I have spent a lot of time playing around with the Deep Dream Generator over the last month. At times it became something of an obsession, and I found myself bleary eyed many nights submitting "just one more" to the generator and passing time in PAL general chat until it was done processing. And then submitting another one LOL

I intend this post to be the first in a series where I share some of the more successful images I have made to date, and the style images that I have had best success with. All base images are public domain from Wiki Commons but most of the style images were harvested from Google image search and are presented here as fair use in reporting my process with no claims of ownership. Read my (insanely) detailed tutorial if you have no idea what the Deep Dream Generator is and are interested in learning how to use it- the tl;dr version: A free website that allows you to create new images from existing base images, using AI (neural network) to apply styles/textures from a second style image to the original base image.

My hope is that by showing you the style images I have had success with you will gain a better understanding of what to look for if you want to find your own style images to use. I am also uploading the full res versions of the style images here, so just right click and select "view image" to see the full res style image - feel free to use these style images in the generator and let me know if you have any great success doing so! I would love to hear about it!

Masks

I have done a series starting with Japanese Noh masks as the base image. Follow the link to Wikipedia to learn more, but in a nutshell Noh is a form of musical drama in which the performers wear masks. The masks are very evocative to me, conveying unexpected emotion, and are a perfect canvas to apply a style image to. Masks 1, 2 & 3 below are all using the same base image, and I think this really shows how much a style image can change the feel of a base image. I think these three have radically different emotional tones despite sharing the exact same base image.

Mask 1

Base image:

Style image:

Mask 2

Base image:

Style image:

Mask 3

Base image:

Style image (page from the Book of Kells):

Mask 4

Base image:

Style image:

Mask 5

Base image:

Style image (section of abalone shell):

Trees

I have played around with several different base images of trees / forests. Trees are a satisfying base image because they are composed of awesome shapes, entertwining branches, leaves, trunks, roots, and very often have interesting lighting because of light filtering through leaves, or the contrast between sky and branches. Again Tree 1, 2 & 3 below all use the same base image and are good illustrations of the power of the style image to change the look and feel of your final image (I think the ash style image in particular totally changed the feel of the tree).

Tree 1

Base image:

Style image (composite style image I made from oil slicks and opal):

Tree 2

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Style image:

Tree 3

Base image:

Style image (ash):

Fungus Forest

This is a good example of just how weird you can get with Deep Style images. I created a composite style image made up of tons of different kinds of fungi and applied it to a forest scene:

Base image:

Style image:

More to come - Lions, Tigers and Whales, oh my!

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series, where I will share images created with lions, tigers and whales as the base image. If you like what you see here, head on over to the Deep Dream Generator and start playing around! It is a ton of fun, although I definitely have to warn you that it is highly addictive and can quickly become an obsession. I would love to see examples of art you have created using the Deep Dream Generator or other similar sites - please drop me some art in the comments!

Much love - Carl