AI tools have been gaining massive attention in the last couple of months on social media and in all technology and media news. Even though they are still in the early stages of development, they have made amazing accomplishments that were once thought to be impossible. (Winning art contests? Creating super cool sci-fi movies and shooter games made entirely with AI art?)
People everywhere are getting creative; figuring out how these awesome tools can be exploited for a variety of purposes! But if we leave the question of whether AI-generated pieces are true “art” or not aside, AI tools are capable of much more than creating Harry Potter-inspired Balenciaga memes.
So far, AI art generator tools have simplified the animation and character design process by automating repetitive tasks, giving intelligent suggestions, and reducing the need for manual tweaks. Thanks to this, it is now easier for clients to communicate their vision to animation companies and speed up the production process.
Of course, that isn’t to say that animation studios and game developers can now lay back and let AI handle everything. Sure, AI is great, but as we’ll soon discuss, there’s ALWAYS going to be a need for the human touch.
Here, we will explain the basics of AI art and answer questions such as “What is AI art?” and “How does AI artwork?” We will also introduce 6 trending AI art generator tools in 2023 and discuss the exciting possibilities that can arise from combining the talents of humans and AI art.
Let’s Get Our Facts Straight – What Is AI Art?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) artworks are, you guessed it, those made using artificial intelligence. The work can be created by an AI system without human assistance, or by combining the efforts, ideas, and talents of humans and AI systems.
The term “AI art generator” describes software that uses artificial intelligence to construct images from user text input, often in a matter of seconds. If you’ve ever heard of artificial intelligence, it’s probably because you’ve encountered one of the popular text-to-image AI applications.
These applications use a vast database of existing images and their captions to create “new” images from your written prompts.
There are lots of amazing applications out there – some have depicted how a medieval painting of wifi not working might look like (because who wouldn’t want to see that), and some have helped game devs produce hundreds of unique characters and NPCs at a fraction of the time and cost it’d normally take.
In fact, the technology is moving almost too fast for everyone to catch up and we are now on the brink of achieving artificial intelligence that will even let players customize their characters however they want – all they have to do is type out a description! Imagine the possibilities!
AI art generator free and paid tools can be a great asset to the game development industry in creating unique non-playable characters (NPCs), or to marketing teams looking for interesting characters they can use in their campaigns, social media posts, or other creative content.
Actually, there isn’t much that AI can’t help with. But no matter how AI tools are used, fine-tuning the pieces is always the artists’ responsibility.
Talented AI artists work hard to combine the controlled with the spontaneous, producing truly unique and marvelous final visuals.
With a perfect blend of chance and intention, the process is an exciting journey for everybody involved! But before we get to how AI and human collaborations can revolutionize just about all industries, it’s important to learn how the robots work.
How Does AI Art Work?
Different tools are programmed differently, but regardless of how they’re configured, all AI art generators base their creation on one thing: data.
To produce AI art, creators design algorithms to carefully learn a certain visual style by pondering over thousands of pictures. The algorithm then constructs amazing new imagery that reflects what it has learned.
Essentially, the key to machine learning is harnessing the massive amounts of data available online to help the bot learn about a subject or style. AI art generators are trained on these web-based image resources. This means that, for example, generative adversarial networks or GANs can generate stunningly realistic human faces since there’s no end to the images we take of ourselves!
Another example could be how an AI character generator trained with recorded audio files of a single voice can create a character based on that voice using algorithms from countless sources of facial expressions, body language, and contextual information.
AI Art Generator Free & Paid Tools
When searching for an AI art generator, consider all the amazing features it can (or can’t) offer. Ultimately, your software choice comes down to your demands, taste, budget, and skill level.
Do you need realistic-looking outputs or fantasy art? Or maybe you would rather conceptualize and draft projects in your own style?
By reviewing the tool’s features and considering these aspects, you can choose an AI art generator that will help you craft stunning and one-of-a-kind artwork. We also encourage you to take the time and muck about with different tools to find one that’s most suitable.
Check out these six amazing AI tools we have listed and reviewed! As an artist, game developer, or anyone else who loves to create and explore, you’ll find these AI art generator tools both useful and inspiring.
Note: We’ll keep you informed by updating the list with the newest, state-of-the-art AI art generator tools as they come, so you’re always in the know. Prices are also subject to change.
DALL-E 2
DALL-E 2 has been making waves because it’s easy to access and offers many advanced features. But, as we mentioned before, there are oodles of other AI art generators out there that will work for different purposes.
For your first month, you’ll receive 50 free credits and 15 free credits every month thereafter, but that only applies to early adopters of DALL·E who signed up before April 6th, 2023. You can buy DALL-E credits by using the “Buy Credits” button on their website.
Pros:
- Not copyrighted
- Detailed representations
- Effortless user interface
Cons:
- Limited credits
- Occasional loading freeze
Platforms: Web
Midjourney
This AI bot is a self-funded creation that really took off after its beta launch! Now, it’s trendy and the art it produces is incredibly accurate and beautiful. It’s only available on the Discord server as a bot, so you can check out the stunning images whenever you’d like.
