Fred Flintstone

AI Art Has a Looooong Way to Go

Analysis /

Can Artificial Intelligence (a.k.a. regular computing) generate art? The jury is still out (even if the US copyright office is not). I’m skeptical and an idea popped into my head last night; can ‘AI’ generate something even remotely close to the real thing and how would they compare? E.g. what if we asked it to generate images of actor John Goodman as Fred Flintstone?

Readers of a certain age may already know where this ends up but for those unfamiliar, here is a primer:Yes, that’s actors John Goodman and Rick Moranis as Fred and Barney respectively in the live-action Flintstones movie from 1994.

I put out a call on Socel for someone to have a go at my idea since I didn’t think I could do it myself and lo and behold, Wobbe F. Koning replied and delivered!

So can current AI technology generate art that’s close to reality or is if just a whimsical plaything? Here’s the results.

Here’s MidJourney’s attempt:

And here’s Stable Diffusion’s attempt

Will you have nightmares tonight? I think I will.

Add your thoughts with a comment!

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7 Articles of Clothing That Any Animation Fan WOULD Be Seen Dead In

2 Comments / Animation /

While in Ireland this past July, we (future missus and I) made numerous trips to that mecca of price conscious, fashion-loving regular folk that is Penneys. Quite different from the American JC Penney, Penneys is the brand for retail giant Primark in Ireland and their strategy is to sell high-quality, stylish clothing at the lowest possible price.

Let’s put it this way, even in the US, I’ve struggled to find a pair of jeans for under $10 whereas Penneys sells them every day.

Besides the low, low prices Penneys also sells plenty of licensed items, including a healthy supply of animation-related clothing that was clearly selling. It was quite a surprise to see that cartoon characters on clothing is considered much more mainstream than it is here in the States; where you either accept the wall of ‘hip’ shirts that Wal-Mart/Target has to offer or you have to duck into the local Hot Topic to what they’ve got to offer.

Anyhoo, without further adieu, here’s 7 articles of clothing that I found in Penneys that any fashionable fan of animation should not be without:

1. Japanese Mickey Mouse

2. Yosemite Sam (woefully under-represented in clothing IMO)

3. Fred Flinstone

4. Spongebob Squarepants (perfect for casual Friday)

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (mandatory for those in the 22-28 age bracket)

6. Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop pyjamas (Betty was on many, many more items besides these PJs)

7. Lola Bunny (no sign of Bugs though)

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Would You Eat At A Place Like This? I Sure Would!

2 Comments / Animation /

Tip of the hat to Pat Smith over at Scribble Junkies for alerting me to the really cool artist that is Timba.

When you think about it though, Hanna-Barbera did a really good job with the marketing for the Flintstones. In fact, you could argue that after more than 50 years, the very existence of products like Fruity Pebbles, vitamins and so forth is testament to the longevity of the show.

The art is awesome though, isn’t it? A part of me now really wishes there was a burger joint called Fast Freds…

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