cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/7524114

I won’t say I can’t draw (anyone can put a pencil on paper), but I will say I have no practiced skills.

I’ve never done character art before, but I want to for this game. What alternative ways do you have to represent your character visually?

I’ve considered AI generators, but I don’t want to spend money and time tuning the prompt to match what I want vs what the AI thinks I want.

I’ve also thought about a collage to represent different aspects of my character, then mashing some elements together with GIMP.

  • HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone
    6·
    1 year ago

    You can always use the tried and true Just Steal method, where you yoink art from twitter or pinterest thats close enough to what your mental image looks like. Of course, dont do this if you’re running a show.

  • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
    52·
    1 year ago

    All of the players in my game either use:

    • AI-generated character art. If you put in the time to tune the prompt (or just keep rerolling) you can get some really good results that way. It’s harder for female characters because it always wants to add giant gazongas, but eventually you can get it to generate a normal looking character.
    • MTG cards. There are a wealth of them out there with many different art styles and styles of fantasy.
    • DeviantArt/Google Image search results
    • 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦@ttrpg.network
      10·
      1 year ago

      It’s harder for female characters because it always wants to add giant gazongas, but eventually you can get it to generate a normal looking character.

      I would put phrases like “small-breasted woman” or at one point, in frustration, “small-breasted, and by this I mean SMALL, not LARGER THAN HER FRICKIN’ HEAD YOU HALLUCINATING DIGITAL PARROT!” into the prompts.

      I always got breasts that were a sizable fraction of the head size. Often larger than the head size. Except for that last frustrated prompt. That one got me huge breasts with parrots sitting on them.

      This is what happens when you think your “AI” is “neutral”. It isn’t. It’s filled with all the biases of society, only with a patina of neutrality slathered on top.

  • Ziggurat@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I would still think that AI generator are the easiest. Stable diffusion is free (as in free speech, and as in free beer) and runs on your own PC provided you have a GPU. You can check the !imageai@sh.itjust.works community to get some ideas on prompts and the kind of result you can get.

    Then there is learning to draw, but expect a couple of years of classes, but someone who went from “can’t draw to can draw a character” know betters how much time is needed