So to follow up on my last blog post, I wanted to show the process I went through to get my sweet Alien DJ avatar.

I started by asking DALL-E to show me an alien dj and got a few different options:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AK6X2NSFo7EdkG8nsUww55vyvk9VrJ2CGcm6Q7apQjWf2VfBSHro2P9MsQjdoSd.png]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AKU4w4brdP5k2vFDJ4j6musX3MHBTpDGukpaA8xun6LQoDx2yJT3GVJfvLvW3E8.png]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AKVVDakQvomaqNLMqKSQoUDp2paGQzeBsAvLTHdoS7W2fr4PERntXoS5bvKKudq.png]

I decided to work with the third one mostly because I liked the hand-in-the-air vibe.

I then plugged that image into "Dream by WOMBO," another cool AI image generator with a bunch of different algorithms. As a side note, this is the program I used to generate the starting points for my "Gods" NFT series on Tezos: https://objkt.com/collection/KT1M35Ux71gHEUyaU7fb7L2GisqiH6X84Uk2

WOMBO is really cool because you can show it an image, tell it how much you want the image to affect the final output, and additionally give it a word prompt to work with. I believe I used the phrase "Alien DJ." Another cool thing is that the paid version of the app (which I have) will give you four different creations, and you can then choose one of those to make more variations, and then iterate even further on those. example:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/242hUaU8AA4WUbZF9QWGxAzKKw3BhLrJr4EpdwkEr748VCb3tkKkKTCGyTv3QnFZg66w9.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/242Y5v8sLzoQtG7sesXKu6TowWRQg8nNvQGSbVuHCHquMhHjRcxEsdXoUtVkCkSHa411V.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23zbQ4R8eMrZoUwFjXSxmj6u6g7B1pGqSVyyU4VrPJi7GLJbkZ5oGL5mwJohS9R6KB1LL.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23zGcNSd3sBRMpZHNZPMAbKR2kx5GxLCoU9FEpNjQZ7F9aQrQYtGrzQS7DA18gZmr6yoE.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23yd3U7Q8sx21Ypo8W84kfXZwk1rpT4t45b8hZt4CUUEUH1Ct1X2ctrm5HrGaXFQ6B23B.jpeg]

Sometimes you can end up with something wildly different that what you started with:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23xehxjctJSVdxCyLpRKSLua5H4BGFJL2xEDNpUbAumJGyY1KV2BZS7GH3XibhQ1U7QRh.jpeg]

I really liked some of the results I got from an algorithm called "Cartoonist":

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23wCC1PRKkbnFmggYSSFbmm3smsHWQnRYWdGYSB8Q6JL1xq3KPex1ojsURUwh8dHL5EFK.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23xVHJgAeko4JSFZeCE8UJo5qH4pXeNaYUYye9CDxyNVMPnw4xaD3gzZrBihzm67Af7Hy.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/2432Fu74MkhkvDPSWkANYoSgbyG15FjstMtyZSZqAZqbf7BPy5ZzsH5GzYKKtmzagwrxV.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23wgPraAhJFHrb183WXgZkQDY4d5Y8NPrZA8anEHixYyo7orTPB3bpP3MBpcp2Do9ysCr.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23x196rGpwDptnJcbYoSzLYZ5v9BFhpcY4rjaJy5NBAquu4bYEnU9ZD2f9CzRBqqpzmwZ.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23uQtivD7tr7RPJcs8EgEB5BvkHDewznibcQyytK9u2299szUUWX1y8a5wSe5H4ptJiZu.jpeg]

But ultimately decided to go with an algorithm that generated versions which appeared to be to be a bit more lifelike:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23zGcenaTMesMWJWtUo9SjSoKJaxfsUYZmHFhdqmjyxrmNzHBjGnyDDpM5Cyg6SBZjy4K.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23z7Br6r88CTVvUAfWEdNGAxAH34dW7mdU3rSd6VoTtMsY7NSxf6V8SSWVbQXznyfdFx3.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23wgMZTJkMPweHnDNEGCkSHmSS6QBNTj8FmHiyEdgzvAQyHDStuhNCa6xiVVzz97nVjDc.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23ywnbwFHc764xKd7kCNxEKj31wjfuBsCRuTAvSn2QmEqLEdaKnpaCVcFELenGPgBHKvh.jpeg]

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23zRxxQDVra7FNHKB1gu1tnQLjntpBWAmFjLqbkYWDuBsPg6wuroh2wzfVtbaoqiN9w3j.jpeg]

These were starting to look a bit scarier than I'd prefer, but once I got this one I knew I had found my gem:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/23xKszCQUKBDdqJNe6CsSR46ed9YY7Ga51NofGxeEZn5WyMUvJCg6T8wDxacqpWckr9AJ.jpeg]

Unfortunately, Wombo will only render images in one size, so I had to distort it to make a square image for album art purposes:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AKs21HKX7qHLtMRqR7UfyroLeqaN5e5xevCWY9i6Q7UmbNnh9wBoZFBbRWfzqhn.jpg]

Next I wanted to be able to layer and accentuate the character from the background, so I copied the image onto a new layer and erased the background:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AKzEUt157FCJbvxDgVe7h5tXPFi2v3xbw8rc2c7jD77YF6YYHKww2k88f5iPagx.jpeg]

Then I quickly drew this nifty pattern using iOrnament:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/Eo24cG3ddk2dpsEWRZ9LSA6jHqvtRn145o1kfun4gFvEhVx71v8nrCBrEwtGpcah9WL.jpeg]

and layered it between the original image, and the character with the erased background, and set the layer style to "Linear Burn"

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AK3dFbW1rBrpv8djzaDDB1VRcNBW8oWM6BVtFmp5zzMyrQvJfqSFc6x59nMpTDZ.jpeg]

Then I duplicated the character and made a couple glitchy affected versions and layered them behind the solid character, just to add some depth and more interesting elements:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AJpiFTnUXjbCCk2LwjQfY397WRy3WaypXahtwp4UsaDWhRo8L8RBPGDejV7UEVX.jpeg]

Now all that was left was some lettering, which honestly looking at it now, I think I could have done a better job on, but it's alright. Did some block letterings in a light color with a dark outline, then added a polkadot pattern on it and some drop shadowing:

[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/robvector/AJoHKJ3wCiGj6VJVVLcCgkDjqwBX3JEDgf3rMYZsPqBnNXJSZgehFdhpRxznXtg.jpg]

And there we have it, the perfect avatar for a psytrance dj! 👽
https://www.mixcloud.com/robvector/

I know that AI art is controversial, but for myself being a musician and DJ who hasn't spent years expertly honing visual art skills, AI is proving itself to be an invaluable tool for creating awesome looking visuals to compliment my non-visual art. I can't ever imagine AI replacing artists because the more you play around with this software the more you really get a feel for how soulless it truly is. Even for something simple, it really requires a human to direct the process and edit fine details.