Bringing fantasy characters to life c:
Hi there!This page is meant to explain my work in a more thorough manner.I employ a mixture of AI and regular digital artwork techniques to ensure that I can keep things at a high quality level whilst not losing any control due to excessive AI reliance. If I have a creative vision, I can bring it to fruition with no compromises.Unlike the many purely AI-based pages that you might've stumbled upon, I do not see AI as a substitutive for artistic vision and skill, but as something that can be used in conjunction with it; it is a tool that, if used properly, can help with bringing a preexisting vision to life (or to a higher quality level), rather than being utilized to pump out meaningless images by the hundreds.If you have dabbled in AI, you likely know that things get much trickier - if not outright impossible to pull off with AI alone - when you have an exact vision you want to bring to reality. Since I don't rely entirely on AI, this is not an issue for me.You can see for yourself what I mean down below!
References
Result
(Clients also provide text-based descriptions, or plenty of other references to convey pose, or perhaps peculiarities where the preexisting character material falls short -- all the differences/peculiatiries were requested.)
Original Character - Client requested the pose/background.
Final Artwork!
Original characters/pose - Background and Armor changes also requested.
Final Artwork!
...and so many more!
The difference is in the AI, too!
An Example of ControlNet Openpose, which gives me full control of the desired pose in a 3d environment.
Even though most people are familiar with web-based AI generators, the technology itself can get much more complex than that.I use Stable Diffusion, which is ran locally and enables a much higher degree of customization. Extensive knowledge and usage of inpainting, ControlNet, LoRAs and all other sorts of plugins allow me to create a superior artwork even if I were to rely on AI alone, when compared to simply getting a Midjourney subscription or something that is a bit more user-friendly.Below, I will compare the pros and cons of my method with the typical, average AI art.
Purely AI Art
1 - Composition/pose left to chance;
2 - Forget specific tattoos or scars;
3 - Struggles with non-human races;
4 - Anatomy issues (hands, feet, eyes);
5 - Low resolution, or limited to generic upscaling;
6 - The background that comes is what you get, typically "non-Euclidean" (one floor becomes two, etc.).
- Quick and low effort, can pump out dozens of "passable" generic artworks a day.
My Art
1 - Everything in my control, no "RNG";
2 - Specific tattoos or scars are possible, or any other specific trait;
3 - Any fantasy race possible and perfectly accurate;
4 - Perfect hands, feet, eyes, etc.;
5 - Attention, time and extra polish given to minor details, making everything look far better than a mere upscaling;
6 - You can pick any background, separate from the character itself, and it makes geometrical sense.
- Each artwork takes me as much time as a regular non-AI artwork, i.e. up to dozens of hours, depending on complexity level.
What to Expect/Commission me for:
- Fantasy characters in general, from portraits with no background all the way to full body, dynamic portrayals.
- Any fantasy non-human races are doable!
- SFW and NSFW of all degrees, including SFW/NSFW alt versions.
- I work strictly with fantasy characters. I do not create artwork based on real people.
- I do not work with underage characters.
Timelapse
Here, you can see a simplified timelapse from the very first iteration all the way to the finished piece. As I didn't record it in real time (I'm a chronic alt-tabber and it'd require way too many cuts), it's more of a glorified slideshow between iterations, but it's a good way to see how I get to the final piece nonetheless.Not displayed: Controlnet OpenPose (shown above), real-time Photoshop steps (you'll probably notice them when you see something magically pop up or change, though some are a bit more subtle).