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Wizards of the Coast admits using AI art after banning AI art
Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast has been forced to admit that it published a marketing image for the game featuring “some AI components,” despite an initial insistence that the art was “created by humans and not AI.” Wizards of the Coast had banned the use of AI artwork in its products in 2023, after AI-generated artwork appeared in a Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook and caused an outcry.
The image, since deleted, was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the official Magic: The Gathering account on Jan. 4. It showed five Magic cards resting on a valve-powered device next to a pressure gauge, in a brass-and-wood-filled steampunk laboratory setting. “It’s positively shocking how good these lands look in retro frame,” the post read.
Many fans were quick to point out elements in the image that bore the hallmarks of generative AI — in particular, difficulty rendering fine details in a consistent way (around bunches of cables, for example, or on the dial of the pressure gauge). But the Magic account initially dismissed these claims.
“We understand the confusion by fans given the style being different than the card art, but we stand by our previous statement,” the publisher replied, in another since-deleted post. “This art was created by humans and not AI.”
But a few days later, Wizards of the Coast acknowledged that it had been mistaken.
“Well, we made a mistake earlier when we said that a marketing image we posted was not created using AI,” the Magic account said in a statement posted to X on Jan. 7. “As you, our diligent community pointed out, it looks like some AI components that are now popping up in industry standard tools like Photoshop crept into our marketing creative, even if a human did the work to create the overall image.”
The publisher continued: “While the art came from a vendor, it’s on us to make sure that we are living up to our promise to support the amazing human ingenuity that makes Magic great. We already made clear that we require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products. Now we’re evaluating how we work with vendors on creative beyond our products – like these marketing images – to make sure that we are living up to those values.”
In a posted the same day on the Magic website, Wizards said that it wants “to get better at understanding whether and how AI is used in the creative process.” The company added, “We can’t promise to be perfect in such a fast-evolving space, especially with generative AI becoming standard in tools such as Photoshop, but our aim is to always come down on the side of human made art and artists.”
The incident drew so much attention because Wizards of the Coast — a significant employer of artists and illustrators, especially in the case of Magic card art — has repeatedly been called out before for using generative AI art in its materials, and has repeatedly distanced itself from the technology. After AI art was spotted in the D&D sourcebook Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants in August 2023, Wizards said it hadn’t been aware that the artist used AI tools, and that it would revise its artist guidelines “to make clear that artists must refrain from using AI art generation.”
Wizards then on AI art in December, after fans claimed to spot evidence of AI generation in promotional artwork for a Magic tie-in with Tomb Raider. “We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products,” it said at the time.
Some artists who work for the publisher showed their frustration at its repeated failure to curb the use of AI in image creation. Long-standing Magic artist Dave Rapoza publicly split with the company after its initial denial that AI had been used. “And just like that, poof, I’m done working for wizards of the coast – you can’t say you stand against this then blatantly use AI to promote your products, emails sent, good bye you all!” he said in a tweet.
But the incident — especially the evident confusion at Wizards of the Coast over whether AI had been used in the creation of the image — shows just how hard it is going to be for companies working with large numbers of freelance artists to stay on top of this issue, as generative AI art tools become ever more widespread.
Photographer fined after Fatboy Slim nearly hit by drone
At a recent Fatboy Slim set on Brighton Beach, it seems one photographer’s Weapon of Choice was a nifty drone, after he nearly mistakenly hit the DJ with it as it came crashing down onto the stage.
Speaking to Brighton Magistrates Court on 4th January, 39-year-old Giles Dalby claimed that there was no malicious intent, only a desire to capture some “cinematic” shots of Fatboy Slim’s set.
“I did not intend to put anyone in danger,” he pleaded. “I wanted to create a slow, cinematic appearance.”
However, the amateur photographer got his controls mixed up, resulting in him steering the drone directly on stage, nearly crashing into DJ Norman Cook mid-set.
“I crashed trying to leave the area, looking to back out for an overview of the scene and finish with a wide view. It was an honest mistake that I will ensure will never repeat itself,” he continued. “There was no malicious intent. I switched it into sport mode which deactivates the downward sensor so I could come quickly up and out, but I accidentally went forward and down.”
The act was a breach of the Air Navigation Order 2016. Dalby was served a fine of £891, charged with negligently allowing a mini drone put Cook and the 8,500 punters attending Brighton’s Big Beach Boutique at risk.
Prosecutor Megan Attree said: “At quarter to ten, the security were alerted that a drone had crashed into the stage, narrowly missing the crowd and the headline act. There was flight recording data on the drone, and it identified that the defendant had ignored multiple warnings.”
