InvokeAI Unified Canvas

There is a certain frustration that comes after generating AI artwork ; it feels like a lottery, some prompts will return great images (but with a little defect here and there) and then there are many failed attempts, where the images are just not good, partly out of frame, or simply with deformities, or artifacts (purple blotches, weird eyes, weird hands, etc ...)

Surely, this is normal, and AI artwork is still in its infancy, or at least early ages ; it is still impressive. but as an artist, you need a little more control than just changing a word here and there, and pressing 'run' or 'launch' and hope for the best.

In the coming year, there probably will be some kind of a sketch application, and AI will then improve the images (man made) ; instead of asking the AI to do everything, this is probably what will be the definitive step forward.

controlNet is going in that direction, by helping an AI or strongly suggesting a pose to start with.

It can be based on a sketch. And then there is invokeai, which offer an environment for the creative minds. 

Creating content is so easy now

Cartoonists, musicians, voice actors, and more broadly every artists or content creators are now in competition with AI generated contents.

This is a game changer, and we have not completely understood or contemplated how much of a revolution we are seeing emerging ... in early 2023

It took me less than 10 minutes to create a new super hero from scratch, write a backstory, and several scenarios, in less than a day, I could self publish an entire comic book featuring this new Dark violet super hero ...

I used lexica.art, dreamlike and stable diffusion to get a different artstyle

Interview with Peileppe

On the last post I was featuring Katybear and was interested to know about her motivation to do cosplay and I mentioned that cosplayer usually receive no income but starts to get attention from other artists in the form of Fan-art.

Today I have the privilege to interview Phillip Koops (aka Peileppe) a cartoonist that made a fan-art for Katybear

Can you give a short bio ?
Okay, I'm a Freelance designer, comic artist, developer and father of two kids
I studied Finance and Accountancy and moved from France to Ireland, and then Czech Republic where I live now.
After 8 years in the call-centre environment (I worked as tech support for Apple, and then presale support for Hewlett-Packard) I started freelancing and doing my own comics (called call-centre Grinder).

Did you study in any art school?
I’m mostly a self-taught person. I learned through trial and errors.
But I learned oil painting, and how to use charcoal and graphite in extra school activities during my teenage years.

Can you tell us someting about your typical working method,  the tools of your trade?
I use open-source software : Gimp mostly, Krita, and myPaint for digital work
But the fan-art was done with Manga Studio - I did a series of portraits.
Otherwise I draw by hand and then scan the result - and finish the work with my wacom bamboo.

Why I will never join facebook

Be a part of a "tribe"

facebook isn't the first social group that ever existed - before facebook was bolt.com (or recently orkut.com), or even now many other underdogs like hi5.com, Netlog, Tagged, Bebo co-exist, even with the previous leader of the pack which is unable to regain popularity myspace.com...

Social group website, works more or less the same way ... you create an account, you post photos, videos, links and interact with "your tribe" - be it your close family, your co-workers, or simply people that are sharing more or less the same hobbies.

Now being successful as a social group is not easy - you have to provide an attractive website, with ease of use, you have to be aware that some people will post things that are not "politically correct" or might even be illegal (in some way - like links to download of mp3 or 'bootleg' movies etc ...).

And even in many instance, the most annoying of all, porn - the all invasive porn that will find the way into any sort of network to spread.

That's the reason you will have this 'report button' - and that link will suddenly disappear, and sometime users account...

Now for the social group provider, the only thing that really count (at the beginning) is to spread like wildfire, so the first case of "porn invasion" or abuse from users will be ignored. Because the step after acquiring a large user base, is the step where user get trapped with this particular website.

Enter the Trap

After your friends, co-workers, etc ... are trapped, then basically this website will become the way you will interact with them by chat, or messages left on their timeline, the problem is that on this platform - you are under surveillance, under scrutiny of marketers, business poll, advertisers, and psychologists that are trying to manipulate, control, and brain-wash people.

And at some stage, you will have to make this choice to stay in because the interaction with your "tribe" is more important - or you will just figure out, that enough is enough and wasting your time in being part of an experiment to turn you into a lab rat, is definitely going too far.

The tactics they're is using to give the impression that it constantly grows - is that you can't ever delete your facebook account, it will stay there "deactivated" ... ready for you to reactivate it (because they know you will be back anyway).

At first (like in any abusive relationship), the partner is showing all his "attractive" side, and wants you to be part of what looks like an interesting and passionate symbiotic relationship - and as soon as you are part of it, it decides (without your accord) that well, some things should be different, and then it starts doing thing in secret, and you will feel more and more like you have been duped, you have been foolish to even start dating this asshole, but it's too late ... now he has all your stuffs, and the more you wait the harder it will get.

