Part 01
One idea, many plates
It started with one idea: a woman and an atomic motorbike, drawn like a printed illustration from the fifties. That style is called atompunk: the future as people imagined it back then, round, chromed and optimistic. I used a reference image only to study the style and asked Krea 2 for the rest with text. Nothing was copied.
See the post on InstagramKrea 2 · seed 76605 · AnimeSharp 2x · eyes-only retouch6 attempts
The same girl, twenty times
The first batch was twenty images. They came out well, and they were all the same: the same woman, the same buns, the same polka-dot skirt and the same red bike. Only the pose changed. For a single image that is fine. For a series it is one image repeated.
- A1Option
A good image. The problem shows up when you put it next to the others.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76601 - A2My pick
The one I later picked for print.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76605 - A3Option
The same woman, the same clothes, the same bike.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76608 - A4Option
The angle changes. She does not.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76612 - A5Option
Another pose of the same thing.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76616 - A6Option
Loose hair instead of buns. That is the whole difference.
Krea 2 · first batch · seed 76619
6 attempts
Change everything but the world
It took three more batches. First I asked for a different haircut and a different vehicle, and that was not enough: the same faces and the same buns came back. When I asked for radical changes the look drifted to steampunk, with brass and gears, or to movie realism. And sometimes two women appeared. What worked was a text with two halves: change the woman, her hair, her outfit and the vehicle a lot, and keep the same printed atompunk look exactly. Plus one more line: one woman, one vehicle.
- B1My pick
A turquoise braid and a blue bike. A different person.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82603 - B2My pick
The vehicle is not even a motorbike any more.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82604 - B3My pick
Another silhouette, another color, another attitude.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82605 - B4My pick
Green hair and a bike with fins.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82607 - B5My pick
The oddest one: a single huge wheel. It is still the same world.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82608 - B6My pick
Standing next to the machine, not riding it.
Krea 2 · fourth batch · seed 82610
2 attempts
From the plate to the T-shirt
Ten images went to Instagram. One went further. I took the plate from the first batch, enlarged it and retouched only the eyes, because retouching the whole face added dots to the skin and changed her features. With that clean plate I built the T-shirt graphic: the figure cut out, with lettering and shapes around it.
- C1Base concept
The plate, enlarged and with the eyes retouched.
AnimeSharp 2x · eyes-only retouch - C2My pick
The graphic for the “Ride More” tee, ready for print.
Composition over the cut-out plate
What I learned
One good image is not a series. If I do not ask for variety, the model repeats the same woman.
Changing the haircut and the vehicle is not enough. I have to change the woman, her hair, her outfit and the machine all at once.
When I ask for big changes, the style drifts too. I have to say out loud what must stay the same.
To stop getting two people, I repeat it: one woman, one vehicle, and the empty space stays empty.
For print I retouch as little as possible. Only the eyes: the full face retouch changed her.
Attempts: C1
The next experiment
What a doll is
What do I mean when I say “doll”?
OpenFollow the lab
Every experiment goes up as it happens: the picked images, the clips in motion and the batches that didn't work.
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