DALLE 2 & 3 character design experiments
Research of cartoon character designs within DALLE 2, experimental DALLE 2 and DALLE 3.
2022-23
Collage of different DALLE generations, all prompted with known cartoon characters
AI generative models are trained on big datasets of existing content, many of which contain intellectual properties of movies and series we love and watch.
DALLE 2 is an interesting case study for character design because it creates recognizable images yet different altered versions.
Homer Simpson is mid-air jumping on a trampoline, Professional book cover design, IMG_00299371.tiff, DALLE 2
Marge Simpson is mid-air jumping on a trampoline, Professional book cover design, IMG_039284.tiff, DALLE 2
God Hello Kitty has risen to the sky and it is magnificent! Illustration high resolution, digital art, fanart, professional photography, 500mm Nikon, DALLE 2
God Hello Kitty has risen to the sky and it is magnificent! Illustration high resolution, digital art, fanart, professional photography, 500mm Nikon, DALLE 2 exp.
Only the most famous brands achieve high iconic similarity to the original character. While DALLE knows very well how Minions, Hello Kitty or Homer Simpson look like, it becomes more blurry when it comes to Gru, Badtz-Maru or Marge Simpson. The less famous the character is, the less likely DALLE will create an exact copy.
Badtz-Maru tries to make coffee with the professional coffee machine but fails, cover magazine photography for The New Yorker magazine, DALLE 2
Badtz-Maru tries to make coffee with the professional coffee machine but fails, cover magazine photography for The New Yorker magazine, DALLE 2 exp.
a pink fluffy cotton candy round character with the face of squidwards talking to its clone, two identical characters confront themselves, 2017 commercial HD, DALLE 3
I found a minion in my fridge , blurry photo taken at night in my dark kitchen, DALLE 2
I found a minion in my fridge , blurry photo taken at night in my dark kitchen, DALLE 2 exp.
a character shaped like a mix of Garnet Lumpy space jigglyruff fluffy cotton candy smoocha with the face of squidwards, nearby a miniclone floats in the air like Fairly Oddprants, cinematic film directed by vittoria malecchi, location on set filming a dramatic scene, behind the scenes footage 1923, DALLE 3
A giant plastic statue of Gru from "Despicable Me" (2010) in the middle of the street, what the heck did I just found?, DALLE 2
A giant plastic statue of Gru from "Despicable Me" (2010) in the middle of the street, what the heck did I just found?, DALLE 2 exp.
a character and their clone shaped like a mix of fluffy cotton candy llama alpaca vicuna with the face of squidwards, nearby a miniclone floats in the air like Fairly Oddparents, cinematic film directed by Cassandra Vanberg, location on set filming a romantic comedy, outdoors in a magic wonderland (1966), DALLE 3
Squidwards miserable life, screenshot from the Netflix anime, DALLE 2
Squidwards miserable life, screenshot from the Netflix anime, DALLE 2 exp.
screenshot from the Netflix anime Squidwards miserable life (2019), DALLE 2
Sad Squidwards head on the steering wheel while he regrets the decision, screenshot from the Disney live-action movie (2008), DALLE 2
As in the case of Squidwards, the iconicity of the character is often mixed with more squid-based figures in DALLE 2. Yoshi, on the other hand, does not share much of the original design and only keeps the generic idea of a green dinosaur-like character. However both characters gain iconicity in experimental DALLE 2.
Yoshi from "Super Mario Galaxy 2" is excellent at playing pool table, cover magazine photography for LIFE magazine, DALLE 2
Still of SNL sketch from 1995 depicting Squidwards and Squirtle arguing, DALLE 2
Still of Koopa Troopa having fun on a slide at the waterpark from the 2012 live-action movie, DALLE 3
Still of Yoshi getting a divorce from the 1999 live-action movie, DALLE 2
Still of Yoshi getting a divorce from the 1999 live-action movie, DALLE 3
Still of Koopa Troopa having fun on a slide at the waterpark from the 2012 live-action movie, DALLE 2
Yoshi character from the Super Mario videogame series is excellent at playing pool table, cover magazine photography for TIME magazine, DALLE 2
Yoshi character from the Super Mario videogame series is excellent at playing pool table, cover magazine photography for TIME magazine, DALLE 2 exp.
Digimon creature playing at the lavapark, toy advertisment from ToysRus, DALLE 2
Digimon creature playing at the lavapark, toy advertisment from ToysRus, DALLE 3
DALLE 3 seems to have learned to be more faithful to the iconicity of known character designs, yet it’s still flexible when prompted with less known or multiple characters.
