Learn how classic illustration styles affect subjects and colors.
#Tip 13 – Classic monsters by classic illustrators
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In this tip we will look at some famous illustrators and learn how training data affects the content and color schemes of your results.
Let’s start with Edward Gorey. Edward St. John Gorey (1925 – 2000) was an American writer, costume designer, and artist. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings.
We can’t assume the AI will know any artist or genre. Let’s begin by doing a “subject-free” test to check for a recognizable art style. Here is an “illustration by Edward Gorey from The Doubtful Guest.”
These look like his style. Next let’s try the subject “the mummy. illustration by Edward Gorey from The Doubtful Guest.”
How about doing Charles Addams next? Charles Samuel Addams (1912 – 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Family. Here is “the mummy. illustration by Charles Addams.”
Notice that these are colorized, but we did not say anything about color in our prompt. The training data gave us colors and shading associated with his work.
John M. Crowther (1939 – 2018) was an American artist and writer known for the cartoons he produced for Mad magazine, oil portraits, and his writing for television and film. Here is “the mummy. illustration by John M. Crowther”.
Much more colorful! Again, we did not need to request these colors. They were supplied from the training data on hand. If we test “dracula. illustration by John M. Crowther” we can see something interesting about how training data affects the results.
We only asked for “dracula”, but we got a lot of setting details, such as the castle, spider webs, and a dramatic cape. If you let the AI supply associations automatically, your prompts can be simpler, increasing your chances of getting a coherent result.
Going to illustrators from earlier times will give a more old-fashioned look. Henry Patrick Clarke (1889 – 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements. To capture his style, we may want to choose one of the media that he published in, such as his halftone illustrations from Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Here is “a cat as the bride of frankenstein. halftone illustration by Harry Clarke from Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. 1923.”
He also produced color plates, so here is “a cat as the bride of frankenstein. colour plate by Harry Clarke from Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. 1923.”
Notice that the color tones are those associated with his work in the training data, so we did not need to specify them.
For charming storybook treatments of your favorite monsters, you can’t go wrong with Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939). Rackham was one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, combined with the use of watercolor. Here is “the wolfman. colorful storybook illustration from the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Arthur Rackham. 1917.”
