AI book cover

[Dankolisic]

Went online, fooled around a little bit, found some free AI photo makers, so decided to give it a try...
Not bad, somewhat what my world looks like.
The title is in croatian, it translates to:
Erah
The secret of Ridgepeak
by: Danimir Kulish
I don't really remember the site, one of the free AI sites
.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Not bad, though it feels a bit to me like the character was stuck onto the background separately. That's not immediately a bad thing I guess. It's very common with indie covers where two elements are stuck together like that. Whole Romance sub-genres have those types of covers. It's just what I noticed.

Another small thing is that on the bottom right, to the right of the character's hand, the cliff face stops and then starts again in the same way. It's an obvious tell of an AI cover and it just looks silly.

A small thing worth researching if you want to use this cover, is the terms and conditions of the AI you used. Many of the free AI's limit what you can do with the image. Most for instance don't allow you to use it for commercial purposes if you use the free version. It's something to be aware of and make sure you can actually use this for a commercial cover.

 

[Dankolisic]

Not bad, though it feels a bit to me like the character was stuck onto the background separately. That's not immediately a bad thing I guess. It's very common with indie covers where two elements are stuck together like that. Whole Romance sub-genres have those types of covers. It's just what I noticed.

Another small thing is that on the bottom right, to the right of the character's hand, the cliff face stops and then starts again in the same way. It's an obvious tell of an AI cover and it just looks silly.

A small thing worth researching if you want to use this cover, is the terms and conditions of the AI you used. Many of the free AI's limit what you can do with the image. Most for instance don't allow you to use it for commercial purposes if you use the free version. It's something to be aware of and make sure you can actually use this for a commercial cover.

Yes I am aware it is a free AI photo generator I was just amazed how the Ai creates something like this, even for free...I bet the AI's you actually pay are way better. But no, I actually employed a friend of mine who is an artist to make the cover of the book. It is still in development, but this is a very rough
sketch - i chose option number 2.
So, using this and Inkarnate pro mode ( which I think gives me the use for commercial uses) for maps and scenes should be well within the law

 

[Finchbearer]

If you’re happy with it then that’s all that really matters, however if you want my opinion, whilst the background image is fine, I think the typography could be vastly improved.

In any book cover design you ideally would want the typography to feel part of the overall design, whereas here the typography feels distinctly separate. Try integrating the type into the design and it’ll feel more impactful along with communicating more about your story.

Your author name for instance is lost at the bottom of the image there. Don’t be afraid to increase the size of the type either, that should be front and centre stage as that is what is communicating your story name and who it’s written by!

 

[Dankolisic]

If you’re happy with it then that’s all that really matters, however if you want my opinion, whilst the background image is fine, I think the typography could be vastly improved.

In any book cover design you ideally would want the typography to feel part of the overall design, whereas here the typography feels distinctly separate. Try integrating the type into the design and it’ll feel more impactful along with communicating more about your story.

Your author name for instance is lost at the bottom of the image there. Don’t be afraid to increase the size of the type either, that should be front and centre stage as that is what is communicating your story name and who it’s written by!

Definitely not something I would go for as a book cover, just a cool thing. For me, it was like presenting someone with the book and they draw their own vision of it, but since the book is still unfinished I couldn't just send it around for people to read and I did not want to spend money since even I don't know how the world will ultimately look ( funny fact, the person on the cover has blue skin, changed it into green skin a month ago because my wife said they look similar to the Naavi from Avatar).
But for the actual book cover, i employed a friend to make a cover, it's still a rough sketch ( this is not AI)
Went with number 2.
But thanks for the feedback

 

[_Michael_]

What AI did you use? Perchance's is pretty good.

 

[Dankolisic]

What AI did you use? Perchance's is pretty good.

don't really know, some of the free ai sites where you can make 3-4 images and then you have to pay. Sorry I cant remember which one

 

[_Michael_]

Let me give you some good ones.

catbird.ai is free with registration
perchance is free totally (up to 12 images at a crack!)
junia.ai is okay (you get a small number per month)
MS Bing image creator is free (use your microsoft account to sign in, 15 prompts a day, in sets of four images)

Hope those help to get you started.

