Assembling Layers

Dearest Rachel –

So even during the holidays, I’m trying to keep up with this self-imposed plan of assembling at least one T-shirt worthy graphic design each week. Daniel gave me a pass last week as we walked through one specifically for him – which is a good thing, as I’ve been working on one that’s proven to be a bit too complicated for a single set of instructions.

You see, the thing about AI art is that it’s only as good as the prompts fed into it. It tries to give you everything you ask for, but the more you ask it to include, the less leeway it has to do so the way you want to see it. As a result, you can give it all the details you want to, but it’s more likely than not going to give you only so much – and what it does include may not be where and how you want it. So sometimes the best thing you can do is to keep your instructions simple, create multiple different outputs, and assemble them together into a unified whole. That way, at least there can be as much of the personal touch as of the computer. It’s not entirely automated; I’ve put my own spin on the illustration.

So it was when I came across a meme – or maybe it was a Twitter conversation – about believing in oneself; it was supposed to be a line of encouragement, but the original poster was having none of it: “how can I be expected to do that,” he retorted, “when I’m the one who got me into this mess in the first place?” Yes, it’s cynical and pessimistic, but that’s part of why it appeals to me in the first place, as you would well know. Besides, it’s at least mildly amusing, and decidedly relatable; why wouldn’t it work as a T-shirt slogan?

The thing is, the graphic that accompanied the response was so nondescript as to be completely forgettable; as in, I don’t remember what it was. Heck, it may have just been a character giving the viewer some sort of thousand-yard stare, which, while appropriate for the situation, isn’t sufficiently memorable. So what would I put together to give the idea of an individual who’d made plenty of bad decisions – and knew that he had – and therefore was not to be trusted or believed in?

Well, I decided to start with a fellow dealing with a pile of bills on his desk, indicating that he wasn’t good with money. I also asked the computer to do an image of dollar bills flying away from him like a flock of birds, as a slightly surreal image to drive the point home. Somewhere along the line, I also decided to have the computer draw a bottle of whiskey on the desk, both to suggest how he’s dealing with those bills, and perhaps how he got burdened by them in the first place, to a certain extent. Then, I thought I’d add elements to suggest plans he jumped at and abandoned – like, for instance, attempts to get into shape – and others he’d considered, but never got around to for one reason or another – such as traveling. The first, I represented as sporting equipment covered in dust and spiderwebs (although the program couldn’t seem to figure out how to do either of those very well), and the other as a calendar and a series of travel posters that were worn and yellowed in their having been ignored for so long.

At this point, it’s just a matter of picking and choosing the parts I want to put together, and arranging them they way I’ve visualized them in my head (more or less; let’s face it, they’re never going to look exactly the way I picture them, but they’ll look a darn sight better than I could ever be expected to draw them myself).

With all these layers in place, all that’s left is to add the text that inspired it all, which is a bit more challenging to decide on than you’d think, in terms of fonts and what not…

And that’s how I do these things, honey – and why it takes a week or so to put together. I don’t know if the result is truly worth it, but it keeps me busy and out of trouble. Then again, given the season, there’s plenty to deal with that serves such a purpose; I might as well get on with that, as opposed to noodling around with this.

And with that in mind, I should probably ask you once again to keep an eye on me, honey, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.