<aside> 💡 Hi there! Something a bit different for you this month.

I’ve been really interested in AI generated art so I thought I’d take the opportunity to experiment with Midjourney by creating a short children’s picture book, based on the origin story of my podcast, YesBot.

The results of my experimentation are below. It’s a fascinating process to craft a prompt for an AI generator. It’s seems to be equal parts imagination, computer programming and arcane ritual.

Sometimes your prompt generates exactly what you want, sometimes the results are completely off the wall. The trick is to be as specific as possible whilst also being extremely economical with your words.

So a bit like writing then.

I had to learn this new skill as I was doing it - what you see below is actually the result of several days worth of trial and error testing. One big challenge is that AI can’t generate the same character multiple times in different situations so you’ll notice a fair amount of variation in the character model for both the boy and the robot.

After the story, I’ve also included some art that didn’t make the final set, as well as the prompt that generated it.

Hope you enjoy!

</aside>

Christopher lived in the Green on the edge of the Forever City. The city’s solar spires and micro-moons hummed and sang in the glow of their synthetic sun each morning.

And every day, Christopher would head into the forest near his home to scavenge the scraps of technology that drifted down from the city’s beleaguered data clouds.

On one such morning, Christopher noticed a strange inorganic form amidst the profusion of bright blooms that carpeted the forest floor.

Sitting motionless in the undergrowth, with flowers twining in and around its inoperative components, was a little robot. From the rust spreading like a blight across its metal frame, it had been there for some time.

As Christopher approached, it suddenly sprang to life. It’s eyes glowed the welcoming red of a hearth fire as it swayed unsteadily on its feet. Through ancient internal speakers it managed a single garbled phrase …

Christopher lived in the Green on the edge of the Forever City. The city’s solar spires and micro-moons hummed and sang in the glow of their synthetic sun each morning.

And every day, Christopher would head into the forest near his home to scavenge the scraps of technology that drifted down from the city’s beleaguered data clouds.

On one such morning, Christopher noticed a strange inorganic form amidst the profusion of bright blooms that carpeted the forest floor.

Sitting motionless in the undergrowth, with flowers twining in and around its inoperative components, was a little robot. From the rust spreading like a blight across its metal frame, it had been there for some time.

As Christopher approached, it suddenly sprang to life. It’s eyes glowed the welcoming red of a hearth fire as it swayed unsteadily on its feet. Through ancient internal speakers it managed a single garbled phrase …

BzzzzzzzYeszzzzzzAND!

… before exploding into a hundred pin-wheeling pieces.