BESTIARIO
AI Exploration
Based on the idea, that “interpretation is subjective”, I recall an exercise we did with our Illustration professor Wilson Borja, in Bogotá - Colombia, back in 2011. The need of interpretation and it’s accuracy to reality, can take us to the story of Albert Dürer and his rhino illustration.
In 1515, German artist Albrecht Dürer created the woodcut without ever actually seeing a rhino for himself with his own eyes. Instead he used a description from a letter and a sketch created by an unknown artist who had seen the rhino. ¹
“With an extra horn on its back and armoured plates instead of leathery skin, Dürer’s rhino is not particularly accurate, which is understandable given that he based it on a written account and a sketch by another artist.”
For this exercise, we based ourselves on the textual description of the fantastic creatures described in the book from the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, “El libro de los seres imaginarios“ (1957). Here, we find a vast selection of different “creatures” that we will then, translate into something graphical. The description, as imaginative and fantastic as it is, is also specific.
This is a skill we develop as graphic designers: The translation (into something visual) of a message.
The indication is quite simple. And in an attempt to prove that human creativity, interpretation and means of communication (when the material/technical conditions are also available) can also be as diverse as the results provided by each AI. Is also and evidence of the refinement that AI generative images still need to accomplish, in order to “compete” or “execute” a command, as a human -visual- production can be.
The following, are the results of the images generated by the IA.
ILLUSTRATE THIS:
“Sketch illustration of a fantastic animal that resembles a white donkey with 3 legs, 6 eyes, 9 mouths, 2 ears and 1 horn, standing in the middle of the ocean“
The results by AI:
The sketch by human:
Accuracy
Although the style is a topic of discussion for another post, what it should be highlighted from this image is the accuracy on the specifications stated on the input: 3 legs / 6 eyes / 9 mouths / 2 ears and 1 horn.
In conclusion, in this case human production and input quality is higher than AI.
Try it yourself and let me know your thoughts on AI!