Constructivist City no.1 (Generative AI Experiments)
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TL;DR // Let's use Generative AI tools to create variations of architectural scenes, in the style of 1920s Russian constructivism.
Generative AI Prompt Variations
Why Russian constructivism? It's something I remember as a first-year architecture student at university. I remember lines, detail, industrial buildings, factories, etc. It's as good a place as any to experiment with the AI tools.
Prompt 1
russian constructivist ink drawing, with detailed black ink line work. high-tech future cityscape. pretend the structures are built in minecraft blocks.
Well these were surprising. In no way do they match what I was hoping for (Russian constructivism architecture of the 1920s). And frankly I'm disappointed that we have Russian "onion dome" towers. I guess the training set has equated "russian architecture" with those iconic domes and assumed that's what I wanted.
And I also shouldn't be surprised by the sci-fi results when I provide a "high-tech future" keyword in the prompt.
That being said, I like the lines, the clear perspective and the sense of detail. This is a good start. I'm curious to see if these can be more realistic (instead of illustrations), so let's start adjusting the prompt with that in mind.
Prompt 2
russian constructivist ink drawing, with detailed black ink line work. high-tech future cityscape. pretend the structures are built in minecraft blocks. add soft shading.
Asking the tool add "soft shading" did make some changes, but they're subtle. And I'm still disappointed with the onion domes. The first and third images seem to have found a random Russian bulb tower and inserted it into an illustration. Ugh.
But the second one is something interesting...
Let's focus on the style. We'll change "ink" to "pencil".
Prompt 3
russian constructivist ink pencil drawing, with detailed black ink line work. high-tech future cityscape. pretend the structures are built in minecraft blocks. add soft shading.
Well... the style isn't noticeably different. The images are softer, with less contrast and less "outlining". And there are still some interesting city scenes getting created.
Let's see if we can prevent those onion bulb structures.
Prompt 4
russian constructivist pencil drawing, with detailed black ink line work. high-tech future cityscape. pretend the structures are built in minecraft blocks. add soft shading. use only straight lines. no arcs or curves.
There definitely aren't as many instances of the bulb towers. But there are certainly structures with curves and arcs. I guess my prompt wasn't clear enough.
However... the last image is a nice surprise. Stylistically it's a little different. The gradations are a nice touch. And the towers? They're right out of Fallout 76 -- the Garrahan Estate and the Hornwright Estate.
Let's add some colour.
Prompt 5
russian constructivist pencil drawing ink line and watercolor , with detailed black ink line work. high-tech future cityscape. pretend the structures are built in minecraft blocks. add soft shading. use only straight lines. no arcs or curves.
Well that didn't quite go as expected. And those bulb towers are back again... This batch was disappointing, other than the second and last image. The last one is quite different from the others in the set. It's rectilinear and introduces more colour than all the others. But it's also... boring.
Selected images
Here are a few that stood out for me:
Prompt 1 // Image 5
Why? It's probably due to composition more than anything else. The two towers, framed by the detailed structures on the left and right. The horizontal texture -- all the horizontal lines -- reminds me of sedimentary rock formations.
It's not in any way "Russian constructivist" but that's ok.
Prompt 2 // Image 2
Why? It reminds me of concept art for some sci-fi city in Star Wars. There are solid lines and forms, and the small cylinder/dome-like things are a nice touch. The tool has definitely picked up on the "future city" theme and has largely ignored the "Russian constructivist" thing. Maybe it's too out of the mainstream...
Prompt 4 // Image 6
Why? The stylistic change was unexpected. And the form of the "city" has changed quite a bit. The previous image was a dense environment, entirely built up. This is more like a suburb on the outskirts with a few towers. It's more open and empty.
Prompt 5 // Image 1
Why? We're now in a vertical city, somewhere high up. It's very dense and crowded. There is a good amount of variation between the buildings (although it's all still similar in style). The colouration that's added is subtle, but it improves the image.
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