Tutorial: How to use GPT Image 2 to create unique pixel art

This is just a short tutorial. It started when I wanted to have an ad for my DIY non profit techno label.
Ads can look pretty general, and even ai generated ads can end up with something that does not really stand out from the crowd.
As i like the aesthetics of 16 bit art... i thought, why not go this way?

So here is the original ad image:

I used the following prompt:

Retro pixel art point-and-click adventure game screenshot, 1993 VGA style with chunky low-resolution pixels.

The space is a mix of home studio and rave environment

Only one character in the scene. Wearing a black t-shirt featuring the exact logo from the reference image clearly visible on the chest.

Scene should clearly look like an old DOS adventure game screenshot, low-resolution pixel art, limited palette, no modern smooth shading.

Add simple point-and-click UI at the bottom with verbs

but, will it work for other images, too? would it work for you ad or project?

let's try it. i think we can simplify the prompt on the way.

Step 1:

i conceive a fictional campaign for an... apple ad (not the computer, the food).
i download a free apple clip art from rawpixel.

it looks like this.

i upload it to leonardo.ai and select gpt image 2.

i use the following prompt:

create an ad for this product. make it look like inside a 90s point and click adventure game. a character in the game should interact with or advertise the product in some way.

looks nice, doesnt it?
i think it is astonishing how well gpt image 2 responds to the prompt. and does a lot of the creative work for me that normally the designer would need to do (like coming up with a slogan etc).

Step 2:

let's try another thing. i download a pirate logo from rawpixel.
and then use the following prompt:

create an ad for tourist trips to historical pirate locations in the caribbean.
make it look like inside a 90s point and click adventure game. there should be several characters in this game, and the logo should be incorporated, too.

Wow! I can almost taste the grog on this one.

Step 3:

Let's go to space! Let us generate an image for a fictional bimonthly convention of hobby astronomers.

I download a clip art of the big dipper. i tell gpt image 2:

create an ad for a fictional bimonthly convention of hobby stargazers.
make it look like inside a 90s point and click adventure game. there should be several characters in this game, and the logo should be incorporated, too.

i wish i could play this game for real!

So you see, there are a lot of ways one could incorporate this technique.

and not just for 16 bit pixel are or "game style" advertising images, of course

GPT Image 2 Tutorial: The Pixel Art Space Rave Festival

Hello Friends,
Here is another new tutorial for GPT Image 2.

So far, my tutorials focused on the unique ability of gpt image 2 to understand very complex commands. With lots of details and precision.
Such as: "take the character from this reference image. Put her into a concept artwork of a side scrolling video game. Make it look like retro art from the early 90s 16 bit era. Make sure the reference character is plainly visible as a player character. Change her hair to purple. Put a jet pack on her back".

Gpt Image 2 does this, and even more "loaded" prompts. With very good results!

But while writing these tutorials, I ran across something that is very interesting too:

Gpt Image 2 is also good at the "inverted" case. Giving short, simple prompts. And even for complex
and complicated demands, gpt image 2 "fills in" the rest and all the details - by itself!

This makes things a lot easier, and working on images a lot more "fun" !

So this is a "simplified" tutorial for once!

Step 1:

Just doing any task won't do the trick here - I promised that gpt image 2 would also be good at complicated, loaded, or even strange / surreal tasks.
So, for the tutorials I chosen this one:

-make an artwork
-it should be a video game concept art
-but it should also look like retro late 80s / early 90s pixel art
-and it should also look like classic "point and click" adventure games, like they were done by george lucas' video game company, for example (on a side note: yes, the star wars director entertained a video game branch).
-but it should not have a classic storyline (like save the royalty, defend earth from aliens...)
-it should be about a rave / dance festival
-and that rave festival should not take place on earth, but on another planet, with interstellar aliens visiting by

now, such a task would give a human designer quite the headache, right? seven things at once! or even drive them insane.
let's look how gpt image 2 deals with it.

and it is all very easy:

i just prompt:

a rave party in a huge space arena on another planet. make it look like a screenshot of a 90s point and click adventure game.

i think this one looks really good!
now, to explain what is going on here, in relation to the tutorial:
gpt image 2 created a lot of details by itself, that I did not even need to specify!

like an "inventory screen", several items the player character is carrying, a "verb command panel" that would enable one to control the character (if it got turned into an actual game...)

and it saved me a lot of work that I did not need to tell all of this gpt image 2 by myself!

