Anthony Balducci's Journal: Tidbits for March 2024

Image created by Justin Archiquette

I continue to find enjoyment in experimenting with the AI art generator Midjourney. I hope that other people will enjoy these images, but it's impossible to please everyone.

Se-lä-vē.

I got the program to generate renditions of the iconic comic strip crimefighter Dick Tracy.

I prompted Midjourney to generate to images of Lt. Columbo.

I wonder how effective Columbo would have been solving famous cinematic mysteries.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

North by Northwest (1959)

Laura (1944)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Rear Window (1954)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Could Columbo have gotten the best of the murderous shapeshifting alien in The Thing (1982)?

Star Trek is a popular subject on Midjourney.

Midjourney allows sci fi fans to create mash-ups of Star Trek and Star Wars.

A mash-up of Captain Kirk and Hans Solo produced J. T. Solo.

These images were created by .ledou, Barkasz, Justin Archiquette, KEE, Luca Giudice, Mark Batson, rickfiske and WestBottle5297.

I have indulged in much weirder mash-ups. Take, for instance, my mash-up of The Sound of Music and Jurassic Park.

Weeks after I created these images, I came across a mash-up of Mary Poppins and Jurassic Park. It was created by Left-Plant2717. Could I have inspired this?

A couple of my weird efforts nearly blew up Midjourney.

This is my failed effort to get Midjourney to generate images of The Outer Limits' Zanti Misfits.

I asked Midjourney to create a poster for Jerry Lewis' concentration camp drama The Day the Clown Cried. What is this insanity?

Godzilla has become a favorite subject for Midjourney members.

These images were created by Peder Frohm and Bogdan Markowicz.

I generally don't address AI animation, but I was entertained by three recent videos. The first is a trailer for an imaginary film, Wonder Woman 3: Twilight of Justice.

The second is a trailer for an Akira Kurosawa version of Star Wars.

Finally, Taylor Gahm used Midjourney to create a short film called Come and Take It.

Midjourney produces mixed results in its recreations of comic book art. Dan Rubin used the program to create the following comic book pages.

This page was created by echo_biroso.

This is my failed attempt to reproduce John Romita's artwork.

This image by alf666 captures a bit of Steve Ditko's style with figures.

Here are other efforts.

David McIntyre

Alphonse Marcel

Johan Danforth

primordiavox

PromptCraft Studio

This is a Jokerized Batman by Karl Bassitt.

I devoted a few minutes to concocting a couple of 1960s-style superhero teams.

I am not sure what to make of this. This is an actual photo of an Irish politician, Michelle O'Neill.

A Midjourney member wanted a picture of O'Neill "with a group of other women, wearing blue leggings, candid shot, full length from back angle, ground level, in living room." The program took a bit of license with this.

I love this simple yet effective illustration that timgao_75572 created for the 1994 French action-thriller Leon the Professional.

I tried to produce similar illustrations for other classic films.

Casablanca (1942)

The Searchers (1956)

Jaws (1975)

I went with a different style for the next two images.

I also tried different styles for these Casablanca images.

In the Style of Jean Berau

In the Style of Jon Carling

In the Style of Sandra Boynton

Grant Davis created wheaty character designs for a Breaking Bad parody series called Breaking Bread.

This "Before and After" diet ad was created by superjava68.

These are unique architectural designs.

"I am vengeance. . ." by Another1LikesTheRust

Midjourney will produce an image based on a quote from a book or a song. I got several of my Dick Tracy images by submitting the lyrics to The Chants' 1961 "Dick Tracy" song. Here is a quote from Harry Potter.

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

These are images generated from that quote.

Bright-Astronaut7263 submitted the opening paragraph of "To Kill a Mockingbird." The paragraph describes a boy, Jem, who breaks his elbow and becomes self-conscious that the injury has left one arm shorter than the other. This image captures that paragraph very well.

A Midjourney member with the unfathomable name of Seed who knows imagined John Wayne as the star of a 1940s Superman film.

Nathan Lichter imagined a 1970s version of The Fifth Element with Linda Carter in the role of Leeloo.

This is meant to be Planet of the Apes in the style of a 1920s silent film.

Midjourney sometimes gets bad notions from the many images entered into its database. For example, the program seems to have the idea that most women have tattoos and nose rings. Take a look at this portrait of an old couple. They look like grandparents in their seventies. Their attire is highly traditional. But, if you look close, you see that the woman has a nose ring. The image was created by patriciafp.

Midjourney designed a perfect cutaway house set for me.

This is an actual photo from a high school party in the 1940s.

It's a great photo. I turned the photo over to Midjourney, hoping to get the program to invent additional images from the party. I was disappointed by what it produced.

Ole Rømer, a 15th-century Danish astronomer, was the first scientist to measure the speed of light. Midjourney thought that his treatise on the subject may have looked like this.