Illustration Gone Wrong

I fed a simple exchange into ChatGPT and asked it to make a comic strip. What could go wrong?

The Setup: I had a conversation in the Human Diagnostics Center that started generating usable data based off the patterns. I joked that I felt a peer review coming on, but my inner scientist bonked me in the head with reality and facts. ChatGPT’s humorous summary of this exchange is below.

Exceprt from discussion with ChatGPT

Of course, I saw this and thought, “What a hilarious cartoon that would make!” And I went for it.

The first attempt to make this cartoon.

Full disclosure: I cackled when I saw this. It wasn’t usable. First of all, why does JenOS have two different style eyes? And why is the scientist bonking himself in the head? But I had to admit the disapproving rat and bell curve were nice touches.

I modified my instructions. Create a 3 panel comic strip. The middle panel should show JenOS getting bonked in the head. And the third panel should have the inner scientist. Keep the lab rat and bell curve.

Second attempt to create cartoon

This was promising, but there were still issues. The first panel is cut off. Why? Nobody knows. The bonk hand is comically large. But the third panel has typos and JenOS instead of her inner scientist. It looks more like the head trauma caused a personality change than getting a reality check. And the dazzle-bonk-rigor headings were not supposed to be in the cartoon. That was just part of my prompt for the order of the panels.

Revised instructions: try again without typos, but put the inner scientist back in.

Third attempt at cartoon

At this point, I realized we might be spiraling. The scientist is back to bonking himself. The rat serves no purpose. We lost the three-panel layout. And there are still typos (Sciectist?)

Sigh.

Let’s give this one more try. Go back to three panels. Middle panel is the bonk. No typos.

The final attempt

At this point, I declared the experiment a failure. Sections of panels are “off the page.” The lab rat has lost its judgmental tone and serves no comedic purpose. And it makes zero sense that the bonk is not actually coming from the inner scientist.

Honestly, this first attempt was the funniest, even if it made zero sense.

I have no idea how people are creating visual art with AI. It is possible ChatGPT is just the wrong tool. I’ve considered taking this prompt into another program like Midjourney, but maybe it’s better if I stick to the art forms I already know.

Or maybe . . . I should just learn how to draw.

*All illustrations by ChatGPT. Text is 100% human-generated.