Still of Mike Wazowski live-streaming tutorials for his influencer channel, from the 2018 live-action reboot, DALLE 2
Still of Mike Wazowski live-streaming tutorials for his influencer channel, from the 2018 live-action reboot, DALLE 3
Phineas and Ferb made out of juice, cover magazine photography for LIFE magazine, DALLE 2
Phineas and Ferb made out of juice, cover magazine photography for LIFE magazine, DALLE 3
Yoshi character from the Super Mario videogame series is excellent at chess, cover magazine photography for TIME magazine, DALLE 2
Roger from ”American Dad” is cheering at a pride parade, still from the Netflix Anime (2016), DALLE 2
Roger from ”American Dad” is cheering at a pride parade, still from the Netflix Anime (2016), DALLE 2 exp.
Roger from ”American Dad” is cheering at a pride parade, still from the Netflix Anime (2016) with subtitles, DALLE 3
a character shaped like a mix of Darwin from Gumball lumpy space princess kirby jigglypuff with the face of squibwards, nearby a miniclone floats in the air like Fairly Oddprants, cinematic film directed by ms. Loomfydoompf shot with hasseldalb 500, DALLE 3
Still of Darwin from The amazing world of Gumball stuck inside of a too small aquarium, from the 2012 live-action movie, DALLE 2
Screenshot of Blue from Blue's Clues pointing the finger at someone with anger from the special deleted scenes of the live-action classic movie “Everyone”, DALLE 2
Pikmins are protesting in the streets, cover magazine photography for Rolling Stone magazine, DALLE 2
Pikmins are protesting in the streets, cover magazine photography for Rolling Stone magazine, DALLE 2 exp.
This malicious character is a mix between Squidwards and Waluigi doing his silly evil shenanigans while looking at the camera, amazing villain fanart on Deviantart, screenshot from a Japanese anime (1993), wideshot angle
This malicious character is a mix between Squidwards and Waluigi doing his silly evil shenanigans while looking at the camera, amazing villain fanart on Deviantart, screenshot from a Japanese anime (1993), wideshot angle, DALLE 2 exp.
This malicious character is a mix between Squidwards and Waluigi doing his silly evil shenanigans while looking at the camera, amazing villain fanart on Deviantart, screenshot from a Japanese anime (1993), wideshot angle, DALLE 3
Still of SNL sketch from 2002 of Pokemons in costumes, DALLE 2
Still of SNL sketch from 2002 of Pokemons in costumes, DALLE 3
Sonic is part of the cast for "The Emoji Movie" (2017), cover magazine photography, DALLE 2
Prompted with an image of Jigglypuff, DALLE 2
Spongebob made out of Rugrats, Cover magazine photography for Forbes, DALLE 2
Juella is conflicted sitting on dont hug me im scared, a mix of SNES Sega Genesis character from Smiling Friends, painted like Steven Universe environments, DALLE 3
Juella is conflicted sitting on dont hug me im scared, a mix of SNES Sega Genesis character from Smiling Friends, painted like Steven Universe environments, DALLE 2
A particularly flexible prompt is Teletubbies, from which DALLE makes different colored characters with bizarre designs. This brand of characters is quite versatile, because it lets create generic colored figures, giving more space to DALLE’s interpretation.
Teletubbies gone wrong baking in a pizzeria, screenshot from the 20th century FOX original series, screenshot from the weird part of the internet, DALLE 2
Teletubbies preparing magic pizzas in a italian pizzeria, screenshot from the Warner Bros original series, weird part of the internet, DALLE 2
Teletubbies gone wrong baking in a pizzeria, screenshot from the 20th century FOX original series, screenshot from the weird part of the internet, DALLE 2 exp.
Teletubbies preparing magic pizzas in a italian pizzeria, screenshot from the Warner Bros original series, weird part of the internet, DALLE 3
Cursed Teletubbies, screenshot from the Paramounts original series, SNL Sketch from 2002, DALLE 2
Crazy Teletubbies running around, 3D live-action isometric view, wimmelbild, sunny day at 5:02 pm, DALLE 2
Teletubbies cooking soup in big steel pots, grainy old VHS footage from 2005, DALLE 2 exp.
