The Gag
This one’s unusual because it’s the first time Tony Isabella has come up with a gag not inspired by a piece of existing art. His original idea was for this to be a male baseball player who’d tried out for a “recreational” baseball team. He figured I’d have some comic art featuring baseball players. And I do.
But nothing that seemed quite right. And I had nothing at all with a baseball player at a bar sadly telling his tale of woe—which would’ve been Tony’s ideal version of the art.
So, I created some new art using artificial intelligence. But first I suggested to Tony that we make the baseball player a beautiful woman softball player. And instead of her trying out for her a recreational team, she wanted to be on her church’s team.
Tony liked the suggestions so much that he suggested we share writing credit for the gag. (I still think my suggestions were more along the lines of good editing than writing, but I’m happy to share a byline with Tony!)
The Art—First Attempt
Above is my preliminary art attempt using the MidJourney platform.
Typically, I’ll go through anywhere from 10 to or more attempts before I get a final piece of art. But here, something very close to the final art showed up in my very first attempt.
However, I asked MidJourney to give me some additional variations—just to see what would happen. I liked some very much. But most didn’t seem quite right for this gag. Or they had some sort of A.I. weirdness that would’ve taken too much time to clean up.
As for the word prompts used to create the art, I tell MidJourney to use several late-but-great comic book artist as influences. This time, though, I added Norman Rockwell to the art influences and listed him first so his work would be the primary art influence.
Second Attempt
Again, I liked all four of these—particularly the first in the upper left. But she’s behind the bar and appears to be the bartender instead of a customer. Plus, she’s not wearing a baseball cap. Two of the other three have the women wearing either a dress or a long, tight skirt—which seemed improbable for any sort of modern sports play. So, I decided to spin the MidJourney wheel again.
Third Attempt
This time I asked MidJourney to give me a version of one of the women from my first attempt. The lower left panel seemed closest to what I wanted. So I eventually went with that—making a few minor changes in Photoshop (mostly fixing her ear and hair a bit.) And then—I was done!
WOMAN: I got kicked off my church softball team. When they asked what position I played...I said “reverse cowgirl.”
Art: A.I. Magic Writers: Tony Isabella & John Lustig
Lucky_Duck_A_beatiful_woman_baseball_player_sits_sadly
I like the picture, the joke, and her, but I cannot help feeling that the artwork lacks any soul. It’s just too smooth, and reminds me of the bland cheesecake photographs of untouchable goddesses that some sites supply.
Well, that can happen with artificial intelligence created art—which is what this is. And I’m aware of that issue.
For the record, I’m committed to keeping old comic art as the basis for the vast majority of Last Kiss gags. But using A.I. does open the door to doing jokes that would’ve been difficult or even impossible with the comic panels I have.
(Plus, I’ll admit that generating art with A.I. is often just plain fun.)
I don’t see any reference to the original artwork. Reader Peter Bromwich mentioned it looked “too smooth”. Was this done by AI?
Yes. Any time I list “A.I. Magic” as the artist, then the art is generated by artificial intelligence. See my new revisions to the post which showcases part of the process.
She identifies herself as “Carmine Zuigiber”, a war correspondent from a news outlet called “National World Weekly”.
One of the four horsemen – WAR – from Good Omens. Spelling of the last name is questionable.
Got to dig out my 15th? copy (all other copies given away/loaned and not expected back) and read it for the 63rd time.
Nice. I haven’t read “Good Omens,” but by sure coincidence my wife and I finished the first season of the TV series a few days ago. Wow, it was great! We’re looking forward to a second season!
For me, it’s the closest approach to a perfectly done book. I can start on any page and enjoy it as much as the first time I read it.
The series was decently done but can’t capture the nuances that Pratchett and Gaiman’s writing bring to a visualization of the ‘scrupulously exact’ prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.
Given the looks of that bar another Good Omens quote seems appropriate:
People were always fighting, over her, or around her; it was rather sweet, really.
I like it. I was hoping there was a higher res copy so I could zoom in and look at more of the background details. As someone mentioned elsewhere, it does have a bit of Edward Hopper feel to it. It for sure gives off a 30s~40s dive bar vibe. Yes, would also like to know more about the AI “seeds” that were tried to generate something like this.
Ah, but those prompts is what makes an artist, and can actually become a signature style.
As you’ve probably seen by now, I’ve posted quite a bit on this page about the creation of the art. I was deliberately vague about most aspects of the word prompts, though. I’m generally into sharing info, but—at least for now—I’d like to keep some stuff as proprietary knowledge.
The woman in the tight skirt is cut in half by the bar.
True. That’s just one of the many ways that A.I. can insert crazy, improbable problems into the art.
If I had gone with that art, I suppose I would’ve covered up this problem with a strategically placed word balloon. It’s not the best place for a word balloon, but I’ve covered up these sorts of problems before.
For what it’s worth, I really liked the one on the bottom left of your first attempt. May not have been right for the joke, but wow.
Yeah, me too. There’s something wrong with one of her hands, but I probably could’ve covered that up with a word balloon. (Not the best place for a word balloon, but it fixes the problem!)
And, yes, I’d definitely consider using that and some of the other images with different gags–if I think of the right gags!
Paraphrasing Donnie Baker: I don’t like reverse cowgirl. Why? Because you don’t turn your back on family!!
Yes, totally stolen joke!
As full credit as I can:
Donnie Baker is a character played by Ron Sexton on the Bob & Tom radio show. Ron also takes Donnie on the road with him for standup gigs.