No, I didn't draw them up, but now that you mention it I probably should. They're very holiday themed.
El Pollo Diablo - Looks like a chicken with a flame aura. Invulnerable except to laugh-based magic (Vicious Mockery, Wounding Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, etc.) or can be killed via elaborate practical jokes. Wields high level charm magic and powerful fire attacks. (Hence the name)
Turkeybear - Very similar to the owlbear except fatter and with much more indulgent plumage. Attacks with "gravy" (poison spit/breath weapons), sonic attacks, and heralds its presence with the dread cry "Gawwwww-buuuuullll!". I made him resistant to magical weapons and most slashing attacks, though coincidentally, is weak against cleavers specifically.
maybe it's socially acceptable on reddit to sexualize any post involving a woman whether it's actually NSFW or not, but unless the OP has clearly indicated they're fine with being sexualized on a non-NSFW post it's absolutely not here. do not do this shit unsolicited, it's almost always creepy and fucking weird!
Thanks! It's very much a hobby in that it's an avenue of art therapy for me and a way to make gifts for folks, but I'll pick up other projects to make for GDQ events or other fundraiser raffles.
Some folks are really good artists but I have real difficulty drawing freehand, so I'll often find an image or several and either clean them up or arrange them with GNU Image Manipulator. Once I'm happy with the image I'll print a copy to use as the template, and they get saved in a folder in case I want to make another piece with the same image. I transfer the image by hand tracing everything but shading over a sheet of carbon copy paper. Some folks will use a coated sheet (like a sheet of stickers with all the stickers removed, leaving just the waxy coating) to print onto with toner and then transfer the image using heat to release the toner from the paper, but tracing lets me teach my hand the image.
For the wood, I aim to get hardwoods milled S4S (squared 4 sides). Basswood is usually what you'll find in craft stores and a common recommendation, but softer woods tend to have inconsistencies during the image burn and I think the character in hardwood boards is prettier. To prep the wood, I'll sand the faces from 80 grit up to about 4k, taking short breaks in between changing grits to lightly spray the face I'm working with some water - the water helps to raise less prominent wood fibers as you sand to get a more consistent finish. The smoother the face, the easier it'll be to move the burn tool's tip to make the image.
I'm currently using a burn tool from Walnut Hollow with a temperature control built in, but started with a basic tool plugged into a soldering iron base with temp controls - the higher the temperature of the tool, the darker and faster resulting burn, but lower temps allow you to do shading in gradients. I'll usually take an offcut from the piece I'm working on to block out the shades at each setting to use as a reference. The secret is to make millions of tiny circles, as though you were coloring with a ballpoint pen, which gives the burned areas a smoother finish. Without the tiny circular motion, you'll end up with small pointillist type gouges where the tool rested too long and burned in deeper than the surrounding area.
I'm a little bit conflicted honestly, because I'm not a fan of the idea of A.I. art, in general.
But I also have to admit this result looks really good. Very cool character and perspective! I also like your take with him being a defender/carrying no weapon.
I think maybe it needs some more work in the surroundings, because some of the buildings don't make sense (missing walls e.g. around his shield).
I hear you, when this stuff was blowing up I couldn’t shake that it was trained off artists’ work that they didn’t consent to having in the datasets. Sure it’s similar to how human artists work (for music and art the prevailing recommendations for me, or any artist, was to consume material relevant to your art. For visual art they really just wanted you to constantly keep your head open for shapes and form) but it felt closer to plagiarism than inspiration. Some generations can be very close to an individual style (especially if the model was trained specifically off that) but I found that generations that omitted an artist ended up creating something compelling but not tied to one artist specifically - still undoubtedly a conglomeration of the multitudes it was trained on (including photography). It’s muddy water for sure, and the angle of AI replacing workers in general is still relevant - but I also think it empowers people like me who have the visual ideas but can use the help making them fully fleshed out.
The crux, for me, feels like “when you can see whatever you want, what do you want to see?” A lot of our AI woes are reflections of questionable human behavior (racist chat models, AI for war, deepfakes and dishonesty).
Thank you!! I sometimes post things I make either here on Beehaw or lemmy.world, but I don't post everything I make. The URL in my profile will lead to my full portfolios if you want to check them out :D
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