“The defendant had placed the drone into sport mode, in which obstacle avoiding doesn’t work, which increases the dangers. The footage shows a near-miss collision with the crowd and performer. There was no damage or injury, but the risk was very real and very present,” she concluded.
The unharmed Fatboy Slim is set to embark on his Fatboy Slim Loves Summer Tour this June, starting out at Dublin’s Fairview Park on the 14th before hitting Cornwall’s Eden Sessions, Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl, and Glasgow’s SWG3 Outdoors, and a handful of other outdoor venues.
Find tickets for Fatboy Slim gigs (watch for drones) at Fatboy Slim’s website.
Photographer Recreates Simpsons Characters Using Latest AI Technology
A photographer and graphics designer created a set of mindblowing AI images of The Simpsons using the very latest text-to-image technology.
Milie, known as Princess Prompt online, tells PetaPixel that she used the latest artificial intelligence technology — including Midjourney v6 and an upscaler — to create AI versions of The Simpsons characters
“I wanted to test the new features of the latest version of Midjourney,” Milie explains. “I decided to start with The Simpsons’ characters because I’m a fan and especially because they all have a very defined look with very light colors and accessories that are their own.”
Methodology
Milie looked for a screenshot for each of the characters she wanted to recreate, she would then use that image as a prompt using the “image weight” parameters. Afterward, she described the screenshot to Midjourney as “precisely and concisely” as possible.
“The challenge of this exercise was to give a human look to The Simpsons‘ characters: I didn’t want them to have yellow skin, I wanted us to be able to see them as people we could meet in everyday life,” Milie says.
After Milie had the overall aesthetic defined, she used the same basic prompt for each character and modified the specific details.
“Once all the characters were generated, I sent them to the Magnific.ai artificial intelligence to add detail such as skin texture, hair, wrinkles, etc,” she says.
“I generated all the characters in a week, mainly at night and I didn’t really put any pressure on myself because it was above all an exercise to have fun. Midjourney has this addictive aspect which means that you can spend a lot of time there just for the pleasure of seeing the images that are generated. ”
“Some characters were very easy to generate and others took me a lot more time. For example, the character of Smithers: the difficulty was to find the word that exactly defines his haircut so that it would look similar,” she adds.
Milie notes that if she used “Marge Simpson” in a prompt to Midjourney, it would give her “cartoonish” results. So, she wrote around it and instead described the Simpsons’ matriarch as “a mature woman with a curly blue beehive-style haircut” to better obtain an image that looked more like a human.
“In my opinion, what takes the most time is the choice of the final images, you have to sort things out, and it’s sometimes complicated because artificial intelligence offers us hundreds of images in just a few minutes,” she adds.
“In these cases, you have to show discipline to stick to the aesthetic and the idea that you initially set out to achieve.”
Incredible Results
Milie’s eye-catching AI images provoked a huge response on Facebook where they garnered almost 100,000 reactions.
“The reactions reveal the curiosity, disbelief, disdain, and sometimes fear that generative artificial intelligence arouses,” Milie notes. “The figures also confirm the deep attachment that people have for The Simpsons.”
Milie is also thoroughly impressed with the newest Midjourney: telling PetaPixel that the results are “much more precise and faithful to the initial prompt.”
Milie says she has been practicing “artistic photography” for nearly 20 years and enjoys shooting costumed studio portraiture which she retouches and gets creative with on the computer.
“New tools and new forms of creation in whatever form have always attracted me and aroused my curiosity. So, last summer when generative artificial intelligence emerged among the general public, I was immediately captivated and amazed by the possibilities that opened up to me,” she says.
“I started by using Disco Diffusion, then Stable Diffusion. I also tested Dall-E, but my preference and my favorite remains Midjourney for its ability to produce ultra-rich and detailed images.”
“Ultimately my goal is to succeed in mixing my personal creation with artificial intelligence, or even to train my own artificial intelligence for example with the local version of Stable Diffusion,” she adds.
To see Milie’s photography work, head to her website and Instagram. For her experiments in AI, check out her Facebook Page.
Image credits: Princess Prompt
Photographer expands to new studio
Deanna Michele has opened a new studio in the former Keir Building
Deanna Michele calls herself the “small town girl who dreams big.” She began her artistic career attending culinary school but soon discovered a love for photography that took her in a new direction. Recently, she moved her studio into a new, larger space on the second floor of the former Keir Building which has been fully renovated by Zack and Marissa King.
