SLDS: High-Speed Chase Art Challenge

Welcome to the first Spies, Lies & Digital Skies (SLDS) art challenge of February. Every week, I provide you with a prompt to create an image that combines spy and romance themes. You can create your masterpiece using tools such as PhotoShop, ArtRage, Procreate, DALL-E, MidJourney, or any other software.

Last Week’s Creative Heights: Romance on the Rooftop

Last week’s prompt, ’A romantic rendezvous on a rooftop,’ was a whole lot of fun. I’m happy to report that I wasn’t the only one who had fun creating their romantic scene! Again, Kevin and Jez didn’t shy away from the challenge. Thank you both for joining in with your gorgeous takes on the prompt.

Kevin’s Fiery Rooftop Romance

Kevin’s rooftop scene is scorchingly hot. The rain’s addition failed to cool things down; in fact, it added fuel to the steamy scene. Bravo, Kevin! Bravo!

Jez’s Artistic Journey: From Photos to Digital Masterpieces

Jez led us through his Hot Mods journey, from the photos he selected from his portfolio to the changes in time, theme, and architecture. Each image is a beauty! Check out his post for the full gallery!


This Week’s Pulse-Racing Prompt: Urban Chase Awaits

This week’s prompt whisks us away from the seclusion of last week’s intimate rendezvous and onto the city streets. It’s a “high-speed chase through a bustling city. “

My Creative Process: Crafting the Chase with DALL-E

This week, I decided to work solely with DALL-E instead of using any of my photos of city streets or pretty cars. To be honest, if I start looking at my car shots, I’ll never get any work done.

I thought it would be fun to play with one main prompt and make some fine-tuning changes to show you how it works. I’m not into gatekeeping and I want to share what I’ve learnt over the past year of working with AI.

Crafting the Scene: My First DALL-E Prompt Explained

So, if you’ve never used DALL-E before and wanted to see how to create an image just with words, here’s exactly what I put into the text-to-image generator’s message area.


Create a wide-format image. The scene is set in the narrow side streets of La Panier in Marseilles. It’s midday, and the sun is out. A small French car speeds along the street; the female passenger leans out the window, firing a handgun at their pursuer. Their pursuer is a woman on a beautiful old motorcycle, the chrome glinting in the sunlight.

I’ll quickly break some of this prompt down to help you with your images. 

Images Sizes

There are three sizes/shapes that DALL-E and Hot Mods output in: square, wide-format, and full portrait. I went with Create a wide-format image.

Setting

Next if you have a setting in mind, tell it: narrow side streets of La Panier in Marseilles.

Lighting

If lighting is important to the image you want to create, tell it: It’s midday, and the sun is out.

Details

The details. If there’s anything you want featured in the image, remember to include it: A small French car speeds along the street; the female passenger leans out the window, firing a handgun at their pursuer. Their pursuer is a woman on a beautiful old motorcycle, the chrome glinting in the sunlight.

Note: The AI will attempt to produce two takes on the prompt, but sometimes, it’s unable to do so if there are many people making requests of DALL-E simultaneously.

The First Output

Tweaking the Details: Evolving the Image

The image looks great, but the car is stationary…

Let’s make a tweak: “The car should be in motion, and the people should be in the car.” (This prompt goes into the message box, just like the original.)

I like the image, but for some reason, the AI thinks that there are no modern French cars out there. ?

Creating a New Feel

I thought I’d reduce the amount of detail in the prompt and let the AI focus on getting the scene right. The simpler prompt: Create a wide-format image. The scene is set in the narrow side streets of La Panier in Marseilles. It’s midday, and the sun is out. A small, modern French car speeds along the street, pursued by someone on a motorcycle. There’s a sense of speed, danger, and adrenaline in the image.

I liked the feel of this image, but I wanted to try something different. I remembered some things from my research for Running the Asset, and I had an idea!

Let’s Change Things Up

Prompt: Instead of a car, it’s now two motorbikes and the chase has careened into an area where a series of stairs lead to another street level.

I loved the look of the image, but it was around this time that I remembered a key phrase from this week’s challenge prompt… bustling city! ????

Final Touch: Capturing the Bustling City’s Essence

So, back to the drawing board. The new prompt: Create a wide-format image. The scene is set in La Panier in Marseilles. It’s midday, the sun is out, and the area is bustling. There is a high-speed chase whizzing along the street. One a small, modern French car is pursued by a powerful saloon vehicle. There’s a sense of speed, danger, and adrenaline in the image.

Final Masterpiece: The Chase in Motion

I love this image. It captures the feel of this section of the city, the speed, and the danger of the chase.

Join the Chase!

Ready to join in? Even if you’ve never given AI prompting a go before, try it out and have some fun with it. If you’ve got any questions about it, leave them in the comments and I’ll point you in the right direction.

I’ve included everything you need to know about participating in the How to Participate section below.

Handy Tip

Anywhere you see that I’ve said to “Create…” that is a new prompt chat. Basically, I’ve clicked on the edit button (looks like a wee pencil) and rewrote the original prompt. Every prompt iteration is kept in the history of the chat. All you have to do is cycle through the prompt versions indicated by the numbers under the prompt (1/7, 2/7, etc.)

How to Participate:

  1. Create and Share: Craft an artwork depicting a “high-speed chase through a bustling city.” Use any digital tool that inspires you.
  2. Share Your Creation: Post your artwork on your blog and link back to this post, or share it on Instagram/Twitter using the hashtag #SLDSart and tagging me @susbraithwaite. Make sure to do so before next Friday!
  3. Engage and Inspire: Join our community of artists and spies. Your work might just be featured in our next intelligence brief (blog post) and possibly in my monthly newsletter.

This challenge is open to artists of all skill levels, from new, fresh, out-the-pack recruits to seasoned agents. Dive into the shadowy world of espionage and let your creativity unfold the story of the elusive double agent.


I can’t wait to see your creations!

Until next time, stay awesome!

Susan x

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About Me

Hi! I’m Scottish author Susan Tippett Braithwaite. I craft romantic suspense stories featuring Sex, Lies, Scots & Spies where danger and desire meet with explosive results.

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8 responses to “SLDS: High-Speed Chase Art Challenge

  1. […] Hi all ? My latest post for Susan’s Digital Art Challenge: High-Speed Chase. […]

  2. Photos by Jez Avatar

    These are awesome; perfect to have a chase involving a wee 2CV racing around the narrow streets of Marseille with a motorcycle ? Here’s mine for this week: https://jezbraithwaite.blog/2024/02/02/the-chase-is-on-spies-lies-digital-skies/

    1. Susan T. Braithwaite Avatar

      Thanks, sweetie! Your chase images are amazing–love the time travel ones ?

  3. Kevin Avatar

    I love these, Susan! Great work and great walk through the process!

    1. Susan T. Braithwaite Avatar

      Thanks, Kevin!

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