MTG Cards With AI Art

Comments

• TheDarkKnight1234567

  May 8 edited May 8

  I'll start with probably the most notable offender I've come across: Ugin's Labyrinth from the upcoming Modern Horizons 3. Here's everything I noticed.
  
  
  
  1) The hedrons in the background appear not to have any pattern on them.
  
  2) Something about the way that entrance looks is off putting, and doesn't seem like something a human would draw, at least not like that.
  
  3) The two small red circles are to emphasize that there are certain closed off sections of the labyrinth for some reason. Any human with half a brain wouldn't make this mistake.
  
  Bonus: I didn't circle it, but those spiraling towers (the most notable being the one on mid middle left) don't seem to have any walls, which is quite strange for a labyrinth.
  
  Finally, I think it's worth noting that I suspect a number of the leaked MH3 cards (if not all) use AI art.
  
  EDIT: I also just noticed that the glyphs on the hedrons look randon scribbles, as oppose to actual symbols.
• Yururu

  May 14 edited May 14

  Devil's advocate mask on:
  

  1. Aren't the background hedrons in helix patterns? E.g. a spring, helical metal coil.
  2. A triangular entrance? A brief English-only search results Ålgård church entrance, Bakkenhaugen church (both in Norway) and triangle wedding arches. If anything, the sand dune partly covering breaks symmetry without "AI finger" wacky shit, shows intent to be put there.
  3. Closed off sections are mistakes if your maze is a escape room. Nothing says all space should be walkable:

  a) Hidden rooms/closed off spaces break up regular geometric shapes, making "dead space" to confuse the POV and the notes of those walking through while mapping their path.

  b) Just straight up arrow slit trap space.

  [Neither of the above would usually require a ceiling opening. These hedrons, however, float.]
  

  c) In fact, entirely closed off or single-entry labyrinth patterns are pretty common. As in celtic maze patterns (very simplified in wiki, can't send whole Aidan Meehan page/book) or spiral polygonal chains.

       Bonus. I raise that what we're seeing of those spirals are the walls. Maze continues inside them, up and down.
  

       On the edit. All symbols are scribbles. Letters are symbols and scribbles. We associate them to meaning due to learning early what our culture associates with them (sounds, words, language). The shape of A doesn't inherently have a link to the sound, we give it meaning by internalizing and using it. To any artist, it's pretty simple to just make such fantasy symbols with no message, meaning or use, it's doodling. Doesn't really take AI for it.
  

  
  

  Devil's advocate mask off:

  • There's digital art and there's AI. Lots of AI learn from digital art works made with digital art tools, which fill the internet.
    
  • A digital artist can very well draw on, edit, correct, or straight up build upon the result of promps by AI. Which seems more likely than otherwise, as pure AI art is some really fucking wacky shit unless you train it with prompts for weeks/months, oft with AI hallucination results regardless.
    
  • The small circle on the right has a stair-like narrow empty space that does seem like a work of AI. But it could just as well be a leftover of many iterations, all digital art versions, which escaped the artist's eye, hence it's near pixelation. Or some AI wacky shit the digital artist, while building upon it, didn't pick up on.

  TL;DR: "Hunting AI art" is hard if the user/program was halfway decent at prompts. It's also arguably pointless if a digital artist got a prompt and then worked over it.
  
• StuffnSuch

  May 15

  I'm just trying to wrap my head around how they'd get Hedrons like that in an AI program.  There haven't been too many cards with Hedrons printed, and the reminiscence of the maze to other MTG cards can't be discounted, either.  If this is AI art, it was made using a carefully curated set of source material, some real time investment in crafting the prompts and program to create something that actually works right, and likely hundreds of iterations before coming across a winner.  In other words, if this is AI art, it might have been more work than just creating an original work.
  That being said, I'd be shocked if it's not a blend, to some degree, of human and AI influence.  Letting a computer generate the maze so you can focus on the design, letting a computer continue the established pattern of hedrons off into the distance, letting a computer create a base design for you to build upon, those aren't much different than using a model, so you don't have to come up with what a person looks like off the top of your head, or using a blending tool so you can get a smooth transition from one shade to another.  All artists use tools that simplify their job and let them focus on artistry.  I'm glad AI is providing a new set of tools that allow that to happen.
• TheDarkKnight1234567

  May 15

  I'll cut to the point - I hear what y'all are saying, but sometimes, you can just tell by looking that a human was not involved. AI has a style, and one which is recognizable.
  
  Additionally, as I stated before, I highly suspect WoTC is using AI in the vast majority (if not all) of Modern Horizons 3 cards, because all the new art I've seen from the set registers as AI to me. Also, this may be an experiment.
  
  Lastly, @StuffnSuch
  
  I hear what you're saying, but the AI the large companies like Hasbro have is likely far better at creating high quality images than one's we all have access to.
  
  In conclusion, I obviously could be wrong about all this, but I doubt I am.
• StuffnSuch

  May 15

  I'm a big fan of the incorporation of AI art commercially.  I personally think it'll be a good thing overall, not just for businesses, but for artists.  I am, personally, a musician, and know a lot of people that were freaking out when digital music was primed to replace human musicians.  Instead, it made music more accessible and led to more working musicians now than ever before, many of them actively engaging with the digital music side of music creation.  I feel it's important to remember that, if WotC is using AI, they still have to develop and curate and refine the art that the AI spits out.  Real artists have been, are now, and always will be necessary for the effective implementation of AI art.  You're right, there is an AI-esque feel to some of the new pieces, but if the art works, it's because a human decided to use it.  If not, then it's because a human didn't address some issues.  AI is only as good or as bad as the people using it allow it to be.
• TheDarkKnight1234567

  May 16

  @StuffnSuch
  
  I agree with what you're saying, but I think AI art looks very bad
• LHunter

  September 27

  @Yururu just popped in here and absolutely thrashed every sense of logic about language and mazes that I have. Good work, @Yururu.
• TheDarkKnight1234567

  September 27

  @LHunter
  
  I don't think I understand what you are saying
• LHunter

  September 28

  I never thought about the last paragraph in that way. That’s really weird but it’s totally logical. Also, the part about dead space with the towers and blocked sections makes sense. Imagine you’re in a maze and there should be a hallway to your right, but it’s blocked off. It would muddle someone in the way mazes are supposed to. 
• TheDarkKnight1234567

  September 28

  @LHunter
  
  Interesting but I still firmly believe AI had a major part
• LHunter

  September 29

  Yeah yeah I’m not saying it didn’t I’m just saying that those were some hot takes.
• TheDarkKnight1234567

  September 29

  👍
  
• LHunter

  September 29

  👍