that I acknowledge there are some unresolved issues with these image generators, especially with regard to their training sets and copyright material. I’m happy to have that discussion, but I’ll set it aside for now.)

My first prompt was, “Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, Future Ruler and Heir to the Western Lands and All That Really Matters, sat on the Listening Throne in the ornate Receiving Room of Castle de Brague and took two precise sips of her haggleberry tea, trying not to let her surprise show.” Here’s what it gave me:

Interesting, but nothing like the right age (or species).

I tweaked the prompt a little. “Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, Future Ruler and Heir to the Western Lands and All That Really Matters, sat on the Listening Throne in the ornate Receiving Room of Castle de Brague and took two precise sips of her haggleberry tea, trying not to let her surprise show. Long, black, curly hair. Fair skin. Age 17.”

Result:

Closer. Maybe.

None of them are really the Eloise I have in my head.

Another small tweak: “Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, Future Ruler and Heir to the Western Lands and All That Really Matters, sat on the Listening Throne in the ornate Receiving Room of Castle de Brague and took two precise sips of her haggleberry tea, trying not to let her surprise show. Long, black, curly hair. Fair skin. Age 17. Photorealistic.”

Result:

Again, they aren’t what I have in my head, but it’s interesting what it’s doing.

It wasn’t hard for me to lose another hour to this. Maybe more.

Question: do any of these look anything like the Eloise that you have in your head? Leave a comment let me know what you think.

Let’s Have a Contest

I’ve never tried this before, but how about we have a contest. Send me an image that looks like Eloise to you. It can be AI-generated, drawn, a painting from history, or an image assembled using a tool like Picrew.

If I get, say, five or more entries, I’ll create a poll, and we’ll vote on them. The one that gets the most votes will win a paperback of their choice from any of my Western Lands and All That Really Matters books.

Send me an email with your entry, telling me how you created the image or where it’s from.

I won’t ask for ownership or anything, and you’ll want to make sure the whatever you send has the appropriate permissions to be used for a contest like this.

I’m just curious to see what comes up.