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Friday, 1 August 2025

More experiments with ChatGPT

I have been playing around again with ChatGPT. This time I asked it to take the following photographs (which were taken of a wargame I and Tony Hawkins staged at SALUTE2002) ...

... and render them into the style of line drawing that was featured in Victorian magazine like the Illustrated London News. The results looked like this:

I must admit that I am rather impressed and can see myself using this facility to illustrate blog posts ... and even future books that I might write.

16 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Ross Mac,

      So do I … and can see myself using it again in the future.

      All the best,

      Bob

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  2. Replies
    1. Irishserb,

      I agree … and I can envisage using it again to illustrate Colonial battle reports on my blog and in books.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. I wonder whether the AI could take a black and white ILN illustration of a battle and show what it would look like if recreated by your wargame armies? An experiment for you to try, perhaps?
    Looking at the portraits it has produced of you in various guises and this latest picture, I can understand why many artists believe AI threatens their careers and livelihoods. Will a 21st century Ned Ludd arise to lead a backlash against this technology, I wonder?

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    Replies
    1. Arthur1815 (Arthur),

      What in interesting idea … and one that I will experiment with.

      I must admit that AI has it uses when it come to creating images that would cost me thousands of pounds for a human artist to paint. Will classically-trained artists become modern day Luddites? They might … but as it may involve a degree of group activity that could be anathema to such highly individualistic people, I somehow don’t think that they will.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. An interesting effect. Could prove to be a good source of illustration without fear of copyright infringement.

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    Replies
    1. Mark Cordone,

      I had not considered the copyright implications … but it may well be a way to legally circumvent them.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  5. At first I thought it was funny that ChatGPT left the base under the artillery crew on top of the roof but then it occurred to me that the crew may have built a platform to fire from.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr Pavone,

      That’s an interesting way to explain away this anomaly.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    2. IMHO the AI was replicating a situation often seen in wargames and in photographs of them in the magazines, where the diorama effect of the beautifully modelled buildings and terrain is often spoilt by the bases of the figures!

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    3. Arthur1815 (Arthur),

      By using some photo manipulation software, I might have been able to ‘remove’ the bases … or reduced their impact before I asked ChatGPT to render it as a line drawing.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  6. Those are scarily good, Bob…..😯

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  7. These Illustrated London News type prints look splendid! Donald Featherstone would have liked these for his wargames campaign journals.
    Regarding AI, portraits and artists, I don't believe that AI is putting an artist out of work in these fun portrait type situations, as we probably wouldn’t get around to (or afford) commissioning art from an artist?
    Its not such new tech. Twenty five years ago, There used to be fairground photo booths that would computer ‘draw’ and print your photos in supposedly different artist styles …

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark, Man of TIN,

      I agree that Donald Featherstone would have probably used ChatGPT to create images that he could use in his magazine articles as well as his books.

      Most of the artists I have met would probably have embraced the use of ChatGPT, especially if it reduced the more tedious aspects of their craft.

      I did not ever come across the fairground photo booths you mention … but it’s no great surprise that the technology has been around a lot longer that one might expect.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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