And that's the reason you will never find me on facebook.

Image Credit :
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2019.html
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2017.html

Additional Credit :
http://www.moreofit.com/similar-to/www.hi5.com/Top_10_Sites_Like_Hi5/

Cosplay interview with Katybear

Is it just an impression or does cosplaying is getting more and more professional and competitive ?
This type of performance art  is now more and more in the direction of having a fan-base itself (fan-art portrait are given to cosplayer, they are featured on many media platform, giving interview on TV, etc ...) 

Does this mean cosplayers are in the process of becoming star themselves ? 


In short who are these individuals behind the mask, who are those passionate people spending their free time to create outfit, and makes the visitors smiling with glee during conventions.


To answer this questions, I had the honor of interviewing Kate McCullough (aka Katybear) :

Can you give a short bio of yourself ?

My name is Kate (or Katy) McCullough. I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico but I recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona. I make all my own cosplays. I am a big video game and anime nut, but I am also starting to get into comics as well. I also enjoy reading, snowboarding, and horseback riding.








What got you into the cosplay world ?

I am born on Halloween and have always loved dressing up. My husband actually told me about cosplay ( I had no idea it even existed) and I was on it in no time. Dressing up as my favorite character, YES!





What are the required qualities of a cosplayer nowadays ?

I would say knowing how to sew is a big plus. If you buy all you stuff you can't really take all the credit, you have to say it was the seamstress's skill as well. I am much more fulfilled when I can make my own. I started out not knowing how to sew at all and I just bought a sewing machine one day and read the manual. I am learning how to make armor as well. You also need to be friendly, if you never respond to anyone they aren't going to like you very much. It's also important to be friendly to other cosplayers, bad rep travels fast.









What are your visions of the cosplay world for the next years ?

I think it's going to get much bigger. When I started there were barely any well known cosplayers and just in the two years I've been doing this it's blown up.



1. What do you wish the cosplay world would be in the future ?

I think it would be awesome if they became celebrities and video game companies, anime companies, and comic artists started hiring them. Maybe even movies. How epic would that be?!

And I guess, it would make a lot of sense for the videogame and comics industry during convention to support the enthusiastic cosplayer, since they are putting so much resources, energy and work in serving their passion and they are also attracting a lot of visitors.

In some aspect, similarly to people involved in opensource, or non-profit organisation, or independant (indie) company, cosplay is restoring my faith in humanity because it's all about having fun and living their passion ; breaking the usual materialistic way of thinking, that says : "to do work, you absolutely need to get paid".


Thanks Kate McCullough for that nice interview!


Here are links where readers will find more about Katybear :

https://www.facebook.com/katybear1031

https://twitter.com/katybearcosplay

http://itskatybearbitches.tumblr.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/katybear25

Public domain comics

Some Wuffle please

After I discovered this very nicely drawn comic with an attractive old school design, 

I admired the author because he adheres to the Free culture and provides it as Public domain. 

Support him by visiting www.wufflecomics.com/  ;  www.facebook.com/WuffleComic

and www.indiegogo.com/wuffleyear1 

Golden and Silver Age

Now if you are to get serious about reading tons of Public domain comics - you will have to dig in the Golden and Silver era of comic books (between 1930 and 1950)

That means comics like :

• Sheena queen of the jungle
• Nyoka the jungle girl
• Captain Aero
• Durango Kid
• Atome Man
• Woman in red
• Romantic Western
• Authentic police case
• Golden Age Black canary
• Golden Age Black cat
• Golden Age Mariner
• Golden Age Superman
• Golden Age Batman
• Starman and the like ...

To read online (and download if you have a registered account) :
archive.org/search.php?query=comics

digitalcomicmuseum.com/

comicbookplus.com/ ; www.facebook.com/CBPlus

For Encyclopedic information on Public domain comics

www.herogoggles.com/
www.comicvine.com/public-domain-characters

And then you will stumble on extraordinary characters like Cthulhu, Stampy or Octobriana

Comics scripts Galore

If you're looking for comics scripts (not necessarily Public Domain) then look no further :

www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/archive

www.fanfiction.net/

Comic books aren't dead

Comic books aren't only for middle-aged geeks!