Midjourney offers three subscription options. A 20% discount is available when you pay for the entire year or month-to-month. The first 25 images are free, but you need to pay $10 a month for the membership, which allows you to create up to 200 images.
Pros:
- Performs well with complicated prompts
- No duds
Cons:
- You don’t get to pick an art style
- Confusing to set up
Platforms: Web
Fotor
Fotor is a powerful and easy-to-use AI tool for creating spectacular NFT artwork! In just a matter of minutes, you can bring your ideas to life with its state-of-the-art AI features. Just tell it what you want and let the impressive online text-to-image generator do all the work – in no time at all, you’ll have beautiful art at your fingertips!
You get 10 free images every single day just by signing up! And that’s not all; if you want to enjoy even more features using Fotor Pro, it’s only $8.99 a month – that’s quite the bargain!
Pros:
- User-friendly & easy to use
- Outputs stunning images
- No limit on the size of image prompts
Cons:
- Takes a long time to generate
- Reportedly can generate inaccurate results
Platforms: Web
Artbreeder
Artbreeder is a Generative Adversarial Network that allows artists to ‘sketch’ as fast as their imaginations. It draws from several massive datasets that have been carefully art-directed and classified so that it can use that information to generate novel imagery.
Artbreeder’s free plan lets you create 10 free images per month, but you can always upgrade your plan to one of its premium plans (starting at $8.99 per month) and enjoy privacy controls and custom genes.
Pros:
- Various iterations of an image
- Provides JPG and PNG formats
Cons:
- Difficulty creating the standard fantasy races
- Confusing interface
Platforms: Web
MetaHuman
MetaHuman is a comprehensive framework that enables any creator to utilize incredibly lifelike human characters in an abundance of ways. As part of Epic Games, MetaHuman brings with it a full facial and body rig set up to be easily animated on Unreal Engine.
The beta version of the UE5-integrated product is now available and early adopters have access to it. Plus, if you’re using UE4, the Bridge application is still ready for download at no cost!
MetaHuman Creator is an amazing tool that you can use to craft unique digital humans in the cloud – all you need to run this app effectively is a top-of-the-line system with a powerful graphics card.
Pros:
- Hugely variable
- Real-time ready
- Physically plausible results
Cons:
- Needs powerful hardware
- Fairly limited wardrobe
Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux
Kaedim3D
Kaedim3D is a revolutionary tool that lets you magically generate and texture amazing custom 3D models from 2D images in a matter of minutes. This amazing technology has been optimized to create incredible production-ready assets, with the ability to be edited, colored, and downloaded in your desired format.
Kaedim offers two trial packages for 3D artists to try out before purchasing any of their monthly plans. The basic trial costs 6$ and the premium trial costs 30$ – with no limit on polycount or daily operations.
Pros:
- Saves hours on modeling
- Flexible plans
- Flexible polycount & generation quality
Cons:
- Needs detail capture and timing improvement
AI Art Sure Is Amazing – But Where Do Artists Fit In?
Anybody else wondering “Is there anything artificial intelligence can’t do?”
Well, there is.
Even though many don’t think so, the artist stays engaged and involved throughout the whole creative process of AI art generation. In fact, they’re very active in the pre- and post-creation steps and might also adjust the algorithm for improved artwork outputs.
To understand the role of the artist in AI art creation, let’s take Robbie Barat’s work as an example. Robbie is a talented young artist who makes AI-generated nude portraits with trained neural networks. Take a look at his first creation below, crafted using the Progressive Growing of GANs and thousands of scraped nude portraits from WikiArt. The impressive result speaks for itself, even though it can barely be called a “nude”.
Here’s the moral of the story: Even if the result may have surprised the artist, it was far from random – every detail of their work had intention and purpose behind it! There was a special process and an effective plan at work. To rephrase, Robbi put his own special twist into this task – an intentional effort that humankind alone can handle.
How Can AI Art Generator Tools Streamline The Character Design Process?
Let’s face it, AI art software like Midjourney or DALL-E2 is the quickest and simplest way to express your creativity and give shape to your ideas. With this technology, you can bring your vision to life quickly and effortlessly. But as Rui Li, an art director at Art Station comments, “Relatively slow, but more controllable, AI is mainly used for detail divergence and filling of non-important details.”
And we agree.
While it’s true that AI can enhance existing art with extra flair and technical upgrades, it can’t be the “artist,” at least for now. The most you can expect from any AI art generator tool is to automate and streamline tedious processes, so creators have more time to dedicate to complicated and imaginative tasks.
The same goes for character design and animation. Using AI art software like Kaedim3D or MetaHuman reduces the time it takes to visualize your creative ideas, yet these rough drafts are far from their best version. But we can give life to your AI-generated ideas and make them look stunning!
From amazing 3D videos and animation for video games, children’s cartoons, or even metaverse characters, Picotion’s team of talented artists is ready to liven up your design. Let’s get creative and revamp your projects with incredible realism, exciting 2D or 3D animation, and unforgettable character designs! We are beyond thrilled at the prospect of seeing what amazing ideas we can come up with together – contact us and let’s make it happen!
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