Edited prompt: A cartoon illustration of a woman with very curly, reddish-blonde hair standing outside a Wawa in Bradenton, Florida. She is wearing a t-shirt with a Rutgers logo, a denim skirt, and boots. She is carrying a bag of books and holding plastic alligators, flowers, and bagels. The person has blue eyes and is wearing glasses. The background is the bright colors of the Gulf Coast shoreline, with palm trees and a blue sky.

I tried the same prompt in Padlet's I Can't Draw, but it got some of the details wrong. Like, it put a cat on my shirt and french fries in the bag. Interestingly, it turned my glasses into sunglasses since I was outside on the boardwalk which was pretty cool. Or, I'm giving it too much credit and that was just something else it got wrong!

Two, AI really leans in to conventional attractiveness huh? I have a feeling I would have to write quite a complicated prompt to return anything else.

Three, and this one is pretty funny: no matter how I described having no hair, if I put in "nonbinary" I only got blonde undercuts. Hah!

Prompt: a cartoon of a medium build, white, nonbinary person with no hair wearing a playful, pink outfit. They are wearing glasses. They are sitting in a green, ultralight manual wheelchair and wearing black leather wheelchair gloves. They are in front of a small, witchy bookstore

A cartoon man with short hair that is dark brown stands outside an amusement park in New Jersey. He is wearing a tank top, cargo shorts, and sneakers. He are carrying a bag and holding a VR headset. The person has dark brown eyes and is wearing glasses.

A cartoon person with [spiky, messy medium length hair] that is [black] stands outside a [train care] in [newark, new jersey]. [they] are] wearing a [crop top ] tucked into their  [poofy pants], tucked into their [ankle boot shoes]. [they] are carrying a bag of [time] and holding [sticks]. The person has [brown] and is wearing [arm bands].  They are surrounded by [autumn trees] and the presence of [quilava].

The Prompt: Can you create an image for me: A cartoon woman with long slightly wavy hair that is strawberry blonde stands outside at the south pole in Antarctica. She is wearing a red parka, white snow pants, and black snow boots. She is carrying a bag of clothing layers and holding hiking poles. The person has blue green eyes and is wearing sporty sun glasses. They are surrounded by snow and ice that is so old it reflects the most beautiful blue color and the presence of various penguins and seals with whales off shore in the distance.

My prompt was: A cartoon white woman with long wavy hair that is pink stands outside a Moe’s Southwest Grill in New Jersey. She is wearing a brown paisley sweater, an olive green skirt, and black mary jane shoes. She is carrying a bag of stuffed animals and holding a cup of coffee. The person has hazel eyes and is wearing a silver necklace and matching silver ring. They are surrounded by acoustic guitars and the presence of a mermaid.

So...the shirt was too much text. I think Barbie triggered it to look more like Barbie, but it nailed the Lisa Frank aesthetic I was going for. :)

"A cartoon brown person with an undercut and black hair stands outside the New Jersey waterfront. They are wearing gold cat eye glasses, a green cardigan and a red dress. They are wearing a white and purple floral backpack and holding a black cat."

I tried many passes at refining my prompt after this but settled on this early version. While this wasn't the best pass in some details (the NJ/NYC skyline is only somewhat recognizable, and the cat has two heads, I have 3 arms, etc), this was the only version that had the slightest resemblance to me. The AI especially struggled with my undercut and I couldn't get my features or skin tone very close, especially because it refused to do anything not glam, so I decided the undercut was close enough to be representative. It also did not understand the idea of a large nose or a piercing, giving me a forehead horn once and ignoring the instruction all other times.

Unfortunately none of the prompts came quite close to capturing the entirety of my description, though this one seemed to be the most... realistic?

Prompt: A woman with slightly wavy hair that is brown stands outside a coffee shop in new jersey. She is wearing a green sweater, flare jeans, and brown boots. She is carrying a bag of books and holding a coffee. The person has hazel eyes and is wearing glasses and a gold necklace. They are surrounded by autumn leaves and the presence of music.