NICOLA GINZLER

Senior Graphic Designer
On left: 2x2 images of a fox-bird hybrid, about 80% rendered; on right: 2x2 images of black-tailed jackrabbit, about 40% rendered

Phasing-in Fauna Font Friday

Type of Work: ,
Type of Client: ,

This information was originally a post on my Font Friday blog.

The images below are from Midjourney AI image generation software. Midjourney currently shows intermediate images as the final art is being created. I’ve been capturing these as screenshots and using them as art in their own right. I’m hoping the developers don’t decide the intermediates are a bug, not a feature, and get rid of them.

How this all started

The images were used in sticker designs submitted to the Burning Man organization for possible distribution to all 2023 participants. Visit my blog post Design Submissions for Burning Man 2023 Stickers to see more about the sticker designs. Visit my blog post Firefly Fox-bird Friday to see Midjourney images compared to images created by Adobe Firefly software.

Fox-bird, blurred

The prompts for the fox-bird included “photorealistic black rock desert Nevada with dry cracked ground, there is one fox vulpes macrotis looking at the viewer, 4 legs [varying success with this], brilliant bright blue outstretched feathers 2 wings jutting from its shoulders fox with wings”

Midjourney images 1-4 - blurry, with images about 60% rendered - photorealistic black rock desert Nevada with dry cracked ground, there is one fox vulpes macrotis looking at the viewer, 4 legs, brilliant bright blue outstretched feather 2 wings jutting from its shoulder
Midjourney fox-bird images 1-4, about 60% rendered
Midjourney images 1-4 - less blurry than "Partial Render 1," with images more fully rendered - photorealistic black rock desert Nevada with dry cracked ground, there is one fox vulpes macrotis looking at the viewer, 4 legs, brilliant bright blue outstretched feather 2 wings jutting from its shoulder
Midjourney fox-bird images 1-4, about 80% rendered
Midjourney images 1-4 - images sharp and fully rendered - photorealistic black rock desert Nevada with dry cracked ground, there is one fox vulpes macrotis looking at the viewer, 4 legs, brilliant bright blue outstretched feather 2 wings jutting from its shoulder
Midjourney fox-bird images 1-4, fully rendered

Animals of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert

Here’s the final image I put together, with each animal’s image about 40% rendered. Scroll down to see the 2×2-image renders for each. The prompts for each animal included “animals of the Black Rock Desert, Nevada,” “looking at viewer” (varying success with this), the Latin name, the common name and other prompts concerning light and composition. After I brought the images together into Adobe Photoshop, I adjusted the colors and tones and made other changes. I composed the final artwork in Adobe Illustrator. The typeface is Abigail from Adobe Fonts, with the Latin names in Atkinson Hyperlegible from the Braille Institute.

The design is divided into rectangles 2 across x 2 down, with a horizontal black bar taken out in the middle. Each rectangle has a soft, blurred image of an animal. L to R and top to bottom: a chukar bird (Alectoris chukar); a kit fox (Vulpes macrotis); a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) and a mountain lion (Puma concolor). The bar across the middle says, in white type: BURNING MAN 2023: "ANIMALIA" [line break] Animals of the Black Rock Desert
Midjourney “Animals of the Black Rock Desert” images, about 40% rendered.
2x2 square images of a chukar partridge in its natural desert habitat. These images, intermediate stages in the rendering of the final images, are blurred and look somewhat like watercolors.
A chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) in its natural desert habitat. Note that the birds look different from one another and also different from what a chukar actually looks like. I picked the most interesting one, although the image in the top left probably looks more like the actual bird.
2x2 square images of a kit fox in its natural desert habitat. These images, intermediate stages in the rendering of the final images, are blurred and look somewhat like watercolors.
A kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) in its natural desert habitat. I picked the one that’s looking directly at the viewer.
2x2 square images of a black-tailed jackrabbit in its natural desert habitat. These images, intermediate stages in the rendering of the final images, are blurred and look somewhat like watercolors.
A black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) in its natural desert habitat. Again, I picked the one with the most interesting color and composition.
2x2 square images of a mountain lion in its natural desert habitat. These images, intermediate stages in the rendering of the final images, are blurred and look somewhat like watercolors.
A mountain lion (Puma concolor) in its natural desert habitat. I picked the one closest in looks to the actual cat.
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