 

[Dankolisic]

Let me give you some good ones.

catbird.ai is free with registration
perchance is free totally (up to 12 images at a crack!)
junia.ai is okay (you get a small number per month)
MS Bing image creator is free (use your microsoft account to sign in, 15 prompts a day, in sets of four images)

Hope those help to get you started.

Thank you, will for sure look them up!

 

[_Michael_]

No problemo! We should really put together a maintained thread for free ai generators. I'd be willing to help contribute and prune it every once in a while.

We could have it subdivided in the OP by category (Art) (Textual) (Video/GIF), etc.

Ban A. E. Lowan

 

[pmmg]

Why don't you just ask AI for a list of good free AI generators?

 

[_Michael_]

I've done that, but it tends to spit out ones that require registration. It also likes to only spit out a set number of them, or the same ones over and over.

It works, but you have to be patient.

 

[Fyri]

I'm curious how we are vetting these AI art generators... You know... Since there are a lot of artists getting their work stolen and regurgitated by AI these days. Idk, would make me a little nervous to support. Murky water there...

 

[_Michael_]

I think that comes more from those asshats on deviantArt who message you and ask you to sell them your artwork so they can turn it into a crypto token, or whatever. I've had two people try that so far. "Oh, your artwork is amazing! Can we turn it into a bitcoin token?"

Um, no.

Usually, I just set a prompt to something like, "Dungeons & Dragons-esque fantasy art, dwarven citadel," and then comb through fifty or one hundred images before perchance actually returns usable results. Some concepts it just doesn't seem to get, like the Underdark (showing it with a brightly illuminated sky) or dwarven citadels built into mountains. You can use major artists' names to get a style similarity (like using a variable string like, "Luis Royo-style).

 

[Fyri]

*Sucks in air through teeth* Yeahhhhh. That definitely sounds sketchy...

My sister has friends who try to make a living off their art through commissions. Many of them are struggling a lot more since AI art has taken off. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that AI art is free and accessible. Sure. Fine. No one can stop the technology giant from evolving.

However. This becomes morally questionable (and legally) when you look at where the AI is getting it's ability to offer you artwork "in X artist's style". When you tell the program to generate art in a major artist's style, it is highly likely that the program then goes through that artist's already created works and regurgitates something based on what it used. In this way, we enter the very current and controversial debate about using AI art. The artist whose artwork was used often hasn't given this program permission to use their art at all, let alone like this. There is copyright issue: Creating derivative works from art that does not belong to you.

This can get very messy if you then use that AI generated art as something that you now make money off of.

AI is a very new reality. Right now, we are in a sandbox stage, more or less. We have yet to create regulations around how it should be used, and therefore, there are a lot of...issues surrounding the way the sandbox is being used.

Sorry if this was too much info or tangent-y. Apparently I have opinions about this subject. XD *fans away stinky opinions*

 

[_Michael_]

*Sucks in air through teeth* Yeahhhhh. That definitely sounds sketchy...

My sister has friends who try to make a living off their art through commissions. Many of them are struggling a lot more since AI art has taken off. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that AI art is free and accessible. Sure. Fine. No one can stop the technology giant from evolving.

However. This becomes morally questionable (and legally) when you look at where the AI is getting it's ability to offer you artwork "in X artist's style". When you tell the program to generate art in a major artist's style, it is highly likely that the program then goes through that artist's already created works and regurgitates something based on what it used. In this way, we enter the very current and controversial debate about using AI art. The artist whose artwork was used often hasn't given this program permission to use their art at all, let alone like this. There is copyright issue: Creating derivative works from art that does not belong to you.

This can get very messy if you then use that AI generated art as something that you now make money off of.

AI is a very new reality. Right now, we are in a sandbox stage, more or less. We have yet to create regulations around how it should be used, and therefore, there are a lot of...issues surrounding the way the sandbox is being used.

Sorry if this was too much info or tangent-y. Apparently I have opinions about this subject. XD *fans away stinky opinions*

No, no! This is all great information to be aware of using AI. The whole crypto-token is relatively new. I think it has something to do with making a unique image token that only that image with the embedded code can access.