“I really got into photography after my daughter was born and have been doing it full time since then,” Deanna said. “I opened a studio a few buildings over, but I had outgrown it. Marissa brought up the opportunity to move here and I jumped on it. I have been friends with Zack and Marissa for a while and they were going to let me make this my own.”
According to Deanna, the other space has several other artists, not all photographers where they shared a bathroom, plus the space was much smaller than what she is working with in the new location. The new studio is bright and airy with large windows facing Walnut Street. A small bassinet sits under one window and a bed takes up the center wall of the studio.
“I currently have about 200 clients a year, so I was at the point I needed a bigger space,” Deanna said. “My specialty is newborn, maternity, families welcoming new babies and weddings. But I also do boudoir shoots which are my main focus.”
Deanna Michele’s new studio interior is bright and airy
Deanna and her husband, Jonathan, married in March 2021, welcoming a son on Christmas morning of that year. She says their daughter is “strong willed and loves horseback riding.” Deanna loves to travel with Italy and Ireland both on her bucket list. Calling her boudoir shoots “Wild Scarlett’s Boudoir,” Deanna believes these types of photo shoots help women reclaim their inner beauty, allowing them to shine.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve developed an addiction to working with Deana because she makes me feel so incredibly amazing every time,” T.P. commented in a testimonial on Deanna’s website. “I was so worried before I did my first shoot a little more than a year ago because I didn’t know how I’d look on camera or how to pose. Deanna is so amazing helping you with posing and giving you direction. She makes you feel so comfortable, and you walk out feeling like a complete and total boss. It’s difficult not to get hooked on that empowering feeling, no matter what I’m going through. Personally, Deanna always brightens my day.”
Appointments can be made by visiting https://deannamichele.photography/. The new studio is located at 27 South Walnut Street, with access to the studio on Southeast Front Street across from the First Presbyterian Church. A sign for the studio is located above the door.
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Maven color-coded filter system expands to help photographers tell them what they are shooting with
Maven launches wave 2 of its award-winning color-coded lens filter system on Kickstarter, which has already raised US$250,000!
After its first successful Kickstarter Maven has cemented its place in the lens filter market, vying to be in the conversation with the other best filters for photography. The unique color-coded design has revolutionized filter aesthetics, but it’s not just the looks that stand out, the updated filter performance is highly impressive.
The Kickstarter campaign includes various forms of traditional filters and introduces us to a newly developed Dark-CPL. This is a combination of a neutral density filter and a circular polarizer, eliminating the need to carry more filters for those who often shoot with both. This would be particularly useful for those shooting scenes with water, such as waterfalls or seascapes. The color-coded system signifies which stop ND filter is included. Most importantly, Maven states that the Dark-CPL design “reduces vignetting, especially on very wide-angle lens focal lengths, such as 16mm.”
Maven has also redesigned a new variable polarizing filter system to focus on the best mirrorless cameras, in response to the market movement. Through vigorous testing, it established that mirrorless cameras respond better to LPL (Linear Polarizer) filters, and when used in conjunction with a CPL (Circular Polarizer) it provided little to no color shift, establishing a new variable system.
Smaller graduated ND filters have also been developed, along with updated ‘solid’ ND filters offering 2, 4, 15, 18, and 20-stop options! These ND filters have “AGC Japanese optical glass, 16 layers of MRC coatings, hydrophobic nano resistance & Tier 1 Color Performance.” These qualities make shooting time-lapses and long exposures more achievable, even in the midday sun.
Other new filters included in the Kickstarter include the Maven IR 720 infrared filter, the Starry Focus filter which aids astrophotographers in manually focusing perfectly on stars with indicators on the filter, and lens flare filters which provide an anamorphic cinema look when capturing lights in a scene.
Maven has given further development to the lens/ filter cap with a complete redesign, changing the magnetic strength and adding an ease-of-use feature that enables you to remove it with a large lens hood attached.
Lens filters may have been considered to have reached their technological limit, many years ago, but Maven continues to push the capabilities and offer a fresh new take on these already established systems. Ease-of-use features such as magnetic mounts, quick-release cases, and color/ shape filter design provide a lower entry point for beginners and take a lot of the extra (more complicated) steps out of shooting with filter systems.
The Maven Kickstarter is now live and has already reached its goal. Don’t let that stop you, however, as there are usually some great backer rewards and early bird deals.
Note: As with all crowdfunding projects, there is no guarantee that the final product will match the early depictions in the campaign – or that the final product will be completed or delivered at all. DCW does not endorse this or any other crowdfunding campaign.
You may also be interested in our guides to the best ND filter, the best variable ND filters, and the best ND grad filters.
