DBFISH

The Artist Spotlight is your inside look into the influences, collaborations and prompts that drive the NightCafe community.

We catch up with some of our most original creators to find what inspires them, who their favorite creators are, and how they use image generator algorithms as part of their work.

NC: WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?

Seventy-one years of living with hungry eyes... You cannot un-see what you have seen.

It might have been a passing glance at something that arrested your eyes, but didn't register as a conscious inclusion. But somewhere deep inside, the new 'Influence' begins to nourish your visual sensibilities and it will change you.

My Parents took us to Museums around the world from an early age. Formative Impressions were gained in Toronto, 1964 at a 270 work Retrospective showing of Pablo Picasso.... blew my little mind. Saw Alexander Calder exhibit at the Seattle Worlds Fair in 1962. Ditto.

NC: PROMPT THAT MOST SURPRISED YOU?

Every Prompt CAN Surprise you if you let it.

To my mind there are two major strategies to prompt writing:

• Where the Prompt is used by itself to fully describe what you want to see - the 'au natural' style, and

• Those who predominantly use Start Images.

Some people like to "milk" AI for everything it's got (guilty) by using Image Noise Weight (a terrible name) to encourage the AI to dream a bit.

NC: ANY TIPS FOR PROMPT WRITING?

Prompt writing has changed also.

We used to be so proud of our 'beauty words' because they were (among other things) what helped make our work stand-out.

Now it is possible to make images of similar quality but without any special verbiage. So now everybody has a Kodak 'Brownie' (the little camera that could), and can take generic flat snaps with ease, but every picture looks the same unless the person behind the camera "sees" things differently. Unless we really take control of Stable Diffusion, it will continue to produce a range of unexceptional images.

Word placement is crucial. Words early in the prompt have more natural weight, so put important stuff in the first 'line' or two - not at the end. Use 'Word Weights' frequently as needed. Change Word order just to see what the effect is. You have to burn credits in order to excel, unless you are a savant.

Adhering to a methodology like in Science is crucial. If you don't keep track you are destined to step all over yourself in the process. The Scientific Method is key to really understanding what's going on, and using that understanding to build upon, experiment, explore meaningfully, AND burn far fewer credits than if you were flailing about.

If you are getting lots of artefacts in your images, back-off the 'Prompt Weight' from 1 to .9. I was beset by spurious fingers and hands with one series, and the reduction of these artefacts was impressive after a lowering of the Prompt Weight value.

I imagine that if we had adequate granularity (a decimal scale ((floating -point)), then we would have much more wiggle room creatively.

NC: WHAT LED YOU TO USING NIGHTCAFE?

I messed with the early "let's make your image weird!" transmogrification programs for years and enjoyed it.

I did a web search looking for more AI-adjacent software and found NightCafe. This was June, 11 2022, 11:49am. Changed my life in the best possible way, adding an unexplored avenue and for the first time, social media.

NighCafe is the ONLY social media presence I have and it has been inspiring. When I started it was intimidating as all get out because the programs 'Artistic' and 'Coherent' were, frankly, difficult to use.

Nothing like Stable Diffusion. A coherent image was a big achievement. With only that software, the community like we now have would not have happened, because it was previously tough sailing for us Art types.

I look back and am amazed by the difference. NightCafe is a winner!