kime-chan

[kime-chan]

this is your periodic reminder that for all the artifacts and errors and "tells" one could possibly list, the only reliable way to actually determine if an image is ai generated is to investigate the source. it is becoming increasingly common for "fake classical paintings" to circulate around curative aesthetic blogs, and everyone should be using this as an opportunity to not only exercise their investigative skills but also appreciate art more in general. you're all checking out the artists you reblog, right? 🫣

so what are some signs to look for? let's use this very good example.

what a lovely late-impressionist piece blended with evocative leyendecker-esque themes! why haven't you ever heard of this artist before? surely tumblr would be all over an artist like this. who is justin brown?

your two options from here are to do a search for the name, or a reverse image search. i prefer reverse image searching, particularly when it comes to a common name like "justin brown". so what does that net?

Immediately, without looking at any text, something is wrong: it barely exists. an actual historical piece would turn up numerous results from websites individually discussing the piece, but no such discussions are taking place. Looking at the text, though, does show the source-- and at least in this case, the creator was honest about their medium.

But let's also look at the "exact matches", in case a source doesn't make itself apparent in the initial sidebar results like this.

This section will often tell you post dates of images, and here it can be seen that the very first iteration of the image was posted 15 days ago. It did not exist online prior to that.

Seeing how long an unsourced image has been floating around is a skill applicable to more than just generative images! See a cool image of an artifact or other intriguing item with a vivid caption? Reverse search it! If all the results are paired with that caption and only go back a few months, you might just have viral facebook spam.

Sometimes generative creators are dishonest about their medium and do not tag it like in the example, so that's when establishing "jpeg provenance" becomes important. While it can be a little trickier to determine if someone is using generative images and not admitting to it if they aren't trying to pass it off as a classic, something to consider is the age of their account and the frequency with which they post. Here are some account red flags:

-Did they only start posting art after 2022, or if they did before, did their style/skill level WILDLY change? Not gradual improvement-- I'm talking amateur graphite portraits straight into complex digital renders. Everyone starts somewhere, newness is not a red flag alone; it's newness combined with existing in a vacuum away from any community.

-Do they post fully-finished paintings several times a week? -Do many of these paintings seem iterative of a similar theme or subject matter ("three well-dressed young men face each other under shade and dappled sunlight")?

-Does their style change in inconsistent ways? An artist that can swap between painting like Drew Struzan and Hokusai should be pretty well known, right? Why is no one hyping this guy?!

-Do they have social media besides the source instagram? If so, what are they posting about? Are there any WIPs? Doodles? Interactions with other artists? Gallery dates? 3am self-doubt posts? Or is it all self-promo? Crypto? Seemingly nothing art-related at all for someone pushing out 3 weekly paintings?

Basically, if it's important to you to omit this stuff when you curate, please don't just smash reblog if the source doesn't seem to be the OP themselves. Seeking out sources was important even before this became an issue, now it is more than ever.

peace n love

[kime-chan]

[kime-chan]

All hail Wexter!

I was walking through the toy aisle at Target when I found this thing and had a VIOLENT AND IMMEDIATE FLASHBACK to when JP first came out and they had a bunch of REALLY COOL T Rex toys that I would have sold one of my scrawny small-child limbs for but my mother wouldn’t get me one because they were “too violent and also ate people” :(

[kime-chan]

[kime-chan]

Miniature Coffin Ghosthouses // Blacklillybee

[kime-chan]

Voltron Build Complete

Previous

Oooh, here we go! I was posting via mobile, but this last post has more than 10 images so I ended up having to figure out how to post through the web interface. Wish me luck...

First the Yellow Lion transforms:

Next is the Blue Lion:

I know that normally the Black Lion should go last in the whole "I'll form the head" thing, but there are LEGOs and I figured it was best to stick to the instructions. Here is the Black Lion:

Then the transformed Blue and Yellow Lions are attatched to the transformed Black Lion:

Transforming the Red Lion:

Transforming the Green Lion:

Attaching the transformed Red and Green Lions to the transformed Black Lion:

Face reveal!

The complete Voltron build with shield and sword:

He's pretty tall, close to 18" tall and 9" wide and was 2,321 pieces. It was a lot of fun and he looks really good. It's the LEGO Kit 21311 (Lego Ideas #022).

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

Package 16 and the beginning of booklet 6 was for building the shield and sword. So this post is super short.

The next part of the booklet shows how to combine the built lions into the Voltron mecha which I'll put in the next post.

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

These last lions came together fast. The green lion used booklet 5 and bags 14 and 15. Only one booklet and bag left for the build to be finished.

Package 14 built:

Package 15 built and added:

All 5 lions assembled:

I'm pretty sure it won't take long to assemble the finishing touches and then assemble the full Voltron mecha...

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

I'm caught up with the episodes of MasterChef that are on Hulu right now. I'm moving onto Hell On Wheels because I apparently need me even more Gordon Ramsay. I've never seen this series but I'll give it a shot. It's not like I have anywhere to go over the next couple of days...

This section of the build used booklet 4 with bags 12 and 13. Smaller lion and a quicker build.

Package 11 built:

Package 12 built and added:

Four lions down and one to go!

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

Still watching MasterChef season 13. Cakes, a team challenge at Dodger Stadium, the tag-team challenge, were among the episodes. They're down to the top ten and they're doing an elevated stadium food challenge.

With the build, this most recent part was big. Booklet 3 involved bags 7 - 11. Definitely the largest part of what will be the final product.

Package 7 built:

Package 8 built and added:

Package 9 built and added:

Package 10 built and added:

Package 11 built and added:

Look at the size difference of the blue and yellow lions in comparison to the black lion! It's like two normal sized kitties and then an "Oh lawd, he comin'!" kitty...

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

They're cooking elevated fair food on MasterChef. I love fair food. They'll deep fry anything at a fair. Of course the dish that won was deep fried lobster. I'd eat that in a hot minute.

Finished with the 2nd booklet and bags 4 - 6 and the blue lion is complete.

Package 4 built:

Package 5 built and added:

Package 6 built and added:

Look at them! So cool!

[kime-chan]

Previous -- Next

I finished season 5 of Glow Up on Netflix and now I'm watching season 13 of MasterChef on Hulu while I've been working on this build. Finished with the first instruction booklet and bags 1-3. I'm pretty sure it's quite obvious what I'm building once you get to the third image...

Package 1 built:

Package 2 built and added:

Package 3 built and added:

Rawr:

[kime-chan]

Ended up catching one of the recent strains of COVID so I'm quarantining in hopes that my family doesn't catch it. I have to quarantine for at least 5 days and was wondering how to stave off the inevitable boredom. Luckily for me, I have a whole load of LEGO sets that are unbuilt. The set I decided to tackle is from the LEGO Ideas line and has over 2300 pieces, 16 bags of assorted LEGO pieces, and 6 instruction booklets.

I'm planning on posting progress pics and it probably won't take long to tell what the set is. One hint I will give is that the set actually has two forms...

[kime-chan]

Nah, man. This is a year-round activity. No need for seasonal limitations.

[kime-chan]

[kime-chan]

Some poor suffering gobs!!

[kime-chan]

DEAR ARTISTS, PLEASE READ THIS POST I STUMBLED ACROSS

IF YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY, YOU SHOULD TRY IT

I even tested it out myself, it works great