A’ Design Award Announces Its 2023 World Design Rankings
The results are in! The A’ Design Award & Competition has announced its 2023 World Design Rankings (WDR), which ranks all the countries based on the number of designers that have garnered an A’ Design Award. Surprisingly, the rankings have not changed since 2022. China captured the coveted #1 spot out of 114 countries ranked, followed by the United States and Japan. However, across the board, the number of awards have grown across the top 10 countries, showing an increase in interest in the competition.
If you’re a designer looking to get their ideas out on the world stage and represent your country, the A’ Design Award & Competition gives you a platform to do just that. While some designers submit a prototype or a completed project, even if you have just a concept, you can share your design and get invaluable feedback from the international jury panel of esteemed design industry leaders. There are over 100 categories to submit your designs, from Architecture to Fashion, Furniture to Packaging, Lighting to Toys. If you’re deemed a winner, the prize package is significant, as it includes ample press coverage, the opportunity to sell your design, and more. To learn more about the A’ Design Award & Competition and submit your designs, visit adesignaward.com.
Need some inspiration? Take a look at a few of our favorite winning designs below:
Photo: Carolina Schwalb
Mocats Multifunctional Cat Furniture by La Jato del Gato
Insinuations Art to Wear Jewellery Collection by Barbara D’Ambra
Shadows Of The Sky Flower Troughs by Zsolt Szalai
Disco Oven Pizza Oven by Mark Cresswell
Relax Chaise Lounge by Charlotte Abrahamsson Kwetczer
Lens Series Furniture by Eva Liu
Greenery Bench by Shibing Yang
Water Ripples Chair by Kuo-Hsiang Kuo
36 Of My Favorite Dog Photos I Took In 2023
Ryan Villamael’s Cascading Floral Sculptures Reconsider Maps and Identity
Utilizing maps to create overgrowths of leaves, the artist addresses complex relationships between cartography and culture.
Ryan Villamael’s Cascading Floral Sculptures Reconsider Maps and Identity
“Locus Amoenus.” All images courtesy of Silverlens, Manila/New York, shared with permission
Gathered in bunches and trailing like vines, Ryan Villamael’s paper-cut sculptures cascade through niches of interiors, history, and identity. Utilizing maps to create overgrowths of leaves, the artist addresses complex relationships between cartography and culture.
Based in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, Villamael focuses his practice on tangled narratives within himself and the country. Because his father had to leave home as an overseas worker, the young artist grew up without his presence. This physical disconnect was challenging and catalyzed Villamael’s fascination with cartography. He explains, “Looking at maps was my way of connecting with him, of tracing the paths he might have traveled.”
“Locus Amoenus” at Ateneo Art Gallery, Manila
This fixation has carefully cultivated itself ever since, as the artist sees the geographic representations as a way to uncover familial paths and collective memory. However, at odds with this sentiment of reclaiming personal history, Villamael also alludes to the presence of authoritative geopolitical ambitions that perpetuate partial truths. He tells Colossal:
So much of my work, I realize in hindsight, is about a kind of mourning. To be Filipino, I feel, is to be constantly in mourning—for the heritage that was taken from our nation by colonialism, for the memories we discard so systematically as a way of survival, for the historic structures in Manila that are constantly demolished… That does something to a nation’s psyche, and it’s something I feel deeply.
Such longing for ancestral truth beyond the stain of colonialism is evident in the artist’s work, as meticulous cutting, folding, overlapping, and puncturing alters the printed surfaces. Originally working with paper out of financial necessity, the humble material eventually became Villamael’s avenue for the tactile transformation and reclamation of cartographic records.
From the expansive nature of the material to the concept of stitching together ideas of home, the nuances of breadth and space guide his work. Quelled inside glass cloches and proliferating across gallery ceilings, floral motifs and sinuous vines carry a consuming desire for the recapitulation of history.
Villamael has two shows opening this month: a solo exhibit at Silverlens Gallery in Manila and an installation at the Esplanade in Singapore. Follow his Instagram to keep up with his work.
Detail of “Locus Amoenus”
Detail of “Locus Amoenus”
Detail of “Locus Amoenus”
“Locus Amoenus” at Ateneo Art Gallery, Manila
Left: “Pulô series X.” Right: “Pulô series IX”
“Pulô series III”
Left: From “Kadō Series.” Right: detail of “Kadō Series 2”
“Kadō, Series 1”
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Ryan Villamael’s Cascading Floral Sculptures Reconsider Maps and Identity appeared first on Colossal.
