Final Painting
This time I had a strong idea on what I wanted the painting to look like. Once I got it to a point where I though I was done, I put it in the AI and asked it to cleanup/polish it. That made me realize that mine was quite blurry and unpolished.
I asked my friends side by side what they thought and they agreed that mine was just not polished.
So I put in the hours and painted all the details. The thing I learned is that once you pick a size of the brush for your details (that is small) you will realize how rough your painting still is. But then I didn't want to detail every inch of the painting, just the focal point, which is the dragon head, the kids and the lady.
My friends also gave me good feedback:
- Remove the boat, it's not important to the story,
- It looks like the dragon is drooling... yup... until they said it I didn't notice it.
- Looks like the lady is sleeping - I used the liquify tool to rotate her head up a bit and made her look less sleepy and more like she is looking down.
- Simplify the foliage in the FG
- Clarify that pot.
Using the AI picture as reference, I also did some color adjustment, and used it as reference for the level of detail that I wanted. I also changed the color of the clothing of the lady. I think I liked that blue-green better.
Thoughts
Working on this painting, made me think about art in general while using AI.
There are I think 3 scenarios:
1) You ask the AI to make a picture and you use that as final... I don't think that really counts as art... even if you use it to adjust it. The only thing you put in is a thought... but there is nothing of your experience in it.
2) You ask the AI to make a picture, and then copy it. That's what I did earlier in the painting of the sorceress. I think that's a great way to learn the technique. I would count this as a Study... not as art still...
3) You make a painting by yourself, or do the initial idea with thumbnails and put that into the AI and get a picture back. This can spark your imagination further and can lead to a better painting. I think this can be considered art, as it is your idea, your work and technique, and the AI is used more as a reference rather than the medium.
The way I see it AI can give you a mirror. It's like looking at your picture from another perspective, and that I believe can help you turn your painting into more of what YOU want.
I have not experimented with taking pieces from the AI and paint on top of it.... but that would be cheating, and that is not why I study how to paint.
My Initial Painting
The AI Picture generated from my painting.
