SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

If you want to shake off the nonstop busyness of the week, why not try something creative and fun? Grab your digital device of choice and join us in this week’s Spies, Lies & Digital Skies (SLDS) art challenge.

For the uninitiated, here’s a quick explainer of SLDS: Each week, I share a prompt for artists of all skill levels (and non-artists like me) to create a spy and/or romance-themed image. You can use PhotoShop, ArtRage, Procreate, DALL-E, MidJourney, Microsoft Edge’s CoPilot, you name it, to conjure up your masterpiece.

Last Week’s Highlights

Thanks to Jez, Kevin, and Marie for taking part and sharing their amazing creations on their blogs! Here’s a peek at my favourites from their responses to the prompt, “Disguised Rendezvous in a Foreign City.”

Jez’s Wizardry

Check out Jez’s post for more T-Rex and Wizard rendezvous.

Kevin’s Cheeky Maid

Check out Kevin’s post for more undercover meetings in Budapest.

Marie’s Spy Classics

Check out Marie’s post for more classic, clandestine spy meets.

This Week’s Challenge: Crafting a False Identity

Oh, that’s a fun prompt! I’ve been rewatching Burn Notice (an annual thing for us) and can’t get Micheal’s loft out of my head. Don’t be surprised if that seeps into my prompts.

Let’s Craft a False ID!

Okay, I’m going to try my hardest not to be too precise in the prompt.

PROMPT: Please create a widescreen aspect ratio image of a man in a dingy apartment. He sits at a rough-hewn table with a task light shining down as he carefully drags a miniature printer over a passport, leaving colour-shifting ink in its wake. The result is a perfect fake passport for this spy.

Hmm, it looks good, but the mini printer is missing.

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I’ll use the new ‘select’ tool feature in DALL-E to tweak it.

PROMPT: Add a handheld printer in one hand whilst the other holds open a passport.

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I’m really not feeling this version. Maybe it’s the clothing?

Revisiting the Original Prompt

Okay, it’s time to take a step back and figure out what I love and don’t love about the previous image. First, the angle isn’t great for conveying what he’s doing. Second, his clothing is too stiff and old-fashioned. And finally, the AI doesn’t seem to understand what I mean about a handheld printer.

With these things in mind, I’ve created a new prompt.

PROMPT: A high-angle view of a man working at a rough-hewn wooden table. The man, a spy, is wearing casual clothes. He’s surrounded by various spy tools like fake passports, a small printer for documents, a laptop opened to a page with a new identity profile, and some scattered notes. The man toils under the beam of a task light in a dimly lit room. He’s focused on creating a false identity for himself.

Woohoo! I think we’ve got a winner. I love the way his work area is set up and the subtle hints and not-too-subtle ones that show what he’s creating.

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Well, that was a surprisingly quick result! Maybe obsessing over Burn Notice has more benefits than I’d previously thought! You know, aside from sheer happiness ???

So, do you have some ideas for tackling the ‘crafting a false identity’ prompt? If you do, take a crack at creating your art, post it on your blog and drop a link to your response post in the comments. (See top of post for “How to join in”)

Till next time, stay awesome,

Susan x