Step 2:

Let us do a bit of variation.

even if a rave party is on another planet, it needs to have an entry point and ticket booth etc. maybe we can see space ships with fans or DJs landing in the background.

i prompt:

a rave party in a huge space arena on another planet. make it look like a screenshot of a 90s point and click adventure game. this is the entry line and we see spaceships landing in the background.

what if the alien ravers get hungry? we need an area for extra terrestrial food and drink vendors!

a rave party in a huge space arena on another planet. make it look like a screenshot of a 90s point and click adventure game. we see the food places and vendors.

and maybe fans want to have autographs of the star musicians?

and finally, a good party needs flyers and posters to promote it!

voila. finished. done with the tutorials.

all these images were generated in mere minutes. with very "simple" and easy prompts. still, in my opinion, gpt image 2 nailed it.

obviously, you would not need to use this for video game material. but similar prompts could be done for completely different topics, too!

extra images that were generated this:

after party

dj booth

party action

rave dome

stage setup

Tutorial: totally transform images with GPT Image 2

Hello Friends,
Here is the third tutorial I am writing for GPT Image 2.
And once more it is about the power of this AI generator to change and transform images, and its ability to actually understand what you want it to do.

Goal of the tutorial:

To take a character, and put her into a vastly different selection of images... topics... genres!

Step 1:

I go to Leonardo.AI and select GPT Image 2.
I select "image reference", and upload a character I had created some months ago by using Leonardo.Ai

This character is meant to show a space agent on a secret mission in the future.

Step 2:

I ask GPT Image 2 to put her on the cover of a fictional comic magazine. I do this by just typing "the cover of a 50s style comic magazine". It's as simple as that! And I think the results are already good.

But how about something different?
Astronaut on a space mission in peril!

The prompt was "simple" again: astronaut in a distorted and glitched communication broadcast.

Let's go back to the past! Who liked 19th century "fantastic" novels?
I asked GPT Image 2 to do just that!

The astonishing thing here is that I really merely wrote "illustration of a 19th century novel". the ai generator added the statements in french language and everything else - by itself!

more examples:

60s spy thriller movie

brand ambassador

side scroller

adventure game

the majority of results were created by "one sentence prompts".
sometimes, the generation slipped, and I had to add "keep the character of the reference image". this usually fixed everything.

Step 3:

We are finished. mission accomplished.

it's really all very easy, and the possibilities are still endless.

Tutorial: how to meta-morph an image into completely different designs with the help of GPT Image 2

Hello friends,
Here is a new tutorial. And once again it's about GPT Image 2, because this is *the* "killer app" in the moment. In my opinion!

Just like last time, I will keep it pixel art again (because I am in the flow with this right now).

But, apart from this, the mission objective this time is:

Completely transforming an image or conceptual design.

For this tutorial, I have chosen a hobby I was very fond of since my childhood:
Chess.

And the idea is to create a pixel art image showing a chess board - that could even be from a future video game!
And then transforming it into the very different things.

Step 1:

I generate the basic image with GPT Image 2.

Looks good already, doesn't it?

Step 2:

Now, I don't discard the prompt and throw it in the garbage can! no no!
I use it again, but specify a different art style. This time it's futuristic sci-fi:

If sci-fi is not your thing, we can also try it with fantasy:

and how about ancient egypt?

did you like the 80s, synth pop, keytars, disco glamour, all that jazz? we can do that, too!

or how about chess in candy world?

all these changes, and the creation of the art, were literally done in just a few minutes.

so, you see, the possibilities are truly endless!

additional art:

GPT Image 2 is an epic game changer! (Image Tutorial)

I'm a user of Leonardo.Ai, and they recently added GPT Image 2 to their repertoire.
And boy, is that thing fun! The possibilities are huge, and it will probably take a while to fathom them all...

Of all the tools I tried so far, it is one of the smartest, and one that is best at understanding - what kind of image I really want to have.

So, here is a little "test run" and a tutorial that shows some of the potential of this AI generator, and the type of workflow one can use.

What is the tutorial about?
I want to show one of the spiffy skills of GPT Image 2: transforming images, creating a new context, generating something new out of the old.

And our mission objective is: taking a character, and putting him into various vintage video game designs of the most diverse genres genepool!

For this tutorial, I decided to "recycle" a character I had previously generated for various projects. A "Cyborg Hard Techno DJ" called "DJ AI".

Step 1:

Here they are:

First, I transformed them into a 16 bit version of themself, with a little help from my friend (aka this very AI generator).

I uploaded the picture as "image reference" to Leonardo, and selected "GPT Image 2" as the AI generator I want to use (Leonardo has more than one generator, of course).

Step 2:

Now, I put them into various genres:

Fighter game

Point and click adventure game

Platform game

Space Simulation Game

Fishing Simulator

I used very simple prompts like this - such as "vintage 90s style space sim video game" or "90s style real time strategy video game".

Usually, such simple sentences were already enough!
A few times there were a few hiccups - "DJ AI" got lost in transformation and was replaced by a more generic player character sprite.
On these occasions, I added the line "the reference image should be present in the final image". And this worked like a charm.

Step 3:

There is no step 3, because this works so clean and seamlessly, that we are finished already.

This was a rather "specific" task for this AI generator. But completely different transformations and compositions are entirely possible too. It does not have to be video game specific!

I'll report more on this when I come back from further explorations out there.

More Examples:

Role playing game

Platform game (another one)

Puzzle Game

Isometric Game