writes:In a previous article, we experimented with creating concept art through using text prompts to the Deep Dream artificial-intelligence image generator.
The challenge with this approach is that it can be difficult to specify, solely using text, the art you want – especially the pose and viewpoint.
In this article, we'll attempt to combine a text prompt with a base photo to generate concept art. The advantage of the base photo is that it shows the AI what you want.
For our base photo, our own 
Editor Katie 
volunteered this photo from her beauty pageant hobby. A woman with wings! We should be able to generate some fantasy concept art from this.
From our previous experiments, we know that the Deep Dream AI 'improves' photos by referring to its vast database of art and pictures.
Above is an example of how the AI transforms the original photo, if given no other guidance. What we want to do now is to use the text prompt to control the transformation.
So we tell the AI we want a dragon using the base photo, and we use a medium filter strength in order to get significant changes from the original photo. (A low setting might not alter the photo much, and a high setting is less influenced by the base photo.)
It sometimes helps to add "in the style of..." to the text prompt. In this case, "in the style of Dungeons and Dragons".
And in this case, "in the style of Warhammer Fantasy".
You can also suggest a well-known artist – "in the style of Larry Elmore".
Or "in the style of Keith Parkinson".
Increasing the filter strength provides more potential, but more chance of failure. In the series below, the strength is increased gradually:
All of the fantasy pictures have been generated in Artistic AI mode. (There is a Fantasy AI mode, but it tends to produce animation-type results.) Now, let's switch to Cyberspace AI mode and attempt some sci-fi concept art:
This is in the style of 40K.
Text prompt: "space ninja."
Text prompt: "female alien"
Text prompt: "insect-like alien"
Text prompt: "giant robot"
Text prompt: "batwoman"
Text prompt: "female superhero"
So that gives you some idea of what can be accomplished. Note that the AI has a strong tendency to stick with the original color range of the base photo. We also let the AI do its thing without a lot of guidance, and we haven't 'evolved' the photos (progressive revisions on Deep Dream). See how the results are influenced by the viewpoint of the base photo, and the pose of the original model.
(Also, I really should have cropped the base photo to just the figure portion.)
You might wish to use AI to generate concept art for future miniature lines, as we've tried here, or to provide illustrations for your wargaming adventures.