Teletubbies having too much fun at the waterpark they are insane, screenshot from the 20th Centurty FOX original series, grainy old VHS footage from 2003, DALLE 2
POV first person I am in a waterpark and I'm getting attacked by Teletubbies, gopro footage, screenshot from the 20th Centurty FOX original series, grainy old VHS footage from 2003, DALLE 2
When it comes to non-existing characters, it can bring to life somewhat similar designs from the same name. It is hard to have consistent character designs, but it often shares a certain style in the different variants. It surprisingly mirrors the vibe of the name to the character.
burklfradram creature, toy advertisment from ToysRus, DALLE 2
burklfradram creature, toy advertisment from ToysRus, DALLE 2
burklfradram creature, toy advertisment from ToysRus, DALLE 3
Butcjin creature opening theme song, screenshot from the anime Butcjin (2002) airing on TV, DALLE 2
Butcjin creature opening theme song, screenshot from the anime Butcjin (2002) airing on TV, DALLE 2
Butcjin creature expressively fighting its enemy, screenshot from the Dreamworks orginal series "Butcjin" (2009) airing on TV, DALLE 2
Character design remains more consistent though, when they share the same prompt. The moment the prompt is slightly changed, the designs can vary a lot, further distancing from the other designs.
Dolbroo creature opening theme song, screenshot from the anime Dolbroo (2002) airing on TV, DALLE 2
Dolbroo creature opening theme song, screenshot from the anime Dolbroo (2002) airing on TV, DALLE 2
Dolbroo creature during a dramatically sad moment, screenshot from the award-winning anime Dolbroo's path to happiness (1999), soft light and photor, DALLE 2
brand mascot collectible shaped like a edgy monster of the monster energy drink, DALLE 3
splongebop timmy neutrom in the style of the iconic snicky louse and finion ravioli marioli rrhek coy ctory, DALLE 3
projected image on the wall room, backyardigans looks at herself in mirror, xtremeglitchcore vqgan splash streaming aberration, talking to each other with a glass of wine clone doppelgängercore downloaded from the weird part of the internet, wtf.jpg, webcam footage 2004 clueless, reflective projector light on backyardigan character is sitting on the floor, photo took with lg smartphone lab, DALLE 3
bunch of characters creatres wabble around the smorbl doodee faikarolk un, 3d motion blur, in the style of fairly odd parents peridot garnet spongedod running on the beach splash, DALLE 3
bunch of characters creatres wabble around the smorbl doodee faikarolk un, 3d motion blur, in the style of fairly odd parents peridot garnet, DALLE 3
mikcey mosue, DALLE 3
sickey souse, DALLE 3
nickey nouse, DALLE 3
tickey touse, DALLE 3
DALLE 3 has famously been the first image model able to create proper comics. While misspellings and narrative holes are often present, they are enough coherent to create a characterizing absurd AI humor.
goofy comics from 70's 4 panel comic with goofy not understanding how to type in computer, typing "high resolution beautiful woman 4K HQ Wallpaper hyperrealistic"vintage style, screen says "how to prompt", speech bubble says "wait a minute", web comic rage comic, DALLE 3
3D web comic 4 panel with teletubbi saying to tulutebbi "have this double maccheesenuggets" and teletubbi responding "NO NO NOOOO" in the style of loki and silvie, DALLE 3
4 panel with chibi ronald mcdonalds saying to Stewie from Family Guy "you like fries?", äöü spongebobcore aesthetics fullmax, DALLE 3
Using DALLE 3, it is easy to spot various characters from movie studios, Buzz Lightyear for Pixar and Iron Man for Disney. But what’s worth noticing are the characters that do not exist, the one that only lives in latent space and can somehow distill the style of a movie studio.
a list of all the characters from the pixar cinematic universe, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters from the Disney cinematic universe from Disney movies together, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters from Super Mario cinematic universe, DALLE 3
a list with name of all the ea list with name of all the evil characters from Nintendo Sanrio Pixar Steven Universe Garfield cinematic universe, character select interface from lost videogame I found in my basementvil characters from Super Mario cinematic universe, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters playing soccer from the crunchy brunchy wofflobloddle trumpbamarien silly cinematic universe from the animated movies together, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters from Warner Bros, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters from the classic Disney movies 2d animated, DALLE 3
a list of all the characters from cartoon network together, DALLE 3
And to conclude, here are some Wimmelbilder full of generated characters, as it is a very reliable tool for such big scale projects.
Collage of different DALLE 2 generations cropped in Photoshop, many prompted with known cartoon characters such as Marge Simpson and Digimons
Bigger Wimmelbild with more characters, all prompted with famous characters, but none resembling them exactly.
This Simpson-shaped creature is an animal breed from the Simpsons species, 3D cgi rendering unreal engine concept art, professional photography cinematic
3D animation with generated image as texture (Cinema4D).
