In the context of the Ancient Greek Mythological tale of Pandora, the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" rings very true. If you're given a box that contains gifts from the gods, but are told you can't open it, eventually, your curiosity will get the better of you.
In Pandora's case - you're going to open that box. In the context of AI art, I'm going to open that box. There's a painting by Rosetti of the Pre-Raphaelite painting movement (one of my favourite painting movements) - which toyed with Pandora about to open the box that inadvertently released illness, plague, pestilence, and horrors upon the world.
A word of warning prior to you scrolling too deeply into this post. There are some artistic nude images contained within, tastefully curated in the style of Pre-Raphaelite painting. If this disturbs you, cease reading this post.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting of Pandora holding the box, 1871
This original painting was completed in 1871, but now its the year 2022, and I have a generative algorithm that can explore infinite iterations of Pandora's box being opened. Some of them may be gibberish, some of them may be haunting, and others curious. This post is an exploration of some of the finest examples of my time exploring the box that AI Art lets me explore with a pretty literal theme.
The images that follow were created by a mixture of MidJourney and Stable Diffusion, with some additional processing handled by way of Photoshop and other graphics tools on my computer. The pieces were produced over the course of several days, on and around the 17th of September.
I'm only now getting around to posting them.
This image was among hte first produced in my iterative flow but it is not particularly in the soft, painterly style of Rosetti. There's additional levels of realism on show here, along with sharper, harsher brush stokes. What is very interesting is that the box itself is depicted with a number of images itself, adding additional narrative to the nature and danger of the box itself. This is ultimately an image I did not wish to pursue further at all.
Next, we have a threatening Pandora, for some reason; depicted topless, with flowers growing from the box. She's also got Angel Wings. She looks as though she's set to condemn all humanity, and make them regret it at the same time. This is a striking image, let down by the pincer like grip of her left hand on the box itself, which is not at all ornate.
The piece is striking and thought provoking, particularly in terms of the gaze that cuts out of the frame directly to the viewer. It is an interesting composition, something that could be pushed further, but for realm of public display, and to speak of the horrors of Pandora's decision to open that box, it is not a suitable representation so shall not be pursued further.
With this image, we have a representation of a female character that is painted very much in the style of Rosetti, inquisitive, pensive, interested in something that exists beyond the frame. She's looking at something we cannot fathom or see - and while that's interesting, it is far too abstract of a concept for a simple representation of Pandora's box. Her eyes and gaze are impressive for a generative portrait. The hands should however, not be in this frame.
Here we get to be very allegorical. The box is empty, clearly opened, and a hand holds a mirror to allow us to see the reflection of Pandora, contemplating the consequences of the open box. There's details upon the box, but the remaining elements of the composition are blank and empty. This is simple, haunting, and would not work as a solitary image. As a part of a series, it certainly would add meaning and value, as a depiction of the "aftermath". For this purpose, it would need to be mirrored. As a result, this image is short listed for some further work to be completed on it at a later time.
It will need to be processed via GFPGAN to increase the facial structure's quality, and some Photoshop to remove the generated watermark / imprint on the bottom right which midjourney for some reason generated.
This image, too, builds on the aftermath of Pandora's box being drawn open. This instead would be a more powerful final frame in a series of images, and is rather symbolic with the withered vegetation, as well as the colour theme on display lending to the Autumnal decay of living matter.
The other element that lends itself to the Myth of Pandora's box in the context of this series of images and my vision is one in which there are multiple "boxes" and multiple Pandora characters. This is due to the myth, to me, having a lesson within it - that a decision is always our own to make, but ultimately, it is influenced by those around us.
Fact of the matter is: everyone has to make a decision at every moment, and whether they know it or not, they could be holding the world's next Pandora's Box which unleashes unseen chaos upon the world, or closes away hope in a tiny prison.
I thought this image would be a bit more resolved, particularly in terms of the facial details and resolution, however, it didn't get there. That's okay. It would have been a nice image to include in the middle of a series of images. It will be ignored entirely for any possibility of rework.
Meanwhile, the composition, facial features and pose in this image are all excellent, but we're let down by the hands. That is disappointing, as this image is otherwise entirely perfect for a first or second image in a sequence or series. I may still use it, but we will see what else is generated along the way.
Again, a perfect composition, and an even better representation of the box itself, with what looks like a golden, melted and mangled crown on the top of it, enveloping her circulatory system. I love this image, but the hands preclude it from usage, much like the most one above it.
This is an image I probably want to push further using GFPGAN to clean up the face a little more. The fingers are also strange and bizarre. Not sure that element could be fixed, but there's certainly potential here.
Way too many fingers are present here - which is a shame, as the pose, background and the box itself is pretty nicely rendered. The flowers in the environment are also symbolic, and the ethereal glow in the background is an interesting feature to bring attention to the forlorn expression that the character is making, while looking out of frame.
This is a good started piece for the series - it is contemplative, but I'm initially confused by the butterflies; but its a nice reference to the butterfly effect / chaos theory. It is a clever representation. I really like this image.
For the next image, there's much the same theme, but it is a little more abstract.
The representation isn't great, with the hands, face, and even the box itself not really all that coherent. That's okay. The feature I like about this image is the flocks of birds in the background, accompanied by the gold disc behind the head. I'll be sadly axing this image, even though it is brilliant; but by culling it, that will allow a different, potentially better image to rise to the surface.
This is a pretty image, and the halo formed by the wings in the background makes Pandora appear to be much more biblical than what she actually is - she is a figure of Greek Myth, not a figure of the bible, but this has a certain feeling about it that makes it feel like in the midst of becoming disrobed, Pandora is about to unleash the contents of the box.
I like the image. It is not perfect, with the left hand side of the image not really having a torso constructed perfectly, and the hands, again are not really natural. Perhaps this one will be dumped onto the pile of "not suitable". I think that will be the case.
Here Pandora is holding the box itself, but some of the box is black, some of it is nice and covered with twigs and cracks. Her expression is confrontational, and combative, and will probably need to be enhanced using GFPGAN for an iteration or two prior to being sent into the short list for the series.
With this final image I love the mood, tone and the subject matter.
There's very little else I have to say on it. The hands are good (though I'm not sure where they're coming from, entirely. It will make a part of the final series.
Time to upscale and enhance!
This is the output of GFPGAN. I run GFPGAN through Visions of Chaos, which is an awesome piece of software that makes AI art easy, local, and amazing. There's so much you can do, and that will indeed be the next step that I focus on, through using a feature called "in painting" in an attempt to fix the hands and other elements of these images that I am not entirely happy with.
The facial fixes are fine. There's now additional detail there, but the hands, well, they're still "AI" hands. Without sitting through dozens of more hours hunting through iterations and variations of specific seeds, I'm unlikely to get perfect results.
I'm pretty happy with these final versions, and will present them as a series soon, as they'll require some additional work in Photoshop to make a sequence of images that has a resonant meaning.