ChatGPT is still one of the most widely used and well-known artificial intelligence platforms. With the inclusion of the DALL-E 3 AI image generator, it's also a great creativity aid.
Recently, it has felt like DALL-E’s ability to generate usable and readable text on images has improved significantly, almost — but not quite — meeting the same quality as Ideogram.
The improved quality comes from the switch to GPT-4o, a native multimodal AI model that has a more natural understanding of images, sound, code and text. This helps it create better descriptive prompts for DALL-E. In the future, GPT-4o will make its own images.
To put this to the test, I decided to see how well ChatGPT would perform at coming up with five comic book ideas, fleshing out those ideas and then generating an image from the description.
Creating the comic book concepts
I started with a very simple prompt: “Come up with five ideas for comic books. Describe the title and story for that comic. Keep it short. Title + paragraph for each idea.”
This gave me five concepts: Stellar Guardians, Chrono Saviours, The Last Enchanter, Cyber Knights and Mystic Rebels. I then asked for "5 more, expand your scope for ideas beyond traditional comic book subjects. Could include random real-world stories or horror."
I then started a new conversation and pasted all 10 ideas into a prompt and asked ChatGPT to expand on each one, breaking out key plot points and characters. This is what will help define the cover art when we come to build those prompts.
Creating the artwork
Now we have an outline of all ten comics I asked ChatGPT to create a cover art inspired by the description, but it struggled with that for some reason. So I created a prompt for each comic, tagged in @DALL-E 3 in ChatGPT and used that to create the images.
I also used the same prompt for each of seven of my favorites on Ideogram as a comparison, finding that while DALL-E 3 has improved, it's got a long way to go, especially in how it renders letters.
It took a while to get the image prompts right and I had to add “include barcode and price” to make each one look like a comic book. Even then, while Ideogram got the message and displayed just the comic, ChatGPT put it on a table or with a background.
1. Stellar Guardians
The first of the comic ideas was for a futuristic spaceship flying through space. It's called Stellar Guardians and follows the adventures of a diverse team of young space explorers, led by the daring Captain Aria Vega, tasked with protecting the galaxy from cosmic threats.
Image prompt: “Comic book cover, futuristic spaceship flying through colorful nebula, diverse team of young space explorers on deck, Captain Aria Vega pointing forward, dynamic action poses, exaggerated features, bold outlines, title 'Stellar Guardians' in futuristic font, subtitle 'Issue #1: The Cosmic Quest Begins', include barcode and price.”
2. Chrono Saviours
Next, we’re moving into time travel and the adventures of teenager Max Carter who discovers a mysterious watch that allows him to travel through time. “ Each issue sees them visiting different eras, from ancient Rome to future metropolises, racing against time to preserve history,” is how ChatGPT anticipated the series unfolding.
Image prompt: “Comic book cover, teenager Max Carter holding glowing ancient watch, swirling time portal behind, friends Lily and Dr. Elara beside him, historical landmarks and futuristic cityscape in portal, expressive faces, title 'Chrono Saviours' in time-themed font, subtitle 'Issue #1: The Timekeeper's Watch', include barcode and price.”
3. The Last Enchanter
The Last Enchanter is set in a world where magic is fading from society and Aiden is the last of his kind, embarking on a quest to restore magic to its full glory.
Image prompt: "Comic book cover, young enchanter Aiden in medieval robes on hill, mystical staff, talking fox Faelan beside him, dark sorcerer's castle in distance, swirling magical energy in sky, bold poses, title 'The Last Enchanter' in ornate magical font, subtitle 'Issue #1: The Awakening of Magic', include barcode and price."
4. Mystic Rebels
Mystic Rebels is next, and another one built around magic and mysticism. This one features five teenagers from different backgrounds each finding they have an elemental power and when working together they can thwart an ancient evil — but first, they've got to overcome personal differences.
Image prompt: “Comic book cover, five teenagers in circle with elemental powers activated, wise mage Master Thorne watching, mystical forest background, glowing magical symbols, expressive faces, title 'Mystic Rebels' in magical font, subtitle 'Issue #1: United by Fate', include barcode and price.”
5. Echoes of the Past
Echoes of the Past is time travel but not really.. The lead character Dr Mira Patel finds an ancient artifact (ChatGPT loves its artifacts) that lets her communicate with spirits from different periods in history to help them resolve unfinished business.
Image prompt: “Comic book cover, Dr. Mira Patel holding glowing ancient artifact, ghostly figures from different historical periods surrounding her, modern background, transparent spirits, detailed historical elements, title 'Echoes of the Past' in elegant font, subtitle 'Issue #1: The Haunted Artifact', include barcode and price.”
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