What are the legal liabilities of these companies? Obviously, they'd get sued into the stone age if they permitted their AI to just rip off a dragon from Michael Whelan and import it into a background from Luis Royo. Generally, the images I use are just generic locations and characters. Microsoft actually returns better results than perchance for gods and whatnot. Most times, using a prompt without a variable for artist style still generates usable results. You would think, though, that these sites with AI generators would have some kind of safeguards built in (unless they're the kind of websites that don't have a normal URL suffix--like weird ones from countries you only hear about in the news).

I guess if one had enough money, you could take an AI art piece and ask someone on dA to recreate it for you, but commissions are usually expensive.

One thing its great for is generating black and white pattern art (like deocrative pattern borders and other symbol stuff like a sword in a skull for the end of a chapter or something). Asking it to recreate the Auryn, for instance, generates some interesting results, but I'm not sure if the Auryn is a trademarked image. So that might be one instance of trademark/copyright violation.

 

[Fyri]

Hmm. I think we have to keep in mind that if the AI can respond to a prompt of "do X in [artist's] style" clearly enough, then it is safe to assume it is doing this same thing for less specific prompts. Even if it is just landscapes, it's probably using a conglomerate of other people's or even just one person's art without permission. Like, the AI had to be trained on some sort of existing art, and lots of it, to create what it can. So far, I don't know if there are any AI programs that don't do this... :/ Murky water, tread carefully...

Parts of this article may be useful here! Specifically the Copyright Infringement by Generative AI section.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10922#:~:text=AI%20programs%20might%20also%20infringe,created%20%E2%80%9Csubstantially%20similar%E2%80%9D%20outputs.

It may also be good to note that as soon as something it put onto a tangible (or digital) form, it is considered copywritten by the creator. This goes for anything from landscapes to specific characters.

Sorry if any of this is stuff you already know and stuff. I just wasn't sure and want to make sure people are well informed so they can know what they might be getting into before they get too deep. Not that...I know what I'm doing at all. XD

And if you're talking about NFTs, yeah. Those suck and are evil. XD

 

[Dankolisic]

No problemo! We should really put together a maintained thread for free ai generators. I'd be willing to help contribute and prune it every once in a while.

We could have it subdivided in the OP by category (Art) (Textual) (Video/GIF), etc.

Ban A. E. Lowan

that is a great idea. I have tried parchment, it is cool, but it offers limited choice.
The real book cover is nearly finished, it is hand drawn by a local artist from my town.
Will post it soon

 

[Dankolisic]

Hmm. I think we have to keep in mind that if the AI can respond to a prompt of "do X in [artist's] style" clearly enough, then it is safe to assume it is doing this same thing for less specific prompts. Even if it is just landscapes, it's probably using a conglomerate of other people's or even just one person's art without permission. Like, the AI had to be trained on some sort of existing art, and lots of it, to create what it can. So far, I don't know if there are any AI programs that don't do this... :/ Murky water, tread carefully...

Parts of this article may be useful here! Specifically the Copyright Infringement by Generative AI section.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10922#:~:text=AI%20programs%20might%20also%20infringe,created%20%E2%80%9Csubstantially%20similar%E2%80%9D%20outputs.

It may also be good to note that as soon as something it put onto a tangible (or digital) form, it is considered copywritten by the creator. This goes for anything from landscapes to specific characters.

Sorry if any of this is stuff you already know and stuff. I just wasn't sure and want to make sure people are well informed so they can know what they might be getting into before they get too deep. Not that...I know what I'm doing at all. XD

And if you're talking about NFTs, yeah. Those suck and are evil. XD

I usually use AI generator to make portraits or scenes for my book, better than contacting a bunch of artist to do that, of course all the pictures that will be in the book will be either made in Inkarnate pro mode or by artist, but some AI photos are good so maybe I will include them.

 

[Finchbearer]

It is in my opinion that should anyone choose to use AI generated ‘art’ for their work, then it does risk losing something more important that copyright infringement - credibility. The cheapening of art and design was inevitable, but with the rise and rise of AI, there will be a clear distinction between the wheat and the chaff. Try creating original work. You will thank your future self.

For gaming, for recreational use and for fun, AI is fine, but as an ‘art’ it is a non entity.