You might hear that the comic industry is not what it used to be, given the current financial crisis, the bad economy, it's one of those sector that suffer the most ... that sales are dropping ... that starting as a comic artist is really tough, that since many web-comics are available for free people would be mad to buy comics, you might hear that after the book is made (and that is still a very long and painful process compared to other medias) usually the finished book won't sale much, and you will not be able to make a second season, that the audience isn't the typical teenager, but actually more like people in their forties, ... you may hear a lot of things but if you're a fan of comics, and you had fun reading them ; you will know that comics still have their place between the new iPad, and the 3D theater sensation.

The comic book's battery won't run out of juice, and will never have a broken display! that's a given. And sharing comic book with friend is always a nice thing to do.

But except from the current circle of usual geeks and nerds (awkwardly portrayed by the bunch of fake in the Big Bang theory) -- it lacks  a bit of enthusiasm.

And then comes this girl  who goes by the name "comicbookgirl19", who will put a smile back on the face of eveeeeeery comic book fans. Just watch her show, you'll be hooked in no time!
 
http://www.youtube.com/user/comicbookgirl19
http://www.facebook.com/Comicbookgirl19/

Comic book are magic!

This is a selected video of comicbookgirl19 presenting the comic book "Flex Mentallo" - because there is an interesting twist in the story - because the 2D Universe of the comic book, intertwines with our 3D world  ; the reason being that the writer Grant Morrison, (who is a magician) introduces his pop magic in his creation with the use of sigil.

Part 1



Part 2 



comicbookgirl19 website : http://www.comicbookgirl19.com/

And as a bonus some links - featuring Moebius the grandiose French artist (RIP great man) :
BD Gest' - Preview FINAL INCAL Les quatre John Difool
http://www.comicbookbin.com/lincal001.html
http://joglikescomics.blogspot.com/2009/04/desastre-hurlant-t4-is-man-good.html

Office comics

I'm sure, you've heard of the TV series "The office" either from the UK version (with Ricky Gervais) or the US version (with Steve Carell) and if you're working in a corporate environments you must have felt like there is such paradoxes, comedy, drama and nonsenses in such job, that it was really a great inspirations for humorists.

Of course there is the comic equivalent featuring the great Dilbert, so famous in fact, that usually you would find many photocopy or print of these comics strips on cubicle (where it belongs really).

But there's more Office or Help-desk comics available ... with a little research I found comics about Cubicle monkey, or even about Phone Monkey.

Life in the Office is really a Jungle!

How to generate a palette from a photo or picture

You can use Gimp or Photoshop and use the "Eyedropper tool" to get the colors and then generate the palette but that's boring ... what you can do instead is use this website Color Palette Generator for faster result.

Drawing Wolverine - 2 different approaches

It's always a good opportunity to be able to watch speed painting and learn from the masters - to witness the miracle of seeing them starting from a blank document and a few minutes later (several hours in real time obviously) to come up with a fantastic artwork that blow your mind.

In this particular setting - it's a Wolverine painting and the good thing is both artists are using different tools, and methods.

The first video is Stephanie Valentin - using Photoshop and showing a step by step method involving not less than  16 layers.

The second is executed by Roman (a professional painter obviously) - using Gimp and ... well, honestly ... it's spectacular!

Grimace Project

In Scott McCloud's book "Making Comics", there is a whole section on the study of the facial expressions - based on 6 basics - called emotional primaries : Anger, Joy, Surprise, Disgust, Sadness and Fear - the theory is that from these you can build a lot more... (eg: fear+surprise = "spooked")

And then it actually inspired "Grimace" which is an outcome of a research project
That on the home page using "slides" allow you to mimic what a face would look like with 20% fear, and 80% surprise etc ...

Doubtsourcing

Outsourcing, what is it ?

This cartoon above made by BadMash will introduce you joyfully to an India IT company (InfoPro) that is doing outsourcing for an American company. The humor is frisky (and a bit mature), and I can bet that the end (of part2) will surprise you.

And if you like that kind of cartoon there's 5 episodes in total (each in 2 parts)
check doubtsourcing's channel on youtube.

It's like a mix between the comedy the Office and Mr Bean (the animated series)

Barack Obama's First 100 Minutes - Mad Magazine

Everybody's expending a lot of air guessing at what Obama's first 100 days will be like. But only Mad Magazine has the guts to speculate on his first 100 minutes, in this exclusive preview for Indecision.

read more | digg story

Scott McCloud releases his comic The Right Number for free

The Right Number is a projected three part online graphic novel by Scott McCloud about math, sex, obsession and phone numbers presented in an unusual "supra cool" zooming format.

Click above to read Parts One and Two.

Originally presented in June of 2003

Part One

Part Two

(Part Three will hopefully be completed and available before too long.)

Read more