A couple years back I had this idea rumbling around my brain about a group of women working for the church. An elite squad with military training that takes on supernatural enemies. An genre mash-up of real world military tactic/action, with supernatural/fantasy.

I planned to make this an Ecchi style manga, which means the graphic below contains nudity. This graphic is not suitable for kids.

It’s unlikely I’ll ever do anything with this IP.

But since I hired an artist to do some character designs, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast redoing the designs through A.I. And post this article for y’all to see, for better or worse, where the future is headed.

I’m not gonna comment on the issue of AI, other than to say;  I think in a very short time things are going to be so incredibly different.

Working with AI art is bananas. Especially as a writer with no illustrative skill.

I keep thinking of BLADE RUNNER, where Decker is reviewing the video and telling the computer, “Track left, zoom, clear up, etc.” I feel like that’s the future of a lot of creative work. When it gets to that point where the AI really listens, and produces on demand, man, it’s gonna be double bananas.

It’s super scary and exciting at the same time.

• I’m noting that the artist that did the illustrations was difficult. Not responsive, not really “on the ball,” and when she really didn’t capture a main element in the last character, I asked her to adjust and she refused. Not a super big deal, and you could definitely argue I didn’t provide clear instructions or was being too anal, or whatever, but in this kind of head-to-head, I feel like the ability to work with someone factors in.
• None of the AI images were generated from the original artist’s art. I used the same information to create the AI, that I passed over to the human artist when she made her versions.

OHHH, I totally forgot, there’s a male priest character who can turn into a “demon.” I did some stuff with him, but forgot to add him in the collection. I’ll add him and update later this week.