What do your characters look like?

We have images in our heads of our characters, of settings, of action sequences. What would these look like in real life?

I was listening to The Creative Penn podcast a couple weeks ago. Joanna interviewed Derek Murphy and they talked about AI for art and images. I had a bit of time this afternoon and decided to try Midjourney, an AI program they talked about.

Hours — nay, days! — later…..

I had difficulty getting facial detail on full body action poses. So you’ll have to wait on those. Until then, here’s a couple possibles of Cary Aristovin.

I found myself getting caught up in what wasn’t right, what didn’t match with what I was imagining.

Then I saw the soulful eyes on these two. Despite not really matching the images I have in my head of Cary, the emotion and depth in these eyes are a good approximation.

Elise was a different story.

For a while, I was just getting images of mainly just red hair. It was slightly disturbing.

*A lot of red hair on something almost humanoid….*

Again, no action shots (unless I wanted red hair, without a face – really disturbing).

Here’s a possible Elise, ready to give some ‘tude. “Don’t touch my coffee!”

*Younger Elise, wary from consulting archaeology.*

*An Elise with more heart… possibly after the Russian Chinese war?*

As some extras — just ’cause — I tried to get a rendering of Trium Hall from Waiting for Fate. This is where Sons go to train to become Warriors. It is a place Cary loathes and vowed never to go back to.

I had in my mind something kind of like Pemberley (re: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) but it lacked the imposing, imperial, and a 1984-but-historic type qualities I wanted.

*Is Trium Hall a Pemberley wannbe? Likely not.*

Sometimes persistence and an open mind helps though because this rendering came up and I thought, “Yeah, maaaybeee….”

This one, too, is a possible Trium Hall. I was trying to get something with a bit more ornamentation to represent the way Juno and other Rire nations view Junoan Warriors, but that may be for another day.

What do your characters look like?

Try MidJourney and see what comes back to you. You may be surprised!

(Be warned. MidJourney is addictive. Once you’ve used up your quota of free images, opt for the Standard Plan. It doesn’t take much to render 200 images!)

Further Reading / Listening

The Creative Penn – Using AI for Art, Images, and Book Covers with Derek Murphy

Derek Murphy – MidJourney AI art for book cover design (how is this legal)?

MidJourney – sign-up for free and follow Derek’s instructions in his article (above)

Waiting for Fate (with Cary Aristovin and Trium Hall)

Memoirs of a Reluctant Archaeologist (with Elise Marquette)