Mar 17: Luck of the Irish
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Two years ago, I worked very hard at making credible St. Patrick’s Day images. AI image generation and I were still quite new to each other and it was a bit of a struggle. Yet looking back at it, I did actually have a few successes.1
I didn’t feel successful though, because it was my fervent desire to meld St. Patrick’s Day themes with Día de los Muertos imagery — and I’d failed miserably in that endeavor. Well … I finally succeeded this year! Not only that, it was NightCafe that got me there rather than Midjourney.
For whatever reason, I’d also decided in 2023 that I needed to make an Irish dolphin.2 The main way I’ve found to make various subjects “Irish” is to add a green top hat and some shamrocks to my prompts, in addition to the phrase “luck of the Irish.”3 Armed with that knowledge, I tried more dolphins this year and was pleased with many of the results.
Once I’d managed to create a few Día de los Muertos images in NightCafe, I imported them into Midjourney and began modifying them. Two years ago I’d desperately wanted to create a calavera drinking green beer with a miniature human skull sloshing around in the mug. I finally succeeded in that endeavor too.
Bluesky, where I’ve been hanging out with other AI image creators, celebrates “Dragon Tuesday” each week, so I’ve also been trying my hand at various dragon creations. To me, many of them — particularly the character below — look more like horned toads than dragons.4
May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back …
… And may you never ever find a skull floating in your beer (green or otherwise). Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Looks like I made no fewer than three St. Patrick’s Day posts in 2023, including one with Faux Celtic knotwork; another featuring a panda and a very strange mug of green beer; and a third with more critters (even a couple of the human variety).
I freely admit I do not have a clue how my mind works. Why an Irish dolphin? I have no idea.
“Elf” and “leprechaun” also work in prompts but they have some issues: AI elves always have pointy ears and leprechauns always have red hair. AI is still fairly unimaginative in those two areas.
Horned toads are a) pretty small; b) not toads at all but lizards; and c) colloquially called horny toads.
Isn't the only difference between horned toads and dragons size, really.
Plus, the world needs more horned toads.
Nothing more to add today.